GaryMrMets
05-27-2005, 07:59 PM
ABC going full tech throttle to cover Indy
By Patrick Karle
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC Sports will use the latest video camera innovations to bring the full color, sound and impact of Sunday's Indianapolis 500 to the millions of TV viewers unable to attend "the greatest spectacle in racing."
ABC Sports will deploy more than 70 broadcast cameras around the 2.5-mile track, including a camera on the same type of 87-foot crane used to film 1997's "Titanic," 15 robotic cameras to cover the action on the track and in the pits and up to 36 wireless cameras on board 12 different cars. Drivers Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon will have "visor cams" in their helmets to give TV viewers some idea of what the race looks like from the driver's seat.
But that's not all. Danika Patrick and six other drivers will carry Pan Cams, newly developed on-board cameras mounted on the top of their cars with the ability pan 180 degrees to show side-by-side racing in traffic.
There is even a plan to attach an ultralight camera to a helium-filled balloon that will provide a "balloon's-eye view" as it ascends with thousands of multicolored balloons traditionally released at the start of the race.
Bob Toms, vp production at ABC Sports, said that no other event is as challenging to cover as the Indianapolis 500.
"You put 33 700-horsepower race cars capable of dueling at 230 mph on a 2.5-mile race course, and there will be action happening and major parts of the story of the race unfolding in each of the track's four corners literally at the same time," he said. "So we need to be creative, to put a camera on every inch of the track, every second of the broadcast."
Toms said that capturing the raw speed requires constant innovation, so ABC works with technology vendors large and small to develop smaller, faster and lighter wireless camera technologies that ABC Sports has transferred successfully to its other coverage venues. Use of "helmet cams" at Indy, for example, has shifted into ABC Sports' coverage of other extreme sports as well as so-called "caddie cams" used in golf.
Toms said last year that ABC developed a super-slow-motion camera capable of shooting up to 280 frames per second to capture the action during Indy 500 pits stops. Since then, it has become the popular "X-mo" camera used in golf programming.
Much of the new coverage for this year's race is based on improved radio frequency digital technology that will allow reporters to travel into suites, garages and other enclosed areas without loss of signal, Toms said, a development that has potential across the sports broadcast spectrum.
This will be the 41st consecutive Indianapolis 500 covered by ABC Sports. From 1965-70, the network carried the Indy 500 on a delayed basis on its "ABC's Wide World of Sports" telecasts. ABC televised the Indianapolis 500 in primetime on a same-day delay basis from 1971-85 and began its live telecasts the next year.
ABC research estimates 21 million viewers watched last year's broadcast in the United States.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
05/27/05 02:16 ET
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By Patrick Karle
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC Sports will use the latest video camera innovations to bring the full color, sound and impact of Sunday's Indianapolis 500 to the millions of TV viewers unable to attend "the greatest spectacle in racing."
ABC Sports will deploy more than 70 broadcast cameras around the 2.5-mile track, including a camera on the same type of 87-foot crane used to film 1997's "Titanic," 15 robotic cameras to cover the action on the track and in the pits and up to 36 wireless cameras on board 12 different cars. Drivers Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon will have "visor cams" in their helmets to give TV viewers some idea of what the race looks like from the driver's seat.
But that's not all. Danika Patrick and six other drivers will carry Pan Cams, newly developed on-board cameras mounted on the top of their cars with the ability pan 180 degrees to show side-by-side racing in traffic.
There is even a plan to attach an ultralight camera to a helium-filled balloon that will provide a "balloon's-eye view" as it ascends with thousands of multicolored balloons traditionally released at the start of the race.
Bob Toms, vp production at ABC Sports, said that no other event is as challenging to cover as the Indianapolis 500.
"You put 33 700-horsepower race cars capable of dueling at 230 mph on a 2.5-mile race course, and there will be action happening and major parts of the story of the race unfolding in each of the track's four corners literally at the same time," he said. "So we need to be creative, to put a camera on every inch of the track, every second of the broadcast."
Toms said that capturing the raw speed requires constant innovation, so ABC works with technology vendors large and small to develop smaller, faster and lighter wireless camera technologies that ABC Sports has transferred successfully to its other coverage venues. Use of "helmet cams" at Indy, for example, has shifted into ABC Sports' coverage of other extreme sports as well as so-called "caddie cams" used in golf.
Toms said last year that ABC developed a super-slow-motion camera capable of shooting up to 280 frames per second to capture the action during Indy 500 pits stops. Since then, it has become the popular "X-mo" camera used in golf programming.
Much of the new coverage for this year's race is based on improved radio frequency digital technology that will allow reporters to travel into suites, garages and other enclosed areas without loss of signal, Toms said, a development that has potential across the sports broadcast spectrum.
This will be the 41st consecutive Indianapolis 500 covered by ABC Sports. From 1965-70, the network carried the Indy 500 on a delayed basis on its "ABC's Wide World of Sports" telecasts. ABC televised the Indianapolis 500 in primetime on a same-day delay basis from 1971-85 and began its live telecasts the next year.
ABC research estimates 21 million viewers watched last year's broadcast in the United States.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
05/27/05 02:16 ET
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.