Cédric Pinto presents "Unique au Monde", NRJ12's latest show, filmed at Studio Les Lilas

This is a really exciting programme. We offer our viewers new and cutting edge reports on issues that haven't been covered before, from every corner of the world, at the end of which we find Erika and her entourage living the "Unique au Monde" experience.

One such experience was an impressive exposé about a family who raise a fully-grown tiger as a pet. Their daily life is astonishing. You spend the entire time wondering if they're risking their lives.

This gave us the bright idea of bringing some decidedly "non-domestic" animals on the set, to see how our reporters would react. Giggles galore ensued. 

Why did you look to AMP VISUAL TV's teams for this project?

Because I couldn't afford to make a mistake!

NRJ12, with its own productions, has always been a major figure in the French audio-visual landscape. Its original formats have meant that since its creation in 2005, the channel has been an innovative force. Normally, for a channel such as NRJ12, producing a programme of this scope - with wild animals, drones, martial arts champions and cars on set, live performances and a wide audience - requires an external production team.    

For "Unique au Monde", the challenge was therefore one of size. It was also the first time that we had to produce such large sets ourselves.

Our ambitions for "Unique au Monde" meant that it was vital to choose a large set, at least 600m². Our interior design and lighting had to be of prime-time TV calibre. We also needed a management structure that was larger than what we could provide internally.

Finding someone who could lend us a set or an OB truck is by no means difficult. But I was looking for something else. I wanted to collaborate with a service provider that was going to accompany us on our journey, work within our limits, and understand the stakes for NRJ12.

I must admit that the teams at AMP VISUAL TV were really on the ball, and proved to be effective partners in this production. It seemed to me as though the stakes were as important to AMP VISUAL TV as they were for us. This was absolutely instrumental in the success of this programme.

On a more personal level, when AMP VISUAL TV invited me to visit several potential sites to shoot our programme, I fell in love with Studio Les Lilas. It's a site that may initially prove off-putting to some production directors or general managers because there isn't much room to accommodate the trucks needed in order to film a programme. Personally, I found Studio Les Lilas offered exactly what I was looking for, with its fantastic lighting, adjoining workshop, numerous green rooms and interior courtyard. Above all, this place has a very unique charm, plunging members into a real team spirit. I wanted some of my internal TV NRJ Group teams to take part in filming, and I didn't want them to be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the site. I needed a studio that was more manageable.

Again, AMP VISUAL TV listened to our demands, making some really rather remarkable changes to Studio Les Lilas to suit our needs. They entirely remodelled the cottage that stood in the inside courtyard of the Studio (the very same court made famous by Top Chef, which provides access to the candidates' locker rooms), so that we could move in our editorial and production teams. 

What equipment did you use while filming?

We built our technical packages around our interior design, which was our starting point.

Frédéric Cerrato, the renowned decorator known for his original creations, such as the design of Thierry Ardisson's "Happy Hour" and Cyril Hanouna's "Touche Pas À Mon Poste", created a décor that was entirely in keeping with the general theme of "Unique au Monde". This theme is based on the notion of "trompe l'oeil" style illusion, and is supported by giant screens, provided by Utram.

The programme is largely based on improvised interaction between the host and the journalists. Grégoire Saint-Pierre, the director, imagined a multitude of cameras that could cover all eventualities, with a 360° view and backstage footage.

We opted, therefore, for 9 HD cameras, of which 2 were portable, 6 heavy and one bullet camera, which I'll talk about later.

A 7-metre, Litecam crane, masterfully manoeuvred by Nicolas Brabetz from Microfilms, was essential in creating the "trompe d'oeil" effect.

Tell us more about the use of iPhone and TVU technology. How did you discover it? How did you integrate it into the programme? 

With the director, we came up with the idea of having a mini camera on set that the journalists could use as they so wished. Depending on what was going on, we wanted this mini camera to give viewers the chance to enter into the subjective gaze of the journalist on the camera axis or shot that he or she wanted to show.

We considered several options, such as mini GoPro cameras. However, this option would have severely limited interaction with the public. We would have had to synchronise everything in post-production that was being filmed. This meant that nobody, be they on set or in the OB, could have seen what was being filmed.

When I explained my problem to the teams at AMP VISUAL TV, they invited me to the workshop that they had organised on the forecourt of Studios Rive Gauche last June. They told me that they had just developed a solution - a prototype created by AMP VISUAL TV - with an iPhone whose camera is linked to the OB truck in real time! It was there that we were able to discover the iPhone-TVU system.

TVU technology allows you to send a video signal through telephone networks using 3G or 4G cards from the three main French operators. This process has been around for several years, and is beloved by news channels, who use it mainly as a cheap means of linking up with their correspondents without using satellite beams.

But what was really ingenious about what was presented to us at the workshop was that this technology could be paired with an iPhone application developed by AMP VISUAL TV. We could use the TVU system for the bullet camera that we wanted to use on set.

A simple iPhone can be transformed into an additional camera to which the director can switch during the programme, offering the viewer an even more varied experience.

At NRJ12, we are very much committed to new technologies, especially smartphones and tablets. The "Unique au Monde" experience was made for us.