Windfall Productions celebrates their 5th anniversary as exclusive TV production partner for USA Track & Field coverage of the Penn Relays Carnival on ESPN2. It is the 116th running of this American Sports Legacy event.
New York, NY April 21, 2010 — Windfall Productions celebrates their 5th anniversary as exclusive TV production partner for USA Track & Field coverage of the Penn Relays Carnival on ESPN2. It is the 116th running of this American Sports Legacy event.
Through 115 editions of the meet, more athletes have run at the Penn Relays than at any single meet in the world. Jamaican superstar Usian Bolt, Olympic and World Champion record holder will headline this years Penn Relays. Bolt will lead the Jamaican relay team hoping to break Team USA’swinning streak. USA vs. The World at the Penn Relays has been dominated by the U.S., winning 50 of the past 60 races contested since 1999.
Historic Franklin Field at the University of Penn hosts this Track and Field Classic while posing some interesting technical issues for the broadcast. “The stadium was dedicated in 1895, and it is not your ordinary century old ballpark” states Ralph J. Mole´, Executive Producer of Windfall Productions. “Our technical team has to rig (2) Fletcher robotic TV camera heads underneath the upper deck of Franklin Field so that our TV viewers can basically see the finish line at home in HD. The play by play robotics camera view of the action, (Camera 1) frames the full race field of athletes utilizing a 21 x 7.8 Fujinon broadcast lens. The close up robotic device (Camera 2) frames a tighter view of the action as well as specialized isolation shots using a 33 x 11 Fujinon broadcast lens. The camera operators execute pan, tit & zoom with the robotics TV control panel from a broadcast command position situated in the Franklin Field lower grandstands behind the press corps. ”Without this intense rigging effort of TV robotics cameras at Franklin Field, Windfall could not broadcast these exciting finish line pictures from the 116th Penn Relays.” In a TV production career that spans 35 yrs the 116th running of the Penn Relays marks Ralph J. Mole´s 11th time producing and directing the Penn Relays for sports television. The Penn Relays will be covered with eight cameras including a jib, and (2) robotics cameras, Chyron Duet Hyper-X graphics, DVC Pro HD videotape mastering, 6 Channel EVS XT2 and (2) 4 Channel EVS RO servers for a “tapeless workflow”. The mobile facilities unit is NEP Supershooter HD 14. The 2010 Penn Relays is a 2 hour special and will air “live” on ESPN 2 from 8-10PM ET April 24th, this Saturday.
Ralph J Mole´, an independent leader in track and field sports television, served as world director for the host broadcaster of live track during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 2003, Windfall Productions produced more than 12 hours of ESPN’s coverage of the “World Championships of Athletics” from Paris, France. Windfall has also produced athletics TV specials for ESPN from around the globe. Featuring distinguished track meets like “Weltklasse”, “DN Galan”, “Bislett Games” and “ ISTAF “ These athletics meets previously part of The Golden League, have now become the cornerstone of the IAAF’s prestigious Diamond League Series.
