NBC began using the redesigned 5,400-square-foot space in the Summer of 2023 for Premier League European football coverage. One of the key design goals was to create a sense of a large, open space with high ceilings, said set designer Bryan Higgason of HD Studio.

Despite that goal, the team needed to trim about six inches from the grid height to allow for a raised floor to hide cables and house an LED floor display. That left about 15 feet from the new floor to grid.

“So our head height is not huge, but the idea was that we wanted to stretch it as much as possible,” Higgason explained.

The process of raising the floor required careful collaboration between the design team, fabricators and LED panel supplier Greg Gerner Inc. — and it was purposefully kept as low profile as possible while still being able to accommodate the video panel cabinets and create enough space for the cables and framing. All told, the set has 46,000 feet of data cables running throughout it, including the floor.

Despite losing that bit of height, the new set in Studio 3 has a decidedly vertical motif. It’s stocked full of strong lines created using clean verticals built from both hard scenery and backlit surfaces.

Between these elements, various parts of other scenery peek through — whether additional parts of the set or the lower-resolution video walls that wrap much of the studio.

“The idea is that there’s slow-moving abstract graphics coming through there. We’re not trying to inform anybody with anything back there,” said Higgason of the 177 3.99mm panels used to create this background element that spans over 1,022 square feet. “We’re not trying to do players or stats or anything, but it’s more atmospheric,” he added.

These graphics, along with the color-changing backlighting, allow NBC to create a myriad of looks for the space. During the design process, HD Studio showed the network possibilities for other sports as well as the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris as options.

The strategy of allowing digital graphics, as opposed to hard scenic elements, bring in connections to real world sporting visuals was purposeful so that NBC could use the space for any coverage without having to worry about shooting around certain elements or markings that wouldn’t make sense.

“The previous space was part of the original build of our facility more than a decade ago. We wanted to take advantage of recent innovations to upgrade our look and provide our talent and producers with more flexibility,” said Atila Ozkaplan, VP, production operations, NBC Olympics.

Ozkaplan added that LED video panels and flexible lighting allow talent to move around the space as opposed to being anchored to a fixed location.

Higgason also purposefully avoided using strong visual nods to stadium architecture, a common trend in sports set design, to give the space further flexibility. That said, he pointed out that during Premier League coverage, NBC opted to feed curved elements to the far background video walls that are reminiscent of a curved stadium tier-like structure.

Throughout the set there are “discoverable” hard set elements that form oversized NBC peacocks.

“The idea was that we wanted it to be discovered, but in order to be exactly that — discovered — not like bam in your face, all of a sudden there’s a full peacock,” said Higgason.

The design worked the peacock into the set in a variety of ways — but by using the approach of creating texture behind people.

“It’s about developing different layers, but then when you come back and you sit on a wide shot, you all of a sudden discover that the piece behind him that’s silver is really one of the feathers. Oh, there’s another feather and it builds on itself that way,” Higgason noted, adding that the floor has also been outfitted with shapes created using an oversized peacock that’s purposefully been placed off-axis.

Higgason made a conscious effort to use a variety of materials to build these peacocks in ways that still blended together and respected the familiar branding element.

“The nice thing about using the peacock is that it’s now coming from some place that’s meaningful. It’s meaningful to the channel. It’s meaningful in terms of how it’s applied. It’s not just changing for change’s sake in terms of material,” he said.

Working closely with Blackwalnut, HD Studio also created an eye-catching ceiling element that is carefully designed to make the space feel as large as possible. The element draws inspiration from forced perspective to create a pattern of internally lit parallelograms suspended just below the grid.

“Depending on where you stand, it has a really different feel,” Higgasson noted, adding that the goal to create a sense of being in a large space is enhanced.

The ceiling element also goes against the common misconception that adding scenery to the ceiling makes a space feel smaller. When done right, Higgason noted, the sense of size is enhanced more than if there was simply a black space left by the unadorned grid and studio ceiling.

A similar polygonal approach was also used in a wall far camera right of the main anchor area, with stacks of mesh polygons that shift color. Above, a row of short thin, linear lights march across the ceiling, creating a looser abstraction of the wall shapes.

A significant amount of conscious effort was also put into designing a set that felt both open and spacious but could also still have defined zones and regions for different purposes. This was accomplished mainly by creating banding that stretches across the floor, up a column and then over the set.

“That really strong diagonal cuts through the big rectangle of the space and develops the sense of smaller spaces,” said Higgason, adding that there’s a strong center space defined by the integrated floor lighting that creates the illusion of two separate corners.

Higgason explained each of these venues has multiple configuration options within it — what he calls the “‘Swiss Army knife’ culture of the studio.”

The video wall behind the anchor desk used for Premier League coverage has an extendable platform below it that is designed to switch the space into a panel, standup or demo area. The desk is wild and can be rolled out of the way.

There is also the option to roll in a separate riser to convert the Premier League touchscreen area into a more formal interview space.

Near the anchor desk are three additional video walls, two of which are tracking, placed in front of an array of vertical elements layered with other scenery and lower-resolution video panels. Created from 307 1.2mm panels covering 668 square feet, these are the sharpest and highest quality units on the set.

