The Simpsons Funday Football:: The Game May Be Set in Springfield, but the Production Team Is in Bristol

The Simpsons Funday Football:: The Game May Be Set in Springfield, but the Production Team Is in Bristol ESPN's Studio Operations team is at the center of the animated altcast production By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.

Monday, December 9, 2024 - 3:18 pm

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Although the real-life game will be in Dallas and the animated game will be in Springfield, nearly all production operations for tonight's The Simpsons Funday Football animated broadcast will be located at ESPN's home campus in Bristol, CT.

We not only have to tell the story of the football game but envision what that looks like if it were in The Simpsons universe, says Haili Menard, manager, technology operations, ESPN. Creative calls from our directing and production staff make that happen.

SVG goes behind the scenes in Springfield (and Bristol) with in-depth coverage of every aspect of the production:

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW: Inside the Tech That ESPN and the NFL Use To Bring Springfield to Life

PRODUCTION OPERATIONS: The Game May Be Set in Springfield, but the Production Team Is in Bristol

CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY: ESPN Creative Studio's Michael Spike' Szykowny Pulls Back the Curtain on Creative Process

TRACKING TECHNOLOGY: Sony's Beyond Sports CEO Sander Shouten Analyzes How Tracking Tech Enables Real-Time Animated Altcasts

MUSIC & THEME SONG: ESPN Records Unique Twist on Monday Night Football Theme for Animated Alternative Broadcast

All Roads Lead to Bristol: Studio Operations Team To Handle the Live Game' ESPN Studio Operations team will essentially serve as the live game unit for tonight's broadcast, with all virtual cameras cut in Bristol. The majority of the crew producing the altcast, including the front bench and replay team, will be located in Bristol.

Live data tracking sent from onsite servers is used by gaming PCs to render the virtual environment. Essentially, data feeds are sent from the stadium, and ESPN's Studio Operations team puts everything together in Bristol - the only exception being the natural audio, which is mixed at the site before being sent to Bristol. ESPN will send live natural audio down its transmission paths to be tracked as well as adding sounds of the game from The Simpsons' universe.

For our team, says Mo McMeekin, studio operations manager, ESPN, this is an incredible and exciting production to be a part of. Creative storytelling and innovation are core values of our company; it's part of the ESPN culture of success. Having the opportunity to be scheduled for this unique production challenges our talented team to think about and deliver the most effective way to present this vision, along with an open space for calculated creative risks.

A crew of more than 40 will contribute to tonight's broadcast: announcers, graphics, production, directing staff, technical operators, edit team, full media replay team, and support staff. Included as well is the four-person Beyond Sports team, who traveled in from Netherlands this week.

Time is always our greatest challenge when producing these broadcasts, says director Jeff Nelson, a veteran of multiple ESPN animated broadcasts. The amount of work that goes into creating storylines, animating the environment and characters, roll-ins, specialty game animations, plus testing and rehearsals, is time-consuming, and a relatively small group is charged with these productions. That being said, it's our fourth animated broadcast, and we've learned a great deal, which has allowed us to skip the learning' stages of certain areas.

Inside the control room, Nelson's front bench and the rest of the production team must have a very different mindset from that for a traditional game production. Although the action on the field is certainly critical, integrating humor and fun into the broadcast is equally important.

One of the fun challenges for our team is stepping away from their experience of a traditional broadcast and getting their minds into the Simpsons universe, says McMeekin. While it may seem logical on a traditional broadcast to show a replay of what just happened during the game, it may make more sense during Funday Football to show Bart's or Homer's antics from the sidelines of Atoms Stadium.

Commentators Dialed-In: Calling the Atoms Stadium Action From Bristol Announcers Drew Carter, Dan Orlovsky, and Mina Kimes will be on hand in Bristol, calling the action from voiceover booths. They will wear Oculus Quest or Meta Quest Pro headsets, transported into the immersive graphic representation of the stadium, field, and players. ESPN is also deploying the Meta headsets for hand and facial tracking, which will allow the trio themselves to be animated within the broadcast.

[By having them wear] the headset, McMeekin explains, we will actually be able to see them in the virtual world, to the point where they can go on to the field and be amongst the players. That is super exciting.

ESPN has adjusted the workflow for announcers calling the action. Instead of being in a studio (as was the case for Toy Story Funday Football and Big City Greens Classic), ESPN isolates Kimes, Orlovsky, and Carter in new voiceover booths in Bristol.

The VO booths allow us to prevent talent from passing into each other's virtual space' without having to redesign our larger studios with pipe and drape, says Menard. The VO booths allow more-accurate game call' audio, talkback, and talent-preferred IFB mixing.

A bonus is that the technology-management staff has connectivity directly to the broadcast router, internet, multiviewers, etc. to provide a custom setup for talent and Beyond Sports support staff.

The use of our new VO booths is a great example of work smarter not harder, says Menard. We are better able

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