The NFL and college football seasons are finally in full swing, the beer is cold, the easy chair is comfy and life is good. Every year, television game coverage continues to advance, with new technologies, higher quality images and better graphics that combine to make our sports viewing experience pretty special.
Back when I was the slo-mo (instant replay) guy in the mobile video truck, football games were covered by three standard definition television cameras, a single videotape recorder for replays and a primitive character generator for keying scores and titles. Our crew never imagined coverage by 10 or more high definition cameras with multiple replay angles, and we never could have imagined flying cameras. Yet today, at almost every NFL and college game, there’s a Skycam — delivering stunning HD video and a point-of-view that’s truly remarkable.
??The Steadicam Connection
Skycam is a high definition camera system that flies in three dimensions above a playing field. The system is computer controlled, driven by cables and powerful winches and, most importantly, operated by a highly skilled team of operators and technicians.
The Skycam system took the sports industry by storm around 2001, because it offered a point-of-view never before seen and an opportunity for enhanced game analysis. ESPN was the first to use it for Sunday Night Football, and since that point, its use has grown to other networks and even to other sporting events.
“In the early 1970s, it started with the Steadicam, which was invented by Garrett Brown,” said Stephen Wharton, VP of engineering and operations at Fort Worth, TX-based Skycam. “For Brown, a cinematographer, it was a natural progression to take the Steadicam concept, suspend it in the air and invent a way to create aerial shots. The Skycam is not a flying Steadicam, but because it’s stabilized, it’s not far off from being one, in design and concept.”
??The Natural Review Process
Ever since Rocky Balboa ran up that flight of stairs in Philadelphia, with a Steadicam filming the sequence (operated by Garrett Brown), the film industry stood up and took notice. I asked Wharton if Brown had any notion that Skycam would develop into a sports icon — with an impact equal to Steadicam. “I think so,” noted Wharton. “For Garrett, with his film background, he wanted his invention to find a place in filming specialized tracking shots, but it quickly found its place in American football. The primary reason is because of the constant delay in action that’s built into the game.”
“In soccer, you play 90 minutes nonstop, and in basketball, there’s practically no stopping. But in football, you have this natural review process,” continued Wharton. “So aside from being a very compelling shot, Skycam has excelled as an analytical tool, where you get a unique perspective that you simply couldn’t get before. It allows you to see offensively and defensively how a play opens up and how players respond. After each down, during the natural review process, Skycam’s unique angle adds real insight to the other replays from various angles.”
In addition to football, Skycam technology has been used for figure skating, NASCAR, soccer, rodeo, horse racing, lacrosse, aquatics and more — but it’s often a challenge to find where to fit this unique camera angle. It turns out that there are a few restrictions.
“In American Football, we have a floor requirement, so we never lower the rig below 12 feet,” said Wharton, “and the camera can never be in front of the line of scrimmage, otherwise we’d interfere with the play. Regardless of the sport, our rules revolve around safety and not interfering with the game in any way.”
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Fiber Optics and a Pilot
Skycam uses a four-point suspension system that allows freedom of movement on 3 axes. Above and beyond each of the playing field’s corners, there’s a pulley (or winch) point. Those four lines attach to the central camera rig, which is called a “spar,” enabling Skycam to fly in 3D space above the field. At 40 to 50 pounds, the spar (including camera) is fairly lightweight. Telemetry is used to control the camera and the spar and transport the HD signal back to the video truck. Skycam uses the Sony HDC-P1 on the spar, in addition to digital microphones.
“The magic isn’t so much in the camera as it is in the spar and the stabilization system,” said Wharton. “We use a special proprietary cable that actually has a flat fiber optic line woven into it, which acts as a carrier. It allows us to run HD-SDI back to the truck, plus the telemetry for the camera’s pan, tilt, focus, zoom and stabilization. Our design also accounts for fiber optic bend radius and deflection angle, ensuring a clean signal.”
With a system as sophisticated as Skycam, I asked Wharton about the crew. “It’s actually as many as nine,” he said. “We have a full time five man crew that consists of the pilot, the camera operator, an EIC [Engineer in Charge], an E2 and a rigger. The pilot is responsible for flying the camera above the field. The operator, who you can think of as the gunner in an aircraft, is responsible for pan, tilt, focus and zoom — in other words, he’s the shooter. The EIC is responsible for managing the entire crew, including the E2 and the rigger.
“We also have an additional four people who are reel watchers,” added Wharton, “and they make sure that there are no issues with the reels, located around the arena or the stadium. They check for mechanical issues or safety issues and ensure that all systems are working. It takes, on the average, two to three days to install a system and about three hours to tear down.”
Because of the complex crew requirements, I asked Wharton about the training required to become a pilot or a camera operator. “We have training for the entire crew, starting in mid-July and continuing through August,” noted Wharton. “Skycam is a very complex optical, electrical and mechanical system, so at the end of the day, a five-man crew is responsible for deploying, operating and maintaining the equipment. Training is a must, and we weed out people pretty fast who don’t have the right skill set.”
“You could be the greatest camera operator, but this is not a job where the operator can just sit down behind the sticks and run. You have to be able to understand the controls, the stabilization and be involved in everything. Not only that, if you don’t know a spread offense from a nickel defense, it doesn’t even matter what kind of operator you are,” emphasized Wharton. “You need a ton of spatial awareness, because we can cross the line at any time, and unlike a regular fixed camera, you might shoot both sides of the game in a single play.”
Given the high-profile visibility of the games and the fact that motorized equipment is suspended above the players, I asked Wharton about safety. “This is a business where safety is priority number one,” emphasized Wharton. “We have over 50 electronic sensors that look for break release failures, calibration failures and more. We’re a pioneer in the industry for having an electronic safety inspection system that runs on an iPad, and each piece of equipment is inspected by the riggers, the E2 and the pilot as they run through their safety checks. We have over a 6-to-1 safety factor on all of our cables and support systems, and in addition, we have a man physically present at every reel. If at any time something goes wrong, he can manually stop the system.”
From time to time during each broadcast, the Skycam spar is briefly visible in shots from other cameras. Usually, it slides smoothly out of the way, as if not to draw attention to itself. But next time, during a natural break in play or a pause for a replay, pay special attention to that remarkable point-of-view. A skilled crew is responsible for providing the shots. Do you have what it takes to pilot the Skycam?
