OTV

From OTV

Note! The information gathered at this website is "Work in Progress" to be used as a foundation for discussions. As of now there may be factual errors in several places. Please read the information in this context.

Project: Orienteering & TV in the Future

The long term goal of the "Orienteering & TV in the Future" project is to increase the quality of TV broadcasts from orienteering races and raise the standards by increasing knowledge and making best practice manuals.

This work includes:

Gather and "review" previous international and national TV-productions to identify concepts that work/do not work. See Broadcast analysis
Description and practical use of known technical solutions. See GPS tracking, Pre-produced material and Graphics
Matching disciplines with production concepts - set up "scripts" for TV-productions
Gathering information and opinions from TV people/producers
Identify future research & development areas - especially related to technical solutions (e.g. tracking, virtual runners 3D graphics, wireless cameras etc.)
Get support from as many related groups/people as possible in order to collect information and opinions

One important tool in the project is the webpage orienteering-tv.net. The webpage is a wiki-type page - the project hopes to get a group of contributors building up knowledge in this field which is very important for the future of the sport.

There is a long way from gathering all the information to making good TV - but this step - which might be viewed upon as a pre-project in its current form - will surely contribute to bring the field forward. Proper structuring of all the information will be very important. A workshop or project group work to discuss the finding would be a natural continuance of the work.

Status and work plan

Status March 2012:

Phase 1 is finished
Most of Phase 2 is finished (some broadcasts are yet to be analyzed and information to be updated after EOC 2012 / WOC 2012).
Based on the output from the "Orienteering & TV in the Future"-project and the SOFT TV-workshop in February 2012 there was general agreement that there is a need for a "Production manual for orienteering". SOFT will take steps versus IOF to start a process, and the "Orienteering & TV in the Future"-project is prepared to contribute in this regard
The "Orienteering & TV in the Future"-project is prepared to contribute at future TV workshops, prepare material based on the project pages and work with e.g. GPS providers and other parties in this regard.
The "Orienteering & TV in the Future"-project (via Jan Kocbach) will be involved in making pre-produced material for EOC 2012, and also in the remainder of the planning of the TV production for EOC 2012.

These project pages will be updated with further experiences after EOC 2012 and WOC 2012, and the project will get more focus in the autumn of 2012.

Phase 1

WP 1: Categorization of building blocks: Initial review of TV-productions to categorize building blocks. Study previous TV-productions from orienteering, and identify different "building blocks"/"scene types" used in each production. Build up a framework which can be used for categorizing and reviewing TV-productions; each building block is to be described and categorized into this framework. A grading/review of "building blocks" will be attempted. (Status March 2012: Library of scene types has been built up on the project pages)
WP 2: Novel technology. Investigate use of novel technology in TV productions for orienteering. (Status March 2012: Project-pages have been updated and the topic was discussed at the SOFT TV-workshop. A presentation on some technology issue is available in the SOFT TV workshop summary)

See Phase 1 work report here.

Phase 2

WP 3: Categorize TV-productions from orienteering races. Study TV-productions from WOC 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and World Cup races in 2011 and identify which building blocks are used, how they are used and success of using them. Also include the Norwegian "Big screen" project and possibly other TV productions. "Building blocks" defined in WP1 will be updated based on work in this WP. (Status March 2012: Almost all broadcasts of interest have been analyzed (see project pages). Analysis of WOC 2010 sprint and NOC 2005 is missing - but as of March 2012 these TV broadcasts have been received as video files)
WP 4: Identify best building blocks. Identify the best "building blocks" based on (1) WP 1 - WP 3 and (2) input from TV-people and other sources. (Status March 2012: This has been done based on input at the TV workshop - project pages have been updated)
WP 5: Templates for different disciplines. Based on WP 1-4, set up a templates with scripts for "Dream scenario" for different disciplines. A type of "best practice" may be a possibility as well. (Status March 2012: Best practice for the different parts of a TV broadcast has been set up based on output from the SOFT TV workshop)

Results from Phase 2 have been added to the Wiki.

Time schedule

December 2011: Project Kick-off
December 2011 - February 2012: Focus on WP 1 and WP 2. Delivery: Presentation at SOFT TV workshop [Note: most WP 3 was also done ahead of the TV workshop]
February 2012 - March 2012: WP 4 - WP 5. Significant parts of WP 4 - WP 5 was done based on input from the SOFT TV Workshop.

Project team

Jan Kocbach, Henning Spjelkavik. Contributions by Samo Kofol, Pekka Varis/GPSSeuranta.net. The project is supported by NOF, SOFT, GPSSeuranta.net and Jarkko Ryyppö (developer of RGMapvideo, research/development tool for helmetcam-videos).

Non-profit project

The project is non-profit and lead by Jan Kocbach. All information gathered in the project will be publicly available. The project is independent of the IOF. The project will try to get support from as many related groups/people as possible in order to collect information and opinions. No financial support is needed in this initial phase as the project is planned to have no running costs. Please contact Jan Kocbach on e-mail if you are interested in contributing to the project.

The project hopes to get the support of TV companies/producers through sharing of thoughts and information.