Saturday, July 23, 2011

Pittsburgh Camera Ops

Most of the camera operators around Major League baseball know the players on the teams from their hometowns.
The best camera operators around baseball know the players on the team visiting their city. The immediate identification of the players helps the director develop a nice rhythm. The immediate identification of the players by the camera operators may be the most important aspect governing the "flow of the show".
Gerald Laird is one of the newest Cardinals players. He is playing in his first season with the team. During tonight's game/telecast, I asked camera 1 to "give me Gerald Laird". Not only did camera 1 located at mid-first base immediately find Laird in the dugout but camera 5 (Located in the first base dugout) also immediately took a shot of Laird.
Very impressive!
For telecasts in Pittsburgh I am in the back end of a dual feed which means I have three cameras at my disposal and I share other cameras with the home TV feed which is the primary feed. There is a huge reliance on the three cameras relegated to our telecast. The higher the quality of these operators = the higher quality of the telecast.
The three camera operators that are on the St. Louis Cardinals telecast are very, very talented. There is always a great "flow to the show" whenever we are in Pittsburgh.
Camera 1 is at mid-1st base, camera 5 is at low 1st base (Cardinals' dugout), and camera 6 is tight centerfield.
All three of these operators are a pleasure to work with.
I learn from them each and every telecast.
Thanks guys!

No comments:

Post a Comment