In Broadcast - March 2014 - 50

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 29 - MARCH 2014

N E W S

InGEAR

Camera Corps Selected For Highly
Successful Show 'Release The Hounds'
F

50

ollowing their highly successful
deployment in the October 2013
pilot of 'Release the Hounds' on
UK ITV2, Camera Corps Q-Ball
and MiniZoom robotic heads
have been selected by Gogglebox
Entertainment to create a new
two-hour special for German
broadcaster ProSieben. Produced
in partnership with Sony Pictures
Television, it is scheduled for
transmission in March.
'Release the Hounds' sees
unsuspecting contestants enter
a forest at dusk where they face
terrifying challenges to get their
hands on money locked in chests.
If they want to keep it, they then
have to out-run a pack of hounds
guarding the loot.
The version produced for
ProSieben was recorded in the
same UK woodland location using a
similar mix of Camera Corps Q-Ball
and MiniZoom remotely controlled
equipment which contributed to the
success of the ﬁrst transmission.
"We needed robotic cameras that
can operate in normal and infrared light will tolerate rain, mud, UK
winter temperature," comments
Fran Peters, Head of Production
at Gogglebox Entertainment.

"Q-Ball remotely controlled heads
were the obvious choice. They
worked very well on the 'Release
the Hounds' pilot and again on
'Scream! If You Can'.
"We concealed a total a ten Q-Balls
in various locations to capture the
action from unusual angles. The
Q-Balls enabled us to capture ﬁxed
and tracking shots with precise
control of pan, tilt and zoom. Each
scarecrow head seemed to come
alive as the Q-Ball inside it panned
round to follow the action.
"Where fixed cameras were
needed at various forest locations,
11 camouflaged Camera Corps
MiniZooms were installed. These
have the same remote control,
infra-red and integral zoom optical
capability as the Q-Ball pan/
tilt/zoom heads.
"Cold weather, heavy rain and the
need for night shooting made the
project a memorable experience for
the production team let alone the
contestants. Fortunately the Q-Balls
are easy to mount and operate. This,
along with their easy connectivity,
saved a lot of time in rigging for
multiple locations and linking back
to the control vehicle."
Steve Linton and David Sisson

Camera Corps Q-Ball remote-control pan/tilt/zoom head as it comes and
dressed to scare for 'Scream! If You Can'

from Camera Corps operated the
Q-Ball and MiniZoom cameras
during the production, with
rigging and de-rig support from
colleagues Nick Bonner, Joe Haigh
and Doug Young.
Created by Gogglebox
Entertainment, 'Release the
Hounds' ﬁrst debuted on ITV2 in
October 2013 as a special which
close to doubled its audience
during the week and generated the
UK's number one trend on Twitter
during broadcast. On the back of

this success, ITV2 has ordered a
full series for 2014.
Q-Ball is a robust and
weatherproof cast-aluminium
sphere of similar diameter to a
standard Compact Disc or DVD.
Inside is a 1080i camera with 10:1
zoom optics plus a fully rotatable
pan and tilt head.
High-precision motors allow
the operator to adjust the camera
angle from practically any location,
including smooth adjustment of
vertical and lateral tracking speeds.

Clear-Com Ready To Hit NAB Following CABSAT Stir
fter the successful preview
of its latest products at last
month's CABSAT, Clear-Com is
ready to hit NAB and stir up the
same excitement in Vegas.
The company, which specialises
in developing intercom technologies
for industries including broadcast,
sports, military and government,
will be bringing an array of the
latest proven products for mobile
broadcast and multi-location
production facilities

A

Clear-Com's HelixNet Partyline family

that require agile and flexible
communications solutions.
In the beginning Clear-Com
invented the first party-line
intercom used for rock and roll
concerts. The company, which
was founded in 1968 and acquired
by HME in 2010, continues to go
from strength to strength, with the
latest developments in its
products demonstrating
the company's ability
to provide high

quality communication solutions
for a wide range of broadcast and
production environments.
Having recently opened an
ofﬁce in Dubai, further establishing
itself in the ever growing global
broadcasting market, Clear-Com
continues to stay ahead of the game
with new product enhancements
t h a t h a v e re c e n t l y
been announced.
The latest version of
HelixNet Partyline
provides a multisystem linking
capability
over Ethernet
and fibre to
permit a more
sophisticated
and costeffective
digital
partyline
intercom
network
for large
stadiums
or multi-

campus venues, and enables the
distribution of many digital partyline
channels, programme audio feeds
and auxiliary interfaced audio over a
single XLR cable to a digital beltpack
user.
In addition to this, Clear-Com
also recently announced new
capabilities for the Eclipse HX
digital matrix intercom system.
The system is ideally suited to the
space limitations of OB vehicles and
ﬂyaways, due to its small form factor
and high density of ports.
The matrix has the potential to
connect users over dedicated CAT5,
IP infrastructures (LAN, WAN and
internet), and ﬁbre networks. It can
also seamlessly integrate with digital
wireless beltpacks and IP-based
virtual panels.
This is a very exciting time for
Clear-Com, and the company
looks forward to sharing more news
at NAB 2014.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/?first=Phillip&last=Izzard&search=Go https://twitter.com/inbroadcast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpzEatLsHdE&feature=youtube_gdata_player https://www.facebook.com/InBroadcast http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/inbroadcast/id468652679?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.branded.inbroadcast&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5icmFuZGVkLmluYnJvYWRjYXN0Il0 http://WWW.INBROADCAST.COM http://www.cameracorps.co.uk/Q%20Ball.htm http://www.clearcom.com/product/helixnet/helixnet-partyline

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