I’ll assume that there is a large pool of cameras that any of the worlds dedicated, or paying, countries can tap into.
My question, after watching some of the NBC coverage, is how much control and say does NBC have on what and who is shot?
I ask this because I have noticed that some events the cameras are soley focussed on the USA athlete and sometimes their families in the stands. I’ve noticed this regardless of what place they end up finishing.
It seems unlikely to me they have a camera dedicated to each athlete from every country along with all the other wider shots as well. So, someone is calling the shots, but who?
I’m pretty sure that NBC uses its own cameras with the exception of some of the specialized ones, like the underwater cameras, which are probably part of the international feed and run by the Sydney organizers.
When NBC had the Triplecast back in 1992, the network didn’t control that feed. It was the “generic” feed run by the Barcelona organizers.
I’ve been looking around at the camera people in background shots and I sure can’t see NBC plastered on any of the camera’s or the guys holding them.
Instead they have numbers on their smocks, like a 6,8, etc… So it doesn’t seem that NBC has their own.
Besides, who cares how much NBC pays to air the games, we’re not the only nation on this planet. I’d think that would create some pissed off people out there.
Why would people be pissed off that NBC had their own cameras? My point in mentioning how much they paid was to show how important it was to them. It probably doesn’t cost very much relative to the $750 million they already paid to have their own cameras also.
My WAG is that it’s a complicated mix of local feeds and country-specific cameras, all edited together to look seemless.
Maybe someone who really knows will post with some actual answers
FWIW, I just read a newspaper article about an underwater high-definition camera which NHK (Japanese national TV station) is using in Sydney. So some, if not all, cameras are brought in by the TV stations.
As I understand it, the host is obligated to provide tons of raw feed. At big events, that might mean a dozen or more cameras, and several feeds simultaneously. Any television company with broadcasting rights can use any of that feed and add their own commentary. TV companies can also negotiate for the rights to have their own cameras there, and the big companies usually will.
Our local TV company, NRK, is too small to give its people a paid vacation in Australia, so we’re dependent on the host’s feed. They cover everything, which is good, as many of the Norsk athletes are active in sports that don’t get a lot of airplay on an international basis. Women’s javelin, anyone?
Well I can look at 2 countries broadcasts. The UK’s on BBC and the Irish on RTE.
I would say that for shots of individual competitors say for example a Irish runner. There is probably a camera on all the runners and RTE just chooses to the show the one of interest to their viewers.
As to having their own cameras there. They definatly do. You see competitors getting interviewed by British/Irish interviewers after races/events all the time. It is these cameras which probably pick out families etc.
So I agree with Arjuna34’s WAG about a mixture of local and country-specific feeds.
Not meaning to dismiss others comments here, but yours seems the most plausible explaination so far.
Now, assuming that’s how it works on a basic level, let me narrow down my question.
My limited access to the inner workings of television has shown me that directors want oodles of control over what, who, and how, things are shot.
Is NBC allowed, or able, to tell camera man #12 that they want him to go into a tight shot of athelete ‘A’ over there in the corner? Or are all of the shots, outside of there own camera’s, controlled by someone else, thus, reducing the directors role to only choosing which camera to goto?
Maybe we can make some progress on focusing (heh) on some of the camera tricks.
When NBC airs swimming events, they often use digital technology to “insert” flags under the water in the leader’s lane – when the Australian in first place makes a turn, an Australian flag appears briefly underneath her in the water.
Do swimming fans in other countries get the benefit of this trick?
Not to interrupt your blatant hijack Manhattan, but that technique is added, rather easiely, after the fact, just like the graphics and commentary are.
Ahem, I’d like to know what happens during the actual taping. How much control does the director have over where, who, and how the camera is utilized?
You ever watch diving with that wicked-ass camera they got? Follows the diver as they fall, goes underwater, and comes up, without any drips or anything on the lens.
But synchronised diving? soon they’ll have enough sports for everyone to compete in…
