Big hit: Rocky system makes debut at Six Nations with Cinevideo
Roberto Montoli directed the Italy vs France match
Running from 4 February to 18 March, the 2023 Six Nations sees England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales battle it out to win the championship trophy. Italy started its campaign on Sunday 5 February, taking on France at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, in a match won by the visitors 24-29.
For the third year, Italy’s Cinevideo was involved in filming and supplying the host broadcast feed as well as customising the feed for Sky Italia. This was managed by director Roberto Montoli. The Dolphin 7.0 OB was on site to deliver the host feed, while the Wave12G was dedicated to Sky’s needs.
In Italy, matches are broadcast free-to-air on TV8 and on pay-TV via Sky Sport Uno. They are also available to stream on the TV8 website, via Sky Go on-demand and on Now.
The match in Rome marked the debut of a new electronic stabiliser camera mount system for capturing special shots, called Rocky. It was created by 4acrew, an Italian company specialising in supports, led by Andy Galeazzi, who also operated the device.
According to Galeazzi, Rocky was created to transform typically fixed shots into dynamic images, and works with DJI’s RS series of gimbals.
“It fits into the context of ‘special shots’ and I built it to get as close as possible to the typical vision of the human eye with the shots,” he explains.
“Optics have been mounted on the cameras used here that allow us to see the difference between the classic mirrorless camera and the broadcast ones, precisely to differentiate the visual language.”
He continues: “For the setup in Rome, there were two Sony cameras, one of which was a mirrorless slaved to my special support for Rocky filming, which guarantees a particular point of view and flexibility.”
A key feature of Rocky is that it can be configured quickly both on a tripod and on a mobile platform, as well as naturally on the shoulder or by hand.
“In practice, Rocky transforms the gimbal into a conventional portable camera which can – therefore – be quickly attached to the tripod, taken and operated on the shoulder or by hand, as well as placed on the ground, without the need for anything else, therefore allowing all configurations, thanks to the ‘quick hook and unhook’,” he adds.
Rocky was created above all to make hand-held gimbals more usable, agile and operational.
“With a standalone gimbal the possibility of controlling other parameters are usually limited to the thumbs; with the Rocky two third-party active grips (Sony, Tilta, Portkeys, Smallrig, etc) allow users to operate most camera and lens controls. This rests on the body distributing the weight and the hands remain free to operate the controls,” explains Galeazzi.
The aluminium rig is also compact and the system is powered by a single rear V-Lock battery.
“The idea of the project,” resumes Galeazzi, “was to finalise a special support with the widest possible interface compared to a simple handheld gimbal, and to overcome the cost and size constraints of other systems.”
The range of accessories for use with the rig is also expanding and now includes 5Ghz SmiLink RF systems.
“I created Rocky to facilitate those who have to shoot and stay in the field for many hours, to relieve fatigue and have stable support,” continues Galeazzi. “It is no coincidence that CNN is already using it and is evaluating a more consistent use.”
The configuration
The Rocky system was used at the Six Nations with SmiLink’s HD audio/video link, a CPR telemetry data system (remote camera paint) wireless on the Cyanview cellular network, a Ronin RS3 Pro gimbal, a remote interface for using the Sony FS5/7 and FX6 handle with a Sony FX30 mirrorless camera and Sigma 18-35mm T2 cine lens.
Setting up the Sigma lens
The combination of a camera with a standard S35 sensor and high-brightness Sigma cine T2 lens, used for the first time, made it possible to create suggestive images with the distinctive bokeh effect, something that was previously only available using full format cameras mostly with fixed lenses.
Furthermore, for the first time, the active handles of the Rocky support made it possible for a single operator to work manually even with cine-type cameras, eliminating the need to use a focus puller or an auto-focus system which inevitably limits creativity compared with a human operator.