Adjustments.
How a television production team adjusts to situations that come up before and during a telecast will define the quality of the telecast. It is the very nature of our business. I believe that adjusting to certain situations during a telecast is what makes this profession so exciting. Each and every telecast poses new situations that require split second decisions. During preproduction, something inevitably occurs that causes change in the pre-game “plan” of the telecast.
This past Sunday was the first telecast of the 2007 season.
It was a spring training telecast from Florida.
Every Producer or Director in the baseball broadcasting industry knows that spring training telecasts will be full of surprises. Spring training telecasts are almost necessary for every broadcast team because they prove to be excellent “warm ups” for the upcoming season. Just as the players utilize spring training to get ready for the season, TV production teams use these opportunities to get ready as well.
These telecasts are important because they present many different situations that require adjustments from the crew in the TV truck.
The camera positions are far from the “quality” positions of a major league ballpark. The sightlines are different: the high home camera usually shoots through the back stop netting and the dugout cameras are located on the outfield side of the dugout.
One of the first adjustments we made was during set-up. The low third base camera would not fire, so we moved that camera to tight centerfield. This camera shared the platform with the centerfield camera. There is enough room for two cameras on the platform but just barely enough.
As the game started, another adjustment had to be made when the score box stopped working. The graphics operator used the score box shell and updated the count and score manually. The score box started working in the second inning and the graphics operator adjusted back to his game responsibilities.
During spring training games, the umpires rotate their positions every two innings. This rotation caused another adjustment during the telecast. During the middle innings of the game, the umpire that rotated himself to second base positioned himself in such a location that the home plate area and the catcher were completely blocked when the centerfield camera (camera #4) was used. I immediately told the tight centerfield camera (camera #6), which had a better shot of the home plate area, that he now had centerfield camera responsibilities, and I told the centerfield camera person that he change his responsibilities to that of the tight centerfield camera. (Camera #4, CF, tracks the pitch, follows the batter out of the box, and when his tally light is off shags the ball. Camera #6 follows the batter around the base paths)
Every telecast of the season requires adjustments to be made by the TV production team. It is nice that we also have “spring training” to get us ready for the season.
How a television production team adjusts to situations that come up before and during a telecast will define the quality of the telecast. It is the very nature of our business. I believe that adjusting to certain situations during a telecast is what makes this profession so exciting. Each and every telecast poses new situations that require split second decisions. During preproduction, something inevitably occurs that causes change in the pre-game “plan” of the telecast.
This past Sunday was the first telecast of the 2007 season.
It was a spring training telecast from Florida.
Every Producer or Director in the baseball broadcasting industry knows that spring training telecasts will be full of surprises. Spring training telecasts are almost necessary for every broadcast team because they prove to be excellent “warm ups” for the upcoming season. Just as the players utilize spring training to get ready for the season, TV production teams use these opportunities to get ready as well.
These telecasts are important because they present many different situations that require adjustments from the crew in the TV truck.
The camera positions are far from the “quality” positions of a major league ballpark. The sightlines are different: the high home camera usually shoots through the back stop netting and the dugout cameras are located on the outfield side of the dugout.
One of the first adjustments we made was during set-up. The low third base camera would not fire, so we moved that camera to tight centerfield. This camera shared the platform with the centerfield camera. There is enough room for two cameras on the platform but just barely enough.
As the game started, another adjustment had to be made when the score box stopped working. The graphics operator used the score box shell and updated the count and score manually. The score box started working in the second inning and the graphics operator adjusted back to his game responsibilities.
During spring training games, the umpires rotate their positions every two innings. This rotation caused another adjustment during the telecast. During the middle innings of the game, the umpire that rotated himself to second base positioned himself in such a location that the home plate area and the catcher were completely blocked when the centerfield camera (camera #4) was used. I immediately told the tight centerfield camera (camera #6), which had a better shot of the home plate area, that he now had centerfield camera responsibilities, and I told the centerfield camera person that he change his responsibilities to that of the tight centerfield camera. (Camera #4, CF, tracks the pitch, follows the batter out of the box, and when his tally light is off shags the ball. Camera #6 follows the batter around the base paths)
Every telecast of the season requires adjustments to be made by the TV production team. It is nice that we also have “spring training” to get us ready for the season.
posted by Cutting The Game at 9:58 AM
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