The most memorable shot of the 2010 Home Run Derby at Angels Stadium Monday was not a blast over the fence by an all-star slugger but a line drive directly towards the lens of a 3D camera on a pole behind the pitcher.
Actually, there were a couple of hits like that that caused everyone from the director inside ESPN‘s production truck in the parking lot to those watching on the first 3D TVs at home to jerk their heads back to avoid the ball that was surely coming out of the screen. I’m certain that thousands of people from Anaheim to Annapolis simultaneously yelled “whoa!” Only upon reflection did any of us realize that ball could not have hit all of us in the face at the same time.
(Story continues below the following video highlights of ESPN’s 3D production from inside the truck to the field and insightful comments from four ESPN producers and executives.)
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That’s one of the many enticing aspects of 3D in general and 3DTV specifically. The depth perception provides an experience that virtually takes you to the spot of the camera and makes you feel as if you are standing right there. I can guarantee that if you were standing next to the camera you would still have jerked your head back (and probably fallen down) — I can guarantee it because the pitcher standing just in front of and below the camera did the same thing. And unlike us, he had a net screen in front of him for protection. The only screen we had was the plasma or LCD we were watching.
While the ballplayers were putting on a display of power, the guys at ESPN came prepared to put on quite a display of their own for the first 3D broadcast of the Home Run Derby and first national primetime 3D telecast of a Major League Baseball program. Two production trucks separate from the regular HiDef production trucks, the expertise of 3D guru consultant and producer Vince Pace, twelve 3D cameras — one to shoot super slow-motion at a whopping 1,000 frames per second — and the first or at least most elaborate 3D on-screen graphics. They also had a completely separate trio of announcers who wore glasses to watch a 3D monitor in their booth, same as the guys in the truck.
If you think all of that sounds like a lot of extra expense, it is. And that has not escaped ESPN executives. “We can’t do this for every game,” said Anthony Bailey, ESPN’s VP, emerging technology. In addition to the enormous extra cost, logistics are a bigger immediate concern. Most stadiums don’t have as big of a production compound as Angels stadium and therefore cannot accommodate four trucks just for ESPN.
Logistics and expense are big challenges and question marks for live 3DTV sports. When ESPN was making the transition to HiDef, it was basically only a matter of switching out the SD cameras for HD cameras and getting used to a wider image. Still just one director in the same truck. In the early stages of the consumer transition to HiDef TVs (and still to a certain extent, but less so every day), cameramen and directors were careful to keep primary action and graphics in that portion of the screen that could be seen by non-HD TVs.
But with 3D, everything must be separate. 3D cameras cannot double as HD cameras (for the most part, though sometimes a signal can be pulled from one of the two lenses to use for a standard HiDef feed), and 3D cameras almost always have to be positioned in unique locations in order to create the best perception of depth (in most cases, the lower and closer to the action, the better). An exhibition like the Home Run Derby is well suited to 3D because producers had the flexibility to position cameras in places they could never be placed during a game — that one on the pole by the pitcher and two more small ones right in front of the batter’s box above the ground (not in-ground “lipstick” cameras as Fox uses for 2D games).
But regular baseball games are more challenging, as are football games that require lots of high-angle and wide shots showing a large part of the field but which provide the least perception of depth.
While the camera angles are production challenges that will surely be worked out with time, the financial and logistical hurdles of producing two completely separate productions of the same live sporting event appear to be here to stay, at least for the next year or two, says Chris Calcinari, ESPN’s VP of event operations. Or until the vast majority of consumers convert to 3DTVs.
In the meantime, Phil Orlins, ESPN coordinating producer, says that 3D productions must not only deliver exceptional added value to sports fans through unique 3D camera angles and graphics, but must continue to deliver every production element the viewer currently enjoys in the 2D HiDef broadcast, and at the same high quality, including the separate announcers, a sports ticker, etc.
ESPN executives are still living through the conversion to HiDef since they broadcast their first game in HD seven years ago. But there is reason for optimism. In addition to strong positive response from consumers who have seen the few live sporting events in 3D so far, including recent broadcasts of The Masters and this month’s World Cup carried on ESPN 3D, programming is much more widely available and advertisers are jumping on board more quickly than at this stage of the HD development cycle, according to Sean Bailey, executive VP of Disney and ESPN Media Networks. While only a few regional cable systems carried ESPN’s first HiDef broadcast, ESPN 3D is already offered to nearly 50 million homes through DirecTV, Comcast, and AT&T U-verse. And Bailey noted that four advertisers created 3D spots specifically for the network’s World Cup and Home Run Derby broadcasts. Granted, one was ESPN’s own “SportsCenter” and one was from ESPN sister company Disney Studios for “Toy Story 3.”
ESPN VP, strategic business development, Bryan Burns, says advertisers understand the added value of a commercial in 3D because of the extra visual impact and increased attention the viewer is giving to the 3D spot. There are also unique opportunities for 3D ads that could draw premium prices — think about 3D versions of those ads that pop-up on the bottom of your screen and with graphics such as tickers.
All that’s needed are eyeballs. For that, Bratches says it’s critical that the entire industry work together to create as much 3D programming and as many networks and TV displays as soon as possible for the good of everyone involved. It will be impossible for ESPN to shoulder the entire cost of building the market, he says.
But ESPN has an important proponent in its camp, the president and CEO of ESPN parent The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, who told 3DHollywood.net while standing at his seat a few rows behind home plate moments before the All-Star game the following night, “Having seen a lot of ESPN 3D, I’m a believer.”
At least for one night, the network did its best to showcase what is possible with live 3DTV sports.
— By Scott Hettrick