ESPN “learned a lot” in its hallmark live 3D...
ESPN “learned a lot” in its hallmark live 3D test last September of the USC-Ohio State football game, Anthony Bailey, the network’s vice president of emerging technology, said Monday on a “Content Theater” panel at the NAB Show in Las…
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Vegas. “There are some things in that game that we would never do again, and there were some things that we walked out of there with and said, ‘Wow, we've really come a long way,'” Bailey said. ESPN’s mantra is that “every game we do and every event we tackle in 3D, we have to provide a unique and exceptional visual experience that’s beyond what viewers have come to expect in 2D,” said Phil Orlins, coordinating producer of ESPN 3D, which debuts June 11. “I mean, it’s fairly obvious if we don’t do that, then really what’s the point? What’s going to drive the business for us if we don’t create that unique experience? But at the same time, that has to be tempered by our viewers’ expectations of being able to see the game, see where the ball’s going, and have all the things that sports fans are accustomed to having. That’s really the yin and the yang of every event we attack. How do we maximize the incredible dynamic aspects of 3D but at the same time not lose the basics of covering a sporting event?” With all live events, “the larger and less predictable they are, the more challenges you bring into the equation,” Orlins said. Bob Toms, ESPN’s vice president for production enhancements, agreed that the “struggle” will be delivering effective 3D but still being able to “tell the story.” For USC-Ohio State, ESPN shot much of the game in 3D from the sideline across from where the 2D cameras were, he said. “We got really lucky at Ohio State, frankly,” Toms said. “We're on the opposite side of the field,” and USC Head Coach “Pete Carroll decides to run every play toward our side. And it looked great. But had he decided to go to 2D side, it would not have been quite as successful.” ESPN is still learning which camera positions will yield the best 3D effects, Bailey said. Its next goal is “educate the arenas and the venues out there because they were built for television years ago and their camera positions are what they are,” he said. “We're coming in and saying, ‘No, they've got to be lower'” for 3D, or “'We need to be in the best seat in the house, so you've got to kill that seat,'” he said.