Super Bowl XXXVIII Broadcast
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As far as the cameras were concerned, this was the most HD-centric football broadcast I’ve seen, where it was a rarity to see a standard-definition camera shot. With CBS using 26 HD cameras and only 10 SD cameras, it’s easy to see why the broadcast appeared to be just about all-HD in the camera department. One camera system that was certainly one of the stars of the techno-show – even though it wasn’t HD – was CBS’s EyeVision, which has been significantly improved since its 2001 debut at the Tampa Super Bowl game. An array of 30 computer-controlled cameras set up at regular distances from each other and controlled by one operator, EyeVision was dazzling in its ability to give astonished viewers a virtual helicopter shot of the action, while giving the operator the ability to stop the action while still flying the viewing angle anywhere within its 180-degree arc. The difference between this EyeVision setup and that in Tampa three years ago was, the cameras were placed closer together this time – they were only 5 degrees apart this time as opposed to the 12 degree distance between cameras in Tampa. The total sweep was a bit smaller this time, though, with a 180-degree viewing angle possible this time versus a 220-degree angle in Tampa. Making it look even better was the fact that the technology was more refined within the computer system and the individual cameras, too, resulting in a much smoother shot that took my breath away every time I saw it. Wow. This is technology with some tremendous potential. See an example and a full explanation of it here.And then we get to the most magnificent camera of all, the flying camera that makes the Skycam used by ABC look more like a security camera hung up in some convenience store. Yes, the flying camera concept, in this case Cablecam’s Multi-V System, showed that it’s certainly worth it to string up a Sony 950 HDCam and fly it around, with what looked like the greatest of ease. My compliments to not only the technology that’s also known as the “Flying Fox,” but especially to the person who was flying the thing. Its operation was smooth as a baby’s butt. Overall, it was dramatic, it was crystal-clear, and it was everything Skycam wishes it could be. An interesting side note: Garrett Brown’s Skycam patent runs out in a few months, so it’s going to be interesting to see what other challengers to the technology come forth in the next 12 months or so.
Speaking of cameras, as a television director I must shower praise on CBS ace director Larry Cavolina, keeping his head together under enormous pressure. When there are 36 cameras from which to choose, the urge to over-direct is intense. But rarely did I see any evidence of “take-itis,” that dreaded disease of directors when the guy at the helm falls in love with the sound of his own voice, calling out “take 4, take 10, take 22, take 7…!”, and taking way more shots than necessary because, well, he can. I only saw one or two bad takes, and these were probably not the fault of the director anyway. You can imagine how hard it really is to make it through such an important and dizzyingly complex broadcast without any major errors. Bravo.
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But then there were other places in the broadcast where the ugly seam between SD and HD was glaringly obvious. The worst example was one that happened many times at the first part of the broadcast, but then someone must have noticed how bad it looked and put a stop to it. The billboards after the commercials were in SD with a tacky looking border on each side, and then would simply jump-cut to an HD shot that was occupying the background. Yuck.
While I have the whip out, I must make a comment on the talent CBS employed on this broadcast. Could they have found a dumber-sounding announcer than former NY Giants quarterback Phil Simms? It’s too bad that the network that has broadcasters like Dick Enberg in its stable (whom the network used in this broadcast in an extremely third-rate role), would put Simms up front as a color commentator along with the bland Greg Gumbel, whose claim to fame is that he has a famous brother. Then there was Jim Nance, who after announcing that he had always wanted to be a stadium announcer as a kid, announced a few things on the public P.A. in the stadium, and when he was done, forgot he was back in the close-up medium of television. The goofy, overexcited announcer never did get his TV legs back, his voice up an octave and in an almost maniacal tone the rest of the night. Where was Enberg when we needed him, the voice that could lend importance to a tiddly-wink tournament?
And then there was the phony, MTV-inspired bare-breast incident, which will probably be the one thing for which this Super Bowl is remembered. And the floppy mammary in question wasn’t even bare, either, as TiVo-wielding viewers are well aware – we saw that silver-star pasty covering the most vital of areas. Tabloid hitless wonder Janet Jackson and teeny bopper singer Justin Timberlake do a peek-a-boo pantomime and the nation goes all a-twitter. What does this have to do with the broadcast? Well, nothing, but the HD view let us see what was really there.
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