This past weekend I was contracted by CBS Sports to work the UCONN@USF football game here in my hometown of Tampa, FL. It was an early crew call because the Tampa Bay Bucs were also scheduled to play the Cleveland Browns the following day. In other words, our had to contend with not only the Fox Sports Crew working the USF game as well but the crews were also there setting up for the NFL game the following day. It was a bit of controlled chaos with so many crews trying to get their jobs done!
TV Production Compound @ Ray J
I arrived about 30 mins early as usual (I can't stand being late) and entered through the usual media compound gate. After clearing security, I checked in with my production truck crew. Most had yet to arrive but I got together with the engineers and we started designing our setup for the day.
The media compound was pretty stacked with two full-sized production trucks for our game along with two others ready to work the NFL game the following day. Not to mention the three satellite and three support/gear trucks. The loading bay was definitely full that day! It's much easier when the Bucs aren't playing at home for sure!
I was a Field A-2 for this production so I was responsible for setting up and maintaining any audio elements on the filed for this game. Usually this consists of a few shotgun microphones for the field cameras which includes the two field-level handheld cameras and the 'cart cam.' That's the camera platform you might see driving up and down the field during the game. You won't always have that angle in games depending upon the production but since it was a national broadcast we had the addition.
These can be fun positions to run on camera, but not during this time of year. There is no respite from the sweltering Florida Sun in this seat so it can get bad. The field temperature actually get much higher than outside the stadium, which can be rough even on fans. However, when you're working field level it's get's a bit insane. At least the operator gets a bit of breeze as the driver takes him up and down the field during the game!
This position usually has at least a crew of three.; one camera operator, one driver and a grip to work the cabling...sometimes two grips if there's enough personall to spread around during game time. This was the first thing we worked on. I helped then setup the camera before making sure there was working microphone on the camera and setting up the comm systems for the driver and cam op with the production truck.
Shortly after I gathered my audio assistants and went over the gameplan to get our field audio setup in an efficient and timely manner. We still had several field elements to get ready including player/coach interview headsets for halftime/post-game interviews along with four parabolic mic dishes. I sent everyone off on their assignment before returning to the truck to grab a welcome addition to aid in the setup process.
It's a bit rare to get an available cart during the pre-production process but I guess I got lucky. This simple thing makes my job soooo much easier. Not mention it saves me a ridiculous amount of time not having to walk around the stadium for everything. I have four assistants getting different things done around the venue and have to venture around to check their work and for our faxing process (which is when we test all of the camera/audio equipment with the truck and the New York studio staff.
It actually takes a bunch of talented production professionals to bring those exciting sporting events to you at home on your boob tube but most people have no idea. I just hope to expose a bit of the work that goes on behind the scenes to send that polished product out to the masses!
Before hitting one of several patch panels at the production truck there has to be a massive amount of coordination and communication to get everything right.
Eventually everything is routed through the truck the appropriate place so the truck personnel can do their jobs properly. Here's a quick peak at the front row of this particular truck I worked from for the USF game.
Did anyone else notice the monitor that has the Spaceballs movie playing in it? This is what I saw when I came in to initially check in for the day. It was a long day of work but fortunately my USF Bulls pulled off another victory! It's always nice to work on the sidelines for teams you're a fan of, especially when they win! It was a close game but the USF Bulls sent UCONN home with a loss, they're actually doing surprisingly well this year....bring on UCF!
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until next time...