Mobile production companies have been the backbone of Olympics production from the very first live Olympics telecast from Berlin in 1936.
This year’s Winter Games are no exception. Companies from around the world, including Alfacam (Belgium), Corplex (Northfield, IL), Dome Productions (Toronto), F&F Mobile Productions (Clearwater, FL), Game Creek Video (Hudson, NH) and Trio Video (Chicago) will all be on-site at the various venues with HD production trucks that each feature numerous pieces of multiformat, HD production equipment and systems from Calrec, Chyron, Evertz, EVS, Grass Valley, Miranda, Panasonic, Sony and SSL.
Alfacam will have nine OB vans at the games. OB 20 and OB 34 will cover the biathlon events, OB 30 will cover snowboarding, OB 31 will cover aerials, OB 32 and OB 35 will cover crosscountry, OB 33 will cover the ski jump and OB 29 will cover the medal ceremonies. The ninth truck has been hired as a spare. Alfacam will be supplying Grass Valley LDK 6000 and 8000 cameras, 8300 slow-motion camera systems and Grass Valley Kayak production switchers within their OB vans.
Corplex’s Iridium and Platinum HD trucks will be on hand to cover each of the alpine skiing events using Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switchers.
Dome Productions will have five mobiles working at the event, with Horizon and Majestic on-site for curling, Spirit and Thunder covering hockey and Trillium at the figure skating/short track venue. In addition, Tribute will cover CTV domestic hockey. The Dome Production trucks feature the LDK 6000 WorldCam HD cameras, Kalypso HD production switchers and Trinix and Concerto routers.
F&F Productions will assist in coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies live from BC Place with its GTX 15 and GTX 12 production trucks, which each carry Grass Valley Kalypso HD switchers (with 90 inputs, 48 outputs, 3M/Es and quad downstream keyers) and Trinix and Concerto routers controlled by the Grass Valley Jupiter routing control system. In addition, F&F’s GTX 11 will cover the ski jumping and luge events.
Both Game Creek Video's Patriot and Freedom (both equipped with a Grass Valley Kalypso and HD GVeous effects units) will also be on hand to cover the games. Patriot will be covering the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as medal ceremonies for hockey for CTV. Freedom will be working at Cypress Mountain (the snowboarding venue), and Northstar HD will also be on hand as emergency backup and will carry a Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switcher.
Trio Video’s Rhythm mobile unit, which carries a Kalypso 4M/E switcher, LDK 6000 HD WorldCam cameras, Trinix HD (128 x 192) and Concerto 128 x 128 AES and 96 x 96 analog router (controlled by the Grass Valley Jupiter routing control system), will be on-site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as for coverage of each of the men’s hockey competitions for Dome Productions and CTV.
