Super Bowl’s Halftime Show Captured By RailCam Robotic Systems

​For the Super Bowl 2021 broadcast, they brought one Mini-C and four Newton stabilized heads mounted on telescopic towers and rail systems, placed around the stage of the halftime show with the artist The Weeknd.

These moving camera systems are operated live by skilled cameramen, that are brought in by the technical director, and they often operate one complete system by themselves. The operator typically controls the towers and rail systems with their feet, for example left/right with one foot, and up/down with the other. Then he/she controls the camera pan/tilt/roll with one hand and zoom/focus with the other. RailCam has never seen the need of pre-programmed camera movement and Brian Sheid, Technician, explains: “Many people think programmed moves is a great idea until the artist walks faster or stops for a second and the camera keeps on going right past them. Also, the magic behind a robotic camera not looking too robotic, is to have a human operating it.” For this event, RailCam brought four technicians to install their robotic camera solutions and to be stand by during the show. A few of the technicians had worked at Super Bowl before, but this was the first Super Bowl assignment for RailCam as a company.

The Super Bowl halftime show, consisted of 5 RailCam Robotic Systems moving camera platforms:

Camera 1

A RailArm in front of the stage, holding a Newton stabilized camera head. The RTS RailArm is a rail system with an arm, that can lift the camera from a very low position. The rail track ran 36 feet along the stage and the whole system was operated by Shaun Harkins.

Camera 2

A RailTower in front of the stage, holding a Nettmann Mini-C stabilized camera head. The RTS RailTower is a telescopic tower on a rail track and Rick Compeau operated the rail dolly while Kevin French operated the tower and camera.

Camera 3

Also in front of the stage, there was a new RTS telescopic tower which can lift the camera from 9 to 35 feet. It featured a NEWTON stabilized camera head and was operated by Jay Kulick.

Camera 4

Jay Kulick also operated a RTS telescopic tower on the very top of the stage, which shot reverse angles of The Weeknd in the middle of the performance. This tower could lift its NEWTON stabilized camera head from 5 to 11 feet.

Camera 5

Finally, there was a NEWTON stabilized camera head mounted on a MAT XS+ telescopic tower inside the stage as a back up for the wireless handheld camera in the infinity room. This was never used but was ready to be operated Kevin French.

You might also like...

Learning From The Experts At The BEITC Sessions at 2023 NAB Show

Many NAB Shows visitors don’t realize that some of the most valuable technical information released at NAB Shows emanates from BEITC sessions. The job titles of all but one speaker in the conference are all related to engineering, technology, d…

Magicbox Puts Virtual Production Inside An LED Volume On Wheels

Virtual production studios are popping up across the globe as the latest solution for safe and cost/time-effective TV and movie production. This method replaces on location shooting and, by utilizing all-encompassing LED walls (often called “volumes”), is fundamentally changing the…

Celebrating BEITC At NAB Show

As we approach the 2023 NAB Show in the NAB centenary year, we celebrate the unique insight and influence of the Broadcast Engineering & IT Conference that happens alongside the show each year.

Artificial Inspiration – Debating The Implications Of Training AI To Create Images

There is growing debate over the ethical and legal implications of using millions of images drawn from the internet to train AI powered software to create ‘new’ images. It feels like the beginning of a journey which could have profound imp…

Capturing Nitin Sawhney’s Ghosts In The Ruins

The 2022 City of Culture festival concluded with a performance created by Nitin Sawhney CBE. Filmed on the URSA Broadcast G2, an edited broadcast of Ghosts In The Ruins aired on the BBC.