Steady As She Goes.

I have had a few enquiries over the past few days about how TV Cameras film the horse racing from the track when following the horses. Not so long ago it was a cameraman sat on top of a Land Rover, hanging on for dear life while trying to keep the camera as steady as possible. Health and Safety would have a heart attack these days, so with the ever increasing speed of technical wizardry, cameras are now controlled by a camera operator sitting inside the 4x4 controlling a camera head on top of the vehicle which in turn is built into a gimbal, keeping the camera rock steady, even at high speeds on lumpy ground.

Here you can see the camera head and gimbal pod built and fixed to the roof of the Land Rover. The pictures and camera head are controlled by the operator inside the vehicle and are sent by digital wireless link to a fixed point within the racing circuit or stadium.

This picture shows the entire set up and vehicle in situ at the media centre behind Ascot race course, just before going out onto the race course to film an afternoons racing. The pictures are used by broadcasters from all over the world covering Royal Ascot. The camera operator and driver told me that the whole set up costs in excess of £300.000. Which is a large amount in anyones book.

So, in a nutshell, that is how it is done, for those of you that didn't know. I hope you liked this sneaky look behind the scenes of another aspect of TV Broadcasting.

Paul Martin.
Media Attention Ltd.
www.media-attention.co.uk

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