SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Australian broadcast equipment sales and rental specialists Videocraft recently provided full production set-ups for Castle Media, the event specialists responsible for broadcasting the Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Surf Ironman and Ironwoman Series. The competition was fought out over six rounds in late 2012 through February this year at iconic Australian beaches, and broadcast nationally on Network Ten.
Videocraft NSW State Manager Andy Liell explained, “We have a long relationship with Castle Media so we know the level of professionalism and reliability they expect. The Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Surf Ironman Series was no exception. John Palmer, Castle Media’s MD, approached us with their requirements and a very tight timeframe so we immediately sat down to work out the best production solution for their requirements.”
Palmer felt that the Ironman series was better suited to Videocraft’s FlyPack mobile production solution than a traditional OB truck set-up. The system chosen for the series was Videocraft’s mid- range FlyPack that included six Sony HDC1500 cameras, a Sony MVS6000 switcher, two EVS servers, two CCU positions, a Yamaha M7 console providing full audio facilities and all outboard equipment, radio mics and links.
Palmer said, “We’ve worked with Videocraft on OBs before so we were confident they would come up with the best solution. They researched previous Ironman events and presented us with a range of options. Their mid-range FlyPack was clearly the way to go.”
SLO-MO STICKING POINT?
Slow motion capture was a potential sticking point. “We asked Videocraft for a more cost effective slo-mo solution, something that would be a good alternative to using traditional super slo-mo cameras,” said Palmer.
“In typical Videocraft fashion, they came up with a new Sony NEXFS700 camera using a Canon 30-300mm cine lens. This enabled our camera operators to capture slo-mo action content for play on/ off packages at more than 200 frames per second. Very clever, very cost effective. All in all it was a great series and all credit to Andy Liell and the entire Videocraft team including Rentals Manager Nick Gleeson and Systems Technician Glen Beaumont.”
