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MillimeterHot Shot
Nov 1, 2008 12:00 PM,
Story by Bill Miller
Photos by David Egy
Producing interactive television for NASCAR HotPass.
More than 30 trucks move from racetrack to racetrack each week for NASCAR broadcasts. More than 650 technicians, on-air personnel, producers, directors, and caterers swarm the TV village.
Handheld camera operator Dave Fields is right down in the action using a Sony HDC-1500 with a Canon KJ 20×8.5B KRS lens. He's a creative director for a North Carolina TV station when he's not working NASCAR. Fields says it can be pretty rough going down in the pits; you have to have eyes in the back of your head and work closely with the person who holds the transmission pole, who's also watching your back. “It's tough in the fact that you only get one chance,” he says. “It requires the skill of knowing the sport and doing PR with the crew, … knowing where you can be and where you can't be, and making sure you're not in their way and still being able to do your job. And keeping safe.”
A quarter of a mile away and seven stories up on the roof of the grandstands is camera operator Matt Thomas. His job is to maintain an extreme close-up of the designated HotPass car throughout the race using a Sony HDC-1000 HD camera and a Canon Digi Super 86XS field lens with image stabilization. He says it's not as easy as it looks. “We follow one car around the track all day long looking for battles behind and in front of that car,” he says. “[With this format,] you're constantly on 98 percent of the time. Running a hard camera, you have to have a lot of concentration and endurance out there. This track isn't bad. It's only a mile long. The bigger tracks like Talladega [Superspeedway are] a lot worse. Sometimes when I'm in turn one looking all the way to turn three, across the infield, you are at the end of a very long lens and there's no focus.”
To keep the camera operators sharp, the engineers purposely soften the image on the viewfinders, Thomas adds with a sigh. When the cars pit, the cameras can stop going round and round, but only for about 14 seconds. “And you're on your feet for the duration of the race, which can be more than 3 hours,” he says without blinking.
Back in the truck, Broadcast Associate Patrick Armstrong has his hands, and brain, full. Not only is he assisting Deroin, he's also in charge of timing the show, keeping track of stats, and building and airing the graphics. “I am a jack of all trades,” Armstrong says. “It's just being sharp, having your head into it. Racing is the most intense of all sports. It's a lot of realtime data, rpms, miles per hour. It's being on top of it, being sharp, and catching things that may not be right — catching erroneous data. You can do a million things right during the show; and you do one thing wrong, and everyone will remember that. With my job, you are only as good as your last race.”
Armstrong is good at what he does and is one of the younger members of the crew. This is the second year for HotPass, and he has been with the team since day one, so he must be doing something right. He says he's thankful that HotPass has opened up a lot of new jobs for folks just starting out in their careers. And while there is competition amongst the four Bas on crew, there's also a lot of camaraderie. “We travel so much together, 37 weeks a year,” he says. “These guys have become brothers. I spend more time with these guys than my family. We are producing four shows on four channels, but the overall show is one package, so we have to work together. We share. We are only as good as the other channels.”
The EVS XT[2] server, affectionately known as “Elvis,” is a tapeless, hard-disk editing system. It integrates live editing, instant replay, highlights editing, slow- and super-motion control, as well as a sophisticated nonlinear editing function — all at the fingertips of a seasoned video editor. And it is the staple in any sports production truck. HotPass is no exception. Each pod has its own EVS system with four inputs and two outputs. In the two days I was reporting on this story, all four EVS rooms were going nonstop, building background stories, show opens, highlight reels, and a multitude of other playback elements. “One of the things we like to do is a build a radio package,” Deroin says. “We cut together some of the more interesting radio transmissions. [We also do] video B-roll, accidents, great pit stops — all captured with four channels of EVS. We can build all kinds of neat features, recaps, and things like that.”
Deroin says his least favorite aspect of the job is race traffic. NASCAR racing draws crowds of more than 100,000 fans. “It can take hours, especially if you have a plane to catch,” Deroin says. “When you sit down in your chair and the race starts, it seems like 10 minutes and you're done — when in reality, a couple or 3 hours have passed. It goes that quick. And then you're 2 hours in traffic.” His sentiments are echoed throughout the crew.
By race time, the rain has stopped, the clouds have parted, and the race goes on as scheduled. Does anyone know where I can get my ears checked?
Bill Miller is owner of Bill Miller Video Productions. He has been producing films and video for more than four decades. Reach him at bill@billmillerfilm.com.
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