X Games Aspen 2020: ESPN Brings Fans Closer Than Ever With High-Speed Drone Camera Other production highlights include RED UHD camera and CondorCam By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 24, 2020 - 3:45 pm
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Throughout the two-plus decades that ESPN has been producing X Games, one of its primary missions has been to bring fans as close to the action as possible with some of the most unique angles in all of live sports production. That tradition continues this week at X Games Aspen 2020, where ESPN and production partner Echo Entertainment have deployed a new high-speed drone to provide a new perspective to viewers.
Buttermilk Mountain is once again the venue for X Games Aspen 2020. Photo: Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images
I think [deploying the drone] lives up to what we're trying to do at X Games, which is push innovation, push technology, and deliver an idea of what's next' to our fans, says ESPN VP, X Games, Tim Reed. From an industry perspective, drones have become a pretty standard filming tool for snowboarding and skiing. So we're really excited to be able to bring that into a live setting at X Games.
Drone Captures One-of-a-Kind Aerials
The DJI Inspire 2 drone system features a Zenmuse X7 4K camera and 360-degree rotating gimbal and is capable of hitting speeds of up to 58 mph. In addition, a dual-battery system prolongs the flight time, and self-heating technology allows it to fly even in colder climates like Aspen.
ESPN first deployed a drone in Aspen in 2015 (prior to Echo's involvement), but drone technology and production techniques have come a long way over the past half decade. This will mark the most extensive use of a drone ever for X Games coverage.
I think it will improve our race coverage on Snow BikeCross and Snowmobile Freestyle and get us above the action so we can see where everybody is on the course better than we've ever been able to, says Hugh Arian, president, Echo Entertainment. It will also give us some great supplemental coverage on Slopestyle and Big Air [ski/snowboard disciplines] and a look at [snowboard] SuperPipe that we've never had before from just outside the [half-pipe] deck and flying down the whole length of the pipe. We also plan to use it a lot as a real-time replays to look back at an athlete's run from a perspective that has never been seen before.
In addition to the logistical challenge of avoiding flying over crowds at the event, Buttermilk Mountain's close proximity to Aspen Pitkin County Airport (just a mile away) added additional regulatory hurdles.
We're very close to the airport, so that took us a couple of years to work through [regulatory challenges]. And the tower at Aspen airport closes early, so we have a limit on how late at night we can fly it, says Pierce Williams, technical producer, Echo Entertainment. Like most new technologies, you have to walk before you can run, so that's how we're approaching it. We're trying to work around those challenges and, hopefully, learning and will continue to work with the FAA and the airport so that we can continue to do it better in the future.
Roving Host Set Gets Cinematic Treatment
Last summer in Minneapolis, ESPN and Echo opted not to erect a traditional set onsite for host and talent. They have continued this strategy in Aspen, moving host Jack Mitrani throughout Buttermilk to produce live segments from a variety of locations.
Host Jack Mitrani roams Buttermilk Mountain doing hits during X Games Aspen 2020. Photo: Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images
We want to make his hits more immersive, so we will have Jack walking through the crowd and amongst the people, says Arian. We'll also pull the curtain back for people, as we started in Minneapolis, doing a couple hits in the athlete lounge, in VIP areas, and other behind-the-scenes places.
ESPN and Echo are also looking to add a more epic, cinematic feel to these live host segments by shooting them with a RED Digital Cinema UHD camera attached to a Freefly M VI handheld three-axis gimbal.
We feel like the RED camera gives us a more cinematic look and the M VI mount gives us a lot of freedom to move smoothly, says Arian. That's more of a cinema tool, but we have [adapted] it to be a live camera, and we're bringing that back to the truck. That has been a challenge. It won't match exactly to the rest of the show, but it has gone well so far, and we're feeling good about what it adds to the show.
Capturing the Epic Speed - and Danger - of Winter X
Besides the DJI Inspire 2 drone and RED UHD camera, ESPN and Echo have deployed a typically robust complement of cameras at Buttermilk: 30-plus cameras that will be repositioned to more than 130 locations throughout the four-day event.
Alex Hall competes in the Men's Ski Big Air as a FollowCam operator trails him off the jump. Photo: Matt Morning/ESPN Images
They include four Sony HDC-4300 high-speed cameras (at varying frame rates up to 8x slo-mo). The Antelope Pico miniature slo-mo camera, which records up to 350 frames per second in native HD and simultaneously supplies a 1080i50/60 signal via HD SDI for line-cut purposes, has been deployed on a PoleCam rig at vantage points where larger cameras cannot be mounted.
In addition to plenty of high-speed cameras, ESPN and Echo are focused on capturing the speed of competition this year. After debuting at X Games in 2017, the CondorCam two-point aerial tracking system is now a staple of ESPN's Slopestyle-course coverage. Eight small FollowCam systems, which have also become synonymous with X Games coverage, are attached to engineered rigs and used by operators on skis and snowboards; they are also attached to snowmobiles and snow bikes to provide dynamic tracking shots of the athletes.
From an overall cove
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X Games Aspen 2020: ESPN Brings Fans Closer Than Ever With High-Speed Drone Camera Other production highlights include RED UHD camera and CondorCam By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
