Iditarod race pushes P2 technology to the limit
May 1, 2007 12:00 AM, BY MICHAEL GROTTICELLI
At the outset, Greg Heister was skeptical about using solid-state recording technology to capture the harsh conditions of the 2007 Iditarod dog sled race. Having been involved with the world-famous 1150mi endurance race on and off for more than 10 years, he’d seen videotape freeze to rotating recording heads, plastic cassettes crack, moving metal parts become brittle and break off, and all sorts of other problems with equipment he was familiar with. In his mind, the Iditarod trail was not the place to test video production gear and new formats.
When the Iditarod committee agreed to use Panasonic’s P2 DVCPRO gear, Heister was charged with hiring the crews and making it work. As the production supervisor, his goal was to coordinate and produce coverage during the race and later use it to create a compilation DVD that would be sold and distributed to broadcast outlets around the world. In addition, this year’s race was the first time the production crew used HD equipment.
Improved production logistics
The logistics of putting people in place was massive to say the least. The production team consisted of five two-man crews that had all worked on previous outdoor races and were familiar with the cold conditions and with shooting sporting events.
During the 10-day race, three crews traveled along the race trail in small airplanes, two on snowmobiles and a fifth in a helicopter with a Wescam mount. Each crew was given a Panasonic HPX2000 shoulder-mounted camcorder as its main camera and an HVX200 handheld P2 HD camcorder for incidental shots.
The HVX200’s were initially purchased to use as a backup cameras, but they were never used in that capacity. Instead, they captured close-up interviews and footage at the indoor and outdoor checkpoints. Panasonic’s new HPX500 was also used sparingly.
The entire crew had access to 150 P2 8GB memory cards. The helicopter crew received 50 cards, while each crew on the ground got 20, which was more than enough to match the crews’ need.
The crews shot about five hours each day, then downloaded clips to an Apple MacBook Pro laptop running Final Cut Pro editing software. Some of the footage shot during the day was uploaded to the Internet for public viewing in as little as 20 minutes after it was shot.
Pulling its weight
Solid-state memory aside, the biggest difference for the crews this year was the size and weight of the equipment. Last year, the crews carried large CPU towers for ingesting tape footage, Betacam SP decks and other heavy gear. This year, they used the much lighter P2 cameras, a P2 Mobile portable recorder/player, a MacBook Pro laptop and a GTECH 1TB portable hard drive. The reduced weight made traveling around much easier, so the crews could cover more ground. It also made working in a cramped airplane, helicopter or snowmobile much more manageable.
Along the Iditarod racecourse there were 20 checkpoints set up for production teams and those participating in the race. Most of the checkpoints had some type of Internet connection. Last year, the crews transported a C-band uplink dish to get footage from remote locations back to the base stations. This year, they were able to use a DSL line, which made things much quicker. They uploaded 20 to 30 clips per day, showing worldwide viewers where the racers were on the course and who was in the lead.
The crew never lost a clip on the P2 cards. They learned to “right-protect” the cards by moving the little tab to the right to protect the data and avoid overwriting. As soon as an operator removed a card from the camera (each camera holds five cards), the card was right-protected.
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