This weekend I got to work as a tapes and replay operator for a high-definition boxing broadcast. I was originally booked as a tape operator and, when the replay guy missed his flight from Seattle, I got to double up on replays too. During our lunch break Saturday I had a chance to poke around a little with my camera, so here’s a look behind the scenes.

Here are the trucks they brought in for the job. I worked in the one on the right, the left is an engineering/utility truck. They roll it into place, slide out the sides, and assemble the control room areas before the crew arrives. Most of the guys flew in Friday, but I camped out at a friend’s cabin on the north shore of Lake Sakakawea that night. We got up Saturday morning, slowly got our morning off to a start, and rolled up to the truck at just after noon.

This is the front control room. Nothing on the monitors right now, as we were still getting everything set up. The technical director, the guy who actually switches between cameras and tape machines, inserting graphics and stuff as needed, sits up front. The director tells him which sources to take and when to put in graphics or replays. Behind him sit the graphics operator, producers, and assistants. On the other side of the wall of monitors is the audio room, and I forgot to poke my head in there.

The next room back is where I worked, the tape room. I had a couple of 1080i HDCAM decks for high-definition broadcast, analog and digital standard-definition decks, and a couple of extra HD decks in case we needed them. The controls for the two replay units are on the counter to the right, where a friend of mine from Grand Forks is setting up the second unit.

The guy at this console “paints and shades” the cameras. The camera operators in the arena worry only about aiming their cameras and operating focus/zoom controls. As far as iris and color balance information, that’s where this guy comes in. He takes care of the fine tweaking on the fly so the camera operators can concentrate on getting their shots.

Engineering routing room. And you probably thought hooking up your stereo was complicated. The routing and communication systems are controlled by a laptop computer, as are the layouts and labels on all the flat panel monitors. For instance, in this show our tape decks were labeled with colors like Red, White, Green, and Blue instead of deck numbers. Electronic replay channels were A, B, X, and Y. On each monitor up front, the names of the camera and replay operators were also on the LED monitor labels.

How about a couple hundred grand worth of camera? There were two of these in addition to the ringside and floor cameras. The circular glass elements of the 72x Canon HD lens on this camera is bigger than a dinner plate. Just lifting the lens onto the body takes two people, as the body of each piece is over a foot square. Once the beefy tripods are set up and the cameras are properly balanced, they pan and tilt very easily. My friend Mike was on one of these.

This was my view for the day. My EVS (commonly called “Elvis” ) controller and inputs are on this counter, with the decks up ahead on the wall. The left monitor is all my input/output sources with vectorscope and clock overlay. The middle is audio and video monitoring. The two monitors to the right are for the second Elvis. The monitor on top of the counter displays all my replay clips for each of the four input channels, where I can then call them up quickly and assign to either of two HD output channels. The controller allows me to jog back and forth, with a fader bar for replay speed.

I was hoping to have more pictures, but the fact that I got the additional duties and needed to self-train on the Elvis system kinda threw a a wrench into that plan. That’s okay, I’ve always wanted the opportunity to add Elvis Operator to my list of freelance credentials. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to do that again in the future, because it was a lot more exciting than just running tapes. I don’t know when or where these shows will be aired; the standard definition and high definition programs are going to be syndicated, to the best of my knowledge. It was a blast to be part of this crew, and I eagerly await my next freelance call!