Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From the Rugby World Cup 2023: Immersive and Emotional Cinema-Style Shots Bring Fans Closer to the Action

27/10/2023

Live from the Rugby World Cup 2023: Immersive and emotional cinema-style shots bring fans closer to the action By Will Strauss

Friday, October 27, 2023 - 09:02

Print This Story

Reflecting a growing trend in sports broadcasting, cine-style cameras have been added to the Rugby World Cup production set-up for 2023, bringing a dramatic look to certain parts of the host broadcast match coverage.

Through the use of DSLR cameras with Prime lenses, the production team at Host Broadcast Services (HBS) can capture shots of fans and players with a shallow depth of field that are considered to be more immersive, showcasing the raw emotions of the matches for the viewers back home.

Sony FX3 cameras are being used for this tournament. Here, Julien Bertin, executive producer for HBS at Rugby World Cup 2023, picks up the story.

We want to get closer to the players, he says. Rugby is a very popular sport with players and with fans, and we wanted to get the fans closer to the action and closer to those players because we feel there's a real rugby community. And when I say community, it goes from a club president to a six-year-old kid. We really feel everybody's on the same level. We wanted to get that across.

We can get wide-angle shots of tries happening rather than trying to get in close. We've captured some really nice slo-mos of tries being scored with the whole stadium background and the team going over the try line.

This manifests itself in a couple of ways, he continues.

So, when they arrive at the stadium, we have dramatic close-up shots of the players as they walk in, in slow motion. It's an amazing way to tee up the game, to say, for example, this is Johnny Sexton and he is really focused. It's simple things. You shoot it at 200 frames per second and suddenly the footage has another dimension.

In the tunnel before kick-off, we go in close. In the first game of the World Cup, players were already singing in the tunnel, getting hyped up. We captured that with a cine-style camera. That worked really well. With fans, again we use slo-mo to capture the raw emotion.

Telling the story: Executive producer for HBS Julien Bertin with director Daniel Hudson in Lyon

Steve (better known as Strve, following a now legendary spelling mistake earlier in his career) Jamieson, World Rugby executive producer, was unsure about the use of these cameras pre-tournament. But he is now a convert.

When a try is scored, I encourage the commentators not to say anything but to let the crowd in and then we just cut to a big cine-style close-up of a fan just screaming at the camera. There's no point in talking over it. The picture tells the story.

I'll be honest, he says. Before this World Cup, I wasn't a fan of cine-style because I've seen it badly used at other events. People running around, shots going in and out of focus. So I wasn't sure. But we did a trial in Madrid on a World Rugby Pacific Four Series game and we got some nice stuff out of it.

At the beginning of the tournament, the person wasn't in focus because he or she was moving. So we went back to the drawing board and put the cameras back behind the dead ball line and just had a wide angle. And that got us some amazing slo-mos.

The use of cine-style cameras at France 2023 has changed since the first match, he adds.

On the first weekend, some of our guys were running onto the field trying to get the player coming back [after scoring a try]. Personally, it just didn't work for me. So we looked again at how we could do that. If the operators are on the main camera side, if they are running in from that side, they'd get in shot. So we had to think about them coming in from a different angle.

So we've changed as the tournament has gone on. I think the best shots are the fan shots and the team arrival shots. But we can also get some nice wide-angle shots of tries happening rather than trying to get in close. We've captured some really nice slo-mos of tries being scored with the whole stadium background and the team going over the try line.

Bertin acknowledges that it's not easy to get the shots right using a cine-style camera.

The lower you go [with focal lengths], the shallower the depth of field you get. This is what makes the shot so interesting and unusual [for sport]. At the same time, it isolates the person you're trying to capture. As long as that person is halfway still, it's easy to work around that, and this is why, when we are in the tunnel and the players arrive, we always have the same distance as we walk [with the camera] so that all works.

But when we go on to the field after they score a try, we don't know if are they going to walk back or if they are they going to run back. We want to capture the player's face and the emotion. It could, again, bring the viewers closer to the action. But the margin for error is very small. When you get it right, it's amazing. But it is very hard to get it right with those lenses.

Eight or nine times out of ten, at the beginning of the tournament, the person wasn't in focus because he or she was moving. So we went back to the drawing board and put the cameras back behind the dead ball line and just had a wide angle. And that got us some amazing slo-mos that are usually used in the second slo-mo run.

Bertin hopes that in the future, when using these types of cameras, operators will have an easier job of capturing a moving target.

We want to be able to track someone when they are moving in a less predictable way. DSLR manufacturers are working hard on that, he suggests.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup continues in France until Saturday 28 October.

Read more:

Live from the Rugby World Cup 2023: World Rugby and HBS offer up additional content for rights-holding broadcasters

Live from the Rug
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/live-from-the-rugby-world-cup...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

04/08/2024

Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....

03/06/2024

Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...

