studious

A couple weeks ago I posted some shots of where we worked for the Olympics - our temporary tv network built within the Vancouver Convention Centre. I promised later to post shots of the studio as well. Walking down the hall you'd never know that the studio was within the doors you were passing (other than the "on the air" signs), but inside is a pretty impressive and detailed studio that with very minor changes or camera positions is able to look like a different set or location. Like any studio, lighting makes the magic; but my favorite parts are the two biggest illusions. First of all, the scenic view behind giant windows that line the length of two walls of the studio are actually massive tv monitors. That Vancouver skyline (like you see in the background of the Shaun White bumper graphic shot) or Whistler ski slopes you saw were on actually monitors, which also meant that our view of the skyline looked better than those from other networks that used actual windows overlooking the bay. The second was best highlighted on one of Stephen Colbert's visits to the set (see the clip in the link below). The fireplace has become a bit of a traditional trouble spot every Winter Olympics - for days and days we end up revising and retweaking in great detail the loop of fire that plays in that monitor to make sure it looks real. It always seemed overly excessive to me - until I saw another networks monitor fire that looked glaringly fake - and suddenly the attention to detail made sense.

Stephen Colbert crawls into NBC's fireplace

jbd blog 03.22.10: centered