. world ski news : High Technology in the High Mountains - 06 March 2013 - 13:42
SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2013 BY THE NORTH FACE brings cutting-edge media production to remote, snowy places
FREERIDE WORLD TOUR. Verbier - March 6 2013 - Freeride is blowing up, from the advancement of ski technology, to the merging of the sport’s previously separate world tours, and the refinement of snow safety forecasting and equipment. Freeride, once a fringe sport followed mainly by its practitioners, has made the breakthrough into mainstream awareness. What type of technology equipment made that media rise possible? Let’s have a look at some high-tech gear used on the SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR BY THE NORTH FACE® (FWT).
At the forefront of this push is the media production team of the Freeride World Tour. Cutting-edge video and photo production tools, once reserved for the controlled climate of indoor production studios have become a mainstay on the FWT when it comes to documenting the competitions. Through years of experience the tour’s production experts have learned how to bring these technologies into the harsh, unpredictable environment of the freeride competitions venues. And export these products to the world.
David Arnaud, head of production, explains. “On the Freeride World Tour we have the very best riders in the world, bring them to the top venues around, with fresh snow and bluebird skies. So we really try to give it justice in terms of pictures and video footage.”
That means documenting the event with a variety of video angles and tools, including GoPro “on board” cameras on every rider, ultra slow-motion Phantom cameras, and aerial footage from a helicopter-mounted giro-stabilized camera called the Cineflex. All of this content comes together instantly and the live edit is made onsite and sent via satellite to the World Wide Web. An elite team including the director, editors, and the graphics all work under the shelter of a Mount Everest base camp-style installation at the bottom of the competition face. Satellite dishes and solar panels are there to secure power and transmissions.
To give you a peek behind the scenes of this incredible undertaking, FWT produced three videos highlighting these technologies and the challenges behind implementing them in tough high-mountain environments where the events take place.
Regardless of the difficulties, the FWT continues to up the level of the production. “We have a responsibility towards the sport to picture it in the best possible way,” says Arnaud, “and I think this is just the beginning.”
This coming weekend, the full communication setup will be built for the 5th time this season in the lovely alpine resort of Fieberbrunn-PillerseeTal, Austria. This is the occasion to watch the competition live on www.freerideworldtour.com as of 9 am (CET) on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
Press Release
FWT
March 6 2013
***
FACT SHEET
MEDIA FACTS
Visits on freerideworldtour.com: 800'000 per year
Facebook reach: 600'000 people
FB Fans: 35'000
Direct contacts with media throughout season: 500
Videos views (YouTube, Zapiks, Dailymotion, etc.): 2'200'000 per year
Global hours of TV coverage: 10'000 hours per year
Number of print articles: 400 worldwide per year
Number of web articles: 2000 worldwide per year
KEY INPUTS
- 6 competitions
- Live production altitude record: 2960 m
- 1st full live Internet streaming in skiing / snowboarding world
STAFF
Team: 40 people involved in the live production / transmission
TECHNICAL INPUTS
Contest TV set-up
Cameras:
- 1 Helico Cineflex HF
- 2 Long Lens (42x & 80x)
- 2 @ starting gate HF
- 1 @ face HF
- 1 @ finish line
- 1 @ hot seat
- 1 SlowMotion
- 1 Phantom
- 2 motorized cameras
- 70 GoPro cameras for athletes
TV set with commentators:
3 cameras remotely controlled
Edit suite in Full HD: Tricaster TCXD 300 (3 HD entries + VGA)
Edit suite: ATEM/1 (8 HD entries)
SATELLITE BROADCAST
Satellite Internet Broadcast connection for webcast
Connection Internet IP sat dish
TV DISTRIBUTION
- Live stream
- 6 x delayed Live 52 min
- 8 x 24-min TV Magazine
- Tailor-made content for major TV stations
- 70 web clips
- 300 athletes runs
CHALLENGES
• Sub-zero temperatures challenge the equipment
• Flexibility required due to weather window, no safe dates – less time for planning and bringing the complete setup on the mountain
• FWT is a series of 6 events, not only one single event. Organizers and production crew cannot concentrate on just one location/mountain/contest. This requires a professional performance for the duration of 3 months and multitasking at its best – sometimes organizers have to change the face in the last minute.
• Many people, many nations, many languages, many time zones (CET, GMT, UTC, etc.) … A multi-cultural challenge!
• Using high-tech in the middle of great outdoor, it’s a narrow ridge between nature, freeriding and mountain experience on the one side and new media and TV distribution adapted for a fast and demanding audience on the other.
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