I have often wondered if that would be a great job.
I wonder no more.
Last week during a Cubs game, they allowed the viewing audience at home to hear what goes on in the camera mans headphones, for four innings.

they showed us a room with 16-18 tv screens , a guy standing up and calling which camera shots went out over the air, and a board operator with a hundred knobs , dials, buttons and switches .

So for four innings we heard " ready camera 5, take 5, blah blah ready 7 , take 7, blah blah (unintelligible) ready 3, take three, and ready 2, take two, then he's say something and the text on the screen would change, then back to ready 3, take 3 ready 6 and take six.

So the one guy calling the shots must have to talk for the whole game, but I hope they switch caller outers every other inning or so.

He did not sound like an auctioneer, but he was not far off.

It sounded like all the camera men had to listen to this guy for the whole game as well.

Maybe they he was only talking to one at a time, I don't know .
Man listening to him hour after hour would wear thin in a hurry.

ready camer 2 , take two , ready 5 and take five
ready 3 take three.steady camera 7 ....take seven.

Interesting! I've always been impressed by the incredible work that they do. Now that I know about the man behind the curtain, it all makes sense. Thanks for sharing that.

Many years ago a buddy and I sat next to the cameraman in right center field at Fenway and BS'd with him a little throughout the night. He seemed to have no actual interest in the game, which I suppose makes sense, otherwise you'd get caught up and miss your shots. The thing I remember most was he kept cursing the one pitcher because he kept putting the rosin bag back in the wrong/different spot. He was using the bag as an index point to frame his shot consistently, but him moving it kept screwing him up.

There are always a lot of beautiful women at games, I wonder if the cameramen zoom in on them for the announcers and producers.

"Camera 3, that blonde in the white tank top, Sect 8"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: UTsig,

I went to college for video production. Directing a TV show is very much like being a conductor. Plus you have to think many steps ahead.

The voice belongs to the Technical Director. He is the equivalent of the manager, while the cameramen are the players. This is how television works (I studied radio and tv in college). The TD has to be able to keep his eyes on all of the images broadcast by the live cameras and set up the shots ("camera 2, zoom in on the right fielder, camera 3 pan left from the shortstop to the third baseman") and listen to the broadcast announcers as well ("let's watch that home run again"). It's a frenetic, no-time-to-catch-your-breath job, as the TD is the make-it-or-break-it locus of live tv.

They are usually unsung heroes, but without them, most live action television would be horrible to watch.

fpuhan, to your point, it always amazes me how the images match up with the announcers are talking about.

The play just happens, Chris Collinsworth makes a comment about how the RB did a great job picking up the blitz and boom! I'm watching the running back pick up the blitz in slo-mo!

How the F did they get that replay called up so quickly? Baffles me.

We watched that game, too, bendable, and it impressed my girlfriend much the same way. I had some limited exposure to live TV when I was in college and working for CBS News, so I understood what was going on, and could explain to her what they were doing.

esdunbar, it's relatively easy to pull up replays, since it's predictable, and they begin to re-rack the video as soon as the play ends. The production people know what's going to be called up based upon experience, the announcers know how long it takes to re-rack, and with practice they make it look smooth. In another industry, we used to jokingly refer to ducks on the water -- smoothly gliding across a pond, but viewed from underwater, it's a bunch of madly-churning legs. Those guys behind the Cubs game are good at it, aren't they?

am I right ? that all the camera men listen to all of the directions simultaneously ?

or do they direct each one individually ?

They can all hear the director all the time, if that's what you're asking. Each has an assigned area to cover, and the director selects which camera to broadcast based on the play as it develops.

What surprised me, was that I didn't realize how many cameras they used. It may have been nine or more for that game.

I remember him mentioning 6, but they did not go to the hand held ( rovers) or the guy that was way high up in centerfield

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
They can all hear the director all the time, if that's what you're asking. Each has an assigned area to cover, and the director selects which camera to broadcast based on the play as it develops.

What surprised me, was that I didn't realize how many cameras they used. It may have been nine or more for that game.

This. You'd be amazed at how many cameras are used at sporting events. I think there were over 50 at the last SuperBowl. Major League Baseball games also have a tremendous amount, some are strickly for the high resolution super slow motion playback as well as the "standard" shots.

I've done camera work for a number of sports broadcasts as a feelancer. You are typically focused, no pun intended lol, on what your area of responsiblity is and you know your camera number that it's not hard.

No more difficult than picking your call sign/car number out of the police radio for instance.

Sometimes the director will ask for specific crowd shot or to isolate on a position/player but everyone knows going in to the production what they're responsible for.

It's very rare for the TD, technical director, to speak over the headsets to any of the cameras. The TD is the one that actually hits the button to put whatever source the dirctor wants on air, whether it's a camera, slow mo playback i.e.

The camera operators hear everything the director is saying but as mentioned pretty much listen for their number/name to give the director what they want.

One of the best was the late Chet Forte, felt very priviledged to have worked with him a couple of times.

We had the same calls at church every Sunday. Four cameras! Not as much exciting action but we captured it as best we could.

Rule #1. Follow the ball.

quote:

Originally posted by doc45:
One of the best was the late Chet Forte, felt very priviledged to have worked with him a couple of times.

He was so famous that even I have heard of him. Did a lot of sports when working for ABC.

quote:

Originally posted by UTsig:
There are always a lot of beautiful women at games, I wonder if the cameramen zoom in on them for the announcers and producers.

"Camera 3, that blonde in the white tank top, Sect 8"

I used to, earlier in my career, TD a lot of live TV and to answer your question, yes it happens, some of it just to find people enjoying themselves, some to "enjoy other people" but for the most part the camera operators need to stay on their toes and the TD need to be watching many inputs at once and anticipating what may or could happen.

There is also, usually, a lot of NSFW chatter over the com which has bitten more than one person in the ass because they didnt realize a client or newrk exec decided to listen in.

Sometimes the camera thats on the batter will pick up people in the stands , as well.

a week ago or so , I saw some yahoo's acting up a bit too much and some how,
the camera's got the batters crystal clear, but they managed to blur the spectators substantially .

how does that happen ?
in the booth perhaps?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Sometimes the camera thats on the batter will pick up people in the stands , as well.

a week ago or so , I saw some yahoo's acting up a bit too much and some how,
the camera's got the batters crystal clear, but they managed to blur the spectators substantially .

how does that happen ?
in the booth perhaps?

It happens at the camera via the F stop unless they are using some kind of digital real time editing.

Interesting thanks for posting.

quote:

the camera's got the batters crystal clear, but they managed to blur the spectators substantially

You can do this with a SLR too, it's called depth of field. You're adjusting the distance that the camera focuses at.