Even the short days are getting hard to get through. I have to remember to wear my ear plugs during the big concerts because my ears are starting to ring.
Verizon Stage
Colts Cheerleaders/Venrez
Fuel
Pepsi Stage
Greta Speaks/DJ Helicon
Hunter Smith Band
Finally, we got some short days coming. We only have to work half a day, today, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then it’s back to the long days Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The Village People weren’t too bad either. But still not nearly as good as last night.
Verizon Stage
Pepsi Stage
Today is kids and family day. A lot of the entertainment is geared for the kids.
It was another long day, but it had a big pay off at the end. I’m not a big fan of country & western singing, but Dierks Bentley put on what I think was by far the best concert of any group that we have shot so far.
Verizon Stage
Pepsi Stage
The man really knows how to play to the cameras. I got some really great shots.
Yes, this has been one very long day. But it was a lot more organized about who was shooting which camera and who’s on break.
There are 2 shoulder mounted camera, 1 built-up camera on the Verizon Stage and a RF camera that floats with the 2 Shoulder Mounted cameras.
Generally every cameraman shot 2 shows then had a break. Then back out on camera. Changing up with shooting different cameras also made the day go easier.
Verizon Stage
Pepsi Stage
Having Patti LaBelle as the last show, made the long day worthwhile.
We’re being payed by the Pacers, but since I’m not on their payroll, I had to go in early and sign a 1/2 inch worth of paperwork in order to get a paycheck for the next 10 days of work.
It would seem that their Plan B was to run cable all the way from Bankers Life to the Pepsi Stage. We had to find a number of YellowJackets to cover up the cable, but at least now, we have cameras working at both stages.
Verizon Stage
Pepsi Stage
The crowds are big and will probably get bigger as the week wears on. We’re shooting the stage performances continuously, all day.
Even with breaks, it’s going to be a loooong 10 days!
Rainy, wet and soggy. That’s a pretty good description of the first day working at the Superbowl Village.
We will be shooting all of the staged events during Superbowl week and our cameras will be feeding the 4 jumbo screens that are lined up and down the Village walkway.
Got my credentials and secured my parking spot… well, at least until SuperBowl Sunday. The closer we get to game day, the worst it’s going to get for parking.
Most of the work that we needed to do today, had already be done for us by Dodd, the company that was contracted to provided the sound, lighting and staging for the SuperBowl Village. All we had to do was run triax cable from Conseco Fieldhouse (which has be renamed to Bankers Life Fieldhouse) to the two stages and fax out the cameras.
Everything was fine for the 3 cameras going to the Verizon Stage. The problem came for the Pepsi Stage which is farther down the street from Bankers Life. We were suppose to connect our trial cable into a Cobra box so that we could connect our cameras into the fiber optic system that Dodd had laid in for the Village. But it just didn’t work.
We spent most of our time waiting for the engineers to solve the problem. By the time I left at 6pm they hadn’t.
I think it’s going to be Plan B tomorrow for opening day.
Tomorrow Thursday 26th, will be the beginning of Superbowl week for me.
Starting on Friday 27th I will be shooting the bands and singers that will be playing on the Verizon and Pepsi stages that are set up in the Superbowl Village on Georgia Street between Pennsylvania Street on the east and Capitol Street on the west, Indianapolis, Indiana.
I have a list of all of the entertainers that will be playing and I recognized some of the names like, Patti LaBelle, Bret Michaels and En Vogue. The music will be free and there will be somebody preforming everyday, all day from Friday until Superbowl Sunday.
That will be a lot of shooting, and I can’t wait to get on with it. It’s going to be fun, but cold. Both theaters are outdoors.
But tomorrow, we set up equipment.
It’s the Franklin Central Flashes vs the Bloomington South Panthers.
I’m shooting these games for Comcast’s Xfinity On-Demand.
The production van that is used is very small. Only 3 people can fit inside. Some one to do Graphics, handle Replay and the Director.
The system is based on the Newtek Tricaster System. A all-in-one video control room in a box. NewTek TriCaster covers all of the main areas of video production, including live switching, video capture, audio mixing, nonlinear editing and project distribution via Internet streaming or standard definition video outputs.
Graphics: Dell Vostro 3750 laptop w/LiveText 2.0 & LT Scoreboard software
Replay: NewTek TimeWarp TW-42 TriCaster External Replay Controller
A small system, yes, but affordable. I wish I owned something like this.
It’s the Avon Orioles vs the Hamilton Southeastern Royals. 
The camera system that this company uses is pretty simple, though I’m not always happy with the camera cable that they have. I end up having to tape them up real good so as not to have a bunch of loose cable dragging behind me.
I have a game tonight and tomorrow night. Had 2 cutdown games earlier in the week, so this will be a good week of work.
Next Thursday will be the beginning of Superbowl events.
I’m shooting basketball down in Bloomington, IN. It’s the Edgewood Mustangs vs the Bloomington South Panthers.
Had our first real snow fall this morning, so getting down here from Indianapolis, wasn’t easy. Frankly, I was hoping that the game would be cancelled.
But it wasn’t! So I’ll be shooting camera 4, under the basket.
Normally I shoot sports with TV40 Sports. Have been for a number of years. But lately I’ve been shooting with Producer Plus Production.
TV40 has a slightly larger production, but their market is primarily central Indiana. Because Producer Plus works for Comcast, their market is a lot larger and Producer Plus pays a lot more.
And one, I guess, should always follow the money! So I’m getting ready for another Comcast game tonight.
Shooting Wrestling tonight for Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand. It’s the Lawrence Central Bears vs the Fishers Tigers.
This is a Cutdown shoot. Basically that means a 2 camera B-Roll shoot. We shoot just like a regular game, all of the matches, the coaches, the key players, the fans and interviews, but the differences is that instead of the game being packaged right here with a production truck, our cards will be FedEx to Atlanta tomorrow for editing.
The images will be edited down to the highlights of what happen here tonight and a narrator will be add.
Then the finished program will be sent across Comcast’s sport network.
I’m shooting Full Circle for TV40 today. It will be my first show of the season. But I think that we’re only shooting 1 show with 3 segments.
The 3 segments are about the Super Bowl Host Committee which is using it’s power to promote the Indy Super Cure.
Super Cure is the only breast cancer tissue bank in the world, which is located in Indianapolis at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center.
The show will air during Superbowl week.
You can find Full Circle here
© 2012 Jerome Meriweather
