Sunday, April 25, 2010

Thank You

Thank you to the baseball Gods for a well played, well pitched, fast paced game.
Thank you to the San Francisco crew, home and road, for a comfortable dual feed.
We had three different feeds during our three game series against the Giants.
Friday night for game 1 we were in a side by side situation with a full complement of equipment.
For game 2 on Saturday night we were the back end of a dual feed with three cameras and four replay scources.
For today's conclusion of the series, we were in the back end of a dual with two cameras and four replay scources.
Unlike the first two games of the series, we were over-the-air and utilized a commercial reel for about 75% of our breaks for today's telecast.
With only two cameras under my control, I rode the home show's program feed for a good percentage of the telecast. I was able to do this because San Francisco's great director, Jim Lynch, communicated with me constantly throughout the telecast. This communication proved to be invaluable as we had a very clean telecast and a good show.
There is a huge difference of mind set when a production team is in a dual situation. In a dual feed situation, a great majority of the time is used to "protect" the dual feed's telecast. One never wants a jump cut or a whip pan to occur so the director is focused on presenting a "clean" show as well as covering the game.
The dual feed thus limits a director.
Every single director is affected by the dual feed. If a director says that there is no difference in his or her cut when in a dual situation then that director is lying.
It is the nature of the beast.
Indeed, we all understand that the dual feed situation is used because it is a great cost saving tool.
There is no dual feed director who likes to be in that situation but we all do the best that we can.
Thank you to the San Francisco TV team who makes this situation as comfortable as it can be.

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