Nagler – “Wimbledon Tennis 3D Exceeded My Expectations”

Jul 04, 2011 No Comments by Jonathan Tustain

An estimated 18,000 3DTV viewers watched the semi-finals and finals of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in 3D on the BBC HD channel this weekend and, although that might not sound alot, feedback from Journalists and consumers has been very positive, proving that 3D is still compelling to audiences when the content has value.

3D audiences for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships were never going to be very large considering how few 3D TV sets are installed around the UK (an estimated 200,000) and 3D Focus is still awaiting attendance figures for the cinema distribution of the game, but it is fair to say that the people who did watch it are generally impressed.

Head of BBC HD & 3D Danielle Nagler and Can Communicate, the 3D consultants on the shoot, gives 3D Focus an exclusive post match analysis.

DANIELLE NAGLER, HEAD OF BBC HD & 3D

3D Focus: Overall, how do you feel the 3D broadcast of the semi-finals and finals of the Wimbledon tennis matches went?

Danielle Nagler: It exceeded my expectations: It showed us tennis in a new and differentway, giving a perspective which placed viewers court-side. I felt that emphasised the speed and power of the tennis – but I'm really interested to see what other viewers made of it.

3D Focus: What lessons were learnt? For example, were there shots that worked better than others?

Danielle Nagler: One useful piece of feedback I'm keen to take on board is that since 3Dallows for more immersion, having an on screen graphic throughout play showing the score is unhelpful. On the whole I thought that shot selection and camera position was pretty good, but I hope that there are refinements that we can make, and that there are learning's which may be relevant to 2D as well.

3D Focus: Are there any indications of how many people viewed the games in 3D (including cinemas)? If not, when are these figures likely to be released?

Danielle Nagler: We know the number of people with active 3D TVs in the UK is currently very small, and it's difficult to both estimate and gather accurate viewing figures for an experiment of this kind. The broadcast was a test which successfully delivered live 3D distribution across all television platforms for the first time.

3D Focus: The press coverage seems to be really positive. Broadband TV News are suggesting the positive feedback has put the BBC in a dilemma over broadcasting the Olympics in 3D – Would you agree or disagree with this?

Danielle Nagler: I don't think the dilemmas are any different to those before the weekend – we know that there is interest from some people in 3D coverage of events; we also know that it doesn't appeal to everyone and HD is very highly valued.

duncan humphries Nagler – Wimbledon Tennis 3D Exceeded My Expectations

DUNCAN HUMPHRIES, CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF CAN COMMUNICATE

3D Focus: Overall, how do you think it went from a technical and creative perspective?

Duncan Humphries: 3D should no longer be a technical challenge. If the right people are put inthe right chairs and have the right equipment at their disposal then 3D production is fairly simple. From the moment we had cameras in position the technical aspect was not an issue, everything was about the creative production standards…telling the story!

3D Focus: Did you encounter any technical glitches?

Duncan Humphries: Very few. We experienced some frame sync problems early on with the signal leaving the truck but these were very simply resolved. The professional standards of everyone involved was exemplary.

3D Focus: What did you learn? Were there things you might do differently next time?

Duncan Humphries: I think we would look to tweak things next year with regards the camera positions, hopefully getting slightly higher with our main cameras. This year was very much experimental and as such we had to accept certain limitations on these positions. We also found that our 3D replay wipe became slightly irritating because of its frequency of use in tennis broadcasts. We are beginning to think of alternatives now.

3D Focus: What feedback have you received both from consumer and industry?

Duncan Humphries: Pretty much a unanimous thumbs up! All the broadcaster comments wereincredibly positive and complimentary, nearly all the blogs I have read from the public seem very much in favour of the 3D broadcast. All the commentators mentioned that they felt they saw more of the technical aspects of the game when watching the 3D output…they could see swerve/slice on the ball!

3D Focus: What shots did you use the Sony MPE-200 box for?

Duncan Humphries: The MPE-200 was used for a variety of uses. Correction of any anomolies on the3D cameras, conversion of selected 2D shots into 3D, creating a chequer board view for racks and for QC monitoring of the TX.

THANK YOU DANIELLE NAGLER AND DUNCAN HUMPHRIES!