Originally these panels were all going to be trackable and motorized, but structural issues with the building being able to support the required weight meant Higgason had to work closely with Blackwanut to create a practical solution.

In the end, the center video wall ended up having to be fixed, but the two outer ones can be manually tracked, including the ability to slide behind the central one, another nod to the concept of a layered look that Higgason set out to give the space.

With the motorization gone, the design and build team still had to put their heads together to get the floating look that Higgason was after. The end result was that the video panel cabinets are supported from both the ceiling and floor.

The floor supports, however, are designed to be more subtle, creating the illusion that the panels are suspended more from the ceiling. In reality, the panels are supported through a combination of vertical lightboxes and super-strong plastic, known as UHMW.

There are then “knives” that slide into grooves in the floor that keep the entire setup from swaying.

“I’m glad to hear you’re having trouble seeing them. That’s good,” Higgason said with a laugh during his interview with NewscastStudio.

A final space in the new Studio 3 has become known as the “hero” area — thanks to the trio of oversized, extra tall pivoting video panels found here.

When in their “face in” positions, the facets of these panels create the outline of a ring, which HD Studio reflected in the ceiling above the space, creating strong visuals that purposefully contrast with the plethora of straight lines found in most of the rest of the set.

That’s not to say the vertical elements aren’t here — they were just created using a more solid approach in another purposefully contrasting look created using a collection of dark gray segments of varying depths. Many of these are built from plastic blocks with a faux stone finish for texture on the front.

When lit from behind, the elements become edge-lit and, thanks to the varying sizes used here, the colorful and or lighter parts of the background changes as the camera moves.

“As the jib moves around, the wall moves, you start discovering color, and that movement and discovery of the color is exciting for us,” said Higgason, adding the the space also benefits from the skilled lighting design of Niel Galen from The Lighting Design Group, who added vertical columns of light in the space that add yet another dimension on top of the faux stone look that also happens to feature another peacock tucked into the far background.

Meanwhile, the hero video walls in this part of the studio can pivot and be shot from different angles to create a layered or stacked effect that could be used for showcasing talking heads, introducing lineups, or other multi-part storytelling.

Below these pivoting panels is where those LED floor tiles come into play, though this was given additional flexibility with removable solid Sintra floor tiles that can be quickly stacked up on a cart and wheeled out of the way to transform the circular look used during Premier League broadcasts to a rectangular layout.

The floor is made from 99 2.9mm panels totaling 503 square feet.

There are the obvious interpretations of using this as a potential digital field or court should NBC opt to produce other sports coverage from the set, said Higgason.

Again, being able to cover any sport from the space is a key part of Higgason’s strategy in creating the space, and he’s excited to see how the network continues to evolve its use of the space in the future.

Set Design

NBC Sports Studio 3

View a gallery of this project…

Project Credits

For NBC Sports

Production

• Adam Littlefield, Senior Producer
• Pierre Moossa, Coordinating Producer
• Jen Morrison, Director
• Michael Sheehan, Coordinating Director

Operations

• Naika Denerville, Associate, Production Operations
• Atila Ozkaplan, VP, Production Operations

Studio Operations

• Tom Popple, VP, Studio & Facilities Operations
• Myles Rich, Director, Studio Technical Operations/Facilities Scheduling
• Sean Riley, Senior Operations Associate (Lighting Director)

Engineering

• Gary Bartunek, Director, Production Engineering
• Kevin Callahan, Sr. Director, System Engineering
• Tim Canary, SVP, Engineering
• Stacey Georgiou, Sr. Director, Production Engineering
• Merrick McQuilling III, Manager, Prod Engineering & Security
• Pat Tolster, Sr Manager, System Integration & Projects

Graphics

• John Schleef, Sr. Art Director
• Cara Fitzsimmons, Manager, On-Air Graphics

Finance

• Stephen Ginsburg, Sr. Director, Studio Production & Facility Finance
• Katie VanDerMaelen, Finance Manager

Sourcing

• Simon Seo, Director, Enterprise Procurement

Design by HD Studio, Bryan Higgason, Sid Wichienkuer and Paul Benson

Lighting Design by The Lighting Design Group

Fabrication by Blackwalnut

The post NBC Sports mixes scale, perspective for Studio 3 redesign appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The open-air set will be used for the pre-game show “B1G College Countdown” and will make its debut at Penn State on Sept. 2 ahead of the Nittany Lions’ primetime matchup against West Virginia. Located near the stadium, the set will allow interaction with fans and showcase unique traditions at each Big Ten school, similar to other traveling college football pre-game shows.

The NBC Sports studio team will use the set throughout the day before “B1G Saturday Night” games air on NBC and Peacock. There will also be a complementary fan experience called B1G Yards presented by Genesis at each campus, featuring giveaways, face painting and more.

The location will allow NBC flexibility to showcase unique parts of each school’s college football traditions in and around the stadium.

“We are thrilled to partner with Genesis on this unique opportunity to combine Big Ten and Notre Dame football’s dedicated fan bases with new, immersive experiences,” said NBC Sports’ Peter Lazarus.

