
Live From MLB at Field of Dreams: Fox Sports Returns to Iowa for Cinematic Feast for the Eyes Drones, cabled cam return as Polecam and RF Sony F5500 join cinematic image-capture lineup By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 1:45 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
That's the mantra that Fox Sports is taking into this second installment of the MLB at Field of Dreams game (Thursday, 7:00 p.m. ET, Fox) from the site of the iconic 1989 film set in a small-town cornfield in Eastern Iowa.
Fox Sports returns to MLB at Field of Dreams on Thursday night with more than 30 cameras prepared to capture and deliver a cinematic viewing experience from the iconic movie site. Among those cameras are this new P50 robo peeking out from the cornfield just off first base.
So much went right for both Fox and Major League Baseball last year in an event that earned Fox the 2022 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Special. Pleasant weather served as a comfortable backdrop for a wild finish (complete with a walk-off home run). That being said, a lot of the creative choices that both entities made put them in a position to succeed: from the sprawling corn stalk-filled outfield to the cinematic aerial shots and the memorable pregame ceremony.
There's a new story to tell - one more focused on the nostalgia of old-time baseball - this time around, but, in terms of the production and operations plans, here in Dyersville, there's a lot that's familiar.
I think that we and MLB got a lot of things right last time and, obviously, we got very lucky, says Michael Davies, SVP, field operations, Fox Sports. We got lucky with the game's moments. We got lucky with the weather. It was all fantastic. Because there was so much that we got right, we didn't need to change a whole lot in terms of the coverage, and, for that reason, we didn't.
Sony F5500 Goes Handheld; Polecam Joins Storytelling Arsenal Were there lessons learned from 2021? Were there opportunistic tweaks made to improve this year's production? Of course.
This year's truck compound is bigger and uses the available space more sensibly; Game Creek Video Encore and 79 trucks made the trip after supporting the broadcaster's work at All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
Some tweaks were made to the camera lineup as well to give more cinema-style images. Also, certain cameras were repositioned because the corn stalks at the venue are about 3 ft. shorter than they were a year ago.
The game production features more than 30 cameras, including four super-slo-mos shooting at 6X. Additions include an RF Polecam in the outfield and the Sony F5500, which, for the first time on a Fox show, will be used as an RF handheld.
The 2022 MLB at Field of Dreams game pits the Chicago Cubs against the Cincinnati Reds at a custom-built field in Dyersville, IA, on the site of the 1989 movie.
Last year, Fox Sports erected a tower camera, similar to those used on a golf production, in the outfield, but wind issues and a lack of flexibility in what the camera could capture led production and ops to scrap that and go with the Polecam this time around. With the shorter cornstalks, Fox expects to use that unit more liberally for establishing shots coming in or out of breaks.
As for the F5500, a 4K-capable camera system unveiled by Sony last October, the MLB on Fox team has been finding ways to work the system into different locations to give a cinematic shallow-depth-of-field look to traditional broadcast-camera positions. At the MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, the crew got great shots from it as a hard camera on the first-base line. The MLB at Field of Dreams game marks the first time that Fox will try the system as a roving RF handheld.
Much like the MLB All-Star Game in Los Angeles, this show was a fully Canon show as it pertained to the lineup of lenses. Sprinkled throughout the park were the DIGISUPER 122x, DIGISUPER 111x, DIGISUPER 95x, DIGISUPER 22x, and the CINE-SERVO 17-120mm.
MORE: Live From MLB at Field of Dreams: Fox Sports' Studio Crew Lowers Outfield Set To Show Off the Cornfield
The tech-productions team - headed by Lead Technical Producer Tom Lynch and anchored by Sid Drexler, Brian Obert, and Taihe Miller - is deploying two of its signature Dirtcams, this time adding one in the pitching mound to accompany their consistent look just off home plate. There are also looks from Dreamchip cameras in each bullpen as well as a robo peeking out of the corn just off first base.
We have a lot of ability to continue to tell this game's story as a movie, says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, Fox Sports, who is working with Director, Field Operations, Francisco Paco Contreras on this year's engineering plans. To be able to pull yourself back and forth between the cinematic and venue within the game itself is great.
Aerial Imagery Reclaims Its Star Status One of the stars of last year's show was the aerial imagery. With a fixed-wing plane (provided by Winged Vision), a small fleet of drones (Beverly Hills Aerials), and a two-point cabled camera system stretching more than 1,400 ft. (FlyCam), Fox Sports essentially had three tiers of aerials, always keeping the venue visuals fresh and captivating throughout the broadcast.
