From Start to Finish: A Football Broadcast

Broadcasts for the big games on Saturdays, and Sundays are always fun to watch, but most viewers have no idea what it takes to get the game to households.  This blog entry will provide a behind the scenes glimpse of preparation required to broadcast a high school level football game.

Getting set up for the game in time is the most essential part of a broadcast.  Without preparation cables, laptops, cameras, headsets, and internet will not be ready on time.  Call time for the high school football games, if it is a 7:30pm start, is 5:00pm.  This gives the crew ample time to unload the equipment, set up the tripods, cameras, and other equipment in a reasonable time frame.

After all of the equipment has been unloaded the set up process begins.  In situations like these knowing if the building has wireless internet or not can make or break the broadcast.  Coming prepared with a cellular wireless network card will allow access to internet, and the ability to broadcast the game.  During this time multiple ethernet cables are combined, and ran from the computer to the on the field camera.  This process requires many pieces of tape, and help from other group members.  Once the wires are ran headsets, and other devices are tested to make sure they work. 

When 7:30pm rolls around all of the equipment is set up, and the crew members are at their respected cameras/stations.  Every member of the crew wears a headset, and radio to communicate back and forth to each other.  The producer also has a headset, and determines which camera will be viewed at a certain time.  Also commercials, cutaways, and pregame interviews are part of the producers responsibility.  In the press box for the game there's the producer, color commentator, announcer, and statistician, so it tends to be a bit cramped. 

After the game is over, cameras are put back in their cases, tripods are zipped back in their bags, and equipment is rolled out of the press box.  So all-in-all on average the time spent at the games is around six hours, 5:00pm to 11:00pm.  The work put into the games are well worth the time, and being able to watch some good games also makes the experience fun.  

All of the games are posted online at www.gridirongameoftheweek.com and have multiple games running from Friday to Saturday. 

I would like to thank everyone at Grid Iron Game of the Week, for their cooperation.

Tune in for next weeks blog, where I will try to upload portions of the video we shoot during the games.  There will be explanations of certain shots angles,correct shots, and what not to do during a game.