The landmark rights deal provides NBC Sports with more Big Ten content than ever before, including 14-16 games per season and a Saturday primetime game branded as “B1G Saturday Night.”

Before Big Ten action kicks off, NBC Sports will broadcast Notre Dame’s season opener this Saturday against Navy.

The post NBC Sports previews ‘B1G College Countdown’ traveling campus set appeared first on NewscastStudio.

At 3,000 square feet and with 360 degrees of shooting space, the studio takes inspiration from the recently rebuilt Fox Sports Studio A, the network’s primary studio and home to the NFL and MLB coverage.

The new digital studio includes eight moveable Planar LED video walls, a moveable riser for interviews, a moveable LED floor unit and two production control rooms. Stage D will serve as the primary home of “Flippin’ Bats” along with “The Joel Klatt Show,” “State of the Union” and “The Skip Bayless Show.”

Fox Sports notes the LED video walls on the set are mounted to optimize for vertical video – used on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram – with reveal lines that also run vertically.

While intended for digital, the studio includes similar gear as Studio A including cameras from Grass Valley with prompters from Autoscript. 

The control rooms are outfitted with gear from Ross Video including an Acuity production switcher and Overdrive software with a Calrec audio console. They’re also connected to Fox Sports’ main network and can be utilized for remote production, supported by AWS. 

The post Fox Sports adds digital studio focused on social, vertical video appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Located at the team’s headquarters and training facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia, the buildout includes multiple production spaces for traditional and digital content production. A broadcast studio, adorned with the Ticketmaster brand, is the primary venue of the digital facility in addition to a podcast studio and press conference room.

Support spaces such as control rooms, edit bays and an audio booth are also part of the facility, with a variety of solutions from Ross Video powering the production. 

“As demand for digital content continues to increase every year, we are excited to have this incredible, state-of-the-art facility to help us meet fan demand for engaging and real-time content,” said Rich McKay, CEO of the Atlanta Falcons.

“This facility will allow our excellent digital teams who have driven very strong audience growth over the years to efficiently produce more and even better content for all our channels and our partners. It’s ultimately another important investment in feeding the passion of Falcons fans.”

The broadcast studio at Ticketmaster Studios was designed by James Yates with fabrication by the team at Creative Dimensions and lighting from Integrated Lighting Systems. AV and integration for the studio was handled by Alpha Video. 

NFL teams have continued to increase their original production output to wrap around existing league media offerings and add additional digital content, with most teams now having a dedicated studio space. 

Photos courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons

The post Atlanta Falcons open dedicated digital production facility appeared first on NewscastStudio.

“The set is the fifth character no one talks about but is an integral part of the show,” said Andre Durette, executive design director of the Jack Morton Worldwide broadcast team. “It’s understated but delivers on function. It’s a subtle nod to the other personalities that are bold and engaging, so it needs to linger in the background. It should not be the center of attention yet be striking enough to captivate the viewer.”

Jack Morton also designed the previous set.

Home base for talent is set up in front of the “Big Board” LED video wall framed with edge-lit vertical elements and backlit printed graphics of the interior of an imaginary warehouse for “Inside” broadcasts with an alternate look available for Tuesday-evening “NBA on TNT” broadcasts set to start again in January 2023.

These graphics rely on the old-fashioned duratrans technique, but can also be integrated with augmented reality and virtual set extensions that make the space look even larger than is suggested by the printed backgrounds alone.

When redesigning the space, the network worked closely with Jack Morton to ensure it kept familiar elements of “Inside,” including Kenny Smith’s steps in front of the Big Board and booth for Underdog, the show’s nickname for senior researcher Joe Underhill, noted TNT director Steve Fiorello.

The Underdog booth is now open, facilitating easier banter between Underhill and the rest of the show’s hosts, while doing double duty as a workstation for the show’s in-studio lighting team.

The booth is fronted with a frosted glass panel with a white “NBA on TNT” logo. The spiral staircase has been replaced with a straight flight of practical steps with landings added to allow it to be used for guest entrances or other segments. 

Studio J, home of “Inside the NBA” on TNT along with TNT’s NBA wraparound programming.

Structurally, the new set carries through some of the old space’s horizontal design elements, including both edge-lit and internally lit bars, but sheds the prominent, sweeping shell and arches that were a highly visible part of the show’s previous look.

The set does maintain some of the wraparound feel that element gave the space, but with a more abstract notion created using vertical columns accented with diagonal segments inspired by stadium support structures.

This arch motif is created using a solid metallic finish that transitions to internally-lit segments mounted horizontally to the floor and grid. Instead of spanning the entire beam of the studio, however, the suggestion of an enclosed, arch-like feel is completed with backlit squares installed near the grid down the center of the set.

For a show with a die-hard fan base, the new interpretation of the arches was a risk from a creative standpoint. Ultimately, however, eliminating the arches ends up creating a more open feel. Impressive as the archways were, especially when viewed straight-on, they also, by definition, created a more enclosed space.

Meanwhile, the rest of the space has been updated with more on-trend design elements. Instead of a traditionally-toned wood floor, Durette’s team opted for a gray-hued finish, which creates a more contemporary look.  

There are also basketball court markings on both sides of the studio, done in a bold off-white for eye-catching contrast.

