The production and technique of 'La Revuelta' (RTVE): the greatest "orderly chaos" on television

David Olivares and Antonio Trilla, filmmaker and technical head of ‘La Revuelta’ (Encofrasa formwork, The Terrat (The Mediapro Studio)), open the door to the great revelation of the television season, an interview format, humor and entertainment that has allowed RTVE reformulate your access prime time and look in the eye to a format as consolidated as ‘El Hormiguero’.

Few could have imagined that this format designed by The Terrat To serve as a rupturist duo with the already extinct Late reason of Andreu Buenafuente I could have survived, multiplying its reach and consolidating as a cultural phenomenon in just 100 programs on Spanish public television. Resistance, presented in its genesis as the first late late show from Spain, allowed David Broncano continue to be hollow in the panorama of humor with what would be his second solo project after Locomundo, accompanied by a consolidated figure of the world of humor as Ricardo Castella And the usual acidity of Beatboxer Grison, who act as points like some Statler y Waldorf Modern.

The program was issued in Movistar Plus+ From February 2018 to July 2024 with an aesthetic completely trash And the goal of making the shortage, virtue. The first steps of the program, recorded in the small Arlequín Theater in Madrid, allowed to define an irreverent identity, with the apparently left personality of the comic Jienense as a conductive thread, always surrounded by comedians such as Jorge Ponce, also a screenwriter and director, and a cast of collaborators such as Ernesto Sevilla, Antonio Resines, Ignatius Farray, Pablo Ibarburu, Sergio Bezos or Valeria Ros, among others.

The arrival of The resistance to Spanish Television, transformed into this new stage with the name of The revolt, a whole cultural phenomenon. Putting the focus on the public and combining the essence of the format with a new approach close to the values of Public Service of RTVE, the format of Formwork and the Terrat (The Mediapro Studio) It presumes having returned several generations to linear television, while counts by hundreds of thousands reproductions of their clips in the Digital channels.

David Olivares, director, and Antonio Trilla, Technical Chief, are put at the service of the particular nature of the program to demolish the established principles of television realization. Operating from a theater without the technological preparation for the creation of a format of this magnitude, and rethinking the realization scheme To create a sensation of immediacy, improvisation and surprise, both represent the essence of a medium in transformation that, to like one and regrets, focuses on the technique from an unimaginable prism just a decade ago

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The orderly chaos of The revolt

If a television spectator from the dawn of commercial television in Spain left his time machine and was facing The revolt, It would certainly remain embarrassed. Faced with those careful scenographies, the importance of visual fidelity and certainty of being attending an entertainment care of the millimeter, the RTVE format virtue of the unpredictability, improvisation or even technical failure.

David Olivares: "The way of working on the management team seems in a chaotic principle, but it has things very clear and this also They transmit to us”.

It is true that behind this facade of neglect There is a clear path marked from the direction, but Olivares recognizes that this "Ordered chaos"It is one of the pillars of the format:" The way of working on the management team seems in a chaotic principle, but it has very clear things and this also transmits it to us. "According to the director, it is common that in the day to day the escalation varies, which happen unplanned interactions and that there are Unforeseen public reactions, but the team of The revolt He is already "accustomed" and gets most involved in this vision: "Everyone knows what they have to do. Although it seems chaos for music, script and the public, in the end everything is aimed at an end: content."

This unpredictability moves to Technical solutions used. The TRILLA -led team feels the technical basis on traditional Broadcast tools, but in the realization images from a iPad, MINICAMAS located in strategic positions, video calls with consumer software or even the PC of the comedian Miguel Campos, from which he launches Memes, again, commenting on the future of the program. "When I first entered they told me that it was a living program, and it is true. As soon as you have something prepared, as they tell you to use a specific chamber type or to go outside," explains the technical head.

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Visual codes in redefinition

The Visual and narrative language of The revolt It has been built accompanying the day to day of the interaction of the new generations With technology. The naturalization of Pixel, of the failed, of the Vertical formats o from static image It sneaks into a format without fear of Experiment, try, discard and integrate. Olivares points out that this approach was built by the "need"To be immediate and fresh starting from a starting point with limited resources: "Personally, my head exploded, as well as many people from the team, break with established things from other programs," he explains, taking as an example when David Broncano asked to have the control of the control of the control of the control of the EVS From your PC instead of control.

David Olivares: "It is possible to get used to break the canons of conventional television To establish other things that may be, they are worth perfectly and, in fact, they are seeing that They work”.

“The revolt Break those structures, but then you realize that nothing happens. The language is alive, and it is possible to get used to breaking the canons of conventional television to establish other things that may be, they are worth perfectly and, in fact, they are being seen that they work ”, concrete the filmmaker, adding that profiles of all generations They are connecting with this vision: "Now that we have entered Spanish Television, we are seeing that a target of older people is also accepting this type of audiovisual language. For me it is fantastic to know that other things can be done and being thinking about new technologies all day and how to adapt them to television language."

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RTVE, non-professionalism and the opportunity for humor

In the stage of The revolt In Movistar Plus+, the format management team always highlighted the Freedom of work and script offered by the Telefónica platform, which opted for formats of disruptive entertainment that they looked at European proposals in their redefinition of more than a decade ago. You might think of Spanish television, for its position as Public Service Valitor and the high quality standards They have historically accompanied RadioTelevision, could advise, guide or limit the visual expression and contents of the format of Formwork Encofrasa. According to Olivares, nothing is further from reality: “Spanish Television is fully respecting us, both the program and the format and the way of telling things.” 3

Antonio Trilla: “Obviously You don't want failures, but it is made virtue To give versatility and humor.

This acceptance by the public entity not only moves to the Content line of the program, but also to the technological failures that have accompanied some of their programs. An example was the program in which a connection with the National Museum and Research Center of Altamira was made, whose connection was full of sound cuts and freezing.

