Game Creek Productions, based in Hudson, NH, will supply FOX Sports with at least six mobile production units on-site in Arizona for Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3. Most of the units will be equipped with a full complement of Sony HD cameras, Canon HD lenses and Thomson Grass Valley HD switchers.
In addition to three SD production trucks, Game Creek’s fleet includes six 52ft HD mobile rigs and companion B-unit systems. The FX HD production system consists of five integrated production, support and studio trailers.
Created to provide facilities for NFL’s Super Bowl and NASCAR’s Daytona 500, Fox HD is outfitted with 17 Sony HDC 1500 cameras, 10 EVS XT[2]s and Calrec Alpha Bluefin and Sigma audio consoles. FX HD will also be used by ABC/ESPN for pre- and post-game coverage.
Pat Sullivan, president of Game Creek, said logistics at the Super Bowl were key. His company helped FOX Sports televise the recent college football championship game in New Orleans as well as the NFC divisional playoff games. This will be the first Super Bowl for Game Creek.
On site in Glendale, AZ, FOX Sports crews will be shooting in HD with approximately 25 Sony HDC-1500 cameras and four Sony HDC-3300 camera systems (two in the end zones and two roaming). Once the live game is switched with the Kalypso HD switcher on the main broadcast truck, the signal then will go out to an on-site distribution trailer where feeds are downconverted to SD for analog audiences and kept in the 720p HD format for HD viewers to Fox’s Los Angeles broadcast center. Various international outlets will also share the feed.
Game Creek will lay miles of fiber-optic cabling between the cameras and trucks as well as between trucks for monitoring audio, video and data sources.
For more information, visit http://www.gamecreekvideo.com/.