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Rough Ride

Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Bill Miller

Behind the scenes with the Versus HD production crew.

The shoot

Hagen uses 10 cameras to capture the action — in the arena, behind the bucking chutes (small holding pens where the cowboys mount the bulls), and in the locker rooms. PBR has given Versus nearly total access. “Very rarely in sports do you get to speak with the athletes right after they have done their performance,” says Hagen, who has directed coverage for major-league baseball, football, basketball, and a dozen other sports. “These cowboys are on camera, still breathing hard, 12 seconds after their ride. We have a great deal of respect for what they do. Bull riding is dangerous. These guys are tough but very accessible.”

There are three fixed camera positions: two down low on the arena sides and one in the center of the ring, in what's known as the “shark cage.” It sits 40ft. from the bucking chutes. At first, this position (camera five) was at the far end of the stadium a couple of hundred feet away. Because it's used for close-ups and super slow motion, the camera needed to be closer to the action. PBR agreed to build a safe platform in the middle of the arena.

Paul Cox, of Dallas, operates the camera in the shark cage, and he has gained a reputation for shooting extreme close-ups. He says he feels very safe in the shark cage, although a bull will occasionally bump into the iron bars. In order to get the slow motion without streaking, he shoots at 180fps. “It gives the show a ‘film slo-mo’ look,” Cox says.

A more dangerous job is operating the handheld cameras right behind the bucking chutes. There are six bucking chutes: three to each side of a center exit ramp. Mark “Tuffy” Voyles and Bob Allen are veterans who work inches from the action: a dusty, hostile environment of flashing spurs, swinging ropes, chewing-tobacco spit, and bulls snorting fire. It's not for the timid or faint of heart.

Voyles, of Oklahoma City, started as a still photographer, and he has been behind the lens at bull riding since 1992 — the longest of anyone on the crew. “It's an adrenaline rush behind the chutes,” Voyles says. “I've broken a finger, been bumped up and knocked down. Cowboys pick me back up, dust me off, and tell me, ‘Get back in there, Tuffy.’ The cowboys, they're the main reason I come back time after time.”

He says his least favorite part of the job is picking what he calls “guacamole” off the lens. “Bulls are dangerous from both ends,” Voyles says with a chuckle. When they leave the chutes, they can kick up dirt, mud, and “guacamole” with great velocity. Plenty of lens cleaners and wipes are a must.

Voyles' job is more than getting that grit-of-determination close-up on a cowboy's face. “The guys in the truck are blind to a lot of what's going on in the arena,” he says. “So you always have to be observant. I might hear the announcers talking about a particular cowboy and I can see him standing 2ft. away from me, and I get the shot before the director even asks for it.” It's fast, loud, and crowded on the chutes, but it's where the action is.

Aerial Video Systems, in Burbank, Calif., has worked with Versus to perfect three specialty cameras for the chutes. They're called “pole cams,” and that's literally what they are: wide-angle, high-definition cameras mounted on expandable poles. “It started with a camera gaffer-taped to the end of a painter's pole we got at Home Depot,” says Aristotle Lim, who sets up the cameras. “Now, they're made of lightweight aluminum with cables and aircraft pulleys so the operators have some tilt capabilities.”

The pole cameras are Iconix HD-RH1s. Two have Fujinon 2.8mm lenses, and the third has a Fujinon 4mm lens. Each operator wears a backpack, which holds the CPU controls and a downconverter. A small, low-cost, standard-definition 16:9 monitor, made by Pyle, is mounted on the pole as a viewfinder. Two of the cameras are used to get very close shots of the bulls in the bucking chutes. The third is lowered to the arena floor to capture very low wide angles of the bull rides and the shots of the bulls as they exit the arena. It's called the “exit cam.”

“This is our signature shot,” Loverro says. “Bulls have wonderful personalities, as do the cowboys. I didn't believe it at first, but if they buck off a rider, they have a little strut or nod of the head. The exit cam is there to capture that.”

Younger camera guys are assigned to the pole cams. Kyle Hagen, of Ellensburg, Wash., is on the exit cam in Worcester. His younger brother Jack operates another pole camera in the chutes, along with Cheryl Baldyga. All are young and enthusiastic, hoping to move up to handheld or hard cameras one day. “It's a fun camera,” Kyle Hagen says. “You've got to be on your tiptoes at all times. It's intense, not scary.” He has had bulls hit the camera, wrap their tails around the pole, and even knock the camera off the pole.

Mike Weyer, of Boise, Idaho, runs a floating handheld Ikegami camera. And running is literally what he does. When the 8-second bull ride is over and the bull has left the arena, Weyer runs with his camera onto the dirt to get up close to the cowboy who may have successfully ridden the bull or who may be lying injured on the arena floor. He then follows the cowboy out of the arena back to the dressing rooms or into the sports medicine room, where a team of PBR doctors are waiting. Before the event, Weyer is busy in the locker room and behind the scenes shooting portraits of the cowboys as they warm up, joke with their fellow riders, or sit contemplating their upcoming ride. It's a very dangerous sport, and the cowboys know they may be seriously injured or even killed. It's remarkable how open they are during these very personal moments. Weyer also shoots extreme close-ups of ropes, spurs, boots, and others objects to be used in bumps and teases going in and out of commercials throughout the show.

All of the cameras except one shoot the show from a low angle. The lone high angle comes via a jib on an 18ft. arm that swings from the bucking chutes into the arena. It's run by Todd Rolling, of Dallas. “It gives a different perspective to the show,” Rolling says. “It's great fun. It's a train wreck waiting to happen.” Rolling had to buy a second jib just for the PBR. It's too expensive to keep shipping it by itself, so this jib is packed along with the PBR show equipment.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.