INDIANAPOLIS: The 2012 Indianapolis
500 was a victory for first-place driver
Dario Franchitti, But ESPN was victorious
as well, thanks to its stable of 95 cameras
that completely covered the race—including
48 cameras mounted in the cars themselves.
This year’s field of 33 cars were all running
on the new DW12 chassis, according
to Dennis Cleary, ESPN’s manager of motor
sports’ remote production and operations.
“This chassis was specifically designed to
carry four small HD cameras onboard; up
one from previous versions. A remotely controlled
360 degree camera is built
into a bubble on the wing. The others are
mounted on the body to provide a forward
shot, a looking-back shot, and a view of the
driver.”
Twelve cars had this equipment in place
for the race. The other 21 cars had weights
installed where the cameras would go, to
ensure that all of the cars were on a level
playing field.
SMALL AND RUGGED
The Indy cars’ onboard HD cameras
were specialty units made by Broadcast
Sports Inc. (BSI), in Hanover, Md. “These
cameras are extremely small and rugged,”
said Peter Larsson, BSI’s GM of broadcast
services. “They fit into special aerodynamic
housings on the cars, and are wired back to
two onboard HD transceivers.”
One transmitter with two encoders
that transmitted two video signals in
each of the 12 camera equipped
cars allowed
ESPN to provide viewers
with dual window
shots simultaneously.
“This year, you got to see what the driver
was seeing, while seeing them steering as
well,” Cleary said.
The HD signals from the cameras were
relayed by microwave to an army of ESPN
production units onsite. In the past, ESPN
had used a helicopter orbiting overhead to
receive in-car video feeds.
“However, with the advent of digital
technology, we were able to switch to antennas
mounted at ground or near-ground
level around the track,” Larsson said. “The feeds from these antennas—which are two-way—were connected
by fiber to a BSI controller. Besides handling
communications between the cars
and the ESPN production unit, the controller
automatically sensed which antennas
had access to the strongest signals at any
given time, and switched to them.”
AROUND THE TRACK
ESPN’s Indy coverage was designed to
completely cover the action. To this end,
the network mounted Sony 3300 Super
Slo-Mo (SSMO) cameras at all four of the
Brickyard’s corners. Sony 1000s covered
the inside back stretch, inside the Start/
Finish Line, and Turns 1 and 3; plus the
pit areas (five cameras). Sony 1500s were
used on jibs over the Pagoda Plaza and
Victory Lane, among others; as handhelds
at the Start/Finish line and the Pit Area
exit; and as fixed cameras for the on-site
studio.
Robotic Sony HDL 40 cameras were
deployed in hard-to-reach areas like the
North and South Chutes. There was also a
camera mounted on a Helivision helicopter
using a Cineflex V14HD gyro-stabilized
camera system; numerous cameras
like the Iconix IK-HR1S placed at “pointof-
view” locations around the track, and
the famous BatCam, a robotically-controlled
HD camera on a cable. Strung between
Turns 1 and 4, the BatCam could
race along its cable at speeds up to 80
mph.
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Dennis Cleary, ESPN’s manager of motor sports’ remote production and operations
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The BatCam’s ability to move around
gave viewers all kinds of unique views.
“We can use it for beauty shots, crowd
shots,” said Rich Feinberg, vice president
of ESPN’s MotorSports Production. “We
can use it to document pit row because
it literally flies over pit row and a portion
of the racetrack. We can also use it for
coverage as the cars are coming down
the front stretch headed towards Turn 1.”
PRODUCTION CHALLENGES
Having access to 95 camera feeds is
enough to make any director’s head explode.
This is why ESPN used a chief spotter
in its main Master Control trailer.
“The chief spotter sits between the director
and the producer,” said Bruce Watson,
ESPN’s race director and the man
who was calling the shots at this year’s
Indy 500. “They keep an eye on what’s
developing on the track, and advise on
which shots could be switched to next.
This way, the director and producer can
stay focused on what is happening right
now.”
To do all of this, ESPN deployed a
fleet of nine HD production trailers at
the Brickyard. “We brought them in from
various locations, including our NASCAR
unit that was most recently shooting in
Iowa,” Cleary said. “All told, we had about
200 people in our crew at the Indy 500.
It was a very busy shoot.”
Yet it isn’t the size that was the biggest
challenge for ESPN’s crew; it was the
learning curve. “There’s no track quite
like the Brickyard,” said Cleary. “It’s not
quite an oval, and it is not like anything
we deal with for NASCAR. So the Indy
500 is always a test of our pre-show planning
and live broadcasting abilities. In
this way, it’s as big a deal for us, as it is for
the drivers who compete here.”