Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Whole Game

Kudos to the three camera operators we had in Arizona for the past 3 games.
We all know that being on the back end of a dual feed is not ideal. One of the ways that the negativity of being on the back end of a dual feed can be lessened is by the work of the camera crew.
If the camera ops are lazy this makes the dual feed experience even worse.
However, if the camera ops work hard and react to situations, the dual feed can be somewhat rewarding.
This was the case in Arizona.
First of all, we are in our own separate mobile unit. This unit that is quite comfortable to work out of which also greatly improves the dual experience.
Tonight's telecast included some great shots from the camera operators that only occured because these three operators were constantly "working" the whole game.
During play, the camera operators were continually reacting and finding great shots.
Between innings, our three operators were "looking" for shots on the field and in the dugouts. The camera operator in our dugout was constantly telling me on headset about shots in the dugout. If he was blocked, and he was blocked by our manager quite often, he would direct our high third camera operator about shots in the dugout.
Great teamwork!!
I would venture to say that at least 75% of all camera operators are shooting crowd between innings. There is a lot of pressure on the camera operators during play and maybe between innings is a good time to take some of this pressure off. However, some of the best shots occur between innings.
A goal of our telecast is to show the viewers at home something the fans at the ballpark do NOT see.
There is more opportunity to capture this goal between innings than during play.
Therefore, it may be more important that the camera operators are finding shots between innings than during play!
This thought was certainly proven during our telecast tonight.
There was a bench clearing incident tonight. Because of this, there was considerable angst between the teams throughout the game.
Tight shots of players faces on both teams captured the angst. I do not recall more shots of anger than we captured last night.
The score was tied going into the ninth inning and the Cardinals scored 5 runs to put the game away. During the top of the ninth inning, tight shots of Cardinals players faces were shots of true bliss.
Professional athletes of all sports live by an unwritten rule;
"Don't get too high and don't get too low".
Tonight's telecast included shots that captured emotions from both sides of this spectrum.
During play, between innings, on the field, and in the dugout, our camera operators were always working. They were rewarded for their hard work with their wonderful shots.
We had a successful dual feed show tonight.
Thank you camera ops.

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