This is how you film the pole vault

[polevaultpower]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPD4s_sMqg

I don't know why the US TV people are so incapable of filming from the side, but this is well done.

[odelltrclan]

Very nice. And that was quite the clearance at 6.01! Very impressive. Bubka needs to start worrying.

[jeremyp]

Very nice camera work. They actually put the intelligent viewer in the drivers seat. I'd love to see this moving camera for the javelin, long/triple jump jumps. For the dashes it works better at a looking downward angle, so athletes don't obscur each other. They really should have a TF camera school!

[marknhj]

Re: This is how you film the pole vault

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPD4s_sMqg

I don't know why the US TV people are so incapable of filming from the side, but this is well done.

Great shots, thanks Becca. If you watch Euro coverage of the HJ and horizontal jumps, they do a similar fantastic job showing the events with maximum dramatic impact and highlighting what incredible physical feats the athletes are capable of.

US T&F TV producers should stick to log rolling and hot dog eating contests, they haven't got a clue about our sport.

[SQUACKEE]

Re: This is how you film the pole vault

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPD4s_sMqg

I don't know why the US TV people are so incapable of filming from the side, but this is well done.

Great shots, thanks Becca. If you watch Euro coverage of the HJ and horizontal jumps, they do a similar fantastic job showing the events with maximum dramatic impact and highlighting what incredible physical feats the athletes are capable of.

US T&F TV producers should stick to log rolling and hot dog eating contests, they haven't got a clue about our sport.

Seriously, how can anyone be so stupid as to film the long jump coming towards the camera? A 28 footer looks to be about 7 feet. Seriously, how can a human with a camera be that dumb? I'm not so much furious,as i'm more curious. I want to ask the people involved in the decision, are you nutz? :roll:

[Cooter Brown]

Re: This is how you film the pole vault

Seriously, how can anyone be so stupid as to film the long jump coming towards the camera? A 28 footer looks to be about 7 feet. Seriously, how can a human with a camera be that dumb? I'm not so much furious,as i'm more curious. I want to ask the people involved in the decision, are you nutz? :roll:

Whose job on the production crew is it to determine camera placement? Once we know that then it should be easy enough to pick a name out of the credits and then Google contact info to find out why they are a dumb ass.

[BCBaroo]

Walt Murphy commented on another thread about the horrors of head-on long jump camera work... and I am in no way defending it, but the problem all stems from there not being "enough" cameras... If you think about what a three ring circus a good track meet is it's hard to be in the right place... so often the long jump camera man is also the pole vault, shot put, and Dwight Stone camera op.

It comes down to money... and yes, producers who probably aren't "track specialists"...

On the youtube example there are AT LEAST 3 cameras in use...including, yes, a head on camera. (Head on, side, and over-head) It's a rare luxury round these parts for that many camera ops (who for network TV make pretty good money)

[26mi235]

If I recall correctly, BC knows a thing or two about production with cameras (OG ads).

[no one]

I could swear I saw 5 or 6 dif angles. That puts the event in a whole different light. Very Very nice

[AthleticsInBritain]

They generally have a similar set up for the HJ as well which also adds a huge amount to watching the event as you can see just how clear an athlete went at a certain height as well as getting the most detail of probably the most difficult bit of the events - the clearance.

Well, I think the clearance is the most difficult bit anyway!

ETA: sorry - in a quick read through I missed Mark's comments above. Hmmm, we're obviously better off in Europe than I thought!

[BillVol]

Where's the fluff? Where's the up close and personal piece?

[polevaultpower]

On the youtube example there are AT LEAST 3 cameras in use...including, yes, a head on camera. (Head on, side, and over-head) It's a rare luxury round these parts for that many camera ops (who for network TV make pretty good money)

Yeah probably 4 or 5 for that shot. Which is nice, but the only one I need is the side shot! I know we can't have that many cameras in the US, and that's fine. Just give me one good side shot. :cry:

[BisonHurdler]

Oddly enough I can't recall for particularly recent championships, but I do seem to recall that when I was first getting in the sport (~1994-1995) the camerawork at major championships wasn't far off of what that link showed. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure Goteborg had a bevy of camera angles for replays.

Obviously they've got a different budget/setup than your average US track meet.

[Figaro]

On the youtube example there are AT LEAST 3 cameras in use...including, yes, a head on camera. (Head on, side, and over-head) It's a rare luxury round these parts for that many camera ops (who for network TV make pretty good money)

Below you can see a break-down of the number of cameras for the different events at the recent Berlin Golden League meeting and I think a similar set-up is used for all other GL meetings. (Possibly also for most of the other European meetings).
So for the jumping events they had 6 cameras for PV, 5 for HJ and 4 for LJ.

Production and Split of Disciplines:

• Unit 1 – Integrated Feed (mix point for all feeds)
• Unit 2 - Track and Presentation for Multilateral World Feed (Total of 11 x Cameras)
• Unit 3a – Discus, Javelin Throw (4 camera inc. Virtual graphics for Javelin)
• Unit 3b – High Jump (5 cameras)
• Unit 4a – Shot Put, Pole Vault (6 cameras)
• Unit 4b – Long Jump (4 cameras)

30 Cameras in total in use for the World Feed

[Daisy]

Where's the fluff? Where's the up close and personal piece?

I'm a big fan of the fluff and the up close and personal pieces. Why even bother with the head on shots? This just takes valuable time from the more interesting back stories. In fact, I hardly watch track and field on TV these days. It's currently far too impersonal and there's way too much action cutting into the human interest stories.