|
 The following articles have been reproduced and edited for Sport and Technology courtesy of AV Specialist Magazine. Based on its track record in delivering broadcast solutions for major international sporting events, Gearhouse Broadcast was awarded a contract to supply broadcast facilities for the production coverage of the 15th Asian Games in December 2006. (The Opening Ceremony is pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport and photographed by Jamie Squire).
The 15th Asian Games kicked off at the beginning of December 2006 with over 45 countries and regions competing across a record-breaking 39 sports in more than 40 venues. Much of the equipment used was supplied by Gearhouse Broadcast which operated eight complete production flyaway systems (ranging from six-camera to 10-camera units) which were used for the production coverage of the host feed at the 12 stadia where the various sporting contests took place. The company also supplied 64 crew members including engineers, audio engineers, communication engineers, vision controllers, and riggers.
Provision of broadcast equipment for the Games involved supplying cameras for the field of play areas including 28 Sony HDC 1500s, 26 Sony BVP 950s, and high speed super-motion cameras using the Sony HDC 3300 and Thomson LDK23-HS, and also three Panasonic AWE 800 SDI cameras.
Speaking before the event, Eamonn Dowdall, managing director at Gearhouse Broadcast, said: “The cameras chosen offer the latest technology available and will provide the host broadcaster with picture quality of the highest standard.” Mixing the effect  The Replay rooms contained 25 EVS XTs and the 12 production control rooms at each stadium and a range of nine vision desks were supplied, from the Sony DVS 7350 to the new MFS 2000, Snell and Wilcox’s Kahuna, Thomson’s DD Series. Controlled via the desks were replay transition devices which were be used to give the mix effect between slo-mo replays and live production.
The Master Control areas for engineering and quality control comprised of test and measurement equipment from Tektronix utilising the WFM 700 and the 601E series. Routers selected were from the Pro-bel series and the Pro-bel Aurora series HD/SD routing systems. Leitch equipment was selected for the distribution and glue products. Evertz was selected for the system sync generation equipment and fibre equipment used.
The Audio Control room comprised of audio desks from Soundcraft Series 5 56-channel, Soundcraft B800 48-channel console, DDA CS-8 32 channel audio console, and Midas Venice 240 24-channel consoles. Audio monitoring and quality control were carried out on BAL series’ monitoring equipment. A variety of microphones were selected to cover the sporting contests being played which comprised of 24 Sennheiser MKH- 816, 90 Sennheiser MKH 416, 11 Audio Technica AT 835 ST stereo microphones and various smaller microphones.
The communications systems provided were the Clearcom Compact 72 series and new Riedel communications systems. All of the associated broadcast cabling at each of the 12 venues was supplied and installed by Gearhouse Broadcast and all of the cabling used was Belden broadcast series cable, including audio multi ways, triax video and data cabling.
Gearhouse Broadcast also provided ancillary services for the Games consisting of project and logistics management and technical support. The broadcast solutions provider handled the procurement of equipment required and co-ordinated the transportation of this equipment to and from the venues in Qatar. “We have been working with both HBS and TWI for many years on various international sporting events including the last two world cups and the Commonwealth Games,” said Dowdall. “We have a very good working relationship with these clients and pride ourselves in the consistent provision of high standard broadcast solutions and facilities.”
Technology for the Opening Ceremony  How do you marry a spectacular ceremony for a live stadium audience and a worldwide television audience of a projected 3.7bn people? That was a question that had been playing in the minds of Simon Francis, broadcast director of ceremonies, and David Atkins, producer/artistic director for ceremonies in the build-up to the Doha Asian Games.
“I’ve been in liaison with David Atkins and all the time we’ve had one eye on the event in the stadium and one on how the cameras are going to capture this,” Simon said prior to the Games, before adding modestly, “David is responsible for it all.”
With 20 years of experience in events directing, covering everything from award shows to music concerts for such artists as Elton John, Simon was the director of the Opening and Closing ceremonies at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, something that was due to stand him in good stead at the Khalifa Stadium on 1 December and 15 December. “What is important to remember is that we are trying to tell a story,” Simon continued. “From beginning to end, and incorporating the athletes’ parade, we want to be able to get across the enormity of the event to the viewer back home, while also being able to draw people in to the smaller, tighter moments of the story – to change the perspective as and when appropriate – all the while remembering that it has to be entertaining.”
In order to achieve this, they employed 27 cameras and 125 technicians involved directly with the television production alone – including two helicopters, three 10-metre cranes, four steadicams and a lipstick camera, as well as the innovative Skycam which flew out of the starting blocks for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006.
A High Definition Skycam was used for coverage of the Opening and Closing ceremonies, “allowing us to get shots that would be technically very difficult by any other means,” said David Shield, DAGBS head of production facilities. The system was re-configured for use in the athletics coverage and a second system was deployed for coverage of diving and swimming.
Its unique design enabled the Skycam to be piloted anywhere within a defined three dimensional space, with a fully integrated computerised obstacle avoidance system, named Skypath, helping to smoothly manoeuvre the camera around fixed obstructions at given venues. Connected entirely by fibre optics, the Skycam removes problematic RF issues enabling it to deliver a higher resolution picture quality. With 360 degrees of pan and 180 degrees of tilt, Skycam provided an excellent range of coverage at Doha 2006.
“The use of innovations such as Skycam and the ICE camera put the 15th Asian Games at the forefront of sports broadcasting technology,” Simon observed. “All of the components and the scope of the show are of an Olympic proportion.”
AV Specialist is published and edited by Kevan Jones who launched it in 1991 and is actively involved in all aspects of the magazines' life - from concept to printing. He's also driven the growth of the magazine’s coverage area into Africa and the Middle East. Jones is based at the Dubai office but commutes to South Africa on a regular basis. See www.avspecialist.tv
This article was seen first by people who receive the monthly newsletter, join them.
|
