[Barry Vedros]

Trent
I have to say, I do certainly appreciate your interest in American football, being half a world away. It’s one of the most challenging and fun productions out there. I do weekly high school, college and some pro football games in different capacities. Each has different budget and technical considerations, but can be well-produced within those limitations. Our high school games are beautifully produced for local cable TV with 4 Ikegami cameras, sports lenses and a moderate graphics/replay system. College games have a higher production value with a couple more cameras, better lenses, graphics, etc. (to go along with the higher budgets). NFL games, which I work in a smaller capacity, have several trucks and a large crew, along with some of the best broadcast equipment on the planet.

Is it a digital television course or a digital post-production course? It seems that the scope of your project would depend on the focus of the class. To answer your last question first, yes this might be too ambitious. Consider what you have to work with and don’t try to go overboard. You run the risk of losing sight of your thesis in the process. First of all, your project is to post-produce an event that is typically a live production. Everything on an NFL game is done in real time with super high-end gear. You’ll be post-producing for months to edit the cameras; reproduce those shots for slow-mo replays; add graphics; add a scoreboard with all its elements – score, ball possession, running clock, down and yardage, timeouts left, penalty flag, add “tape rolls” that feature certain players, etc. And once you start bogging yourself down with the idea of trying to rotoscope the scrimmage and first down lines, I think you’ll truly be sidetracked from your concept.

Post-producing sports is different than other live events, such as theatre or a concert. As someone here said, there’s an immediacy to the sports event. I’m not saying to drop your idea, I’m suggesting you try to do as much live as possible. If your school has a 4 input switcher, consider shooting and switching the game live with that. You could cover a game decently with 4 cameras – 2 up (one for wide, one for pushing in on the play), 2 handheld on the sideline for getting those tight action shots (good for replays). You could instead put one of those cams on a man-lift at the corner of one of the goals. Switch it live and run iso record tapes in each camera. Have your “announcers” call the game live, with their mics run to a mixer and into your master record deck.

If your budget allows, you might try renting a Sony Anycast switcher system or a Newtek Tricaster, which is a 6 input switcher with built in graphics. The Tricaster can also stream over the internet. If football is not commonly broadcast there, you could sure create a stir by web-casting your college team. (sounds like the path to an A in that course) That would be more in line with a digital television course.

Best of luck to you
Barry