The Floor (RTVE): technical keys to a unique staging

Joanca García, director; Alex Buendía, technical coordinator, and Patricia Flores, producer, explain all the keys to the technical deployment of 'The Floor', a competition Satisfaction Iberia to RTVE filmed in a 360º space with 20 cameras and an LED floor measuring 19.50 x 11.50 meters.

The Floor Just a few weeks ago he began a second television stage convinced of his strengths to consolidate his position in the always competitive prime time of television in Spain. The format of Talpa Studios, who took his first steps in RTL 4 in 2023, was quickly acquired and adapted in markets such as the United States, France, Italy, Argentina and Germany. It also arrived that same year on Antena 3 under the production of Mediacrest, but failed to meet the expectations of Atresmedia, which decided not to renew the format.

The 1 has been the destination of the second attempt of the contest. Its structure remains: one hundred contestants They seek to master a digital board divided into one hundred boxes, each of which corresponds to a different category of knowledge. The participants must challenge their opponents to conquer their territory and thus prevail over their rivals. Only in this way will they be eligible for the grand prize of this format presented by the singer and presenter Chenoa: €100,000.

The differences between both productions are notable. While Mediacrest opted for a colorful and delimited space, Satisfaction Iberia has undertaken a approach further classic con dark shades that allow the boundaries of the board to be blurred and give greater prominence to the 608 module LED display that structures the dynamics of the format.

Three key profiles of the new adventure of The Floor in Spain, Alex Buendia (technical coordinator), Patricia Flores (producer) and Joanca Garcia (director), reveal the technical challenges and realization of the adaptation of a format that is committed to the highest technological standards.

A 360 degree scenery

The Satisfaction Iberia team does not hesitate to define The Floor like a titanic production that cannot be done half measures. Emphasizing that the first stage in Spain “demonstrated that needs such as space or height should not be underestimated”, in this new stage we have opted for an infrastructure of 1.500 m² and 12 meters high. This space allows you to create a production shot in 360º with coverage of up to 11 cameras located on the plant y 9 cameras on the ceiling to cover its “great overhead plane.”

Joanca Garcia, director, defines this peculiar set design as a “closed container” that is delimited around light structures and four screens on its four sides. “This means that all departments must be perfectly coordinated to assemble the grill with all the lights, sound and video flown, and then place the rest of the material underneath,” he explains. This assembly becomes even more complicated if we take into account the cam rail of 30 metros that runs along the side walls of the set, as well as taking into account that these elements cannot be lowered again until dismantling.

Patricia Flores, producer of the format, delves into the particularities that differentiate The Floor of other similar formats: "We are used to the fact that, in most cases, the set is built first and then a technical assembly is done on the clean surface. In this format, it cannot be like that. The technical department and production have to work hand in hand to assemble the technique, almost all of it flown, while the set is being built."

Meeting the high demands of Talpa Studios

Founded in 2020, Talpa Studios It serves as a content creation and branded content factory for the Dutch company Talpa. Led by Maarten Meijs, has John de Mol, creator of such iconic formats as Big Brother o The voice, as one of his main drivers, which reflects the company's experience in the audiovisual markets and its special attention to the care of each format.

The Floor, already produced in 22 countries of the world, has a list of points that must be complied with by Satisfaction Iberia, such as the scenery, with its main aesthetic and color lines, or the side and floor screens, which had to have very specific dimensions and resolutions. Likewise, requirements such as a overhead plane that had to cover the entire game board or the use of graphics and music had to be in accordance with Talpa's requirements, which has ended up affecting all the technical departments. In this way, for example, the lighting and sound material had to be hung flush with the nine cameras Sony FR7 so that these were not seen.

Joanca García: “Our goal was to evolve the look of the program, getting a elegant and powerful visual texture. (…) In this sense, changes were proposed to adjust it to our television culture and the luminosity code of Spanish Television”.

