VNProd helps to bring fencing masters to Sport+

VNProd, the company that produces most of the international fencing tournaments has once again been tasked by the Canal+ group to cover the Master de Fleuret (Foil Masters) in Melun, Val de Seine.

Since 2000, Sport+, the sports channel of Canal+, broadcasts about ten fencing events each year. These events are entirely produced and distributed by VNProd, a production company situated in Ivry-sur-Seine, 200 metres from Paris’ 13th arrondissement.

“When it comes to producing coverage of the Olympic sports that often have limited financial resources, we have established a set of production tools at a reasonable budget. They include live streaming and broadcasting with six cameras and a scoreboard display, as well as several different graphics,” explains Paul Antoine, in charge of sports production for VNProd.

For the Foil Masters on April 6 that will gather the top 8 fencers in the world, a Panasonic HS410 switcher will be utilised. Sony cameras and two Panasonic handheld mini cameras will be deployed for the full HD production. The director Jean-Baptiste Lucchini will maintain contact with his camera operators via the Clear-Com communications system. VNProd owns most of the technical equipment but also hires some additional tools from Manganelli, a company situated in the north of France, near Lille.

On site, an operator will use a Mac workstation with the Adobe Media Encoder software for the live streaming. The signal will be sent to Dailymotion, which will broadcast the tournament on the internet. www.escrime-tv.fr will also pick up the feed signal for the live broadcast and file it for non-linear editing.

As soon as the final is over, the highlights of the day as well as an interview with the winner will be provided to international TV channels. An Apple workstation will be used for editing but with the Avid Media Composer software this time.

Orad will provide the broadcast graphics that display the names of the fencers, the lights indicating a touch as well as the scoreboard and clock.