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The Versus production team uses Ikegami HDK-79EC cameras and Fujinon XA101x8.9BESM and XA87x9.3BESM lenses with image stabilization to capture the action from beside the ring at Professional Bull Riders (PBR) shows.
All photos by Bill Miller

Their names are Tuffy, Turnbuckle, Double-D, and G-Rod. These aren't the bulls of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). These are crew members of the Versus television team. Thirty weekends a year, this band of digital gypsies comes together to broadcast one of the fastest-growing and dangerous sports in America: professional bull riding. It's extreme sports with a heartbeat. For eight long seconds, it's man against beast. But with each ride, every cowboy and bull, there is a story to be told.

According to the PBR, more than 100 million viewers around the world tune each year to 400 hours of television broadcasts. More than 1.5 million fans pack the auditoriums to watch what's billed as the toughest sport on dirt. This is not an article about a lone digital video producer, but an entire dedicated crew of men and women who get the show on the air, week after week, in high definition.

9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. Worcester, Mass. Forty-five of the highest-caliber bucking bulls are quietly munching hay as the Yes Productions television production truck is jockeyed into a small alcove some 200 yards from the main arena. It's one of several high-definition broadcast units Versus sub-contracts each year. According to Versus technical manager Kevin Olden, the truck is selected for price, added value, and availability — not for specific cameras, editing gear, or switchers it may have. It has to meet the technical specifications as laid out by Olden and the show's producer, Joe Loverro. This truck carries the new Ikegami HDK-79EC cameras and XA101×8.9BESM and XA87×9.3BESM Fujinon lenses with image stabilization. “Ikegami reproduces blacks like no other camera,” Olden says. “That's why I like them.”

The rest of the day is spent rolling out cable, setting up cameras, and checking RF frequencies for wireless micro-phones. There's a relaxed atmosphere. A time to yawn, stretch, and store energy for three days of bovine bedlam. Friday night is round one of the three-day bull-riding event, but it won't be taped for full broadcast. The crew will only be shooting highlights of tonight's show for what has come to be known as “Rides and Wrecks.” If there is a bad injury or a great ride, Versus will have it for playback during Saturday's broadcast. It will also be a chance for some of the younger crew members to try their hand at the more difficult camera positions. It's a great learning opportunity, rare in this business.

Mike Weyer runs a floating handheld camera to get up close to the cowboys before and after their rides.

There is a regular set crew that works all of the PBR venues. Locals are added as needed. “We look for people who have had some professional experience with live television who can take direction. Guys who have shot basketball or hockey. It can't just be news or ENG. There's more to it than that,” Olden says. “We like to joke, ‘It's not brain surgery; it's more important than brain surgery.’”

Loverro, of Park City, Utah, is the show's producer. He's an inspiring young man who loves what he does — and after four years, he still finds it a challenge. “I couldn't dream of a crew better than this,” Loverro says. “Top to bottom, they are passionate about what they do. They love this sport and contribute ideas in ways beyond what their job title is — cameramen, editors, even the truck driver. I've worked on shows from the Olympics to beach volleyball, and have never worked with a crew so involved.” Loverro's biggest complaint is that there is not enough time each week; he and his team will cover PBR events 18 weeks in a row, spanning 21 cities coast to coast, before they can take a short break. It's a grueling schedule.

Loverro and Director David Hagen share the same philosophy: Blending sports and entertainment and telling a story. “There are two sets of athletes,” Hagen says. “You have 45 cowboys trying to ride the bulls and 45 bulls trying to buck them off.” Some bulls can earn $1 million a year, and the show spends as much time telling their stories as it does the cowboys.

“It's a tall order,” Loverro says. “Obviously, we have never gotten a good sound bite from a bull, but they provide great television moments.”

Paul Cox operates the camera in the “shark cage,” a position in the center of the ring with iron bars to protect him from flailing hoofs. He shoots at 180fps to get extreme slow-motion shots without streaking.

Hagen uses 10 cameras to capture the action — in the arena, behind the bucking chutes (small holding pens where the cowboys mount the bulls), and in the locker rooms. PBR has given Versus nearly total access. “Very rarely in sports do you get to speak with the athletes right after they have done their performance,” says Hagen, who has directed coverage for major-league baseball, football, basketball, and a dozen other sports. “These cowboys are on camera, still breathing hard, 12 seconds after their ride. We have a great deal of respect for what they do. Bull riding is dangerous. These guys are tough but very accessible.”

