Days numbered for camera operators

Recently we were asked by a small media firm for advice on upgrades to their video cameras. While we provided some standard advice regarding current cameras, their specifications and their future application, our client was more surprised and interested in what we had to say about their camera operators. With their permission, here’s a generalised preview of our advice:

The days of the camera operator are numbered. Already on the market is a small range of automated camera tracking devices that can track the focus without the need of a human body constantly behind the lens.

Current technology such as Soloshot, requires the focus to wear an arm-band that generates a signal to the camera unit in order to keep it in frame however, successful trials in Japan have shown that it is possible to track a ping-pong ball using colour as the tracking input.

Here at Expound, we feel that it is only a matter of time before the automation of professional sporting events eliminates better than 90% of static human operated camera positions. It will still be some time further still before we can accurately write the necessary software to automatically recognise behaviour on the sporting field that is worthy of broadcast. That’s not to say that this too isn’t being developed.

This is also not to say that there will be an overall reduction in human labour for video production and broadcasting as more people may be required in the broadcasting booth along with added security personnel to guard fixed camera positions and repair faulty and malfunctioning systems.

But if you think that we will always need someone in the broadcast booth to make camera decisions, that too is on the way out. A good idea of what the future has in store lies in the now shut-down SwitchCam. Collabracam is another perhaps less ambitious editor that, at the time of this article, is still available.

We here at Expound predict the increased accuracy of intelligent broadcast editors to first, reduce the workload in the broadcast booth and then, into the future, automatically select the best footage available given the software parameters available. This is not to say they will entirely be obsolete as there will always need a human element to broadcast, but that there are significant cost savings to be had with the maturity of this technology.