Preface
The first live television coverage of a sports event, utilizing electronic cameras, is thought to be the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The monstrous camera, almost 71⁄2 feet (2.3 m) long, was dubbed the “television canon.” The camera could be used only when the sun was shining. Since home televisions were not yet popular, eight specially installed television viewing rooms, known as Fernsehstuben, were built around the venue so that people could see the television coverage. The telecast covered four venues, utilized a total of three television cameras, and shot a total of 72 hours of live transmission during the Berlin Games. In addition to the electronic cameras, a special film camera mounted on the top of a van equipped with film developing facilities was used to produce delayed television signals. In this process, known as the “intermediate film” system, scenes were shot on film, and this was immediately developed and scanned. In Berlin, news films of the Games were rushed to the United States by Zeppelin airships.
A History of Television, Broadcasting the Olympics, and Television in the Olympic Games: The New Era
The development of television broadcasting has had a major impact on the way sporting events are viewed around the world. While the stadium can host thousands of spectators in the stands, television broadcasts reach billions more who are unable to attend. Television provides a unique perspective unavailable to most spectators in the stands. Using advanced technology, specialty equipment, and production techniques, the television broadcast has become the best seat in the house. The majority of this coverage occurs through remote television productions.
Television Quality—1936 Olympic Games
The German television picture with 180 lines and 25 frames per second attains a remarkable picture quality.
Television in Germany, the official program of the 1936 Olympic television coverage
A lot has changed from a technological standpoint in the last decade. Today’s audience can view sports in 3D, 4K, and sometimes even 8K. They often view it with a second screen in hand that keeps them more informed about what is happening. Broad casting has also changed the way it is transmitted. More sports broadcasts are now seen online than over the air.
Data proves the massive interest of Japanese for the Olympic Games. Even though a lot of competitions were broadcast late at night, all white-collar workers waited in front of their screens to watch them, and were literally sleeping in their offices the day after. This phenomenon was even called the “Olympic Syndrome,” with the national productivity going down during the Games.
Hisashi Hieda, CEO, Fuji TV, Japan
Television Sports Failures
If sport is not working on TV, is not attracting an audience, is languishing, the problem lies with the people controlling that sport. They have either failed to keep that sport vital and alive, through laziness or mismanagement, or they have allowed people presenting their sport to the public through television to get away with sloppy, lazy or inattentive production.
David Hill, Chairman and CEO, Fox Sports Television
… to say that the televised Olympics—along with the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the World Cup, and other super-events—play a leading role in celebrating and shaping our global culture is to begin to approach a realistic sense of television’s complex place in the world of today.
Michael Real, Television Quarterly
Remote productions, or multi-camera outside broadcasts, occur on a daily basis around the world, from news events to parades, pageants to award programs, and concerts to sports.
In this handbook, we will focus on sports remote production. Concepts important to a sports remote production can be adapted to all other types of remote productions since they all use much the same equipment and personnel. Coverage strategies may differ but the concepts are still the same.
Of all the different types of remotes, why focus on sport? Sporting events are the most popular type of television program. In the United States, historically half of the programs attaining the largest viewing audience are sports programs. The viewing audience for the Sydney Olympic Games was estimated at nearly 35 billion cumulative people (Sydney Uplink). Dick Pound, International Olympic Com mittee member, stated that it is calculated that an unprecedented 9 out of 10 individuals on the planet with access to a television watched some part of the Sydney Olympics. David Hill, CEO of Fox Sports, says that “Sport is part of the fabric of society, it’s the ultimate reality show, and it’s the only form of programming guaranteed to attract huge audiences.”
Television sports are often broadcast live. If the director misses a layup during a basketball game, they cannot redo it. Some things, such as commentary, can be reworked in postproduction, but the action is live. That means the television broadcast has to be done right the first time, with no retakes, and it has to be done with quality. This live event pressure makes television sport one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, type of television production.
Sport productions can exist on a very small scale, such as two cameras at a local basket-ball game shown online, as compared to 41 cameras at the Super Bowl or 400 cameras at a multi-event Olympic Games.
Throughout this book, you will find real-life examples from a variety of events, such as the Olympic Games, the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Goodwill Games, the Indianapolis 500, and others. We have provided camera and microphone diagrams for small and large events.
This is not a stand-alone guide to television production. Our goal was to create a book or text that supplements other existing television production handbooks (see Recommend ed Reading). We wanted to provide an overview of the various aspects of the television remote production industry. However, some basic production material has also been covered in an attempt to get everyone to the same level.
A multi-camera remote production is like a symphony. It is not a solo effort. The director is the conductor, juggling the various components, relying on an incredibly talented crew, to create a production that allows the audience to feel as though they are at the event and as though they have participated.
Beyond familiar production terminology, remote productions sometimes have their own language, definitions, and unique equipment. Our goal is to give you an inside view of how a remote production goes together and the role of each participant.