Live From The Open Championship: EMG UK Efforts Power World Feed, Unilateral Rightsholder Operations An EMG team of 600+, specialty cameras help make the 150th anniversary memorable By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Friday, July 15, 2022 - 11:31 am
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The 150th Open Championship is under way, and, for the team at EMG and all the rightsholders, the important anniversary brings with it additional production challenges, including having facilities ready to go not only for the first round of play on Thursday but earlier in the week for the extra events.
EMG UK's Terry James (left) and Hamish Greig at The 150th Open Championship
There are a lot of extra toys and extra facilities for the 150th, says EMG UK Deputy CEO Hamish Greig. On Monday afternoon, there was a Celebration of Champions, and it was a 35-camera show on Holes 1, 2, 17, and 18. But it was still a very high-spec show, with all the specialist cameras we would have for the main show. That meant we had to have the whole IBC infrastructure up to be able to facilitate it as we didn't want to double up by configuring a truck and then having to reconfigure it and reroute it. That just didn't make sense, but we had to bring crew and the build forward by two days.
A team of more than 600 is working across the Old Course and in the compound (adding rightsholders to the total credentialed brings that number to around 1,500). The team is using 56 Sony hard cameras, 12 Toptracer cameras, 29 Sony RF cameras, Panasonic POV cameras, and two super-slo-mo cameras to help bring the story of the 150th Open Championship to viewers around the world. The biggest new toy is a 550-meter-long CamCat wired camera system flying over what is known as The Loop, which includes Holes 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and features crisscrossing fairways, shared greens, and a location right on the water.
That was a request by [world feed producer] Jim Storey, who wanted to make the production special, says Greig. It's just a beautiful location.
ACS (Aerial Camera Systems) is overseeing operation of the CamCat system, and, according to ACS Operations Manager David Whitlock, its advantage is that it can carry a larger camera package.
The CamCat system can hold a gyrostabilized gimbal and a camera, providing smooth shots in windy conditions.
The bigger the camera package, the more stable we can make it, he explains. This is carrying a Cineflex gimbal that is the same as you would have on a helicopter, making it as stable as you can get. Especially with the wind, there will be vibrations, and you need a system that can match the conditions so you can get more out of it. We can also cover five holes with it, which will help make it worthwhile.
A railcam on the Road Hole at the Open Championship is providing a unique view of one of golf's unique holes.
Another new specialty item is a 70-meter-long Railcam riding along the wall that is on the Road Hole.
It has a Cineflex gimbal as well, says Whitlock. GL built a platform behind the wall, and the key was to get it at a level that was the same distance from the top of the wall for 70 meters and we can get some foreground elements to give a sense of moving.
ACS also installed a lipstick camera on the first tee, looking back toward the players teeing off, and four bunker cameras on the course. Golf Channel and Sky Sports have bunker cameras located in the practice area.
The 17th bunker cam has a new camera, the Antelope Pico, which is a high-frame-rate minicamera, says Whitlock. We are shooting at 350 fps, and we've never done that before in a mini-cam.
Inside the Compound The Open Championship world-feed-production gallery
The Open Championship compound is based in a building that is home to the world-feed IBC and NBC's unilateral production facility. One of the improvements to the IBC is the addition of Imagine routers, which have built-in multiviewers.
We use a lot of multiviewers, says Greig. There aren't enough available in the hire market, so we had to address the problem by using the Imagine routers. We're also doing a lot embedding and de-embedding.
The Open Championship compound features a mix of trucks and an IBC which is home to the world feed and NBC's gallery and related rooms for replay, graphics, and audio.
Complementing that facility are trucks that handle other functions, such as Featured Groups and coverage of three holes in UHD HDR. The traditional EMG golf green-branded fleet, which is a mainstay at The Open, is joined by one truck and two containers from the EMG white-branded fleet.
Capacity mandated use of the trucks, according to Greig. We've always had two or three sister trucks here to help us with setting up infrastructure for comms, get cameras going, and be a place for ACS to set up. Sky need lots of infrastructure, and TV Asahi again have gone for a flypack option, which we've provided.
On the audio side, there are 30 on-course commentator mics as well as 25 high-power on-course effects mics and another 80 stereo mics for the tees, greens, and general effects.
We also have about 60 low-power radio mics, 55 high-power radio mics, 72 duplex channels, and over 650 radios, adds Greig.
EMG has a couple of new clients: IMG's Live at the Range and Netflix. And Sky Sports is once again producing its coverage from a gallery at its Osterley, UK, headquarters.
It's year two of the Sky remote, notes Greig. It has worked very well as it's similar to last year except with added facilities like an extra studio for the 150th Open. We also have some Toptracer operators in Sweden, some ARL operators in New Zealand; TV Asahi has a remote flypack, with their main program finished in Tokyo. There are also remote Hawk-eye operators in Basingstoke, UK, and for NBC
