Super Test

Camera operator B. Sean Fairburn wearing the 3ality Systems PRO Camera Stabilizing System.

The New England Patriots aren't the only ones hoping to return to the Super Bowl next year. Cobalt Entertainment, North Hollywood, also hopes to return to the game with new versions of its 3D “3ality” camera rig on behalf of NFL Films.

At this year's Super Bowl, Cobalt used the system to continue tests in capturing high-definition, 3D action images of sufficient quality to be blown up for eventual projection in an IMAX theater. Cobalt had conducted tests at earlier NFL games, and film blowups of that footage convinced NFL Films to let the company try again at the Super Bowl in hopes of producing what Cobalt CEO Steve Schklair calls “a test trailer” designed to sell the NFL on the idea of making a large-format, 3D football movie.

The Super Bowl marked the first time that Cobalt succeeded in using the system handheld, after the harness failed to hold the camera's weight during tests at the NFC Championship Game. This time, Cobalt had GPI, North Hollywood, reconfigure a PRO Camera Stabilizing System (made by George Paddock, Inc.) to work with the “3ality” cameras, and operator B. Sean Fairburn successfully ran it Steadicam-style during the game. To make the handheld configuration work, Cobalt placed twin Sony HDW-F950 cameras and Fujinon Cinestyle lenses onto the rig, with most electronics and batteries offboard, cabled to a backpack carried by an assistant, and from there, fiber-cabled to an HD truck.

Still, says Schklair, the Super Bowl “made us realize we needed a lighter-weight version.” At press time, Cobalt was building exactly that.

“We realized we should stop trying to turn a stationary camera into a portable camera,” explains Schklair. “Instead, we are now building a true, portable camera. The rig we used at the Super Bowl was beefier because it included long lenses, which are usually needed when shooting sports, and that glass is heavier. But now that we have that rig, we are building a lighter-weight, handheld version that maintains the wide angle capabilities and the variable interocular spacing (designed to permit maximum flexibility in changing the distance between the system's two lenses) that we require, but without telephoto equipment. That should give us more flexibility to shoot action footage with the heavier rig, and more intimate, sideline stuff with the handheld rig.”