Opposite home base is the new demo area that features an updated movable hoop flanked by backlit wall graphics suggesting a distant team locker room (with the option to swap out that look) and perforated metallic panels. Behind the hoop is a three-segment video wall that spans 26 by 17 feet, with each segment defined by internally lit columns.

Wrapping around most of the studio is an arrangement of metallic bars topped off with an internally lit segment. This appears to be a nod to both the railings found throughout stadiums as well as the typically solid half-walls that ring most pro basketball courts.

These are tilted outward to follow the diagonal elements of the vertical column structures, a design choice that reinforces the suggestion of an archway while also serving as a strong foundation for the rest of the scenery. They also provide a way to neatly tuck the staircase in along one side of the space, allowing it to blend into the background when it’s not being used while still allowing the last run of steps, which are internally lit, to flow over the railing for direct access to the studio floor.

Flanking the space are six tracking LED columns replicating some of the strong vertical elements on the old set while visually emphasizing the vertical axis of the set. These elements can slide behind the scenic vertical columns, allowing flexibility to create unique looks.

The desk itself is a departure from the wavy look of the old one, with two diagonal fin elements on either end, tilted inward and outfitted with integrated lighting that draws the eye cleanly downward, much like a basketball swishing through the hoop. The riser continues the lighted linear look on its sides.

On the front of the desk, a black portion of the riser flows diagonally upward briefly before flattening out, creating a look that recalls the negative space created with the vertical column elements elsewhere on the set.

This allows a dimensional, knocked out TNT logo to sit proudly in the middle of the front of the desk, which is finished out with seamless 1.5 mm LED panels.

With an eye toward flexibility, the desk and riser are movable and feature the ability to be quickly disconnected from the wiring necessary to provide power and broadcast hookups that ultimately loop back to one of the studio’s walls. 

In keeping with the set’s bolder, more metallic and gray elements, the default configuration relies on the video walls to add color to the space, with bold red graphics carrying on the old set’s red floor markings, anchor desk riser and horizontal bars.

The red, white and blue color scheme, which matches both the NBA and traditional American flag palette, is carried through from the old set, though with some changes to how colors are used and how much space they occupy visually. 

Blue is added to the set through the printed warehouse backgrounds as well as physical accent lighting, while white appears mainly in internally lit elements, as well as being hinted at in the lighter parts of the printed wall graphics. Red is largely brought into the space with video wall graphics, though some of the studio’s backlit elements are color-changing and can be shifted red if needed.

By changing how color is used, the design has transformed the set from a blue-tinted cityscape to a bolder, high-contrast look. 

Photos courtesy of Raeford Dwyer / Jack Morton. 

Project Credits

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports
Craig Barry – EVP/Chief Content Officer
Steve Fiorello – VP, Coordinating Director
Joanie Barry – Production Manager, Studio
Quentin Johnson – Senior Technical Manager, Live Events
Kelsie Hawkins – Technical Manager

Scenic Design – Jack Morton Worldwide
Andre Durette – Production Designer/Executive Design Director
Alison Zullo – Production Designer/Art Director
Matt Jackson – Project Manager
Nick Nocera – Drafting
Chris Maroney – Senior Illustration
Raeford Dwyer – Senior Graphic Design Art Director

Fabrication – blackwalnut

Fabrication – Warner Media Studios Scenic

Lighting Design – The Lighting Design Group

AV Integration – GrantAV and PRG

The post NBA on TNT overhauls iconic set with bold, open look that retains key ‘Inside the NBA’ elements appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The studio is wrapped in geometric walls that feature a variety of triangular shapes in a seemingly random pattern and is equipped with color-changing lighting, including the option to make select angles on the set a different color.

The primary desk is set up in front of one of these walls and flanked by two seamless video walls that seemingly float in front of the pattern.

The sharp angles are carried through to the desk, which has an uneven hexagon-shaped glass top on a curved base and can be shot in the round thanks to camera ports in the walls that appear as black cutouts in the wall pattern.

Above the primary area is a collection of internally lit stars in a slightly-concave shape, a look that has nods to athletic excellence and shapes found on footballs, as well as the set walls.

The highly angular look also can also be seen as having ties to the Premier League’s own branding, which often uses bold, dramatic background elements shaped a bit like lightning bolts. 

The studio also features an additional wide video wall that takes up almost the entire wall opposite the desk area and can be used as a background element when shooting in the round as well as standups and other segments. 

The wall that connects this area to where the desk features another camera port, framed by two color-changing edge elements in addition to a third one off to one side.

Meanwhile, the entire set is framed out with edge-lit header and footer elements, with the ones above and below the wide video wall bumped out a bit to form a tab-like shape that also serves as a sort of abstract frame for the area.

The post Turkuvaz Media debuts new Premier League set that’s full of angles appeared first on NewscastStudio.

At 148 feet by 33 feet, the two story structure will include four unique areas, each taking advantage of the unique location. One area on the set will primarily focus on Doha’s West Bay skyline with skyscrapers serving as a broadcast backdrop. Another area will showcase the bay which includes traditional dhow boats (sailing boats with masts typically used on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean).