The team of Satisfaction Iberia not only did it propose to comply with all the technical lines set by Talpa Studios, but improve them. In the words of Alex Buendía, technical coordinator: "We have gone from an ATOM camera, which is mandatory, to a proposal to do it with the Sony FR7. Without a doubt, a success. The ATOM camera, due to its angular optics and sensor, obtained too much information that then had to be cropped in editing. However, with the FR7 you could see the board clearly without having to crop the image afterwards. In addition, it offered a more realistic image with less aberration at the ends of the board, minimally deforming the contestants.”

All tests with the new cameras, Flores points out, had to be sent to Talpa Studios for them to be accepted. In this way, his partner explains Joanca Garcia, it has been possible to improve a format that already had great visual potential: “Our objective was to evolve the look of the program, achieving an elegant and powerful visual texture. This requires a demanding technical deployment and a human team at the height of the format. In this sense, changes were proposed to adjust it to our television culture and the luminosity code of Spanish Television.”

LED screens at the service of the format

The Floor has a total of five LED screens as key visual and narrative elements: a large 19.50 x 11.50 m LED floor screen² (608 modules) and four side screens of more than 70 square meters in total with different resolutions. As Buendía explains, finding the right solutions has not been an easy task: "There are many details that must be taken into account. From the resolution of the screens that must be adequate so that the contestant can play without problem, and at the same time, provide an impeccable finish for the final product on broadcast, to the synergy between the screens and the optics of the cameras so that the finish and definition is the best."

The great protagonist of the format, as it could not be otherwise, is the floor screen of more than 220 square meters. Placed at a height 17 cm In order to introduce all the necessary wiring and fit it into the structure of the set, it has removable modules at any of its points, which can be replaced in case of failure.

Its implementation has brought with it challenges such as managing your content, since it has a resolution higher than 4K and presents graphics adapted to each circumstance of the program, in different resolutions. “Moving all this information live and fluidly has been one of the great challenges of this program,” explains García. On the other hand, the lighting, camera control and technical team worked intensely to ensure that this light source did not interfere with the lighting of the set or modify the textures and the marked color balance.

Las four additional screens They are defined by the Satisfaction Iberia team as “vitally important”. While the central duel screen allows the viewer to see these decisive moments in perfect resolution, the side screens They serve as visual support for the participants themselves. Lastly, the rear screen serves as a reference for the zenith planes with the cam rail, as well as to guide the presenter.

Realization “linked” with software

The peculiarities of The Floor, from its scenic space arranged in 360º until the 100 participants, make it a “very demanding” format with a “very complex” implementation. We must not only think about a frontal view, common in television broadcasts, but we must also consider the overhead plane. As García explains, “covering 100 contestants it's all a challenge, both in control and in operability of the entire team cameras. You have to be very attentive to not only realize what is happening, but to cover the simultaneous actions that will later emerge in post-production.”

The format of Satisfaction Iberia For RTVE it is also characterized by having a “realization 100% linked” to a software that manages all the graphic elements that make up the contest. This solution coordinates lighting, creative audio or mixing console, which allows program orders that involve several departments to be unified and “everything is triggered at the same time.” “It is such a complex format that it is very attractive,” García emphasizes.

The sound, the finishing touch to a “perfect gear”

Added to the complexity of the visual section is the area of sound, which ranges from 101 microphones to cover the participants and the presenter, Chenoa, until the deployment of the PA so that the contestants can hear the program well. Likewise, the production company itself explains, false live recording makes the concentration of this department and the degree of control when managing all the microphones look like "real superheroes."

Good day provides more details of the workflow of this area: "To facilitate the work of this department, what we are trying to do is divide the total number of microphones by areas according to the positions of the overhead cameras. In this way, if we divide the board into six sections, it is easier to say: X speaks from area

There is no department that escapes the complexity of The Floor. The format perfectly exemplifies a contest of new generation sustained by his own identity in the technology. No element is deployed exclusively for the loud effect wow, but to support his narrative by facilitating the engagement of the viewer at all levels.

He teamwork, as Patricia Flores concludes, constitutes the true foundations of the format: "We are nothing without each other... From coordinating the technical department with the construction of the set simultaneously, as we already mentioned, to the creation of the 100 categories with their photographs, music or sounds, with the management of the image banks and rights that entails. Without forgetting the casting... 100 contestants must be found in record time to participate in the program who are experts in each of its themes."