Six cameras, a two-channel Elvis (replay machine) and 4 replay play backs, and a great crew to work with.
And, we are on the road!
It is so nice to have a full road complement of equipment with a hard working and fun crew. Our TV production was pumped up for the telecast. It would be ideal if the game would only cooperate and give us a well-played, well-pitched, great flowing, exciting contest.
It did.
With rain threatening at any moment, the Cardinals won the game 3-2 with a pinch-hit solo home run in the top of the ninth inning!
The replays for the game winning home run included the usual looks; the pitch, the swing, and the ball going over the fence. But, because of our full complement of equipment, there was a dugout iso of the Cardinals reacting to the home run by their teammate. A memorable “look” that was certainly talked about after the telecast and, in fact, shown on the highlights of sports shows.
When a TV baseball Director is cutting a game, framing is of the utmost importance towards the ultimate quality of the show. There are two instances that the Director takes into account concerning framing. Framing the shot and framing a graphic in the shot. The fact that baseball is the only sports that is a 360 degree game – cameras can cover the contest from anywhere in the ballpark – makes framing not only more efficient to do, but also more important. (Unlike football, basketball, and hockey which are 180 degree sports – all cameras must be on the same side of the playing surface which makes proper framing a bit more difficult to attain.)
In my opinion, the best shot of a player is the straight-on shot. This is the shot that looks directly into the face of the player. The two most common shots that cover the individual player in a baseball game are the pitcher shot and the batter shot.
The most effective shots of these participants are from the camera angle that best covers the player head-on.
The best shot of the pitcher who is pitching from the windup is a shot from behind home plate. Unfortunately, most ballparks do not offer this location. Therefore, it is important to have at least one of the dugout cameras on the home plate side of the dugout. This location will give the Director as close to a straight-on shot as possible.
Likewise, the best shots of the batter are the ones from the tight centerfield camera.
We, however, are not utilizing the tight centerfield camera in our home telecasts this season, so we use the first base dugout camera for our right-handed batter shot. For our home games, we do not have a camera located in the third base visitor’s dugout, so we use the left field corner camera for the left-handed batter shots. For the home telecasts, I also utilize a mid-third base camera that is able to shoot quality pitcher shots and a good left-handed batter shot.
If there is a “weakness” in the camera location for our home telecasts, it is the fact that the camera that gives the best quality shot of both the right-handed batter and a left-handed pitcher in the stretch is the low-first base camera. The mid-third base camera will give me an adequate shot of a left-handed pitcher in the stretch, but the low-first base camera is a better shot. I must decide which shot takes priority in an exciting game situation. The framing of the shot can either add to the situation or take away from the situation.
A Director must be flexible when issuing responsibilities to the camera operators. The primary responsibility of a camera operator is to provide the best shot possible in a given situation. Sometimes camera operators are so “locked in” to their shot responsibilities that they miss a better shot or a better “look”. While it is true that the low-first base camera provides an excellent shot of a right-handed batter, and the low-third base camera does the same with a left-handed batter, either of those two cameras could give the best shot of the pitcher.
There are too many instances where I see a shot of the back of the head of a pitcher in the stretch which, I believe, is a horrible shot.
For example, when there is a right-handed pitcher in the stretch and a left-handed batter at the plate, I often see the low-third base camera on the batter even though that camera provides the best shot of the pitcher. Meanwhile, the low-first base camera is on the pitcher even though that angle shows the back of the head of the pitcher.
The low-first base camera will NEVER shoot a left-handed batter because that shot is from the back of the player. So why is it ok for the low-first base camera to shoot the back of a right-handed pitcher in the stretch? They are the same shots!
This is an example of the philosophy that any shot is better than no shot. It is philosophy the breed’s laziness and a philosophy that, in my opinion, is crap.
When there is a full complement of equipment to work with (covering the 360 degrees), graphics can be framed with the best possible “look”. For example, if the pitcher’s graphic is a slab left, the best framing would be the pitcher on the right side of the screen. With a full camera complement, this is possible. When a TV production team is on the back end of a dual feed, this is not always possible. Yes, the graphic (usually sold) will air, but the framing may not present the best “look” available.
When we are in the back-end of a dual feed, I try to place a camera on the first base side, on the third base side, and in tight-centerfield. This coverage is as close as we can get to the 360 degrees that television baseball provides, which allows us to frame shots and graphics as good as we can.
This weekend begins a five game set at home.
Our telecasts will include a full complement of equipment with our great home crew.
It doesn’t get any better than that.