Cologne-based production specialists Wige and LMC (LiveMotionConcept) provided three Ultra Slow Motion systems for the European Handball Federation’s Final Four Champions League in Germany earlier this month, using LMC’s Antelope MkIIs cameras, with Fujinon’s 101x HD lenses, and its miniature Antelope Pico.
The award-winning handball director Henrik Saabye positioned the MkIIs in the upper left corner of the field to capture playing action and player’s emotions from the reverse angle position. Nikolai Bonstedt who triggered the system said: “I have worked many times with Henrik, but at this year’s final we shot probably the highest quality footage ever. We had great emo clips, which we played out during breaks, and we moved the camera to a Ceremony Position which gave us the chance to get the trophy shot as well as more highly emotional shots.”
The Antelope MkIIs is the latest version of LMC’s Broadcast Ultra Slow Motion based on the chipset of the Vision Research V642. It boasts improved picture quality due to proprietary OCP functions, such as Detail, Multi Matrix and LMC’s De-Flickering, which eliminates flicker caused by artificial lights.
The Antelope MkIIs can shoot at up to 2,500fps in native 1080i and even in stadium light, as in Cologne, can capture very high frame rates without any interpolation or up-converting.
The Antelope technology was easily integrated into Wige’s OB environment. “The new HD_ONE, which can handle up to 24 cameras and seven EVS, was the perfect choice for this production,” said Sebastian Wutschik, Head of Broadcast, Wige Broadcast. Wige used 16 cameras at the event.
The Final Four was also the first time that Wige used the Polecam Pico. “To have such a new technology at such a big event is not always an easy thing to handle,” said Wutschik. “But it really delivered fantastic images we have never seen before – both live and replay.”
The Polecam Pico is LMC’s newest product. The 850g PoV-style Ultra Slow Motion camera attached to a Polecam Jib shoots at up to 350fps in native HD. It has previously been used at the Grand A-League Final in Australia, for Fox Sports by Gearhouse Broadcast, as well as at the Omega Ladies Masters in Dubai in 2013.
“We keep making the system better and better” states Christian Schreiber, Technical Manager at LMC. The Polecam Pico provides both permanent live and replay channels and its telemetry is remotely controlled from the OB truck. It runs on fibre and is small enough and versatile enough to go into almost any position.
The movement of the jib and the smooth flight of the camera creates can add another dimension to the shots. “The Antelope Pico is a great camera for all kinds of shooting,” said Steffan Hewitt, Polecam founder/director, who operated the Polecam for the finals. “It can be used in sports, but wildlife productions and commercials can also benefit from the small, high-speed cameras.” The Pico was recently used for high-speed Ultra Motion analysis of every aspect of a Formula One pit stop for Red Bull Racing.
www.antelope.tv
www.eurohandball.com
www.ehfcl.com
www.livemotionconcept.de
www.polecam.com
www.wige.de
