Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From the NBA Draft: ESPN Follows Future Stars in Green Room to Backstage With RailCam, Post-Pick Cam

21/06/2019

Live From the NBA Draft: ESPN Follows Future Stars in Green Room to Backstage With RailCam, Post-Pick Cam A four-point camera system also flew overhead at the Barclays Center By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor

Friday, June 21, 2019 - 3:35 pm

Print This Story

Story Highlights

If you're Zion Williamson, you were the first one to hit the stage and shake Commissioner Adam Silver's hand at the 2019 NBA Draft last night. From nervousness prior to selection to jubilation within the backstage pressroom, ESPN retraced the steps of Zion and the subsequent 59 picks courtesy of a RailCam, a four-point aerial camera system, dedicated RF wireless cameras, and more.

A four-point camera system hovered above the players in the green room.

The NBA is trying to enhance the player green room and where the players are going, so we're trying to do a better job covering them after they leave [the green room], says Lee Kalinsky, technical operations producer, ESPN. We can follow these players backstage [on their way to] radio interviews or whoever they're going to speak with.

The Happiest Walk of Their Lives: End-to-End Coverage

In the past, ESPN has consistently tinkered with an efficient yet intriguing way of recording the drafted player's figurative transition from amateurism to the professional ranks when his name gets called.

We've always been trying to figure out how to shoot players with regular cameras, says Kalinsky. [For prior Drafts], we put Marshall cameras in the player green room. We tried a cue ball [POV[ last year, but you don't know where everyone is going to sit.

In 2019, the network decided to deploy a wrinkle usually deployed for live sports productions. Using a technique typically reserved for basketball events, such as CBS and Turner Sports' production of the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and the Big Ten Tournament, All Mobile Video supplied a Sony P1 with RF capabilities and mounted the camera on a 50-ft. track to slowly run parallel with the stage. The system served a dual purpose, knocking out two production birds with one stone.

This is the first time we're using a RailCam at the NBA Draft, he says. [The idea] was two-fold because it obviously shows the viewer what's happening on the stage but it can turn around and show you the players inside of the green room as well.

With RailCam working on the ground, aerial shots of the entire Draft floor were provided by a four-point camera system that emanated from the rafters. The crew upgraded this setup and moved away from the traditional point-to-point method.

A 50 ft. RailCam joined the draftees on their path to NBA superstardom.

When players ventured from the stage and into the media frenzy, including multiple sets dedicated to social media, the network comprised various teams that followed the players through the circuit with the help of eight RF cameras, including Steadicams and M Vis. Backstage, CP Communications supplied seamless connectivity that withstood the rigors of a packed arena and a cavalcade of media responsibilities. Admiral Video took care of capturing all the backstage activity via Marshall POVs planted in the ceilings of the backstage passageways. To stay connected, the ESPN team leveraged Riedel Communications' Bolero wireless intercom system.

We have some really high-powered communications here, so we can follow them anywhere, says Kalinsky. All the camera operators can pretty much get wherever they need to be in the building.

Overall, a total of 35 cameras were dispersed throughout the venue, including a jib camera that followed the players up the stage steps, three Fletcher robos (including one in the corner of the Draft stage that provided the jib camera with another angle), and an additional jib camera positioned outside the arena and used for virtual-reality graphics.

No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn: Familiar Setting at the Barclays Center

Kalinsky and his New York-based team had a little trick up their sleeve to ensure a smooth broadcast. With a calendar full of games that take place in Brooklyn and previous NBA Drafts taking place in the venue since 2013, the Barclays Center is not foreign territory to the people who produced the show.

[Thanks to] relationships with operations, events, and security staff, the electricians, and different union groups we deal with in the venue, it's a perfect building to work in. They also know what the NBA folks are looking for, Kalinsky says. A lot of this is local knowledge and knowing where to get cable from and where it needs to go.

One of those folks is Catherine Chalverus, operations producer, ESPN. Out of Kalinsky's 20 NBA Drafts, she has worked hand-in-hand with him for the past seven. To go about their business with precision, the duo and the rest of the onsite team meticulously worked out every detail of the production. As the event gets bigger and bigger, the staff takes just a bit longer to plan.