This year, Beverly Hills Aerials has expanded its drone lineup for the show to four: two heavy-lift drones outfitted with Red Komodo 6K cameras; an FPV drone for faster, more nimble shots; and the super-compact Bumble Bee drone that was used for safe flying over the action during the USFL season.
According to Beverly Hills Aerials Chief Pilot Michael Izquierdo, these drones get more flight time through battery life than last year's, giving the pilots more freedom to explore for new, captivat
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...
22/09/2026
From Malaysia to Mexico and from DR Congo to Ukraine, this year's 12 finalists for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year award tell extra...
22/09/2026
The annual preseason content-gathering event brought 36 NHL players to Las Vegas, where ESPN used 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and a motion-control camera syste...
22/09/2026
Neumann has introduced the KK 104 A (cardioid) and KK 105 A (supercardioid) wireless capsule heads, succeeding the KK 204 and KK 205. The new capsules are compa...
22/09/2026
The NFL and TMRW Sports have announced a new annual Pro Flag Showcase to be held during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles. The event will feature top flag foot...
22/09/2026
Washington State University has unveiled a new end zone video display and audio ...
22/09/2026
Disney's SVP of Live Operations and Engineering details the technology behin...
22/09/2026
Cosm has announced two senior promotions. Mazen Alawar has been promoted to SVP,...
22/09/2026
Mississippi State University's University Television Center has purchased four KOKUSAI DENKI SK-UHD7000-S2 cameras since 2024, with plans to add two more, a...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced that Christine Kjellvard will assume the role of interim Chief Financial Officer on November 1, 2026. Kjellvard has previously held in...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced Zyntai TimeNode Access, a compact PTP Grandmaster designed for distributed edge sites. The product carries secure, precise time across...
22/09/2026
Sam Hazeldine, Austin Amelio, Padraic McKinley, Julia Jones, and Ethan Hawke attend the premiere of The Weight at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park...
22/09/2026
Second high-gain tone plug-in released
Following on from their debut release, Chainsaw Suite, Avalanche Tones have announced the launch of their second plug...
22/09/2026
Uncompressed audio with below 6ms of latency
Lewitt's have just introduced their first pair of headphones which, despite being aimed primarily at studio...
22/09/2026
Two new capsule heads for Sennheiser wireless systems
Neumann have announced the upcoming launch of the KK 104 A and KK 105 A, a pair of new premium condens...
22/09/2026
Apogee Plugins Are Moving to Plugin Alliance We're excited to share an important update about the future of Apogee plugins.
Apogee plugins are moving to Pl...
22/09/2026
Parkland, Florida, US, September 22, 2026: SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, has been honored wit...
22/09/2026
VanityFilter 3.1.5 adds project files and adjustable protection around lips, bro...
22/09/2026
Chile's TV Modernizes Broadcast Operations with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
URSA Broadcast G2 brings versatility...
22/09/2026
OWC Shares Sneak Peek at Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Pricing
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
Image courtesy of Deposit Photos
Business and ...
22/09/2026
Berklee's First Homecoming Block Party Brings Alumni Home for Global Music F...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
From Academy Award-winning Passion Pictures and BAFTA-winning director Marian Mo...
22/09/2026
Tuesday 22 September 2026
Portrait Artist of the Year returns to Sky Arts with ...
22/09/2026
Whether it be from the sun or from our phones and other devices, we are all exposed to electromagnetic radiation in some shape or form. With the dramatic growth...
22/09/2026
Comscore's latest AI Intelligence Report Shows Competition Intensifying as C...
22/09/2026
The Factory-X Project Sets Standards for Data Sovereignty in Industry
Arvato Systems Brings Digital Sovereignty to Industrial Practice
Factory-X Successfully...
22/09/2026
LONDON Apple today announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a brand-new state-...
22/09/2026
RT , Creative Ireland and Shared Island Initiative ask young artists
to respon...
22/09/2026
To build and deploy sophisticated robotics applications that can perceive, reason and act in dynamic environments, developers need new physical AI models and to...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...
21/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...
21/09/2026
Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...
21/09/2026
Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...
21/09/2026
United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...
21/09/2026
SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...
21/09/2026
The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...
21/09/2026
Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...