20/05/2024

CBC HR Team Getting Ballpark Staff Ready to Play Ball

A pair of stalwart members of the Capitol Broadcasting's dream team have been getting the company's two Coastal Plain League teams ready to launch their...

19/05/2024

TV Techs Weekly Product Wrap-Up

Missed any of our product coverage during your busy week? The TV Tech weekly product and services news wrap-up provides links to all of our coverage from May 13...

19/05/2024

The CW Shares Its 2024-2025 Lineup

LeVar Burton will host the new game show Trivial Pursuit on The CW, while Raven-Symon will host Scrabble....

19/05/2024

Biden, Trump Agree to Debates on CNN, ABC

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to debates, set for June 27 on CNN and September 10 on ABC....

19/05/2024

End of the Line for Young Sheldon' on May 16

Young Sheldon signs off after seven seasons on CBS, when the series finale airs Thursday, May 18. Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik reprise their roles as Sheldon Co...

18/05/2024

If Bundling Is Back, What's the Ideal Bundle?

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. Bundling is back in a big way, with all the major streaming companies and many pay TV operators exploring ways to simplify the consumer experie...

18/05/2024

FCC to Vote on LPTV Rules during June Open Meeting

WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the June Open Commission Meeting schedule...

18/05/2024

Matthews Launches New Multipurpose Grip Rail Telescopic Grid Pipe Solution

Matthews Studio Equipment has introduced Grip Rail, which the company said offers a better way to mount equipment on location, in the studio, or on the fly....

18/05/2024

IAB Tech Labs, Google Partner on New First Party Data Solution

In a notable development in the industry-wide effort to address privacy concerns while improving efficacy of marketing efforts in a cookieless ad landscape, IAB...

18/05/2024

TV Tech Weekly Product Wrap-Up

Missed any of our product coverage during your busy week? The TV Tech weekly product and services news wrap-up provides links to all of our coverage from May 13...

18/05/2024

DHD Elevates the Art of Podcast Production

DHD Elevates the Art of Podcast Production Brie Clayton May 17, 2024 0 Comments Hero image: the DHD DX2 base and expansion modules Latest-generation ...

17/05/2024

Aerojet Rocketdyne's Camden Site Leverages Modernization Investments to Accelerate Solid Rocket Motor Production

Aerojet Rocketdyne has worked to modernize facilities at its Camden, Arkansas, l...

17/05/2024

FCC Plans to Revise LPTV Rules

The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would revise rules governing low power TV stations (LPTV) in a number of areas, including online ...

17/05/2024

Demystifying Post-Production: Introducing Cinema 4D Particles Week 4

Demystifying Post-Production: Introducing Cinema 4D Particles Week 4 Brie Clayton May 17, 2024 0 Comments With the spring release of Maxon One, we&#...

17/05/2024

Takashi Yamazaki Film Godzilla Minus One Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Takashi Yamazaki Film Godzilla Minus One Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton May 17, 2024 0 Comments Hero image credit: 2023 TOHO CO., LT...

17/05/2024

Sterling Event Group Streamlines Live Event Productions with AJA

Sterling Event Group Streamlines Live Event Productions with AJA Brie Clayton May 17, 2024 0 Comments Live event productions only happen once, which ...

17/05/2024

Meet the product manager

Muster Ngobi, product manager at LYNX Technik tells TVBEurope how the ever-evolving media industry provides a truly dynamic working environment By Matthew Corr...

17/05/2024

TV, Streaming Schedule for 2024 NFL Regular Season Is Released

NEW YORK As declines in linear TV viewing make the ongoing popularity of live sports, particularly football, central to financial success of the TV industry, th...

17/05/2024

Netflix Ad Tier Hits 40M Monthly Active Users

During Netflixs second Upfront presentation to advertisers, Amy Reinhard, Netflix's president of advertising, walked advertisers through the continued growt...

17/05/2024

Scripps Promotes Jeff Kiernan to VP, Local News

CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has added to its leadership team for news by promoting Jeff Kiernan a veteran journalist and general manager of Scripps'...

17/05/2024

Survey: New Disney-Fox-WBD Sports Streamer May Hurt Pay TV Sub Counts

Top executives from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have consistently insisted that their joint venture to launch the Venu Sports streaming bundle in the...

17/05/2024

Caitlin Clark's WNBA Debut Set Viewing Records

ESPN has announced that its coverage of Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut in the Indiana Fever versus the Connecticut Sun season opener was the most-watched WNBA g...

17/05/2024

ATEM Mini Extreme ISO switcher and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

ATEM Mini Extreme ISO switcher and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Brie Clayton May 16, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic Design announced today that Yoic...

17/05/2024

Pixomondo's Virtual Production Academy Expands with Programs at Sony PCL, Vook, and Vancouver Film School

Pixomondo's Virtual Production Academy Expands with Programs at Sony PCL, Vo...

17/05/2024

WBD Upfront Show Offers Peeks at House of the Dragon,' White Lotus,' Biden-Trump Debate

The Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation took place Wednesday, May 15 at ...