In terms of technology, the temporary studio will include over 20 LED displays including an all-LED field for match analysis.

Fox typically erects large studios for each of its marquee events, such as during the 2019 Women’s World Cup and its Super Bowl coverage.

The 2022 World Cup begins on Sunday, Nov. 20 with games through Dec. 18.

The post Fox Sports prepares waterfront set for 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Built inside of the 5,000-square-foot Studio A as the primary home of Fox’s NFL and MLB coverage, the set features hard scenery on one side of the space with a double-height LED volume on the other.

The hard scenery, from Jack Morton Worldwide, is dominated by honey-colored wood planking and faux concrete structural elements that frame out seamless LED video walls.

“Inspired by the sleek, curvilinear aesthetics of modern stadium architecture, the set maximizes the studio’s potential while pushing its look and functionality far forward,” said Larry Hartman of Jack Morton Worldwide. “With flowing shapes that define the studio, the design dramatically takes full advantage of the space, embracing its immense size and high ceilings, featuring a fully functional second-story mezzanine.”

The primary setup for “Fox NFL Sunday,” which airs before its weekly NFL coverage. The anchor desk can also be positioned to take advantage of the studio’s other LED wall or the area under the balcony. 

The set’s primary anchor desk can take advantage of multiple backdrops and is fronted with seamless LED in a custom shape. For “Fox NFL Sunday,” the desk typically sits in front of a two-story video wall framed with curved corners and bisected by an edge-lit continuation of the functional mezzanine above.

This large LED canvas can showcase imagery of stadiums and fields, often modified to feature Fox Sports branding as if it were being shown on the venue’s digital signage. 

On either side of this display are two LED columns, each spanning two levels, that typically display subtly-animated depictions of Cletus, the Fox Sports robot mascot. 

Camera right of the desk is a wall primarily filled with additional seamless LED framed by angles and curved corners and capped with an internally lit Fox Sports logo featuring edge-lit segments above and below. 

Those angles and curved corners are used throughout the space and extended reality elements to create polygon-like shapes in the scenery, a shape that purposefully avoids any reference to a specific sport while channeling the look and feel of Cletus’ shell. 

An open staircase leads to the second level. Featuring a glassed-in workstation area surrounded by control room-like monitor walls and an additional video wall venue outside, glass railings here also create an open feel and limit obstructions on the LED wall on wide shots. 

Behind the staircase is a wall with circular backlit cutouts in various sizes embedded in a textural gray wall. This echoes background features found on either side of the main anchor desk. 

“Fox Sports has always considered its flagship studio to be a ‘working set,’ with producers, researchers, and other support staff visible at workstations in the background,” said Hartman. “‘The Skybox,’ an upper-level workspace enclosed in curving glass, is arrayed with bands of monitors constantly updated with the latest game footage.”

The Skybox also includes carpeting woven with a shifting elliptical pattern, wood and gray accents and a 3D Fox Sports logo.

Below the balcony is an alcove with an additional video wall along with more workstations. The balcony also includes a smaller set with a secondary desk that can be used for smaller productions. 

Multiple angled elements in a combination of wood and gray tones contrast dramatically with the angle of the staircase. Portions of these are installed parallel to each other with alternating finishes and integrated edge-lights that continue into the header area. That then flows into a vertical separator between the hard scenic and LED volume.

The LED volume inside Fox’s Studio A was designed and integrated by NEP Sweetwater. The volume’s walls are constructed from ROE Visual’s Black Pearl 2V2 (BP2V2) panels.

The LED volume, which comes in at just over 46 feet wide by about 24 feet deep and 19 feet tall, features four LED surfaces — including the floor — that result in over 5,100 square feet of diodes. 

Nicknamed “The Cave,” Fox can use virtual set extensions that mimic the look of the scenery’s walls and floors, including template-driven video-within-video layouts inside the volume. This look allows the virtual and hard scenery to be combined into a single unified look, while also offering the flexibility of changing the look of the volumetric environment for unique segments and events.

It can also be used to place talent inside simulated environments that are less realistic but carry through with many of the same design elements found on the hard set.

In all, 36 Vizrt and Unreal Engines power the space, allowing it to switch between various looks developed with the help of Girraphic.

In the opening broadcast from the space, this included a darker, more fantastical set extension that creates the illusion of an expansive, hangar-like environment. In total, 41 real-time graphics channels can be outputted at any time for the studio’s various video walls and virtual displays. 

Fox can also use the LED volume to recreate various other environments (including stadiums and fields), a feature that allows the commentators to recreate plays or illustrate strategy on virtual turf. 

“The result is a hybrid environment where the physical and digital backgrounds co-exist and adapt to best support the programming,” said Hartman.

But engineering the hybrid environment took a truly engineered solution to ensure a seamless presentation and adherence to California’s strict seismic building code.

“The entire set is built on an 8-inch high steel deck that fills the studio and allows integrated floor light boxes and the LED tiles to sit flush. This raised deck allows for counterweight for the sizable ‘floating’ portions of the mezzanine level,” said Hartman. 

A 60-foot steel beam was added, with rods connecting to the ceiling to provide support for the set structure. 

