NFL Kickoff 2020: NBC's Sunday Night Football Adds C360 Overhead Replay Camera, Shifts Graphics and Edit Teams Back Home Graphics and edit teams will be located remotely in Stamford due to pandemic By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 3:31 pm
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NBC Sunday Night Football enters its 15th season - after nine straight atop the primetime-TV ratings - facing unprecedented challenges in the face of the pandemic. However, that's not stopping NBC Sports Group from continuing its tradition as one of the largest and most high-tech live sports productions in the business.
We feel like we have a solid plan to start the season but know full well that we'll be adapting and adjusting as the season goes on, says NBC's longtime SNF executive producer, Fred Gaudelli. I'd say the biggest challenge is that everything that was routine for the last 15 years, at least for Sunday night, is no longer routine. And everything you do or have done has had to be rethought - even just walking into the stadium.
C360 Overhead Camera Brings a Whole New Look to Replays New to NBC's camera complement this year will be a C360 camera attached to the bottom of the SkyCam aerial system. This new angle will provide an overhead replay perspective that is expected to yield looks at everything from the techniques of linemen along the line of scrimmage to close plays along the sidelines.
NBC will deploy an 8K C360 camera on its Skycam for Sunday Night Football to provide a 180-degree immersive field of view when creating replays.
In addition, because the camera shoots in 8K and records in a 180-degree immersive field of view, the production team can reframe and manipulate replays to provide more-definitive views. For example, if there's a question about a receiver's catching a pass on the sideline, the technology can freeze the entire image, zoom in, and focus on the player's hands to confirm possession and then pan down to the player's feet and zoom in to confirm that both touched the ground before going out of bounds.
Basically, says Gaudelli, it's a camera that will shoot sideline-to-sideline, but it's an 8K camera, so it allows you to zoom in to a great extent without any picture-quality loss whatsoever. And not only can you zoom in, you can pan the full 180 degrees from sideline-to-sideline. I think it's going to help [SNF analyst Cris Collinsworth] illustrate a lot about what happens in quarterback play: a safety turns his hips, the quarterback goes the other way. You can manipulate the screen to accentuate what Cris is describing to the audience.
The C360 camera will fly attached to the bottom of SkyCam to provide up-close and intimate replays of the game inside the tackle box, illuminating the talents of top offensive and defensive linemen in a way not previously seen on NFL telecasts.
Because it rides on the SkyCam right below it, Gaudelli explains, you're going to have some incredibly intimate replays of people like [Pro Bowl defensive linemen] J.J. Watt or Chris Jones. Cris Collinsworth was preparing a tape about the Kansas City defense and was commenting on Chris Jones' hands and how he uses them and how he'll grab the offhand of an offensive lineman. Not only will we have a great view of that, but I'll be able to zoom into his hand grabbing the hand of an offensive lineman with no picture-quality loss.
Although C360 camera systems have been used on a variety of live sports productions - including in various applications for NFL broadcasts by Fox Sports, ESPN, and CBS Sports - this marks the first time it will be outfitted on a SkyCam aerial system to create a truly immersive overhead replay experience. Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff will be tasked with deploying this new system with almost no pregame practice since the NFL Preseason was canceled due to the pandemic. Although the two were able to rehearse with the C360 system last week at Arrowhead Stadium, tonight's NFL Kickoff Game in Kansas City will be the first time they will use it in a live broadcast.
It would have been awesome to have a chance to play with this for a couple of games, says Gaudelli, but we're going to come out of the box with it. I think it might be a little bit slower to start as we kind of get our legs underneath us with the system, but we're really excited about it.
As for the rest of the camera arsenal, NBC continues to rely on a mix of Sony HDC-4300's (running at various speeds and resolutions), Sony HDC-4800 4K 4X slo-mos and HDC-P1R RF Steadicams (provided by BSI), as well as the SkyCam cable-suspended aerial system. NBC will rely on Canon glass - primarily DIGISUPER 95 box lenses and a mix of HJ22 and HJ14 portable lenses. The broadcaster is also testing out the following Canon PL-mount cinema lenses during tonight's NFL Kickoff game: 14.5mm-60mm, 15.5-47mm, 14mm Prime, 20mm Prime, and Cine-Servo 25-250mm.
ND1 Returns to the Compound; Graphics Edit Head to Stamford NEP's ND1 A, B, C, and D mobile units return for a seventh season serving Sunday Night Football, but the layout of the crew will be quite different. Workstations are at least 6 ft. apart inside the trucks, and crew members are required to wear masks and abide by strict safety protocols at all times. As a result, NBC has rolled out an additional truck at the compound to ensure social distancing among all positions. In addition, NBC worked with NEP to upgrade the air-filtration systems in the trucks to operating-room grade.
NEP's ND1's mobile unit (seen here at Super Bowl LII) will once again serve as home to Sunday Night Football this season.
Play-by-play legend Al Michaels will all games on-site in the booth for the majority of this year's SNF games (Mike Tirico will
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NFL Kickoff 2020: NBC's Sunday Night Football Adds C360 Overhead Replay Camera, Shifts Graphics and Edit Teams Back Home Graphics and edit teams will be located remotely in Stamford due to pandemic By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
