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NFL Films Lensing in HD

Oct 23, 2007 12:00 PM, By Craig Erpelding

Steve Sabol, president and CEO of Mount Laurel, N.J.-based NFL Films, worked hard to fulfill his artistic vision when he developed the signature look of NFL Films—a look that has helped the production company take home 84 Emmy Awards since 1979. NFL Films was started by Steve's father, Ed, a disgruntled overcoat salesman, when $3,000 won them the rights to film the 1962 NFL Championship game (this was before Super Bowl name was created), sending the duo to Yankee Stadium strapped with their 16mm Bell & Howell movie camera. Since that day, the Sabol's signature, filmic look has continued to resonate with football faithful, yet as technologies advance, HD has now found its way into the production company's hallowed doors.

NFL Films, with its armory of Arriflex film cameras, including 16SR2, 16SR3 Advanced, and 16SR3 Advanced HS cameras, sends two to four cameramen to every pro football matchup each week (resulting in approx 12,000ft. of super 16mm film per game, 25 miles per week). And, while NFL Films camera crews get unrivaled sideline access to players, coaches, and field angles, the cameramen needed lengthy focal ranges on their film lenses to capture footage that could be happening more than 100 yards away, depending on how the action dictates. Having such weighty, long lenses on the ends of their film cameras became a tougher task, as replacement parts and upkeep of these older lenses became impossible. The production company found its answer to the dilemma with HD lens technology.

After many side-by-side tests, NFL Films now outfits cameramen, whether staff or freelance, with two Fujinon HD lenses, finding superiority in the Fujinon HA25x11.5 and HA22x7.8. According to NFL Films DP Hank McElwee, these lenses offer more speed than others, which comes in handy for cutaways of coaches shot from across the field. McElwee also notes that the HD lenses from Fujinon fully cover the 16:9 frame, which proves beneficial on their fleet of Super16 cams.

"We are [a major] user of video lenses on film cameras," says Allen Sandrow, NFL Films equipment manager. "[To accomplish this], we use an Abakus HD lens adapter, which allows us to blow up the image from the 2/3in. to super 16. It's an HD adapter that fits on the PL mount of the camera and allows us to put the adapter on the lens and then put the PL mount into the camera. So, basically it's an adapter that fits on the back of the lens that converts the B4 of the HD lens to a PL mount and you plug that into the camera."

For the shots from field-level—the tight, slow-motion shot that is part of the NFL Films signature look—the camera operators often find themselves at the end of their lens. The new Fujinon HA22x7.8 allows them to be at the end of their zoom range, and still get the shots that they desire.

High-speed film cameras are used by NFL Films to help create the slow-motion highlights that are a classic element of NFL Films productions. With only one cameraman on the ground, usually, the shooter must continually change frame rates, switching between 48 frames, 60, 96, and 120—giving the viewer a perception of multiple cameras at the game. And, even though NFL Films does have access to get any network footage it pleases, mostly to provide additional angles of a play if needed, it prefers the look and feel of the shots derived from the HD video lenses.

Another benefit found with the HA22x7.8 is it allowed NFL Films to be able to get all shots in 1X. With 2X, shooters can get a drop in light and it can be harder to focus. However, in times where going 2x is necessary, based on where the camera is set on the field and how tight a shot is required—McElwee notes the Fujinon lenses have performed extremely well.

"When [camera operator] Don Marx…shoots night games with the [Fujinon HA22x7.8] using the 2X extender, he just loves that he can follow the ball through the air and still get enough light [exposure] stop," McElwee says.

Beyond the Arri film cameras, NFL Films also uses a number of Aaton XTR prods, which are primarily for sound games due to the Aaton code. These games will have the Aaton cameras matched with a sideline fish-bowl microphone setup.

While NFL Films insists on continuing to shoot film for the time being, the organization is finding HD technology to be more and more useful, and officials are even discussing the possibility of shooting entirely HD in the future. NFL Films already employs four Sony HDW-F900 camcorders for about ten percent its footage at potential Game Of The Week match-ups.

The F900 is usually set in a top position for these games and provides extra coverage of players and coaches that are wired with lavaliere mics, shooting 1080 HD at 24p. The F900 was chosen due to the fact that NFL Films already archives everything in HDCAM format at 1080, as well as it being the only camera that could acquire 1080 at the desired frame rates at the time of purchase.

Leading the charge for a possible full migration in acquisition methods, from analog to digital, is the HBO/NFL Films collaboration series Hard Knocks, which this year highlighted the Kansas City Chiefs training camp. In its fourth season, this year's Hard Knocks was different than any prior season as it was shot almost entirely with the F900s.

Previous Hard Knocks (which featured the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Dallas Cowboys) episodes were shot in Digibeta and framed 4:3. This time, the company decided to shoot full-HD and framed it 16:9.

NFL Films sent six cameras and four crews, which shot almost all of the footage with the F900s. Each crew on Hard Knocks had the Fujinon HA22x7.8 for field action-type stuff along with an HA13x4.5 HD wide-angle lens for shots in the locker room, coaches room, or weight room.

However, to put the NFL Films stamp on the show, an Arri SR3 high speed was brought in for cinematographer Jim Barry (pictured), to capture all of the essence of the show—termed elegantly as "snot shots"—in slow motion. Multiple time lapses were shot with an Aaton A-Minima.

"We wanted to shoot the main show with the F900s and sprinkle in the slow motion to give more of the NFL Films signature look—the sweat pouring off, the snot coming out as people are getting hit, the grabbing of the jerseys the pushing the pulling," Sandrow says. "Pretty much the pounding that these guys take on a day to day basis we wanted to get in slow motion, so you could actually see what the players go through."

"I think the change-over from standard-def Digibeta to HDCAM and framing 16:9 really added to the show," Sandrow says. "Then, having the sprinkling of the super-slow-mo and the time-lapses really made it a beautiful show."

Postproduction for NFL Films programming is done inhouse. Everything shot (film or HD) is run through a Grass Valley Spirit DataCine Telecine (SDI-HD 24psf-HD 1080i) or undergoes a tape-to-tape process in order to match up the footage. The facility also uses a Da Vinci Systems 2K+ color corrector.

"With about 40 film cameras and four Sony F-900's, the marriage of those two formats has worked very well," Sandrow says.

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