Communication Systems

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Communication packages in China combine the brands global shoots know. Motorola digital and analog handsets, Clear-Com and Riedel intercom systems, Vertex two-ways, IFB feeds for talent and surveillance earpieces for ADs — with Hytera, the Shenzhen-based Chinese alternative that has become the dominant rental-stock radio across Beijing and Shanghai depot inventories. Hytera gives a price-and-access advantage that matters on large-unit shoots. The radios interoperate with Motorola DMR frequencies when channel plans are set up correctly.

Here is how this works in practice. Wireless beltpacks, base stations, repeater systems, IFB feeds and camera talkback ship pre-programmed for your department channel plan — directors and 1st ADs on a separate group from camera, grip, electric, locations and stunts — with backup units charged and labelled.

Here is how the picture comes together. The hard part of comms in China is range, not gear. MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) is China's FCC equivalent and licenses each RF channel a foreign production operates. Short-term production permits need lead time, supporting forms and a frequency planning plan that our rental team prepares and files. Foreign shoots cannot legally operate unlicensed radios in mainland China. Enforcement at major hubs like Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong and Shenzhen Bao'an airports is active.

Here is what we have to work with. The picture on the ground is more specific. We survey locations in advance for coverage. Hengdian backlot, Forbidden City courtyards with thick walls, Shanghai Bund building canyons, and remote Yunnan or Inner Mongolia exteriors all behave in new ways — deploy repeaters where needed, and keep the coordinator on call through wrap to swap units, add radios mid-shoot and run frequency conflicts to ground in real time.