Spin Shot: How Infront Productions is Producing Coverage of the Women's European Handball Federation Euro 2024

Spin shot: How Infront Productions is producing coverage of the Women's European Handball Federation Euro 2024 By Heather McLean

Friday, November 29, 2024 - 13:41

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With the help of host broadcast HBS, the EHF js making this Women's Euro bigger and better than ever before [Source:EHF/kolektiff]

The Women's European Handball Federation (EHF) Euro 2024 started on Thursday 28 November, with 24 teams taking part for the first time, up from 16 previously. The preliminary round of the competition will be concluded in the three host countries, Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, on 3 December, with the main round and the knockout phase seeing a winner crowned on 15 December.

With the help of Infront Productions, which selected Host Broadcast Services (HBS) to run the project, the EHF is making this Women's Euro bigger and better than ever before. When it comes to planning and strategy, the Women's EHF Euro will for the second time be as big in terms of production as the Men's EHF Euro 2024, which took place in January 2024.

Innovations introduced in Germany for the men, such as the change in format from interlaced to progressive (1080p 50), as well as the use of a cine-style camera for the final weekend, are being carried over to the Women's EHF Euro. Additionally, the final weekend itself will be captured by 21 cameras.

The Women's EHF Euro 2024 will be produced in progressive this year, as the men's was in January [Source:EHF/kolektiff]

Equal production

SVG Europe spoke to Thomas Sch neich, EHF director of media and communications, and Lou Oppenheim, production manager at Infront Productions and the person responsible for the Women's EHF Euro host broadcast, about how the two weeks of the Women's Euro were going to be produced.

Comments Sch neich on the move to equalise the men's and women's productions in 2022: We made the deliberate decision that both the men's Euro and the women's Euro would be treated equally; we wanted to give it the same exposure. We don't want to reduce cameras if we're talking camera planning from one event to the other. Back then when we started, we said that both events should enjoy our defined gold standard of TV production.

The women's event will be produced in progressive this year, as the men's was in January. Comments Oppenheim: Now more and more broadcasters are using progressive rather than interlaced and because as well on big events we do progressive, we just want the EHF to follow that path because it's a big production, a lot of cameras and now [produced to a] high standard.

For the technical side of the production, using progressive has meant a few tweaks have had to be made, says Oppenheim. In Hungary, Infront Productions works with technical services provider Antenna, while in Innsbruck and Vienna in Austria and Basel, Switzerland, it works with Media Luso from Portugal.

She comments on the men's Euro in January: Actually in Germany, we had a couple of challenges, just because we needed to adapt all the equipment coming from the broadcasters, even for everything replay related, for example, that all machines have to be able to work with the progressive format, which with some technical providers is not the case with all the machines. So we had to adapt a bit. It all went fine.

The bandwidth required for the production when using progressive is also increased, she notes: It just uses more bandwidth and capacity. And all of that has an impact on the organising committee (OC) for internet lines, for example; as soon as you start pushing progressive, it takes much more [capacity], especially if you want the turnaround to be as quick as possible and then it's money on OC's and all of that. But in the end it worked all fine and as Thomas said, we want the same thing on the woman's, and it's all agreed with the OC and technical providers, so it should be fine and for the best.

Camera plan for the final of the Women's EHF Euro 2024 (click on the image to see a larger version)

Cine cam magic

Infront Productions is using the Sony FX6 cine cam for the EHF women's final. It is being used to capture off-court images, explains Oppenheim. We are using it before, at halftime, and after [the matches] to provide more beautiful pictures, or cinematic pictures. So it'll be from players in the dressing room if they allow us to enter with this one, otherwise we'll be waiting to enter the court, lining up during the anthem, on the bench, and then at the end, some emotions on the court. Just to tell the story a bit more. And our friends from digital have asked us to film the last player of each team when they enter the court, that we follow them from the back; that will be used on different platforms.

Sch neich explains why the EHF found it necessary to introduce cine cameras. Obviously it's always our goal to enhance the viewing experience. I'm not going to say we were late to the party, but obviously back in January, cine style cameras had become much wider used in world feed productions, at least from my point of view. And this is the next step that we wanted to take as well, from a European Handball Federation and innovation point of view. It was an on top' investment, so to say that we deliberately made [it in addition] to the existing camera plan.

There's always financial thoughts that come into these discussions and we looked at the feasibility, of when can we use it? Sch neich goes on. The final weekend is kind of a given because it's obviously the highlight matches of the tournament. In Germany [at the men's Euros], we had the particular situation that the opening game was a world record-breaking game in terms of audience, because we played in a football stadium in front of 53,000

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