There are three fixed camera positions: two down low on the arena sides and one in the center of the ring, in what's known as the “shark cage.” It sits 40ft. from the bucking chutes. At first, this position (camera five) was at the far end of the stadium a couple of hundred feet away. Because it's used for close-ups and super slow motion, the camera needed to be closer to the action. PBR agreed to build a safe platform in the middle of the arena.

Paul Cox, of Dallas, operates the camera in the shark cage, and he has gained a reputation for shooting extreme close-ups. He says he feels very safe in the shark cage, although a bull will occasionally bump into the iron bars. In order to get the slow motion without streaking, he shoots at 180fps. “It gives the show a ‘film slo-mo'' look,” Cox says.

A more dangerous job is operating the handheld cameras right behind the bucking chutes. There are six bucking chutes: three to each side of a center exit ramp. Mark “Tuffy” Voyles and Bob Allen are veterans who work inches from the action: a dusty, hostile environment of flashing spurs, swinging ropes, chewing-tobacco spit, and bulls snorting fire. It's not for the timid or faint of heart.

Voyles, of Oklahoma City, started as a still photographer, and he has been behind the lens at bull riding since 1992 — the longest of anyone on the crew. “It's an adrenaline rush behind the chutes,” Voyles says. “I've broken a finger, been bumped up and knocked down. Cowboys pick me back up, dust me off, and tell me, ‘Get back in there, Tuffy.'' The cowboys, they're the main reason I come back time after time.”

The younger operators are given Iconix HD-RH1s with Fujinon lenses mounted on lightweight aluminum poles with attached Pyle monitors to capture close shots of the bulls before and after the rides.

He says his least favorite part of the job is picking what he calls “guacamole” off the lens. “Bulls are dangerous from both ends,” Voyles says with a chuckle. When they leave the chutes, they can kick up dirt, mud, and “guacamole” with great velocity. Plenty of lens cleaners and wipes are a must.

Voyles' job is more than getting that grit-of-determination close-up on a cowboy's face. “The guys in the truck are blind to a lot of what's going on in the arena,” he says. “So you always have to be observant. I might hear the announcers talking about a particular cowboy and I can see him standing 2ft. away from me, and I get the shot before the director even asks for it.” It's fast, loud, and crowded on the chutes, but it's where the action is.

Aerial Video Systems, in Burbank, Calif., has worked with Versus to perfect three specialty cameras for the chutes. They're called “pole cams,” and that's literally what they are: wide-angle, high-definition cameras mounted on expandable poles. “It started with a camera gaffer-taped to the end of a painter's pole we got at Home Depot,” says Aristotle Lim, who sets up the cameras. “Now, they're made of lightweight aluminum with cables and aircraft pulleys so the operators have some tilt capabilities.”

The pole cameras are Iconix HD-RH1s. Two have Fujinon 2.8mm lenses, and the third has a Fujinon 4mm lens. Each operator wears a backpack, which holds the CPU controls and a downconverter. A small, low-cost, standard-definition 16:9 monitor, made by Pyle, is mounted on the pole as a viewfinder. Two of the cameras are used to get very close shots of the bulls in the bucking chutes. The third is lowered to the arena floor to capture very low wide angles of the bull rides and the shots of the bulls as they exit the arena. It's called the “exit cam.”

“This is our signature shot,” Loverro says. “Bulls have wonderful personalities, as do the cowboys. I didn't believe it at first, but if they buck off a rider, they have a little strut or nod of the head. The exit cam is there to capture that.”

Younger camera guys are assigned to the pole cams. Kyle Hagen, of Ellensburg, Wash., is on the exit cam in Worcester. His younger brother Jack operates another pole camera in the chutes, along with Cheryl Baldyga. All are young and enthusiastic, hoping to move up to handheld or hard cameras one day. “It's a fun camera,” Kyle Hagen says. “You've got to be on your tiptoes at all times. It's intense, not scary.” He has had bulls hit the camera, wrap their tails around the pole, and even knock the camera off the pole.

