Camera Corps Reports Growing Demand for Second-Screen Content

LONDON Camera Corps reports a successful 2013 both as a manufacturer and provider of broadcast support services.

Second-screen devices are really pushing the need for close-up content, said Camera Corps founder and Managing Director Laurie Frost. They place extra demands on producers to come up with new and exciting angles that will deliver strong visual impact when viewed on handheld displays. Compact remotely operated systems such as Q-Ball allow dramatic main-screen and second-screen content to be captured from multiple sources quickly, efficiently and economically.

During 2013, Camera Corps covered the Bobsleigh, Skeleton and Luge World Cup in Sochi mid February with Moscow-based NAO Sports Broadcasting. The cameras were rigged as come-and-go pairs and cut into the program in quick succession to give a real idea of speed. MiniZoom cameras were placed close to the action and provided dramatic viewing angles. Video was also captured from sleds.

Working in partnership with NEP Visions, Camera Corps also provided a range of specialist remote cameras for the ESPN X-Games.

Another highlight included the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, which were televised by multiple Q-Ball robotic pan/tilt/zoom cameras, MiniShot and HotShot heads with Simply SMPTE dual mode electro-optical links.

BBC Television also chose a Q-Ball system to capture the first public appearance of a new heir to the U.K. throne by coupling the camera to a London lamp post.

During the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in August, a Q-Ball was mounted at the extreme edge of the diving platform, 90 feet above Boston Harbor.

In October, Q-Ball also covered the winner's podium as Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel was crowned four-time world champion at the Indian Grand Prix motor race circuit.

During November, Q-Ball and MiniZoom systems were used in a new one-hour-format broadcast show Release the Hounds.

Our challenge was to conceal robotic cameras which could shoot from a wide range of positions, including close-ups, follow-shots and wide-angle views, without cameras or camera operators intruding into view, said Fran Peters, head of production at Gogglebox, which produced the show. She said the Camera Corps Q-Ball heads' shape allowed us to place individual Q-Ball cameras inside scarecrow heads which could rotate horizontally and vertically to track the action. Others were concealed to capture images from unusual angles.

For the latest series of Im a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Camera Corps supplied more than 90 remotely controlled video systems to Gearhouse Broadcast. These included 16 Q-Ball heads, 20 HD-MiniZooms with infra-red night illumination, 30 MiniShots, 26 Hitachi DKH-32 and three Toshiba IKH-R1 cameras.

The ITV2 Show has since broadcast a feature explaining how hidden Q-Ball cameras were used during the Bush Tucker trials.

2014 starts with the largest winter sports project we have ever undertaken, said Camera Corps Business Development Director Shaun Glanville, referring to Winter Olympics in Sochi. He said the company will be fielding 160 cameras including 55 Q-Balls, nearly 50 high-specification zoom lenses, bobsleigh and helmet cameras with wireless live-feed RF video transmitters, over 100 long-distance optical and electro-optical links, tower cams, cranes, Hi-Lo platforms, LowBox camera mounts, Vinten pan/tilt heads, a 12 metre tracking system and a forest of Polecams.

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