We begin with a great picture of this season and the ESPN crew in the announce booth. The scoring monitor is on the left, the program monitor is in the middle and the monitor used to show replays and other video only to the booth is on the right.
When ESPN is ready for air, the main TV truck is full of production staff. The Technical Director that switches the race is in the white hat, next to him is the Director and to his left is the Producer. Other ESPN folks in this picture are on the management team. The pit producer and associate director (who controls commercials) sit on that second row.
This is the "front bench" of ESPN's main production truck before they are on-the-air. Note the network clock above and the huge amount of video sources. These consist of everything from race, pit and in-car cameras to replay machines and graphic sources. The Producer and Director sit side-by-side at this location.
The ESPN Director (middle) points to his next camera as he calls video commands to the Technical Director seated to his right. In the baseball cap, the ESPN Producer uses the communication system to talk with an on-air announcer. The picture of Brad Daugherty is the "program feed" that is on-the-air and all the other monitors are video sources.
Andy Petree with his laptop, and two monitors alongside. One is used to show him things that the Producer wants him to see. The other is what you see at home.
Trucks are parked in a pre-planned TV compound at every race.
The ESPN TV Compound including a good view of the Tech Center.
I hope you will join me in thanking the Media Relations folks at ESPN for going out of their way to help us with this information. As the season continues, we will try to bring you more behind-the-scenes photos that show the technology used in producing NASCAR racing for TV.
The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the directions. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.
18 comments:
Wow, these pictures are incredible. Thanks so much to ESPN for providing them, and thanks to JD as well.
Ditto to Matt's comments.
Thanks a lot!!
THIS IS GREAT! Thank you, ESPN, as well as to Mr. Daly!
JD, please convey my thanks to ESPN for these wonderful pictures.
Looking at all those monitors in the production truck would make my eyes glaze over.
Thank you JD and ESPN. Really cool...
Thanks to the ESPN crew for sharing. :)
We're equal opportunity here. When something is bad, we say so, and when something is great, we say so.
In this case....awesome...thanks!
Thank you ESPN for sharing these with us. I agree with texasracelady in that looking at all those monitors and screens in the production truck would really make my eyes glaze over.
Looking at that production truck gives me a better understanding of the fact that the tv crew really does try to give us as much as they can. It is just that there may be a whole lot of things going on at the same time and they try to let us know everything.
What are the dimensions of each room and where is the booth located at each track? Is the booth location different at each track that we go to? Can the announcers see the track and what is going on?
Again, thank you ESPN for sharing these with us.
Amy
Winter Haven, FL
Fascinating for those of us with no clue as to what goes on behind the scenes. Many thanks!
wow again JD,
Thank you and ESPN for this. We always like to know the inner workings and what they look like. Just not to get information overload. Maybe another on this subject at the end of the season would be great. Thanks again to you both.
And with all this sophisticated technology how hard can it be to show the cars crossing the finish line????? Or maybe despite all the sophisticated technology we only get to see one or two cars cross the finish line.
Thanks ESPN and JD! Great shots.
Amy,
The announce booth is usually located in the frontstretch tower on the same level as the NASCAR officials. Often, the other TV network and the radio network are right alongside. You can see that in the booth pic with DJ.
The booth is created at each track and is in a different place. The good thing is, it is usually in the same location at the individual tracks. That way, it becomes easier to set-up.
As Mike Joy talked about in his off-season interview with us, announcing the race is a tough mix of watching the TV monitors and keeping one eye on the track.
Sounds like fun, huh?
JD
hey espn! thanks for opening the door a crack! i suspect many folks had no concept of how crazy the production end of a race looks: all those monitors, all those people, everyone trying to put on the best show.
i've watched tv work in progress & it is a ballet combined with a rugby scrum at it's best!
thanks again, guys!
Thank You JD and ESPN. As a student interested in getting into TV production I appreciate this.
JD, can you tell us how the director, technical director and producer got to where they are now? I hear it is really hard to get into that kind of sports production because those positions are filled by people already in the ESPN loop if you will.
GS
I knew it was complicated but but WOW and I thought my multi-tasking to view a race was pretty good but I am very impressed and overwhelmed. Thanks ESPN and JD for being our window into their world. Here's another vote for who is exactly responsible for what, I don't need names but titles (do all channels use the same titles?).
ESPN is currently hiring entry level positions for college educated folks who are interested in either technical/engineering or TV production careers.
Just go to ESPN.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on Jobs At ESPN.
I had ten fun years at ESPN and if you want TV experience, that is the place to go. Good luck!
JD
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