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It seems
remarkable, looking back, that NFL games were once recorded on 16mm film. Even
more remarkable that every match since 1962 has been filmed by a specialist
cinematography camera crew by NFL Films, the production unit of the league. The
techniques they pioneered have recently been co-opted into the live broadcast
and have gone mainstream with the rise of the behind-the-scenes sports
documentary.
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Until 2013, NFL Films was
still shooting 16mm footage of every NFL game for production of cinema-style
game highlights that still form a key part of the league’s marketing.
One of NFL Films’
founders, Ernie Ernst, explains in an archive clip: “When we started NFL films,
there was something that I thought was missing in all sports cinematography.
“I wanted to get
the storytelling shots of the way that the sun came through the stadium, the
cleat marks in the mud, the bloody hands of a player. We had other cameramen
who are great action photographers. But to me, I wanted to get those little
details that, added to the action, would flesh out the story.”
In 2012-13, the NFL
Films crew — usually just a two-camera operation per game — “were the oddballs
with light meters on the sidelines shooting film. I want to say the NFL was
spending $50,000 a week just on film.” That included processing the footage in
a lab before digitizing for distribution.
Since that season,
digital cine cameras have been used, and the workhorse then and now, for
Satterberg at least, is the ARRI Amira.
“The Amira is built
for documentary shooting,” explains Satterberg. “It’s shoulder mounted and has
the same sensor as an Arri Alexa. We’re still shooting the Amira because
everything we shoot is still 1080p. No need for 4K. We shoot 8 terabytes every
Sunday with footage transferred via fiber from every NFL stadium back to New
Jersey for postproduction.”
Teams shoot at
multiple frame rates across the game, including 24 but also 30 frames, 48
frames, 60 frames up to 120. The unit has eight in-house staff cinematographers
and around 60 freelance shooters across the country.
Getting the Shots
Of course, it is
extremely hard to follow football, a point that Satterberg repeatedly makes.
Only with experience and experimentation can you really get the shots you need.
Bearing in mind that there are just a couple of cinematographers working the
game. Shot selection is essential, as are the lenses required to capture those
cinematic close ups and slow motion shots from the touch line.
“The Amira truly is
the best sports camera because of its eyepiece. I give credit to anybody who
could pull focus on a football, or any kind of flying object, on a monitor or
an LCD screen.”
According to
Satterberg, the best lens pairing with the Amira for shooting a Super Bowl is
the Fujinon 25-300mm cinema lens. He also uses an adapter that expands the
image to Super 35. “It’s a great adapter if not ideal, but it’s what we use at
every NFL game.”
The long zoom range
allows him to shoot medium-wide to long- shots without changing lenses. It is,
nonetheless, a heavy set up, which Satterberg operates with no focus puller.
However, he has customized a focusing setup that helps him to achieve perfect focus.
“The pure size and
weight of this lens has its drawbacks, but I can easily overlook those flaws
because of the sharpness and quality this lens produces.”
Nevertheless, it’s
very difficult shooting ENG-style with it, and hence, this setup can be mainly
utilized for static shooting, but you have to know what you’re doing.
“With the ENG zoom,
[I just use] minimal taps on the zoom on the focus. To get you where you need
to be, so you can see that ball flying through the air. It’s so minimal. It’s
muscle memory at this point. I’ve got a pistol grip underneath the zoom
rocker. So, I’ve really dialed in that Amira, now that I own it, to just
fit perfectly on my shoulder. It’s all about balance.”
Satterberg won’t be
changing up to shooting full frame anytime soon. “I know the Alexa LF is a
great camera for the motion picture industry, but we need lenses that get out
very, very far. And the lenses that fill those full frame sensors need to be
extremely large,” making them too heavy and unwieldy for shoulder mounted work
over 90+ game minutes]
Capturing the
Details (and the Emotion)
We also hear from
Hannah Epstein, who works with NFL Films shooting a variety
of work on shows, games, events, and specials. Her style is to capture the game
with a lot of attention to non-game highlights.
“It’s less specific
plays or moments,” Epstein says. “I like to focus on really tight elements and
just get facial expressions or hands or sweat; the emotion after the play, or
before the play, eyeballs looking over the line of scrimmage. I like to play
with negative space and use the crowd in my shots. I just love capturing the
details of the game that puts you inside the game in a different way than
anyone’s able to see on regular broadcast or from the stands.”
Some of Satterberg
and Epstein’s work may feature in forthcoming Netflix eight-episode
docuseries Quarterback. It follows three of the biggest quarterbacks in
the game throughout the 2022 season, giving an unprecedented look at what it
takes for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk
Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons’ Marcus Mariota to succeed when all eyes are on
them.
Satterberg says
they shot with Amiras in HD and speculates that Netflix has upscaled the
footage to 4K for its platform.
Video game
developers EA Sports also hired an NFL DP to teach them about cinematography
when making Madden NFL, the hit American football video game series.
Satterberg explains
they wanted to learn about shallow depth of field and how to control cameras
shots racking between focus and out of focus.
“They literally
handpicked an NFL film cinematographer and put them on staff and said, ‘We want
it to look pretty.’ And so that then evolved to Fox, CBS and NBC going with
their full frame shallow depth of field cameras on the field of play as part of
the live broadcast. They do us a lot of autofocus, because…it’s there, use
it. They’re handing it to guys who are traditional shoulder-mounted
shooters.
“For the first
couple years, it was kind of clunky. But I think they’re really getting the
hang of it now, and they’re replacing full Steadicam rigs with Gimbals and full
frame mirrorless cameras. It’s pretty amazing.”
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