The studio is equipped with Stype camera tracking and GhostFrame’s multi-source technology to bring viewers an additional level of perspective when using the volumetric space. 

What the LED volume looks like with GhostFrame activated. Each camera pointed at the volume can be set to only pick up LED elements at a specific refresh rate, ignoring the others. This allows different cameras to have different backgrounds, which is often used to make the virtual environments and imagery more realistic on screen. 

GhostFrame allows each camera pointed at the volume to have a unique background layer added in. This means it can output different backgrounds from what the talent natively sees on the LED panels by having different cameras look for the LED pixels set to specific refresh rates and ignoring the others.

Stype is also used in conjunction with more traditional augmented reality elements, including team logos and player photos. Talent can interact with virtual and extended reality elements with their hands or through the use of wireless tablets.

Additionally, Fox Sports upgraded the studio’s lighting grid with eight automated ladder trusses that create an unlimited number of lighting positions without blocking key shots. Each truss includes automated lights and can rapidly move or disappear when not in use. 

Photos courtesy of Fox Sports and Raeford Dwyer / Jack Morton. 

Project Credits

Fox Sports
Eric Shanks – CEO and Executive Producer
Brad Zager – President of Production and Operations, Executive Producer
Gary Hartley – EVP/Creative Director
Mike Wilken – SVP Systems and Technology
Gina Porretti – SVP Studio Operations
Melissa Garcia – Studio Operations Manager
Daryl Moore – VP FOX Sports Systems Engineering
Michael Dolan – SVP Design
Zac Fields – SVP Graphic Technology and Innovation
Jessica Nguyen – Director Project Management
Chris Smith – Coordinating Producer Real Time Media
Rob Rees – VP Fox Sports Production and Post Production Engineering
Chris Ruiz – Director Fox Sports Production Engineering
Nole Eldridge – Sr. Manager Fox Sports Broadcast Systems Engineering
Trevor Candler – Fox VP Plant Operations and Construction
Lani Matsunaga – Fox Executive Director Plant Operations and Construction
Sigi Soriano – Fox General Foreman Plant Operations and Construction
Jim Vechiarelli – Studio Foreman

Scenic Design – Jack Morton Worldwide
Larry Hartman – Senior Design Director
Jim Fenhagen and Andre Durette – Design Leadership
Evan Hill – Designer/Project Management Director
Chris Maroney – Illustration Art Director
Raeford Dwyer – Graphic Design Art Director
Ben Bauer, Lauren Barber, Derek Van Heel, Daniel Prosky and Graham Caulfield – Drafting
Tristan Howard and Ruth Shorten – Production Support

Virtual Design – Girraphic

Fabrication – Showman Fabricators

Scenic Fabrication, Technical Design, and Installation by Showman Fabricators, Inc.

Bob Usdin – President and Account Executive
Viana Segarra – Project Manager
Katy Lai, Novella De Angelis, Project Coordinators
Drew Farrow – Lead Technical Designer
Kelly Fayton-Hrdy, Ashley Haughwout, Colin Nickel, Ben Frechette Technical Designers
Mike Riccio Director of Technical Design
Chris Meems, Director of Production
Lucas Hickman, Chris Dono, Dave Marcus, Chris Ciociano, Foremen
Aris Paganakis – Lead Carpenter/Installation Lead
Chase Brooks – Lead Automation/Scenic Lighting Technician
Henry Morales – Installation Technician
Dylan Kaye- Onsite Scenic Charge
Tony Menditto, B.R. Delaney, Ted Wondsel, Lead Rigging Team
Elliot Bertoni, Show Deck Installer
Serge Gountas Automation and Electrics Department Head
Spencer Padilla, Automation and Electrics Department Lead
Ryan Poethke, Automation and Electrics Department Detailer
Chase Brooks, Automation and Electrics Shop Lead and Installation Tech
Jennifer Orellana, Scenic Charge
Sami Adamson, Scenic Second
Cory Einbinder, Graphics Department Head
Waring Webb, CNC Department Head

Engineering Consultation – Clark Reder
Daniel J. Clark, P.E.

Additional scenic fabrication by IDF Studio Scenery.

Lighting Design – Airtime Lighting Group
Jeffry Gregson – Lighting Consultant/Designer
Dave Thibodeau – Lighting Design/Lighting Director
James Beaghan – Gaffer

AV Integration – NEP Sweetwater
Ron Drews – President
Chris Mitchell – Director of Special Projects
Greg Correia – Project Manager
Bill Hodson – Systems Integration
Zachariah Bellomy – LED Lead
Thomas Sean Bartley – LED Lead
Darren Correll – LED Lead
Hugo Pineda – LED Lead
Steven Kozakowski – LED Lead
Michael Grubbs – LED
Joey Di Benedetto – LED
Jared Gaxiola – LED
Michel Rodriguez – LED
Austin Cardenas – LED
Leigth Mitcheltree – Director of Buisness Operations
Hank Tracy – Director of Project Management

The post Fox Sports combines tech, scenery in massive Studio A overhaul appeared first on NewscastStudio.

“This was something that has never been done before at this scale on a live broadcast, said Zac Fields, the division’s senior vice president of graphic technology and integration. “Because of this, much of the workflow is custom. We spent a lot of time doing demos and tests proving out various features.”

