SPECIAL | SPORTS CAPTURE
A TALE OF TWO TOURNAMENTS DEFINITION SPOTLIGHTS THE CTION DELIVERED LIVE FROM THIS YEAR’S HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA AND WIMBLEDON WORDS CHELSEA FEARNLEY B ritain’s summer of sport plays a crucial role in lifting the spirits of the nation after the long and arduous winter. The weather may collaboration with the Henley stewards Matthew Pinsent and Neil Chugani, laid the foundations for producing a live broadcast of the rowing competition. “We spent days important to divulge that its origins in fact date back to 1839. It is both a competitive rowing event and a chance for the well heeled to don their pinstriped blazers and frocks for a spot of traditional summer fun. “My impression of Henley has
during winter on the snow-clad banks of the River Thames,” he says, “trying to work out a camera plan that would fit our strategy of delivering every single race on to YouTube, so rowing audiences worldwide could watch the five-day event.” “That was what the first year was all about, and we won that tender so, in the second year – in 2016 – we made a deal with BT Sport and it came in as a broadcaster. We’re now sending out a live global feed of the races on YouTube and creating a programme for BT Sport,” Preece explains. CAPTURING LEGACY Rowing rookies are likely unacquainted with Henley’s Royal Regatta, so it is
not always be perfect, but the whole population seemingly emerges to attend these hotly anticipated events. Those who missed out on a ticket can always find refuge among other sport fans in beer gardens, with TVs displaying live events coverage. After all, it’s often thought that the sport-spectating experience is much less about the event and more about sharing the experience with other people over a Pimm’s – or two. Still, the latter would not previously have been an option for rowing fans unable to attend Henley Royal Regatta, which wasn’t broadcast live until 2015. Andrew Preece, executive producer at Sunset+Vine, recalls when he, in
always been this sea of blazers drinking champagne, and then somewhere in the background you can catch a glimpse of a boat going past between someone’s legs. I wanted to reverse that for the broadcast, so the sport was in the foreground, but you still had this image of Henley in the backdrop,” says Preece. “What I also really didn’t want,” he adds, “was to have the cameras panning from left to right as the boats went past. I wanted to tell the story of Henley, and we spent a lot of time trying to work out a camera plan that had a variety of types of picture – and actually, that plan hasn’t changed much over the years. I think we got it pretty spot on from the beginning.” Ten Sony cameras are speckled along the rowing course, which is just over two
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