Behind The Scenes: Race For The Cure 2008 (Part 2)

Ok, now that I have all of the camera positions straightened out, and things in the field seem to be squared away, it's now time to concentrate on the "in-house" portion of our coverage. These are the elements that I'll need in the control room to pull off a smooth broadcast.

Here is a small list that I've compiled of elements that I'll need...
1. Race For The Cure Show Open - This is pretty self explanitory. It's the beginning graphical element of the show. This will be made by one of our graphic artists, Steve Shirilla, who has worked with me in the past on Race For The Cure. The only change in the open this year, is that I asked that he make it in High Definition so that we can run it at the highest possible quality. To do this, Steve will use Adobe After Effects and render for me a targa sequence that I will import into our "X-Clyp" player which is an HD playback device that we use for all of our news wipes (the things that go "woosh" during the news).

2. Race For The Cure Transition - This will be a graphic element that I can use to transition from one source to another. For example, if Monica tosses in to Jennifer Murphy, then I can use this element to switch between the 2 sources. It's just a little nicer than a cut. This will also be made as a targa sequence and played back from the "X-Clyp" player.

3. Race For The Cure Copyright - This is the last element that will air in the broadcast to "stamp" the show as property of WKYC and Gannett. This just needs to be updated from 2007 to 2008, made in HD and then rendered as a targa sequence also for playback out of the "X-Clyp" player.

4. Race For The Cure "Ribbon" Effect - This is a graphic element that I actually saw in the promo that is currently running on air for Race For The Cure. It's a pink ribbon that sits at the lower 1/3 of the screen and says "Race For The Cure" on it. I liked it, tracked down who made it, and now have it available for use during the show. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use it yet, but I'll figure it out by Saturday.

5. Race For The Cure "HD Flag" Effect - This will be an element that I'll use to cover up the "HD" flags that you see at home on video that is not HD. Instead of the black and gray "HD" that we normally run on Channel 3 video, it will be a pink and white graphic just to make it a little more fitting for the broadcast.

That's a quick look at some of the "in-house" elements that I'm going to need for Saturday. As of this moment, Steve is still working on getting them to me, hopefully by tomorrow, and I can guarantee you that I'll be very busy between the 7pm and 11pm newcasts on Thursday getting these elements ready for air.

I'm sure I'll have one or two more tricks up my sleeve for the broadcast, but I can't tell you everything that I'm up to. You'll just have to watch on Saturday morning beginning at 9am in WKYC.

Matt Babb, TD/Director WKYC
mbabb@wkyc.com

For more information on the 2008 Race For The Cure... CLICK HERE