Opening day telecasts are a real barometer that gauges the mettle of the TV crew. Our opening telecast for the 2008 regular season was today and, once again, there were instances that really tested our TV production team. Perhaps, there may not be a telecast that causes the TV crew to make adjustments on the fly more than the regular season home opener.
One of the main culprits was the weather. There was a 60% chance of rain all day and, indeed, the game was rained out in the third inning. Because of the threat of rain, the tarp was on the field. This caused us to adjust the “bumper” shots that we send down the line for the pre-game show. These shots are usually of players taking batting practice, stretching, and playing catch. Today’s shots included umbrellas and rain gear.
Our Duet (graphics) crashed and burned. Not five minutes to air the Duet became somewhat functional and the operator did the best he could to salvage the commercial inventory vital to that machine. He adjusted and created on the fly.
During a telecast, the Producer (if there is no phone coordinator) is on the phone with a person coordinating the commercials. This person is located in Houston. The Producer will count the “Coord” to the commercial break and the “Coord” will count the Producer back from break. During the pre-game show, the phone line to Houston died. There was literally no communication between the truck and Coord. However, the pre-game show Producer in the studio still maintained communication with Houston. So, our game Producer adjusted and, because for whatever reason, a phone line could not be patched into his headset, the Producer called the pre-game studio on a handset and coordinated the pre-game show with a phone in his left ear and a headset in his right ear. Adjusting on the fly takes quick thinking. The more experienced a TV crew member is, the better he/she will be able to adjust on the fly. This was a perfect example of an experienced television veteran making an adjustment quickly thus not interrupting the flow of the show.
Our technical director made an adjustment today as well. There were some guests in the booth and, when we have guests, we like to use a 2-box effect with a live game cut in one box and the guest or guests in the other box. The score box should also be in the shot as our 2-box graphic is built to accommodate the score box. When the 2-box effect was built on the pre-set monitor, the score box was over the live cut in the box, not over the 2-box effect. I told the TD to lose the fox box on the live cut and place it over the 2-box effect. He made an adjustment on 2 ME banks and the final effect was captured. Every technical director likes to set up the switcher in his or her desired way. The final effect we were looking for in this instance caused the TD to literally change the way his switcher was set up and do it on the fly. He made the adjustment and it worked.
Home openers can be very challenging. Our crew met the challenges of today’s home opener and provided the viewers with a fairly “clean” telecast.
Because the game was rained out in the third inning, the contest will be made up during tomorrows’ scheduled off day. There is a hockey game in town as well and I have been alerted by the person who “crews” our show that some of the crew members will not be as experienced as our normal home show. In fact, we may be short on camera and in the tape room.
It looks like another day of making adjustments.
Bring it on.
One of the main culprits was the weather. There was a 60% chance of rain all day and, indeed, the game was rained out in the third inning. Because of the threat of rain, the tarp was on the field. This caused us to adjust the “bumper” shots that we send down the line for the pre-game show. These shots are usually of players taking batting practice, stretching, and playing catch. Today’s shots included umbrellas and rain gear.
Our Duet (graphics) crashed and burned. Not five minutes to air the Duet became somewhat functional and the operator did the best he could to salvage the commercial inventory vital to that machine. He adjusted and created on the fly.
During a telecast, the Producer (if there is no phone coordinator) is on the phone with a person coordinating the commercials. This person is located in Houston. The Producer will count the “Coord” to the commercial break and the “Coord” will count the Producer back from break. During the pre-game show, the phone line to Houston died. There was literally no communication between the truck and Coord. However, the pre-game show Producer in the studio still maintained communication with Houston. So, our game Producer adjusted and, because for whatever reason, a phone line could not be patched into his headset, the Producer called the pre-game studio on a handset and coordinated the pre-game show with a phone in his left ear and a headset in his right ear. Adjusting on the fly takes quick thinking. The more experienced a TV crew member is, the better he/she will be able to adjust on the fly. This was a perfect example of an experienced television veteran making an adjustment quickly thus not interrupting the flow of the show.
Our technical director made an adjustment today as well. There were some guests in the booth and, when we have guests, we like to use a 2-box effect with a live game cut in one box and the guest or guests in the other box. The score box should also be in the shot as our 2-box graphic is built to accommodate the score box. When the 2-box effect was built on the pre-set monitor, the score box was over the live cut in the box, not over the 2-box effect. I told the TD to lose the fox box on the live cut and place it over the 2-box effect. He made an adjustment on 2 ME banks and the final effect was captured. Every technical director likes to set up the switcher in his or her desired way. The final effect we were looking for in this instance caused the TD to literally change the way his switcher was set up and do it on the fly. He made the adjustment and it worked.
Home openers can be very challenging. Our crew met the challenges of today’s home opener and provided the viewers with a fairly “clean” telecast.
Because the game was rained out in the third inning, the contest will be made up during tomorrows’ scheduled off day. There is a hockey game in town as well and I have been alerted by the person who “crews” our show that some of the crew members will not be as experienced as our normal home show. In fact, we may be short on camera and in the tape room.
It looks like another day of making adjustments.
Bring it on.
posted by Cutting The Game at 7:49 PM
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