SANTA ANA, CALIF.—The esports community thrives on energy, and here at the Esports Arena we do our best to capture it in ways that provide a unique and thrilling experience for our viewers. For one of our biggest tournaments of the year (2GGC: Civil War), mobility was key to getting the best shots possible and immersing our viewers in the heart of the action.
VIEW FROM ABOVE
The Esports Arena has its own media production department that captures, edits and broadcasts live events. For 2GGC, we knew everyone in the community would have their eyes on us. We decided that, for this and future events, we wanted to change up our normal Twitch videogaming broadcast.
For our outdoor stage setup, we decided to incorporate a Dactylcam Pro system that would run on an overhead cable system and capture aerial footage of the entire stage and audience. This introduced some challenges: every part of our old production system was tethered, which limited the angles and shots we could get. With the new Dactylcam setup, having more wires would only add to the mess.
The Teradek Bolt allowed Esports Arena to go mobile in capturing its outdoor stage.
Knowing this, I decided to go wireless with the Teradek Bolt, a wireless video system that uses RF to send feeds from a camera source to a receiver up to 3,000 feet away. With the ability to transport 1080p60 video instantly, it was the perfect solution for our ambitious production needs.
In the air, we mounted a Sony A7S digital camera to the Dactylcam Pro for aerial acquisition. We then connected the Teradek Bolt 3000 transmitter to the camera, which sent a live 1080p feed to a receiver down below. This was transferred to our Blackmagic Video Assist at video village, where an operator monitored the feed and controlled the pan & tilt of the camera as well as the speed/direction of the Dactylcam. This signal was then routed back to the production room to be incorporated into the show.
On the ground, we mounted a Sony FS5 cinema camera with a Bolt 1000 to a Ronin MX gimbal stabilizer. This also sent wireless video to our professional switcher in the back, which switched between multiple feeds, added graphics and edited scoreboards before sending the stream off to Twitch.tv.
RAW PASSION
As the cameras captured footage from the players and audience, the Bolt transferred the feeds over to the video village instantly, allowing us to update scores, switch camera feeds and switch ads whenever we needed.
Since the Bolt made our camera wireless, our camera operator could be completely mobile in the facility, unlocking all kinds of wide shots and close-ups we could never do before. The Bolts made it possible to get right up in the action of the players.
There’s a lot of passion in the esports community, and it’s up to organizers like us to capture the essence of being there. Thanks to our Bolt systems, we can make our tournaments way more immersive than ever before and deliver the type of quality our fans deserve. It’s all about the hype, and we’ve found a great way to make it better.
John Todd Christensen is the broadcast director at Esports Arena in charge of all production elements. He can be contacted atjohntodd@esportsarena.com.
For more information, please visitwww.teradek.comor call 888-941-2111.