Given this situation, David Broncano, Ricardo Castile, Grison and Sergio Bezos They did not miss the opportunity to do humor Of the situation, introducing all kinds of jokes: "The good thing about this program is that these technical failures are used to create situations. Grison puts a joke, another type of environment is created and the failure becomes something positive. From there, both the Spanish address and Television does not give us problems in that aspect and we are very encouraged." Trilla shares the vision of his partner: "Obviously they do not want failures, but they virtue of giving versatility and humor. It is also a way of professionalizing the amateur and creating familiarity with the public by using signals that everyone knows."

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A realization built with new referents

While David Fernández, director of El Hormiguero and heir to the primal realization of the format of 7 and action, recognized a maximum reference the rhythm and use of the music of Martian chronicles, Olivares finds the construction of the realization of The revolt in all types of windows. The language of podcast and Internet They mix with codes of late show To build a unique reference on world television: "We have not noticed so much in a specific program, but in many different formats and references."

David Olivares: “Would I like to have More cameras or move them a lot more? Obviously, but it is what have and We play with it”.

Even so, Olivares believe that the realization of The revolt It has not been consciously built, but has grown fruit of a particular handicap: that prioritize more public show that attends the recording that the television scheme itself. In his own words: "It is a televised show. 350 people come every night to enjoy a press and then the program." This makes the Placement of the cameras is different from the traditional television set scheme so as not to restrict the public's vision, that the PA has to be high For the public to hear each joke and that the side screens with which the public can see the audiovisual content are outside the scheme to avoid feedback.

"Would I like to have more cameras or move them much more? Obviously, but is what we have and play with it. From this situation we have made a virtue. Maybe I do not move the cameras, but I do many more movements and reactions between characters so that the realization is more dynamic," the director.

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The theater, conditioning and opportunity

The revolt It is roll in the afternoon from Monday to Thursday in the Prince Gran Vía Theater, located just a few meters from the commercial epicenter of Madrid. This decision, inherited from The resistance, has forced the technology team of The revolt to display wiring, racks and networks in an environment that is not prepared at all for a television deployment. And, at the technology level, Roll Consider the deployment as a "small mobile unit": "You have to make wiring and fiber by all the plants of the building. In addition, it must be taken into account that the space has its own performances on weekends, so everything must be deployed so that it does not bother."

With the Glu, electronics and control With fixed exclusive positions for the program, the rest of the elements of the deployment are collected and enabled to beginning of each week. "The PA is thrown back, the cameras are collected and stored ... the assembly is Monday morning and it takes more than an hour or an hour and a half," explains the technical head.

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A technique prepared to make the leap to 4K

Despite the particularity of this deployment, the technical head of The revolt claims the toe technology with which the format is performed. Specifically, eight camera chains are used Sony with three large optics of 90, 40, 22 and 14 mm, and one coupled to a scorpio crane. This deployment is completed with the minicams Marshall CV360 not remarkable.

The entire camera chain could adapt to emmits of 4K, but Trilla confirms that the rest of the workflow is not designed for these resolutions. However, undertaking the transformation "would not be a very large jump": "The matrix we have is a 72 × 72. It would be necessary to adapt to 4K both she and the mixer. The rest of the elements, such as the EVS or the vast majority of the cameras are already prepared for the 4K.

In the completion room it operates with a table Kahuna 9600 accompanied by the multipant system Kaleido X of Grass Valley, while intercom is undertaken with a system RTS with an ODIN matrix of 64 channels and Riedel Bolero For wireless. Special mention deserves the treatment of audio in the theater, an externalized work that allows public reactions to be captured with solvency, the day -to -day life of the program and musical performances.

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An express realization and postproduction

The day to day The revolt Start with the aforementioned preshow in which Sergio bezos It entertains the public while selecting the protagonists who may have their minute of glory in the introduction of the program. Around the 17:45 The pull program is recorded with a Prerealization live led by Olivares With just a break before the interview block.

This pre -feal, which is complemented by Six Masterized Chambers via EVS, sent to the team of Postproduction of the program, located at the top of the theater, to make the edition. In the day to day, this will consist of trimming 15 o 20 minutes, Adapting the format to Spanish television times: “Antonio Trashorras is responsible for minutanizing the live content, indicating themes, jokes and events in an Excel. At the end of the recording, around 7:30 p.m., the address team meets to define the cuts of the program,” explains Olivares.

The final assembly, made with Avid Media Composer, will have to be done in just half an hour, since the format begins its broadcast at 21:45 and the shipment to Spanish Television is done by play And via FTP: "We are quite rushed and one day you can see a little more run over. However, the edition people are accustomed and do an exceptional job every day."

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Controlled improvisation: The essence of The revolt

One of the moments that has given the most to speak in the first 100 episodes of The revolt, beyond The Berrea del Ciervo In response to external pressures by El Hormiguero On guest planning, it was the sequence plane with which the Pamplonesa artist Amaia He presented the single "I have a thought." Olivares, without subtracting merit within reach of this action, considers that there are "much more difficult challenges all days"That are the true expression of the format." The constant improvisation we have and the maximum alert that we have to continue with the follies of David, Bezos or Grison make the whole team remain on alert. If we are not 100%, this machinery would not work, ”explains the director, claiming that every day arise to overcome.

Es Ordered chaos, controlled improvisation and almost unpredictable entertainment. Something unimaginable a few decades ago, but palpable and hardly describable today: "Every day I thank because I have a great time. Many times I have to tell the cameras to be careful, because they laugh and show the tremor in the cameras, and the same thing happens in control, where sometimes I have to ask for silence. Everything gives very good vibes and makes you see that things are being done well."

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez

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