In many ways, this project personifies the Fox Sports way of creating bold looks that take risks — all in the name of bringing an unmatched experience to viewers’ TVs.

The project required collaboration between house engineers, in-house software engineers, artists and vendors, including the design team at Girraphic, who handled virtual set extensions, video wall and volume graphics and extended mixed reality features.

Fox Sports Creative Services created some of these elements, and Girraphic was tasked with using its expertise to get the designs into Vizrt and Unreal — while also designing elements from the ground up.

This process started with design meetings that covered all of Fox’s goals and vision for the space.

“Our team explored how these segments were already run and what their current look was, and what kind of fun tools we could create to help bring the segments to life. We wanted to ensure that these segments still felt familiar and usable not only to the Fox control room and on-air talent, but also the Fox NFL fans,” explained Girapphic CEO Nathan Marsh. 

A Fox executive vice president, Gary Hartley, reached out to Girraphic in January 2022 and the team headed to L.A. to see what scale the Fox team had in mind.

Fox’s NASCAR studio in Charlotte.

For the new Studio A, Fox opted to implement all of these technologies and design elements on a massive scale – taking many of the lessons and confidence it had gained from implementing earlier applications of extended reality for its NASCAR coverage in a North Carolina broadcast facility that came online a few years ago, which is primarily based on green screens.

For its signature studio in L.A., green screen was quickly eliminated as an option knowing that it was reaching the point where innovation had flattened. Instead, the network opted for an LED volume.

Typically massive stretches of seamless video panels arranged in wraparound walls that can also cover the floor and ceiling, LED volumes are becoming increasingly popular in film and TV production as a way to place talent inside of a space that might have been shot on green screen before. This technique comes with the added advantage of requiring less post-production, having more realistic perspective shifts when the camera moves and also letting talent feel as though they’re in the environment being portrayed. 

One application of LED volumes are scenes that involve characters driving in a vehicle. Before, this was often done with a vehicle frame placed in front of a green screen. Post-production would add elements such as passing traffic out the rear window of the vehicle, as well as different views for one-shots of characters with the side windows as backgrounds. Some would even edit in subtle reflections on the windshield or other glass to increase the realism.

Now, even a relatively small LED volume can be used to shoot these types of scenes, with video loops shown in the wraparound LED video wall showcasing the background elements. Some setups even include a ceiling-mounted array that provides real reflections on the glass.

There have also been other types of film and TV scenes shot on volumes, often combined with hard scenic when a character has to interact with the scenery — such as hiding behind a rock or wall or using a prop.

Once the decision had been made to use a volume, Fox’s team wasn’t content to stop there.

Do not adjust your TV set: This is an example of what the LED volume might look like in-studio when GhostFrame is active. It might seem like a random combination of multiple layers, but each camera, such as the one on the left, can only ‘see’ one of the layers thanks to the fact that each is on one of four unique refresh rates.

It blended in technology from GhostFrame which separates the imagery shown on the wall into four refresh rates. Each camera is tuned to a specific rate and is thereby able to ignore the other backgrounds. 

The human eye, meanwhile, can’t typically distinguish between refresh rates, which is why we see the odd, layered look. To the talent and anyone standing in the studio, the image is a bit unusual looking — often with repeating versions of the same graphics in different positions. In this case, it’s still visible enough so that talent can be guided to point to the correct area of the volume, for example, giving it another leg up over traditional chroma key surrounds. 

“The technological advancements that Fox made this year will influence sports broadcast for years to come,” said Marsh. “Live broadcast is beginning to have the ability to match film-quality productions in a fraction of the time, and this will only continue to improve.”

Combined with Stype Spyder camera tracking monitoring camera positions and the ability to direct cameras to only relay the imagery displayed at a given refresh rate, this gives Fox the capability to show different backgrounds behind different cameras.

While this could, in theory, be used to showcase entirely different environments on each camera, Fox has mostly tied in GhostFrame with the camera tracking and rendering engines to allow each camera angle to capture a different version of the sample environment, but with some subtle shifts to the perspective. This makes the end result feel realistic while not limiting it to looking like it’s simply being shot against three video walls as a theatre set might be.

In this image taken during production of the ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ season kickoff open, talent is shown standing in front of and on the image of a street corner displayed on seamless LED panels. The shot is relatively tight, so it doesn’t fill the entire volume, and portions of it are skewed in order to account for how the buildings would appear to the eye if they were real. (The camera doesn’t capture the empty black parts.)

Feeding perspectively distorted backgrounds on different portions of LED volumes to account for different camera angles has been a common technique, though these typically involve the volume showing a segment of the background adjusted for the viewer’s perspective while other parts remain in their default view. Because of this, there can’t be any overlap between where each camera is pointed, since it would create an odd look. 

However, with GhostFrame technology as part of the secret sauce, each camera only sees its assigned refresh rate — which means the director and other crewmembers in the control room can see exactly what that shot will look like when it’s punched up — and not the multi-layer version seen in the studio.

