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...
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...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
15/01/2026
X-energy Reactor Company, LLC ( X-energy ) and SGL Carbon LLC ( SGL ) have signed a 10-year framework agreement to provide graphite for the deployment of X-ener...
15/01/2026
RT is tonight announcing that Mari Hurley has decided to leave her role as RT 's Chief Financial Officer to take up a new position outside RT . Mari will r...
15/01/2026
15 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Dir...
15/01/2026
Views to free streaming service U grew by 15%, average monthly active users by 23% and registrations by 18%
UKTV's channels achieved record viewing share, ...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
Sky Sports to show Final Stage of inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup
Sky and FIFA have agreed an exclusive new partnership whi...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
The official trailer for the second season of Seth Mac...
15/01/2026
Wuppertal January 15, 2026
Riedel RefCam Takes Center Court in German Basketba...
15/01/2026
Arvato Systems Named Launch Partner for AWS European Sovereign Cloud
As a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Arvato Systems enables customer...
14/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 13th January, 2026 ITV, one of the UKs leading broadcasters, has selected Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), to ...
14/01/2026
Steiger Media's adoption of Calrec's compact Argo M console not only makes its innovative new hybrid truck faster, more efficient, and agile, but also e...
14/01/2026
Press Release: The Boston Globe Names Cartesian a Top Place to Work in 2025
January 14, 2026
News
Cartesian - January 14, 2026 - EINPresswire.com - Sp...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Marcus Theatres Announce Five-Year Extension for Cinema ACE and Ent...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Santikos Entertainment Announce Five-Year Circuit Wide Commitment t...
14/01/2026
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Sky News announces Cathy Newman to lead flagship new political programme
Sky News today announces that award-winning journalist and ...
14/01/2026
The first stamp of An Post's 2026 Stamp Programme, marking 100 Years of Broadcasting, was unveiled at the GPO by Patrick O'Donovan TD, Minister for Cult...
14/01/2026
It's official! Beverley Callard has landed in Carrigstown. The beloved actor, known for her unforgettable roles and iconic screen presence, is joining the c...
13/01/2026
Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to ...
13/01/2026
Luxembourg, December 17, 2025 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading spa...
13/01/2026
Written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna, produced b...
13/01/2026
New updates to Hitmaker Expansion from Celemony and Softube Edit pitch-perfect vocals with Melodyne Essential and get radio-ready guitar tones from Softube...
13/01/2026
Live broadcasts from RT 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz & Aisling, RT Radio 1 Tod...
12/01/2026
Spotify's new co-CEOs, Alex Norstr m and Gustav S derstr m, start off the new year with a message of renewed leadership, creative responsibility, and what&#...
12/01/2026
At Spotify, we listen to a lot of music. And every year, our global editors and artist partnerships teams come together to spotlight the emerging voices we beli...
12/01/2026
Spotify's global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team spend their days immersed in new music, tracking the writers behind the songs breaking...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan and increases its support for the J...
12/01/2026
X-Rite and Rhopoint Launch Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix to Streamline Creation of...
12/01/2026
12 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Launches 5G Pilot in Lviv Lviv, January 12, 2026 - VEON, a global digital operator (Nasdaq: VEON), today announces that Kyivsta...
12/01/2026
Monday 12 January 2026
The ultimate betrayal: Harry and Jamie Redknapp, Paul Me...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan to increase its support for the Jap...
12/01/2026
Welcome to the AVECO team: introducing new members of management
At AVECO, we are continuing to implement our #newAVECO strategy, which aims to build an even s...
12/01/2026
For the first time in the nine-year history of Dancing with the Stars, the first...
Sunset Vine's leading staff match director Jamie Oakford talks to TVBEurope about his role at this summers Euro 2020 tournament
