Onsite Fox NFL Sunday will be produced in 1080p
Fox Sports kicked off the 2018–19 season with Thursday Night Football, which saw a ratings boost and high-tech innovations. Now, they aim to finish strong with the NFC Championship on Sunday in New Orleans. The Rams-Saints game will include tools used throughout Fox Sports’ Thursday Night Football and Sunday A broadcasts this season. That includes dual SkyCam systems and many Sony 4K and high-speed cameras placed around the stadium. For the first time, the Fox NFL Sunday studio show will also be produced onsite in 1080p.
“We really liked our [production] complement on Thursday Night Football this year,” says Mike Davies, SVP, technical and field operations, Fox Sports. “We thought we hit a very good recipe of storytelling and technology without overdoing it. So Sunday’s game is going to look a lot like Thursday Night Football.”
TNF Staples: Plenty of Slo-Mo, Dual SkyCams, HOF-Quality Audio
More than 40 Fox cameras will be used for Sunday’s production. Nine of those are high-speed systems, covering nearly all field-level camera positions. One Sony HDC-4800 will shoot in 4K from the high end-zone position. Another will be on the sidelines, capturing up to 16X slo-mo in HD. This creates NFL Films-style cinematic shots for both live and edited use. Launched at last year’s NFC Championship, this camera has become key for cinematic replays during the game and pregame show.
Fox Sports NFC Championship Expands Replay and Audio Tools
“We’re really excited about that 4800 on the sideline, and some of the stuff [our operator] is getting is absolutely phenomenal,” says Davies. “You’re able to take the benefits of a film-quality camera and turn it around quickly for the live broadcast, as well as put it in the edit system. I think that we’re only scratching the surface in terms of incorporating [cinema-style] cameras and lenses into the broadcast.”
In addition, seven Sony HDC-4300s will shoot at frame rates from 3X to 8X, depending on their stadium location. PylonCam systems will cover both end zones. An RF Steadicam and an aerial blimp will also be in use.
As with all Fox TNF and Sunday A games this season, two SkyCams—one high and one low—will cover the action. Both SkyCams are capable of displaying SMT augmented-reality graphics during the broadcast.
“I think [dual SkyCams] have become pretty standard for [all NFL broadcasters] at this point,” Davies observes. “It’s been interesting to see how all the different networks use it, and I think it’s been an amazing tool for all of us from an analytics standpoint.”
The 5.1-surround audio production will be led by Hall of Fame A1 Fred Aldous. Eddie Verstraete will handle the on-field submix. Aldous and his team will work to capture sound from the loud and energetic crowd inside the Superdome.
“There’s an old saying that it’s not the wand, it’s the magician. And I think that we’ve got a really great magician on our audio crew [in Aldous],” says Davies. “New Orleans is always tough because it’s a dome and the PA is extremely loud by design. So it’s tough to get those field effects that you’re looking for, but you know Fred’s got some tricks in terms of dealing with that.”
The Move to 1080p: Fox NFL Sunday Onsite in the Big Easy
The Fox NFL Sunday studio show, which was just announced as a 2019 NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee, will be onsite. For the first time, it will be produced in 1080p during the playoffs. Games are already produced in this format. The broadcast is downconverted for distribution to viewers at home.
Says Davies, “We think 1080p definitely adds to the quality a little bit in terms of what we end up sending home to the viewer even with [the downconversion].”
Sunday marks the second road trip for Fox NFL Sunday this season. The first was a visit to Fort Benning, GA, on Veterans Day weekend. According to Davies, the Superdome is the ideal studio show venue. It’s indoors and offers suitable spots for an on-field set.
Fox will use Game Creek Video’s Pride mobile unit for the pregame show. This is the same truck used for NFL Network’s TNF Pregame show during the regular season. It will be integrated with Fox’s main game truck: Game Creek’s Encore A, B, and C units.
“We’re going to leverage a lot of what we did with the NFL Network from a technical standpoint because we’re using the same facilities [for pregame],” says Davies. “I think one of the more impressive things we’ve seen for [onsite pregame shows] is how the two trucks work together. And I think we’ve got a really good formula with our directors: Stephanie Medina on the pregame side and Rich Russo on the game side. They work great together, and we always make sure the pregame gets the cameras and resources needed to do a great show.”
As NFL Season Winds Down, Fox Gets its Pick of the Crew
Joining Russo in the truck for the game production will be TNF producer Richie Zyontz and TD Colby Bourgeois. Pete Chalverus is technical producer.
Although this weekend’s game will be one of the most high-tech productions, Davies says the crew is Fox’s key advantage. He sees the world-class team—not the tech—as the biggest differentiator for this NFC Championship broadcast.
“We are lucky because we got not only the equipment that we needed but we also got the team to do it,” says Davies. “While our level of equipment is great and we’re lucky to have all these tools at our disposal, I think the most important thing about the NFC Championship is, there is hardly any other football going on, so we get to pick from the very best of the best in terms of the crew. We can augment our amazing Thursday Night crew with other top-flight talent.”
A Look Back at 2018: TNF Flourishes in Year 1
In year one of its five-year TNF deal, Fox launched a “second A game” package alongside its existing NFL lineup. It also created a new Thursday Night Football Pregame Show at Fox News Channel headquarters in New York City.
“I’m really proud of how quickly we were able to build up TNF,” says Davies. “We didn’t have a ton of time to put this in gear and all of the things that needed to happen — not only on the road but also in the studio in New York. There’s no question, TNF would not be what it was this [season] without the hard work of our crew.
“It was also great to work with our partners at the NFL Network,” he continues. “We knew there would be challenges, but, frankly, I don’t think it could have gone any better, so we’re really looking forward to next [season].”
Of course, Fox Sports operations team accomplishments go beyond TNF. Fox made incremental upgrades to its game productions and, for the first time, worked with CMSI to provide every NFL on Fox production full file-transfer capabilities between the remote and its L.A. headquarters.
“Across the board, there were a lot of things to be proud of for the road crews and all the folks that work not only one football show a week but sometimes two,” says Davies. “It was great to see how the production teams rose to the challenge of covering the phenomenal matchups that we were given. From an operational standpoint, our crewing department was huge this year and deserves a lot credit for making this season go as smoothly as it did.”
A Look Ahead to 2020: Super Bowl LIV on the Horizon
Davies and his team have been planning Super Bowl LIV operations for most of the past year.
“We’ve got some ideas for our producers and directors,” says Davies. “These ideas will develop over the next 12 months. There have been a lot of Super Bowls in Miami, and the stadium has never been in better shape. I think that we can build on what [previous Super Bowl broadcasters] have done there and add plenty of our own Fox twist. So I’m really looking forward to this one.”
Source : Sports Video Group
