Yesterday was our final Florida spring telecast.
As I wrote in my earlier blogs, thank goodness for spring training telecasts to work out the kinks before the regular season.
Yesterday’s telecast was very different from the first two. We were in a very small mobile unit. This mobile unit only carries five cameras. 3 hard cams with big lens and two handheld cams with 18X1 lens. One of the differences between baseball television and hockey or basketball television is that while 18X1 lenses are adequate for hockey and basketball telecasts because of the close proximity of the playing surface (court and rink), this lens is NOT particularly usable for baseball. These lenses can be used for baseball, as shown yesterday, but when the tightest shot of the pitcher and/or the batter is above the knees – an ugly shot, the telecast is not enhanced. To make this type of mobile unit more baseball friendly, the truck should carry 5 hard cams and 1 handheld.
The cramped conditions inside the unit are a concern as well. When a baseball TV production team is working a game, there is on or about three hours of split second decisions being made by each member of the team. The more comfortable the conditions, the less likely a poor decision will be made during the game. For example, a family of five will have a much more comfortable and enjoyable three hour car trip in a station wagon than a VW Bug.
The switcher in the truck is one that is not well known by many technical directors. Indeed, the TD yesterday did a fairly good job but being unfamiliar and thus uncomfortable with the switcher caused a few mistakes to be made.
There were some audio problems that were not because of the mobile unit or the audio engineer. An audio “connector cable” was exposed to water and malfunctioned causing the Producer’s audio, when he talked on IFB to the announcers, to go out over the air. My RTS system was ok so I cued the announcers for promos and replays and such. Just another adjustment that a baseball TV production team sometimes has to make to insure as good a telecast as we can.
With the two handheld cameras on board, we switched our coverage and camera responsibilities for the game. We took one of the handhelds and put a couple hundred feet of cable on it and had it roam throughout the ballpark providing beauty “spring training” shots throughout the telecast. We occasionally used it for game coverage as well and these shots were fairly unique to the show. Occasionally throughout our home telecasts, we will use a handheld in this manner to provide a different “look” to the show. I think this will work.
The television broadcast industry has had many changes during my 26 years as a sports TV director. Most of these changes have been necessary and some have even been great. However, it must be recognized that baseball television is completely different from all other sports television and must be treated as such.
Because baseball is a 360 degree sport, there is no “game” camera.
Football’s game camera may change from the 20 yard line to the 50 yard line to the 20 yard line.
Basketball and hockey have a game camera at center court or center ice. These cameras are used for 80% to 90% of the coverage.
During a baseball telecast, all cameras are used about the same amount. The importance of the lens (glass) on a camera makes a huge difference in baseball television coverage. Because each camera in baseball can be used at any time according to the director’s decision, baseball is the only sport where EVERY Director cuts the game differently.
THERE ARE NO TWO BASEBALL GAMES DIRECTED IN THE SAME MANNER.
Limiting a Director’s creativity greatly harms the quality of the baseball “coverage” a Director can provide.
With smaller trucks and dual feeds, a baseball game can be “covered”, but it is the “coverage” of the game that a Director provides that determines the quality of the telecast.
One can put a price on smaller trucks and duel feeds. The numbers are there. The value is in black and white.
The question must be raised; what is the value of quality?