Planning for this takes a very long time, says Kalinsky. For my staff and me, it's a year-long project. We were able to come out and do a couple of surveys [to see] where the RailCam and Fletchers are going to go. We also needed to work out the heights in relationship with the rest of the rigging and the jumbotron. We've done Fletchers before that were behind the commissioner, but, as the NBA builds their stuff up more and more, we try keeping up with their progress.

ESPN claimed the biggest real estate of the night with a full on-air studio set.

In the compound, the A and B units of Game Creek Video's 79 mobile production unit is the heart of technical services. With more than 150 onsite staffers, departments were split in half. In the A unit, audio mixing and the production staff, including ESPN directors Ed Curran (in his 10th NBA Draft) and Jeff Nelson, work
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/21/live-from-the-nba-draft-espn-fo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

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

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/07/2026

Broadcast Management Group Appoints Kathy Samuels as Director of Creative Services

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...

01/07/2026

Shade Launches Custom Objects and Automations

Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...

01/07/2026

FOR-A America Adds Two Regional Sales Leaders

FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...

01/07/2026

NBC Sports To Present All 15 MLB Games Nationally on July 4 Weekend Star-Spangled Sunday'

NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...

01/07/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Wireless Communications for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...

01/07/2026

England Deploys Sony STATSports Live GPS Tracking at FIFA World Cup 2026

England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Appoints Neil Hillier as CEO

Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Splits Into Two Companies: Bitcentral and ViewNexa

Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...

01/07/2026

DAZN48 Creator Initiative Draws Global Participation for FIFA World Cup 2026

DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...

01/07/2026

IDEA To Induct Daktronics Sarah Rose Into Hall of Fame

Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...

01/07/2026

Gravity Media Delivers Distribution and Streaming Services for World Economic Forum in Dalian

Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...

01/07/2026

Insight Productions Launches Insight Storm, a 53-Foot Esports Broadcast Truck

Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...

01/07/2026

ESPN Announces America 250 Content Initiatives Across Platforms

ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...

01/07/2026

At Cosm, FIFA World Cup 2026 Is a Coming-of-Age Moment as Shared Reality Becomes Bucket-List Entertainment

Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...

01/07/2026

SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Draws Industry Leaders to Denver for Deep Dive on Evolving RSN Landscape

The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...

01/07/2026

Mountain West Launches MW+ Streaming Platform Powered by Kiswe

The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...

01/07/2026

Tracktion unleash Waveform 14 DAW

New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...

01/07/2026

The Crow Hill Company release Brackish Pads

Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...

01/07/2026

Sweetwater & Andertons launch Darkglass Anagram Limited Edition Guitar Essentials

Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals Sweetwater and Andertons M...

01/07/2026

Call for NFVF funding applications to attend Film Festivals and Markets taking place from 01 August 2026 - 31 October 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Midband Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Gray Media to Buy American Spirit Media's TV Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Cascade PBS Launches App Solution Provider 'Local Public

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camerabag collection for modern hybrid creators

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...

01/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition Brie Clayton July 1, 2026 0 Comments Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration WithSimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

PlayBox Technology Publishes State of Broadcast Infrastru...

PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...

01/07/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media a...

LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...

01/07/2026

Content Vault Partner with XMA to Distribute Universal Fi...

Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Announces Strategic Evolution to Create Two F...

Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Names Neil Hillier as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

IBCAP Opens New Anti-Piracy Lab in Denver

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Mid-Band Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches 'Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through national partnership

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...

01/07/2026

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Experience for Live Broadcast Production

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...

01/07/2026

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...

01/07/2026

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinity Photo

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...

01/07/2026

UKTV appoints Matt Berry as General Manager to lead brand and marketing strategy

UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July. Matt will take on this senio...

01/07/2026

Fussy asks Britain one simple question: Are you a Tosser?

Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026 Fussy asks Bri...

01/07/2026

New Sky research reveals postcode lottery leaving girls behind in sport

Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...

01/07/2026

Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive Integration

Wuppertal July 1, 2026 Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...

01/07/2026

Apple Creator Studio gets smarter, faster, and more connected - UPDATE - Posted on 30 June 2026

Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...