Mike Weyer, of Boise, Idaho, runs a floating handheld Ikegami camera. And running is literally what he does. When the 8-second bull ride is over and the bull has left the arena, Weyer runs with his camera onto the dirt to get up close to the cowboy who may have successfully ridden the bull or who may be lying injured on the arena floor. He then follows the cowboy out of the arena back to the dressing rooms or into the sports medicine room, where a team of PBR doctors are waiting. Before the event, Weyer is busy in the locker room and behind the scenes shooting portraits of the cowboys as they warm up, joke with their fellow riders, or sit contemplating their upcoming ride. It's a very dangerous sport, and the cowboys know they may be seriously injured or even killed. It's remarkable how open they are during these very personal moments. Weyer also shoots extreme close-ups of ropes, spurs, boots, and others objects to be used in bumps and teases going in and out of commercials throughout the show.

All of the cameras except one shoot the show from a low angle. The lone high angle comes via a jib on an 18ft. arm that swings from the bucking chutes into the arena. It's run by Todd Rolling, of Dallas. “It gives a different perspective to the show,” Rolling says. “It's great fun. It's a train wreck waiting to happen.” Rolling had to buy a second jib just for the PBR. It's too expensive to keep shipping it by itself, so this jib is packed along with the PBR show equipment.

In the Yes Productions television truck outside, Technical Director Wayne Robertson switches the show, which is produced live-to-tape, on a Grass Valley Kalypso switcher.

The Saturday and Sunday shows are produced live-to-tape for delayed broadcast around the world. Loverro says he thinks this gives the broadcast a live feel. Back in the television truck, there's as much action as there is in the arena. It's controlled chaos with a beat and rhythm of its own. Directions fly back and forth in a whirlwind dance. No yelling and screaming; it's not David Hagen's or Loverro's style. There is a sense of urgency parallel to the train wreck that could happen at any moment in the arena. Wayne Robertson, of Marietta, Ga., is technical director, and he switches the show on a Grass Valley Kalypso switcher. Four feeds are produced simultaneously in the multiple layers of the switcher using electronic memory fed by a PC. There's the Versus feed, an international feed, a house feed for the PBR to show on giant HD monitors in the auditorium, and a clean feed with no graphics.

“Before this switcher, you couldn't have produced essentially four different shows,” says Robertson, who talks with a deep southern drawl. “Now it's preprogrammed, and everything switches with one push of the button.”

Still, it's as fast paced as any sporting event. “I've been doing this show for over four years, and I try not to second guess the director,” Robertson says. “If you do, you tend to make mistakes.”

Digital editing on the show is fast and furious. Bumps, show opens, and teases are edited at Versus headquarters in Stamford, Conn., on an Avid Symphony Nitris. Versus has the largest Avid Unity Isis storage arrays in the northeast, and media is shared through Avid Interplay. Other elements are strung together the day of the show or even while the event is taking place. At the heart of editing is the EVS Live Slow Motion hard disk recorder, fondly nicknamed “Elvis.” It has replaced the need for live tape handlers, and each EVS station can handle eight inputs and four outputs in both standard- and high-definition signals. An operator can cue a replay before the action finishes, similar to TIVO at home. Bob Brawner, of Seattle, and David Degelia, of Dallas, are at the controls while producer Dave Osbourne, of New York, calls the replays and structures bumps and teases. Osbourne's amazing brain stores thousands of bytes of information about previous rides, the cowboys, and the bulls — which adds great depth to the look of the show.

“This job takes a person who can multifunction,” Degelia says. “A person who can work under pressure. We might not finish an edit until 1 second before it goes on air.” Unlike baseball, which is very slow, bull riding is going a hundred miles an hour from the first tally light. After the show, the team uses the EVS to edit shows together and send clips to hard drives for temporary storage and to an HDCAM recorder for permanent storage. Digital signals are beamed via satellite to Comcast control center in Denver for distribution.

