| By: Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director | Published: November 20, 2009 |
Thanks to strong teamwork by Fox Sports, Armed Forces Entertainment, and volunteers and staffers at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, Fox Sports broadcast the Nov. 7 edition of its NFL Pre-Game Show from the base.
“For me, this was the most engaging and rewarding remote production I was ever part of,” says Michael Davies, VP of field operations, Fox Sports. “To help the men and women at the base re-establish a connection with people at home and to work as a team with them was better than just sitting there and doing a regular show.”
The hard work began in August with a site survey to establish what technical facilities would need to be brought in. UK-based Visions provided the flypack that was the center of the production, but Fox Sports also needed to bring in lighting, transmission, editing, and other support gear. “We filled a C17 transport with 44 crew members and 12 pallets of equipment,” says Davies. “We were told we were at 95% of the weight maximum.”
The challenge was that, unlike with a typical remote production in the U.S., there would be no opportunity to head down the street to a Home Depot or Radio Shack for any last-second supplies. “We needed to bring everything with us,” says Davies. “In addition to the TV needs, we also had a PA system and video projectors for a stage production.”
The team also had to bring its own walls. Three 8- by 40-ft. shipping containers were built on the base: one housed the production and tape areas, a second was a central equipment room for video and audio, and a third served as an office, with two Apple Final Cut Pro nonlinear editing stations. IT staffers also made the 30-hour journey.
“By the time we were done, we had all the comforts of home, like live coordination lines with Los Angeles and Internet,” says Davies. “What was amazing was the help on the ground from contractors and volunteers who worked with us all the way through strike.”
The show itself was shot with eight cameras and two robotic cameras and switched with a Grass Valley Kayak switcher. A Calrec Zeta console and two EVS units were also on hand. Transmission services were handled by Transvision International and completed via a 4.5-m satellite dish and 3-m satellite dish.
Afghanistan is 12.5 hours ahead of Los Angeles, so getting the live-to-tape show on-air required some early hours for Los Angeles staffers. Their day began at 2 a.m. PT, and, surprisingly, Davies says it was one of the smoothest pre-game–show productions yet.
“It was well received all over the place,” he says of an idea conceived by Fox Sports Chairman David Hill. “I hope we get a chance to do it again.”
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