Live Drones, Real-Time Graphics Enhance Live Coverage of Bassmaster Elite Series

Live Drones, Real-Time Graphics Enhance Live Coverage of Bassmaster Elite Series Host broadcaster JM Associates deploys remote workflows from home facility in Little Rock, AR By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Tuesday, August 23, 2022 - 1:03 pm

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In the Upper Midwest, there are few better ways to pass the late-summer days than by a casting a lure out on the lake.

That's the scene that will be set this weekend on FS1 when the Bassmaster Elite series makes its final stop of the season in La Crosse, WI, for the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River (Aug. 26-29). Wall-to-wall coverage will stream at Bassmaster.com, and FS1 will broadcast live coverage with a focus on the tournament leaders on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 8 a.m. ET.

Concluding Bassmaster LIVE's second season with Fox Sports will be the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River in La Crosse, WI, Aug. 26-29. (All photos: B.A.S.S.)

Nearing the conclusion of the second full season of a distribution partnership with Fox Sports, live coverage of the Bassmaster Elite Series has enjoyed a strong year of production enhancements and total number of live hours broadcast by B.A.S.S. in-house production arm and host broadcaster JM Associates.

Via its at-home production workflow, the Little Rock, AR-based production company has increased its use of live drones and further bolstered its live-graphics package with real-time data to tell a complete and visually appealing story of the sport of top-level bass fishing.

Drones: More Than Just a Pretty Shot The most eye-catching addition to live fishing coverage over the past several years has been JM Associates' use of live drone video feeds from Bassmaster Elites.

According to Mike McKinnis, VP, media content, JM Associates, the live drone angles are not merely picturesque; they have become a critical part of the storytelling process, especially for events that can span a vast geographic area. The drone's sweeping scene-setting shots give the viewer a sense of place and of the positioning of the top anglers in the competition.

We're really having success with the drones, says McKinnis, noting that his team continues to tinker with the newest models of DJI drones, including newer 4K units. It'll be a constant battle for us to stay on top of [the tech] and get the shots into our live coverage, but it's worth it because we want more of it.

It's one of the coolest things we do to be able to show off our sport, he continues. You can get over the top of [an angler] and show where he is going, what he's doing, and what he's looking at. Especially when we are in clear-water lakes, you can really see what's going on below the surface.

Pilot/camera operator Wes Miller releases a drone during a Bassmaster Elite live broadcast earlier this year.

McKinnis credits the talent and finesse of drone pilot/camera operator Wes Miller, whom he cites as critical to the overall success of the drone effort. In addition to the scenic establishing shots, Miller has been able to regularly fly more tightly over the competition's top anglers. It's a constant conversation with Bassmaster Elite's top anglers to gauge their comfort level with the type of shots or drone movements that may be attempted during competition.

We have to be respectful of the angler first, says McKinnis. The anglers are different. Some of them don't mind; you could put it on their hat, and they wouldn't care. Others are a little more superstitious or worried about scaring the fish; those want us to back it off a little bit, and we're respectful of that.

The increased use is partly a result of confidence in the video signal transmitted from the drone and how it integrates into the show's overall workflow. For about three years now, JM Associates has been using LiveU packs and bonded-cellular technology to make that delivery.

The crew has been using drone footage in its live productions since 2015. Prior to adding LiveU, the process entailed acquiring the footage, rushing it back to the bank of the body of water, and delivering that footage to Little Rock for later use.

That was hard, cumbersome, and difficult to even get it in the show, says McKinnis. We're really having success this way.

Out in Front With At-Home Production To gain a full appreciation of the live production of Bassmaster Elite events is to peek behind the scenes of one of the more comprehensive regularly deployed at-home operations in the sports industry today.

For Bassmaster Elite Series events, JM Associates sends a small team of camera operators and technicians to site and handles the overall production at the company's production facilities in Little Rock. There, the company produces the event out of a control room in a production truck parked outside the facility.

Elite events can feature nearly 100 competitors, and JM Associates sends 10 camera operators out on boats with 10 of the featured competitors. Bonded-cellular transmission solutions are deployed to get the live video and audio signals from those boats to the control room in Little Rock, where the show is ultimately cut by the producer, director, an A1, and replay operators.

On-air talent commenting on Bassmaster Elite events work from a studio desk at JM Associates' facility in Little Rock, AR. Here, Bassmaster LIVE co-hosts Mike Suchan (far left) and Mark Zona (far right) speak with legendary angler and TV personality Bill Dance.

Inside the JM Associates building is a 5,000-sq.-ft. sound stage where on-air talent hosts all Bassmaster live programming from a studio desk. At the desk, talent has a view only of the main program feed - a conscious decision by the production team. As McKinnis explains, live bass-fishin

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/08/23/live-drones-real-time-graphics-...
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