http://www.nascar.com/2005/news/business/03/09/nascar.on.tv/
TV broadcast more than just pictures and words
Getting the visuals, sound is behind-the-scenes choreography
By Ron Lemasters Jr., Special to NASCAR.COM
March 9, 2005
08:24 AM EST (13:24 GMT)
One of the key ingredients in the rise of NASCAR as a sport -- and
especially as a business -- is television. Some of us can remember when
some races weren't on TV, and you had to listen to the radio to find out
what was going on. Some of us can even remember when several networks
had the rights to various races, some on network TV, some on cable.
Be that as it may, there's a story to be told behind the production of a
typical NASCAR telecast. It's not an easy thing to plan, and the people
who do it live the lives of gypsies over the long season.
As with any live event, be it a concert, football game or NASCAR race,
there is much planning that goes into every move. The end result is a
broadcast that generally looks seamless from the outside.
A crew of about 225 is needed to televise each race, and they begin
arriving at the track on Wednesday to set up the tons of equipment
needed to put on the show. These are the folks behind the scenes, the
cameramen, technicians and other workers (known as utilities) who set up
what amounts to a small city on a weekly basis, then tear it down in a
matter of hours and head out to the next stop.
These professional TV people build scaffolds for camera mounts, pull
miles of fiber-optic cable and basically hook up all the stuff so it all
works for you. The people with microphones, the talent, are about as far
as the average viewer gets into a TV broadcast, but they have little to
do with the actual presentation.
"It normally takes two days to set up, starting on Wednesday morning for
a Sunday race," said FOX's Steve Stum, the ringmaster of this traveling
road show. Stum is the technical manager, meaning he is responsible for
seeing that everything works and works right by the time the cameras go
hot. Stum, who works with FOX's David Hill and the director, Artie
Kempner, is exceedingly good at what he does; Stum has won three Sports
Emmys in his 23-year career.
"By Thursday afternoon, we have 90 percent of everything up," he said.
"Then we tweak a little bit. We run out all the cable, build the
scaffolding if we need to, run all the cables to the compound. On
Thursday, we start building cameras and making the truck work."
First comes the cable, the bloodstream of a modern broadcast. This year,
all cable used in NASCAR productions is fiber-optic, replacing the older
TV cable used for many years. This is an increase in technology;
fiber-optic is more stable and makes for better quality. All of this
cable starts at the production truck and ends back at the same place,
closing the loop. Each camera nest has to have power, so the crew builds
all the power needs into the camera nests.
The mobile units are next. There are 10 at each race, including
production, graphics, editing, international, SPEED Channel, the
"Hollywood Hotel," Sportvision (which handles the GPS tracking system)
and BST (the in-car cameras). There also is an uplink unit and an office
trailer. These units serve as the basis for all broadcast activity. The
uplink truck beams the transmissions to communications satellites in two
passes, the first to a C-band bird and the secondary, backup
transmission to a Ku-band satellite.
There are upwards of 40 cameras at each race, including pan cameras,
stationary cameras, pit cams, the helicopter cam and the 12 in-car
mounts. All but the stationary cams have a cameraman and at least one
utility assigned. Most of the tracks on the circuit already have camera
placements mapped out and the infrastructure to support the TV crews.
Daytona, however, underwent a major renovation in the infield this
offseason, and part of it was the installation of underground TV cables
for use by the networks. It was all fiber-optic, and it all worked.
Once the season starts, the TV crew is on the road constantly. "It takes
about four hours to pack everything up from one race, and the trucks go
right to the next event," Stum said. "There's a lot that goes into it.
We did the biggest show we do all year in Daytona, then packed it up and
went across country to California the next week, unpacked and set it up
in two days and did it all again. Four hours after the race is over, you
pack it up and go all the way back to the other side of the country.
"Logistically, it's a nightmare, and I'm amazed that everything works as
well as it does, with the trucks getting beat up and down the road."
There is much more that goes into a weekly production of NASCAR racing.
The technicians take care of their areas, the graphics department scans
and molds and creates the sweet-looking stuff on your screens each week,
and the audio techs make sure you can hear the action. Replay techs make
sure you know what happened to a particular driver, and cameramen stare
all day through a viewfinder to bring you the best shots they can.
This is how NASCAR beams its way from the track to your house, and the
next time you sit down with a beverage and nibbles, you'll know a little
more about what goes into it.
--
Dishnut-P
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