The Duals Swim Meet - ID# 245

Neuqua Valley
Live Event Coverage Sports
Entry Description

The Dual Swim Meet features the top eight boys’ swim teams from the state of Illinois, based on their IHSA state records over the past 20 years. This was a five-camera production with two wireless cameras on the pool deck, along with live commentary, an MC on the pool deck, and live graphics for standing updates, and more.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/29 9:28 am - Great coverage of this event. Swimming is so difficult to do. But this was well covered.
  • 4/29 9:28 am - Wide shot seems unstable a bit?
  • 4/29 9:28 am - I like the ISO close-up shots, but stay longer on the wide shot.
  • 4/29 9:27 am - Good job with the graphics, and I like that they are justified to the right.
  • 4/29 9:27 am - I like the balance between natural sound and the announcer.
  • 4/29 9:27 am - Great job showing swimmers as they are introduced.
Judge 1

Positives: Cool idea to use your handheld of pool level to highlight the athletes as they entered the competition. Handheld was very smooth and added a unique angle to the broadcast. Good use the of the clock cam to show scores and times in lieu of a scorebug. The graphic before hand was well put together and was a great way to highlight team scores. Overall good looking show with dynamic cutting and great announcer commentary.

Improvements: At the beginning of the race / swim, the game cam was very static and too zoomed out. Make sure to be panning left and right as the swimmers are going to each end of the pool. Earlier in the swim race, the handheld camera was a bit out of focus and dark. Make sure the operator is keeping their camera in focus and bright enough at all times. As a director make sure to be communicating this to your operator. This did seem to be adjusted later in the clip. More of a suggestion than thing to work on, but if your switcher could crop a clock from your scoreboard camera, that could help viewers see the clock in real time.

Judge 2

Positives: - Really liked that you had the wireless camera on the deck to see the walkouts. That made this feel like a big time event. - Graphics and scoring updates were great - had I been tuning in for the entire meet that would have made it really easy to follow along with what was happening on the team side.

Improvements: - Be careful with your cuts during live action, especially to cameras that are on opposite sides. There's a really important concept called the 180 degree rule that I would encourage you to look up, but basically if you have cameras on the opposite side of the pool and cut back and forth, it makes swimmers appear as if they are heading in different directions, which becomes very disorienting as a viewer. - Likewise I would be careful about cutting to a lower camera at the very end of the race. In some cases it can actually make it harder to tell who touches first.

Judge 3

Positives: Great close ups! This is the difference between amateur and professional sports broadcasting. Yours looks great when we see the close ups of the swimmers. It adds so much emotion and intensity for the viewer. The graphics are simple and informative. You did a great job with the graphic. Sound is great. Mixed well, we can hear the announcers well with some pool noises mixed in.

Improvements: Announcers - A little choppy... I would work on being more smooth and natural. Also, when the swimmers' names were being announced, it was hard to hear because they were being announced by the broadcaster and the in stadium announcer. I would either adjust the volume or just let the in stadium announcer talk during those moments. Directing: I got confused a few times because the camera would be from one side of pool, then it would cut to a camera from the other side of the pool. It's disorienting because someone is swimming from right to left and then it cuts and now they are swimming from left to right. So I'm not sure if that is the same person or not.

Judge 4

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Judge 5

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