Bull riding is all about statistics. Both the rider and the bull are scored, and in the event of the buck off, the bull still gets a score. All of these numbers, plus the names of the bulls and riders and graphic-design elements, make it to the screen via TV Graphics, in Freeport, Texas. Jenifer Gemisis, of Memphis, Tenn., is huddled beneath a wool blanket in the cool truck, running a Chyron Duet character generator. Todd Weber, of Orlando, Fla., is in charge of data and live scoring, and his computers are tied directly to the PBR's data stream.

David Degelia uses the EVS Live Slow Motion hard disk recorder, fondly nicknamed “Elvis,” to cue replays before the action finishes.

New this year is scoring on PDAs. Each of four judges types in rider and bull scores on a PDA, which show up instantly on TV screens. “It used to take 30 seconds to get a score; now they are showing up live as the judges type,” Weber says. “There is greater accuracy, information is available instantly, and the show moves quicker.”

“We like a warm look to the show,” says video technician Yogi Commare, of Sturbridge, Mass., who remotely controls the cameras, along with Dave Goldsmith, on 10 parallel Ikegami Operation Control Panels. Touchscreens have replaced pots and sliders, making several layers of controls instantly available.

“I paint the cameras manually, and I try to avoid over-saturating,” Commare says. “With the new HD cameras, we can get away with a lot less light, and some arenas have very poor lighting. I like to give the camera operators an iris of at least 3.0 to help them with depth of field since the action is so fast.”

She says she also likes the fact that the Yes truck comes with Ikegami HTM-1517R “real glass monitors,” both at her station and in front of the director. “You can't really judge picture quality, even in high-def, on flatscreen displays,” she says. “Now, the director and producer see the exact picture being broadcast.”

In the back of the bus is Lance Gordon, of San Antonio, who is madly manually mixing the show on a Solid State Logic MT Plus digital audio console. “This board is primarily found in recording studios,” says Gordon, who must find a balance between the loud music, the public address announcer, and the Versus announcing staff. There are mics on all the cameras and on Shorty Gorham, one the brave men with multi-colored shirts called bull fighters who aid the cowboys in making their escape once the ride is over. “You can't get much closer to the action than that,” Gordon says. While the board is automated, the audio engineer still tracks all of the announcer mics and other sound sources manually, following cues from the director and producer.

One of the unsung heroes of the crew is associate director Rich O'Connor, of Port Washington, N.Y. He helps Loverro format the show and keeps Hagen on time. His job also involves voice contact with the PBR event director on the arena floor, coordinating commercial breaks and changes in bulls or riders, and keeping focus where it should be.

6 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. The bulls are back on the big rigs headed for the next location. The iron bullpens are coming down, dirt is bulldozed out of the arena, and the last of the video cables are cleaned and put away. Talk is of the pending Northeast snow storm and cancelled flights. The crew hopes to be flying home to stay for a few days; some haven't seen their own beds since before the New Year. In less than a week, the Versus gang will gather in California to do it all again.

“This is my second family, my home away from home,” Olden says as he packs his laptop. A bull rider hobbles by, his ego bruised more than his body this night. “See ya in Fresno,” Olden calls out. A wave of the hand signals all is well.

The show moves on.

Bill Miller is owner of Bill Miller Video Productions. He has been producing films and video for more than four decades. Reach him at bill@billmillerfilm.com.

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Versus Cameraman Ray Wenzal is protected by heavy steel rails at the side of the arena, but there is still a danger from flying dirt and debris. He''s shooting with one of 10 High Definition Ikegami HDK-79EC cameras.
All photos by Bill Miller

The monitor on the 18ft. jib allows operator Todd Rolling to keep sharp focus on all the action in the arena two stories down.

Standard-defnition 16x9 Pyle monitors are used on the pole cameras to allow operators to get their lenses right in the bulls' face while staying somewhat clear of danger.

Audio engineer Lnace Gordon mixes the show on a Solid State Logic MT Plus digital audio console. It''s a fast show, and it's all mixed live.

Digital editing is done on one of three EVS Live Slow Motion hard disk recorders, which are used for teases, bumps, and instant replay.

Todd Rollings' jib camera appears to be swallowed by a burst of flame during the opens pyrotechnics before each bull riding event. It is really a safe distance away.

Cameraman Kyle Hagen gets a close-up of famed bull rider Adriana Morais during the opening ceremonies in Worcester, Mass.