Live coverage of Sprint Finishes: Head-on camera or Helicam shot?

[tobydawq]

Running has side on, Motor sport has a diagonal, swimming side but higher: what other sport does head on?

Right, I don't know what I was thinking regarding running...

 

[tobydawq]

Wow, today was bad. There is a delay of a couple of seconds on heli and moto shots compared to the set cameras on the finishing straight. That has always been the case but apparently not anything the producers ever manage to realise. And today they cut between front and heli shots several times during the sprint which made it basically impossible to watch in real time. I suppose it was because of the bend in the road but it just doesn't work at all.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Running has side on, Motor sport has a diagonal, swimming side but higher: what other sport does head on?

Athletics only has side on in stadium. In marathon, cross-country, fell-running and combination sports that end with a run (modern pentathlon, triathlon, duathlon) the finish is almost invariably head on. A lot of motorsport on road courses and street circuits is head on for the finish, only oval track racing where the whole course can be picked up from one vantage point are they side on (so similar to athletics in that regard). Snowsports invariably do head-on for the finish, whether that be endurance-based like cross-country, NoCo and biathlon, or speed-based like alpine, ski cross or snowboard cross. Sliding sports have a head-on finish at most venues. The only wintersport 'race' discipline that is invariably side-on is speed-skating. And when you come to think of it, track cycling has a side on camera, no?

In general, we can see a theme developing here. Arena-based sports with a fixed course which can be surrounded on all sides have side-on cameras - oval-track disciplines or swimming, which entails going back and forth along the same course in parallel. Velodromes, athletics tracks, speed skating tracks, oval-track motor racing. Whereas point-to-point racing or more complex circuit racing (except motorsport rovals, where they use the cameras from the oval) tends to favour the front-on method.

 

[Netserk]

Another thing that would improve the coverage of the sprint would be distance markers on the road, not just on signs by the road side. A yellow or red line across the road at 500, 300, 200, & 100 m to go.

EDIT: Of course, it'd be obvious to have the distance written on the road, so that it can be seen from the helicopter as well as from the riders (but would be upside-down for the head-on camera).

------------ <- Finish line
----100----
----200----
----300----

----500----

 

[Netserk]

Wow, today was bad. There is a delay of a couple of seconds on heli and moto shots compared to the set cameras on the finishing straight. That has always been the case but apparently not anything the producers ever manage to realise. And today they cut between front and heli shots several times during the sprint which made it basically impossible to watch in real time. I suppose it was because of the bend in the road but it just doesn't work at all.

Today was worse. Horrible TV production.

 

[tobydawq]

Today was worse. Horrible TV production.

Yeah, it's mind-blowing how this can suddenly become difficult for the producers...

 

[IndianCyclist]

Head on view provides no perspective of how behind the rider is. Overhead is the best for sprints. In the head on, it looks like the sprint was very close but in the overhead it is a bikelength which in cycling terms is no contest. Head on view is good emotions/solos. u see the emotions like Soler shushing etc which is not visible in overhead

 

[Netserk]

The problem is that the stationary cameras are besides the road before the finish line and that they stay on them for too long, so that we see the side and back of the riders instead of keeping the heads on shot.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

The moving side on cameras on the Champs Elysees are great, but obviously not possible for most races.

In general, head on view is more exciting live but if you want to follow what actually happened the overhead view is the only one to watch. There’s almost always a full replay broadcast from the overhead position, so seeing it initially head on and then rewatching it overhead seems like a reasonable approach?

I agree that rapid cutting between views that have different time lags is infuriating,