For the First Time, the Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Shot Using Cinema Cameras PRG's LIVE35! technology supported the massive show with sensor cameras By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 - 3:21 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
This year's Super Bowl Halftime Show, starring Grammy-winning artist The Weeknd, may forever be known as the performance that birthed a million memes, but, in live-video-production circles, it will also be remembered for taking significant steps in the evolution of live entertainment production.
The show, produced by Roc Nation and seen in more than 90 million U.S. homes, marked the first Super Bowl Halftime Show to deploy cinema cameras as part of its equipment arsenal.
Emmy Award-winning camera operator Tor Livia uses an ARRI AMIRA camera on a Steadicam to shoot The Weeknd during this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show in Tampa, Fl. (Photo: PRG)
With the help of production-facilities provider PRG, this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show featured a sharper, more film-quality look. Director Hamish Hamilton (handling his 12th Halftime Show) worked with PRG's 35Live! system, which replaced traditional multi-camera broadcast workflows and allowed internal transmission of digital 35mm cameras and lens/iris control needed to integrate the pictures seamlessly into the traditional broadcast infrastructure.
It was a perfect storm of a lot of things, says Morgan Kellum, VP, TV and Film, PRG, for whom this was his first Super Bowl Halftime. Hamish has always been a big proponent of cinema cameras, and we've done a large number of concerts and live comedy shows using this system. We tried to keep it as simple as possible, and it just worked out pretty well.
Inside the Arsenal PRG is no stranger to supporting the Super Bowl Halftime Show, having supplied lighting in past years, but this marked the first time the company delivered camera and broadcast tech as well. And it made quite a splash.
The LIVE35! technology allows a broadcaster to incorporate almost any super-35mm sensor camera or camcorder into a traditional multi-cam broadcast environment, using 35mm motion-picture cinema lenses along with traditional broadcast lens and iris control.
This offers such benefits as super-35 depth of field and the sophisticated colorimetry and image processing provided by newer 35mm camera sensors/camera systems.
The system is camera-agnostic. On this show, the lineup of cameras included two ARRI AMIRA units and seven ARRI ALEXA Minis. One of the AMIRAs was on a Steadicam operated by Emmy Award-winning camera operator Tor Livia; one of the ALEXA Minis, used by Emmy-winning camera operator Jofre Rosero to shoot the memorable Infinity Room, was fitted with an Ultra Prime 8R fisheye lens on a handheld mini jib. It was that camera that captured many of the close-up shots of The Weeknd that became fodder for many of the memes flooding social media.
Also deployed were two RailCams (commonly seen in sports gliding along the sideline of the court during the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four), managed by technicians Rick Compeau, Johnny Harkins, and Brian Sheid).
LIVE35! provides several fiber camera-back systems for the 35mm sensor cameras with base-station receivers at the other end of SMPTE or alternative fiber. It also incorporates traditional cinema lens control for a focus puller with wireless Focus/Iris/Zoom control.
Lead 1st AC Adam Kirschoffer played a critical role, working with the PRG engineering team to configure the lens control. Tech supervisor, cameras, Jakes Coker developed a customized, more than 500-ft.-long extension cable for the lens control.
The advantage of this setup, according to PRG's Kellum, is that the show crew is not tied to any one motion-camera manufacturer or model. He notes that the calibration process can be specific to the camera model, which is an advantage.
The technology behind the lens control was critical to the show's success. PRG has developed a lens-control system with cmotion technology, allowing use of traditional hardwired Canon or Fujinon focus and zoom controls with 35mm motion-picture lenses with motors on rods. This was seen at the Super Bowl Halftime Show through the use of a pedestal camera (operated by Allen Merriweather).
The show's equipment list included five MultiDyne 4K systems (for fiber) and four 4K AVS wireless systems (for wireless). The whole production was supported behind the scenes by a talented team of engineers, including Coker, Vince Warburton (camera engineer), Dave West (control room video engineer), and Don Burkhart (fiber specialist).
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
28/09/2026
Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...
28/09/2026
Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...
28/09/2026
Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...
28/09/2026
Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...
For the First Time, the Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Shot Using Cinema Cameras PRG's LIVE35! technology supported the massive show with sensor cameras By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
