# Football camera angle - how do they do it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786 "2006-10-17T15:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/1 "2006-10-17T15:54:28Z")
How do they get that shot where it looks like the camera is hovering maybe 20 feet above the field? It doesn’t look like telephoto. It seems to have come into use only over the last few years. They use it a lot to show how the offense sets up before going to the wide shot. Is it some sort of goal-post cam? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/2 "2006-10-17T15:56:06Z")
Sometimes it’s exactly that… a camera suspended over the pitch on cables. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/3 "2006-10-17T16:13:35Z")
[Skycam](http://ask.yahoo.com/20041221.html) ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/4 "2006-10-17T16:24:19Z")
Hmm. When I first saw it I thought to myself gee it looks like they have a camera on cables but then figured those cables would get in the way of an airborne football. I guess it’s that simple after all and there hasn’t been too many problems with the cables interfering with the ball. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/5 "2006-10-17T16:37:29Z")
Well, upon visiting the [skycam site](http://www.skycam.tv/folders.asp?action=display&record=1) I find that it’s not simple in the least! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/6 "2006-10-17T17:12:41Z")
Ah yes, the Skycam. Besides Rod “He Hate Me” Smart, the only thing from the XFL to actually make it into the National Football League. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/7 "2006-10-23T19:07:23Z")
I hope this isn’t too much of a zombie, but how can they be sure that this rig won’t interfere with a ball in play? I have been wondering that for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/8 "2006-10-23T19:19:54Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] I hope this isn’t too much of a zombie, but how can they be sure that this rig won’t interfere with a ball in play? I have been wondering that for a while. [/QUOTE] Have you noticed the camera is always placed _behind_ the field of play? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/9 "2006-10-23T20:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Have you noticed the camera is always placed _behind_ the field of play? [/QUOTE] Yes, but the cabling must extend to the other end of the stadium. I have never seen a long shot that showed the thing in action very clearly. It just seems like this thing is, sooner or later, going to interfere with gameplay, then adios! ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/10 "2006-10-23T20:05:21Z")
It’s generally high enough that it would only get in the way of a kick, and it’s a rare kick that goes backwards. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/11 "2006-10-23T20:08:31Z")
Also, the cables usually run to the sides of the stadium, and the way the thing moves around there really aren’t any cables downfield over the field of play. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/12 "2006-10-23T20:55:42Z")
> [@First Link](#): > > … Since then, Skycam has shown up in sports from hockey to bowling. BOWLING?!?! WTF!? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/13 "2006-10-23T22:16:22Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] BOWLING?!?! WTF!? [/QUOTE] I _know!_ You put on these incredibly ugly shoes, and you pick up this giant heavy ball, and you hang the giant heavy ball on just the tips of your fingers, and then you try to fling and spin the bastard down this really long narrow strip of slippery wood and bash the crap out of a bunch of beakless albino penguins! I mean, _really!_ What? ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-camera-angle-how-do-they-do-it/376786/14 "2006-10-24T05:32:41Z")
Mr. Legend designs gimbals to stabilize helicopter- (or cable- or ship-) mounted cameras. He worked on the [Cablecam](http://www.cablecam.com/WHATWEDO.HTML) camera system for Superbowl XXXVIII, and it was, indeed, not at all simple (nor did it work quite the way he would have liked - he kept cringing during the game, and not because of the play on the field).