World first: ISB brings World Karate Federation Budapest World Championships to light with live feed cinematic cameras on plug and play workflow
ISB worked with the World Karate Federation at the the bi-annual World Championships in Budapest to trial cinematic camera usage in the live feed, using a specially developed plug-and-play system from Arri
International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), the host broadcaster and long-term production partner for the World Karate Federation (WKF), this year finished off the season at the bi-annual World Championships by implementing a world-first with the use of cinematic cameras to bring stunning images to the live feed using a specially developed plug and play workflow.
The World Championships, held from the 24 to 29 October in Budapest, Hungary, became the backdrop for the trial which was a collaboration between ISB and Arri. Ursula Romero, managing director at ISB, comments on how the trial came about: “This is indeed a pretty major innovation, since most cinematic style cameras used in broadcasts today are used as sideline cameras or as replay cameras or supplementary footage for highlights.
“Apart from the 11 standard HD live cameras, we used three Arri Amira cameras which have the capability to be included in the broadcast workflow as standard broadcast cameras.
“Until now this has only been possible with quite expensive supplementary adapters and if so, it has been used for concerts and shows. We included these cameras in our live broadcast for close-ups and different angles shots which gave the broadcast a very cinematic and luminous effect, and definitely showed off the emotions and expressions of the athletes.
ISB’s Ursula Romero says that her own background in film inspired her to make the decision to bring in a cinematic look for the World Championships in Budapest
“Since the show had quite low light, theatrically, as per normal with fight sports, these cameras were able to give more luminosity and most of all, we were able to use prime lenses which give a much more shallow depth of field,” Romero continued. “At the same time, we also produced a short documentary about the World Championships and we also took advantage of having those cameras to not only shoot live but also shoot everything else happening around the event, including interviews.”
Romero says that her own background in film inspired her to make the decision to bring in a cinematic look for the World Championships: “Because of the long tradition of Arri being a purely cinema camera and my film background, I have been talking to Arri for a few years now to get them to develop a way to integrate their cameras fully into a live truck and finally the day has come! Up until this year, it was only in the beginning stages and expensive adapters had to be used in order to be able to integrate ‘film’ cameras into a live scenario, but now they have developed this and I had the idea of testing them in a real live sports scenario.
“Traditional broadcast cameras such as Sony have also developed cinestyle cameras in recent years, which are also used for live broadcast, but the workflow is quite complex and costly. The idea is that the system Arri has developed is a simple plug and play.”
The Arri Amira Live camera model was used at the 2023 World Championships cinematic camera trial for the live feed by ISB
Depth of field
The Arri Amira Live camera model was used, which has a Super 35 cinematic sensor. One Amira was handheld to provide dynamic shooting and close-ups, while two more cameras were on tripods and used to provide a full picture of the fights.
Notes Thomas Stoschek, sales manager camera system at Arri: “This particular depth of field makes fighters stand out of the image during the fight. It is a cinema camera, but also a fully integrated system camera with the same interfaces that would be normally expected in a live environment. It also provides a cinematic colour rendition, thanks to the colour science developed for the cinema industry that Amira shares with other flagship cinema models such as Alexa. Additionally, its workflow can be integrated with other live system cameras.”
Romero says: “By being able to use prime lenses, the cameras were able to give a different depth of field and show us different points of view and angles. These have to be chosen carefully, which is possible in a scenario such as karate, since it is a small field of play, the lighting is quite theatrical and we have full access to the athletes. During the athlete presentation and walk on, we were able to get closer for example (even in low lighting). During the kata we were able to show movements and expressions (which count in the judging) with much more beautiful and intimate shots.”
She adds: “The goal is to produce a much higher level and quality broadcast with a different look and more cinematic feel. This is not the same as HDR or 4K, but the goal is to bring the spectator closer to the action and show the efforts and emotions of the athletes in a much more beautiful light.”
Ursula continues: “In theory, for the director the workflow was the same, which is part of what we were testing, but he was able to play more with close ups, focus and light, giving him (in this case) the opportunity to also choose stunning shots for replays in super slow motion. He was able to push the camera’s limits much more, especially for close ups and low light situations (rack focus, extreme close ups, etc).”
Arri has delivered a similar type of cinematic look to the sports world previously with kickboxing tournament Steko’s Fight Night, the NFL, and the World Cup the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but on those occasions the Arri tech was used as a side line camera or extra content, whereas in Budapest at the WKF World Championships it was fully integrated into the truck as a live camera
New look for sports
Arri’s goals for this production was to create a new look for the sports world, bringing images much closer to the quality and emotion of cinema and over the top (OTT) TV series.
Arri has delivered a similar type of cinematic look to the sports world previously with kickboxing tournament Steko’s Fight Night, the NFL, and the World Cup the 2022 FIFA World Cup. However, on those occasions the Arri tech was used as a side line camera or extra content, whereas in Budapest it was fully integrated into the truck as a live camera.
Stoschek says on why its technology was used in this way for this tournament: “It is now the right time to do it. Our target audience – people at home – is getting more and more acquainted with high quality images, just think about how many stunning series are being watched on a daily basis in every house. This has generated a growing demand to engage viewers across platforms with a cinematic look for live events as well.”
As to where this cinematic camera usage is going in sports broadcasting, Stoschek says: “It already landed in football, American football, and kickboxing, but this is just the beginning. Any sport in which you want to deliver a story rather than a live streaming could potentially benefit from this type of camera and workflow. Its depth of field, colour rendition and image quality engage viewers on a much deeper level and create a different live sport experience.”
ISB produced the live output for the event on the 28 and 29 October. It used a local HD OB van provided by Antenna Hungaria, and bought in its core team from other parts of Europe, including the director, producer, executive producer, EVS operator and its own graphics system with operator.
The live signal was distributed to different rights holders via SRT and also via satellite, which was provided by MTV Hungary, a rights holder for the country. ISB additionally provided the video review system, for which it supplied the equipment and crew of two people.
Says Romero: “The equipment used for this is the Simplylive video review system that we have been using for a few years now. These images are also included in the live broadcast. We have worked with Antenna on various occasions so we expected no challenges at all. They provided the rest of the crew (tech crew and camera operators),” she added.
ISB used a local HD OB van provided by Antenna Hungaria