Sunset Vine's leading staff match director Jamie Oakford talks to TVBEurope about his role at this summers Euro 2020 tournament
By Jenny Priestley
Published: June 10, 2021
Sunset Vine's leading staff match director Jamie Oakford talks to TVBEurope about his role at this summer's Euro 2020 tournament
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
As fans across Europe prepare to gorge themselves on a feast of football during Euro 2020, sports broadcast company Sunset Vine will be heavily involved in making sure they don't miss a second of the action.
Organisers UEFA have selected 11 of Europe's top directors, including Sunset Vine's leading staff match director Jamie Oakford to oversee the 51 matches taking place between 11th June and 11th July.
Each match is covered by 44 cameras and each core match team comprises nearly 50 people, delivering match and replays as well as the UEFA rights holder package that includes additional camera feeds, interviews and supporting content.
Sunset Vine is supplying two crews: one at Wembley in London, and the other in Baku, Azerbijan. Each crew consists of a director, VT coordinator, vision mixer, PA, floor manager, two audio supervisors, 28 camera operators, 12 EVS operators, one production manager and a multi-feed producer.
At Wembley, a technical team provided by Telegenic who supply the OB trucks will also been on hand to ensure everything is working technically.
data-src=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Jamie-photo.png alt= width=292 height=396 />Jamie Oakford We have some German crew who operate the Spidercam and cranes, Oakford tells TVBEurope. UEFA book this centrally across all the venues and we have a UEFA support team on site to manage all the logistics with our production manager.
Originally, Oakford was due to be involved in matches in both London and Rome, but because of Covid crews have been told they can't travel between venues. Instead, he and his team are now working on eight games at Wembley, including both semi-finals and the final on 11th July.
Each director is allowed to choose all 49 members of their their crew. Mine are largely based on the crew I work with week in week out on the Premier League for BT Sport, explains Oakford. Some areas of football coverage are very specialised so I'm very happy to have people I know and trust working with me.
My main job is to cover the live games, so what you see on your TV is what we do, but also in the background we make sure that our team delivers a vast number of feeds that UEFA offer to the broadcasters.
It's impossible for one director stay across 44 different camera feeds. Instead, Oakford numbers chooses 16 key feeds that he'll use throughout the game, and these are positioned on monitors in front of him.
The rest mostly only come into play at set pieces like free kicks and corners or big moments like goals and penalties or moments when the ball is not in play . so I don't use them as often and then there are a few that are primarily for replays. We like to think that with this amount of cameras we don't miss anything! he laughs.
UEFA also provide a clips channel service, with 44 cameras its impossible to cut every good shot live or to show every great replay so these get passed on to the broadcasters during the game via two clips channels that cover action shots and emotion shots.
The Euros will see the production team dealing with many more camera feeds than usual. BT Sport uses a camera plan ranging from 16 to 26 cameras on every Premier League or Champions League game. That could increase to 32 for the FA Cup Final.
data-src=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV-726x726.png alt= width=253 height=253 data-srcset=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV-726x726.png 726w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV-353x353.png 353w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV-768x768.png 768w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV-150x150.png 150w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Euro_Jamie_SV.png 1080w data-sizes=(max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px />At Euro 2020, as well as covering what's happening on the pitch, the cameras will be used for team arrivals, post match interviews and press conferences. For the match coverage we have an incredible amount of options and all the cutting edge technology you would expect at such a massive event, says Oakford.
Among the cameras being employed are eight super slow mo cameras, two hi motion cameras, one Spidercam, a helicopter, two cranes, two Steadlicams, two pole cameras, and dedicated cameras for team managers, players, and fans. It's a fantastic amount of cameras to work with, says Oakford.
UEFA is not using remote production for coverage of the tournament instead all members of the production team will be on site. They'll arrive on site around five hours ahead of kick-off and complete their own technical checks to make sure all positions are tested and all communication is working They'll also test VAR and goal line technology.
We have to line up with UEFA to make sure that all the right sound and pictures are going to all the right places as there are a large number of different feeds leaving the truck, explains Oakford.
Finally, as he's directing the final, who is Oakford's tip to win? England obviously! he laughs. It would be great as we're doing the final. I can't think of anything better than to direct England winning the European Championship at Wembley.
data-src=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/themes/tvbeurope/library/images/tvbe-subs.jpg width=729 height=90>
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
09/03/2026
Popular wireless mic head design revived
Sennheiser have revealed that the MD 9235, a cardioid mic head designed to pair up with their handheld wireless sys...
09/03/2026
Captures two sought-after Dumble combo amps
The latest TONEX release captures a pair of sought-after Dumble amplifiers from IK Multimedia's private amp ...
09/03/2026
Flexible all-analogue insert matrix joins line-up
HUM Audio Devices don't tend to do things by halves - even the quickest of glances at the likes of the...
09/03/2026
Captures three sought-after pianos
Rhodes latest software release brings together a collection of three virtual pianos: a concert grand, an acoustic upright...
09/03/2026
Flagship compressor gets an upgrade
Techivation's flagship compressor plug-in has just been treated to a ground-up rebuild that kits it out with some po...
09/03/2026
Profiler OS 14.0 enters open beta
Kemper's amp-modelling systems already have a great reputation, but the latest update to their systems' underlying...
09/03/2026
Procedural stems smasher & recomposition engine
Blinksonic have recently launched a new Reaktor-based tool which they say takes a radical departure from yo...
09/03/2026
13 - 15 March 2026 at University of Warwick Conference Centre
The Institute of Professional Sound (IPS) have announced that The IPS Training Weekend 2026 wi...
09/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and NETGEAR collaborate for next generation Wi-Fi 8 access point...
09/03/2026
UKTV has agreed a new partnership deal with Samsung that makes UKTV's free linear channels available to internet-only Samsung TV viewers in the UK for the f...
Sunset Vine's leading staff match director Jamie Oakford talks to TVBEurope about his role at this summers Euro 2020 tournament