Fox Sports already has multiple options for using the volume, which are typically built around a 3D model of the virtual space that’s rendered and then broken out by GhostFrame as needed. It can be used to create an indoor field of sources, allowing talent to demonstrate plays as well as showcase virtual set extensions with a variety of topical graphics inserted.

Furthermore, plans call for more innovation, which is possible thanks to the dynamic and flexible system Fox and Girraphic engineered. 

“I feel like we are just scratching the surface with the LED volume. As we grow, these environments will evolve from being spaces for the talent to more functional interactive environments,” said Field.

In addition to the volume, Fox can also bring in extended reality elements throughout the space, including both the volume and hard set (or shots that include both at the same time). These are typically more in line with ones that have been widely used in the past, such as floating panels or giant freestanding cutouts showcasing player photos and stats. 

These digital effects have their own dedicated Unreal engines.

Fox has control over the obvious things like player photos and video, but they also have control over some unique pieces. For example, in the ‘On the Field’ segment, their operators can change things like the time of day or even the color of the crowd’s jerseys.

“We have control over the obvious things like player photos and video, but also have control over some unique pieces. For example … operators can change things like the time of day or even the color of the jerseys the crowd is wearing,” explained Marsh.

This is accomplished with help from Erizos control integration.

Girraphic reviewed Fox’s current workflows from their other shows and stages and worked with Erizos to recreate some of those on its platform, allowing operators to get hands-on with the new controls with minimal effort. 

This required finding a way to make it easy for operators to control 36 real-time engines efficiently. 

Inevitably, broadcasters have to plan for contingencies, which could include failure in one or more components of the systems that run the LED volume and rendering. There are spare renderers available that can be brought online if there’s a failure on a primary one. 

There’s also the option to shoot around a malfunctioning part of the volume — whether it’s a rendering software or hardware failure. The system can also remove GhostFrame to simplify processes and still shoot against other backgrounds, depending on the segment.

Finally, the network ultimately can fall back on its hard practical set on the opposite end of the studio. 

The post Fox Sports continues tradition of risk-taking to create cutting-edge looks for its viewers appeared first on NewscastStudio.

All told, Studio X has been upgraded with nearly 38 million pixels of new LED display technology.

The program’s current studio launched alongside the opening of Digital Center 2 on ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut, campus in 2014. With five studios and six control rooms, Digital Center 2 is home to many of the network’s marquee properties, but some of the technology that was state of the art eight years ago has evolved significantly today.

“It’s been eight years and it’s time for something new and fresh, but we’re not totally abandoning the look. It will definitely feel new, but it will not feel foreign,” said Noubar Stone, senior director of studio and lighting design at ESPN.

In the first phase of the updates, which started in the summer following the NBA Playoffs, ESPN opted to add a new anchor desk and to replace the studio’s north wall, which previously housed a unique mosaic of displays at varying depths.

“The technology was basically approaching end of life,” said Stone. “The monitors were toward the end of life and the system we used feeding the monitors was also toward the end of life, and there was no obvious replacement for either.”

The north wall being disassembled in Studio X. Photo courtesy of ESPN.

“LED technology has gotten so much better … that it is both economical and resolution-wise, it’s really the way to go.”

The new LED north video wall measures nearly 48 feet in length – spanning the space previously occupied by the individual displays and then some – with the LED extending nearly to the grid at 17 feet high, making it the largest display on ESPN’s campus.

The new wall uses 1.9mm pixel pitch COB LED supplied and installed by AV Design Services.

“The monitors were pretty cool… but it became problematic over the years. You couldn’t put a live shot into them. You couldn’t run an interview or something like that out of them, so it became more of a background element,” said Stone.

“The beauty of LED technology, whatever you can put there, you can put there,” added Stone, noting that “SportsCenter” will use a variety of video wall graphics, from virtual set extensions to live shots across its dayparts.

Two hanging vertical displays flanking the wall were also updated, with new LED and scenic surrounds fabricated by Mystic Scenic Studios. The new pieces, which look similar to the original design, feature LED displays that measure 13 feet tall.

Tying the space together is a 2.6mm floor LED – 41 feet wide and nearly 17 feet deep – which can be used in combination with the other displays as both a surface for talent to stand on and a background element from the anchor desk. It can also be used with existing augmented reality technology. 

Studio X previously had a small floor LED under the anchor desk, along with integrated floor lighting throughout the studio. As part of the upgrade, the existing studio floor was raised and a new floor was applied and leveled.

“It was much more efficient to just put the new floor on top of it,” added Stone. “We kind of knew that was going to be the big challenge going into it.”

The north wall replaces the newsroom backdrop as the primary background for “SportsCenter,” giving the program a host of new virtual and real backgrounds to take advantage of. During the debut, the background showcased a 3D scene centered around the red “SportsCenter” orb surrounded by various ringed and glassy elements and a wraparound element farther back.

The final piece of the update is an anchor desk designed to allow in-studio guests; the previous design could seat a maximum of two presenters. 

The new desk drops an LED front in favor of branded design and upgraded capacity. 

The updated Studio X debuted on Monday, August 29, 2022 during the broadcast’s morning edition. 

The post ‘SportsCenter’ adds 38 million pixels in Studio X upgrade appeared first on NewscastStudio.