The Death of Skycam (LA-CDC R)

[Freestyle2000]

Did anyone else see that? Brilliant! I hope the skycam shot makes SportsCenter.

Maybe it'll even get a Galaxy goal or two on the big show...

RS

[dirtskier]

well it's too late for friday's "not top ten"... it just might make the regular one given the stupid sh1t that they've had on there lately.

[pething101]

http://www.moviecritic.ca/reviews/1993/so_i_married_an_axe_murderer/myers_father_01.jpg

We have a skycam down! We have a sky camdown!

[ED Fajardo]

I'm not all that sold on skycam for soccer. that shots last night were't all that good and the action seems a bit far away on some angles. Perhaps they'll work the bugs out as the year progresses.

[Etienne_72772]

I only saw bits of the game, but I love Skycam--I saw it used, and it felt like it sucked me right onto the field itself. Of course, I watch my MLS on a 7 foot wide screen, which does a pretty good job of bringing me to the center of the action, but the skycam enhances that feeling. There was one sequence at the end of the first half that was done very well, and followed the ball and player movement fantastically.

Oh, and I also don't mind the side-by-side commercials either. Maybe I'm just too easy to please...

[Dadinho]

I'm not all that sold on skycam for soccer. that shots last night were't all that good and the action seems a bit far away on some angles. Perhaps they'll work the bugs out as the year progresses.

When you say not all that good are you talking about the awesome angle on Kirovski's free kick? Although, I do agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Skycam is good when used in moderation.

[tab5g]

I really wish it all the best, but I really don't want it interferring with play.

And this malfunction and crash did cause a stoppage in the action.

Had it hit a player, coach or ref, it would have resembled the Inter/AC flares incident.

I doubt UEFA would let a broadcaster continue to use equipment that could end up on the field of play if it malfunctions.

I also do not enjoy the traditional camera shots that show the skycam zooming along on it's cables entering the shot of the field and play.

Does the sky cam stick to the sidelines and out of play, or does it actually fly over the field and have the potential to be hit by a ball in play?

[bostonsoccermdl]

This topped off my night, I lost it in hysterics..

After the whole ESPN debacle, Berman calling Chivas "Chivas regal," him giving the score of the game as the night went on, and NOT announcing the entire replay will be on after,this topped it off.

Drinking 4 G&t's out of frusturation during the draft, and them announcing the cam going down I just burst out in laughter. The best is when they showed the view FROM the skycam and made a joke out of it...

ESPN is a total joke when it comes to anything related to soccer, it just always goes bad somehow..... :D

[Soccer&Sinatra]

I only saw bits of the game, but I love Skycam--I saw it used, and it felt like it sucked me right onto the field itself. Of course, I watch my MLS on a 7 foot wide screen, which does a pretty good job of bringing me to the center of the action, but the skycam enhances that feeling. There was one sequence at the end of the first half that was done very well, and followed the ball and player movement fantastically.

Oh, and I also don't mind the side-by-side commercials either. Maybe I'm just too easy to please...


yeah me too, I just installed a 67 inch wide screen plasma in my parents house when we rebuilt it for, including surround sound in the walls and Ill tell you that the sky cam shot looks absolutely awesome on TV.

Frankie

[dcajedi]

Has anybody got a tape of this they can put into a torrent or something like that?

[jammybastard]

Funny story....


One of my first jobs producing sports for a network was working for ABC at the '96 Kentucky Derby. The cool new toy that year was this thing called the "cable cam".
In ran parallel to the track, 50' in the air between the grandstand and the track, from the starting gate to the finish line and was going to be used at the start and end of the race.
New, cool, exciting, and supposedly safe.
Anyway, the people that were in charge of it tested it, and tested it again in rehersal. The first *real* use of it was going to be used on the Friday before the Derby for the running of the Oaks.
So the main race of the Oaks starts. The cam gets out of the gates with the horses, goes about 100' down the track, and then the cable breaks and down it comes into the dirt just as the last horse goes by.
That was the last year anyone every thought about using, what we renamed the, "cable scam" for the Derby. Instead we went to burying lipstick cameras in the dirt which din't look as cool but were alot safer.

[wjarrettc]

Does the sky cam stick to the sidelines and out of play, or does it actually fly over the field and have the potential to be hit by a ball in play?

I think they kept it over the sidelines which is why I think the camera angles were kind of crappy.

In football, it's pretty clear which direction in high passes, punts, etc. are going to be headed so it's easy for SkyCam to move over the field of play behind the line of scrimmage and stay a safe distance from the play. This gives some pretty cool shots a la EA Sports video games and I enjoy the use of SkyCam for football.

But in soccer, the direction of play and the likelihood of a high ball reverses very quickly, much faster than an operator could get SkyCam out of the way. Because of this, I think they have to keep the camera down the sideline which means instead of a true "on field" perspective, we just get a slightly different view of the field that what is available with the fixed camera.

Also in football, since the play stops every 15 seconds or so, it is easy for the producer to switch to SkyCam before a play, leave it there for the entire play, and then switch to another play. It can also be used very effectively for replays. What I noticed on Saturday night is that the producer would cut to SkyCam right during a dynamic play which would completely throw my point of reference off for a second and I found it overly disconcerting. I think they need some more practice in the right times and situations to use SkyCam if they want to continue to use it for soccer.

[GutBomb]

I think they kept it over the sidelines which is why I think the camera angles were kind of crappy.

In football, it's pretty clear which direction in high passes, punts, etc. are going to be headed so it's easy for SkyCam to move over the field of play behind the line of scrimmage and stay a safe distance from the play. This gives some pretty cool shots a la EA Sports video games and I enjoy the use of SkyCam for football.

But in soccer, the direction of play and the likelihood of a high ball reverses very quickly, much faster than an operator could get SkyCam out of the way. Because of this, I think they have to keep the camera down the sideline which means instead of a true "on field" perspective, we just get a slightly different view of the field that what is available with the fixed camera.

Also in football, since the play stops every 15 seconds or so, it is easy for the producer to switch to SkyCam before a play, leave it there for the entire play, and then switch to another play. It can also be used very effectively for replays. What I noticed on Saturday night is that the producer would cut to SkyCam right during a dynamic play which would completely throw my point of reference off for a second and I found it overly disconcerting. I think they need some more practice in the right times and situations to use SkyCam if they want to continue to use it for soccer.
judging from some of the shots it got it was clearly not over the sidelines only. there were several times where the camera was right on top of the action in the middle of the field, especially when the camera follows the ball in a play.

I do think the camera is a liability and it could fall and hit a player. they should just get rid of it.

the shots the camera got were nice looking, other than the fact that the camera wobbles a lot.

[galperin]

I hate the skycam for soccer. They kept switching to it during the play, and it was hard to follow the action. You could not see Cobi's goal because of it.

[Bambule GK]

I hate the skycam for soccer. They kept switching to it during the play, and it was hard to follow the action. You could not see Cobi's goal because of it.


They should stick to using it for replays, until the director in the truck can get it straight.


VERY cool angles, but you're right that they missed some of the live action.