17/05/2024

The Black Keys, Jelly Roll, Kate Hudson Set To Perform on The Voice' Finale

Season 25 of The Voice wraps on NBC Tuesday, May 21, with performances from The Black Keys, Jelly Roll, Kate Hudson, Lainey Wilson, Muni Long, Thomas Rhett and ...

17/05/2024

CNN Boss Mark Thompson's Plan Includes More News in More Categories on More Devices (Upfronts)

New CNN CEO Mark Thompson spelled out his plan for the struggling news network d...

17/05/2024

Netflix To Launch In-House Advertising Tech Platform

Netflix, a newcomer to the advertising business, said it plans to launch an in-house advertising technology platform....

17/05/2024

Netflix Plots TV Takeover at Upfront Presentation

Netflix shared some programming projects at an upfront presentation in New York. Those include the basketball-themed comedy series Running Point, a Mindy Kaling...

17/05/2024

Plex Geek Week Sale Offers 20% Off Plex Lifetime Pass

Plex is offering movie and music collectors a 20% discount off its Lifetime Plex Pass as part of its Geek Week sale....

17/05/2024

GroupM Names Toby Jenner as President, GroupM Clients

Giant media buyer GroupM said it named Toby Jenner as global president, Group M Clients, a new position at the company....

17/05/2024

Clients of Independent Agencies Boost Programmatic Buying

Smaller advertisers are increasingly buying connected TV programmatically, according to a new report from FreeWheel, Comcast's ad-tech unit....

17/05/2024

TCLtvPlus Adds Streaming Music Channels From Vevo

TCLtvPlus, the streaming app on smart TVs made by TCL, has added live linear channel from music-video programmer Vevo....

17/05/2024

StackAdapt Adopts Data From Samba TV for Programmatic Campaigns

StackAdapt said it made a deal to integrate data from Samba TV into its programmatic advertising platform....

17/05/2024

Tonight on Skeem Saam: Lehasa gets a rude awakening when Kgosi blackmails him

Tonight on Skeem Saam: Lehasa gets a rude awakening when Kgosi blackmails himDon't miss Friday, 17 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Skeem ...

17/05/2024

Tonight on House of Zwide: Dorothy is blown away by Ona's sketches for her wedding dress

Tonight on House of Zwide: Dorothy is blown away by Ona's sketches for her w...

17/05/2024

Tonight on Scandal: Dintle has a visit from her past that leaves her very unsettled

Tonight on Scandal: Dintle has a visit from her past that leaves her very unsett...

17/05/2024

Save Time and Money with WO Traffic v24.0

WO Traffic provides a solid foundation from which stations can manage, execute, and scale end-to-end ad trafficking and sales, both today and into the future. W...

17/05/2024

Broadcast Innovation in India: How AI and Automated Production Helps Smaller Sports Grow

Broadcast Innovation in India: How AI and Automated Production Helps Smaller Spo...

17/05/2024

SVG Sports Cloud Production Forum Gives Refresher Course on Cloud-Based Tools, Ecosystem

SVG Sports Cloud Production Forum Gives Refresher Course on Cloud-Based Tools, E...

17/05/2024

WNBA Tip-Off 2024: Scripps Sports Constructs New Studio for Second Season of WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION

WNBA Tip-Off 2024: Scripps Sports Constructs New Studio for Second Season of WNB...

17/05/2024

SVG College Summit 2024: Auburn's War Eagle Productions Breaks Down How They Produce Live Gymnastics Broadcasts

SVG College Summit 2024: Auburn's War Eagle Productions Breaks Down How They...

17/05/2024

Netflix & Shondaland Announce the Song List and Soundtrack for 'Bridgerton' Season 3: Part 1

Back to All News Netflix & Shondaland Announce the Song List and Soundtrack for...

17/05/2024

Skeem Saam: Thursday's episode, 16 May 2024 [video]

Skeem Saam: Thursday's episode, 16 May 2024 [video]Missed an episode of Skeem Saam? No problem! Watch the latest episode of your favourite South African soa...

17/05/2024

Prison Journalism: Letter to my mothers

Prison Journalism: Letter to my mothersThabo Mthembu was incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison from 2014 to 2019. Read Thabo's story by Thabo Mthembu 17-05-20...

17/05/2024

Paul McCartney becomes UK's first billionaire musician

Paul McCartney becomes UK's first billionaire musicianMusic icon Paul McCartney has become the UK's first billionaire musician, according to the Sunday ...

17/05/2024

Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Sakhile advises Tiny against sabotaging Petunia

Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Sakhile advises Tiny against sabotaging PetuniaDon't miss Friday, 17 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Smoke ...

17/05/2024

RT'S Operation Transformation comes to a close after 17 seasons

RT has today announced that Operation Transformation (OT) is to end after 17 seasons. As series come to an end each year, RT undertakes an editorial review to...