Gallery: 360 Cams, AutoCAD and Miles of Fiber: Building an Oscars Broadcast
01academy-awards-broadcast-tech
HOLLYWOOD — Beneath the pomp and pageantry of the Academy Awards hides a world of crushing complexity. Every detail of the production — from the precise camera placement to the deployment and construction of moving stage pieces — requires meticulous planning, fastidious engineering and heaps of tech savvy. Long before the stars hit the red carpet, a group of highly skilled engineers, production designers, producers and the show's director meet to answer a deceptively simple question: "How can we fill the Kodak Theatre with everything necessary to pull this off?" The 40 million or so viewers at home may think an awards show of this scale is business as usual (especially one entering its 83rd year). As it turns out, an overwhelming number of new stage elements, mechanics, display systems and design concepts are rolled out every year. To get an idea of scope, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's head engineer, Tad Scripter, walked Wired.com through some of the logistical and technical wizardry needed to pull off the 83rd annual Oscars telecast, which airs live Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific on ABC.
02tad-scripter
Tad Scripter, the Academy's Head Engineer ----------------------------------------- As the logistical guru of the show's setup and broadcast, Scripter — shown standing in the A/V command post in the middle of the [Kodak Theatre](http://www.kodaktheatre.com/) — works with the production designer, producers, director and the Academy to build and oversee an extremely detailed plan for day-to-day execution leading up to Sunday's Oscars broadcast, which will be hosted by [Anne Hathaway and James Franco](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/02/27/2011-02-27_oscars_2011_hathaway_franco_give_awards_night_fresh_style_while_new_year_movies_.html?r=entertainment). Scripter says the biggest boon to the show's continual smooth running is the tech-friendly nature of the Kodak itself. "Practically every column and decoration in the place secretly hides pathways to run some sort of cable," he says. "The miles of broadcast-ready, custom-laid fiber optic cable infrastructure filling the two blocks surrounding the theater helps too."  Moving-light programmer Andy O'Reilly mans the board during one of many Oscars tech rehearsals.
03oscar-webcams
Oscars Webcams -------------- ABC's web-centric, smartphone-friendly Oscar webcam experience is one of the new elements that had to be incorporated into this year's design and bandwidth plans. Viewers who visit [Oscar.com](http://oscar.go.com/) will see live feeds from strategically placed cameras, like this winners' "Thank You" rig located backstage. ABC Digital's 99-cent [Oscar Backstage Pass](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oscar-backstage-pass/id411784735?mt=8) app for iPhone and iPad will offer up live streams from the event. A $4.99 [Oscar All Access](https://oscar.go.com/my-oscars/all-access) pass will serve up exclusive webcam feeds.  The engraving station is one of many feeds that will be available online. From the camera's vantage point above the station, web viewers can watch as winners' names get applied to their statuettes.  Want to watch the rich and famous schmooze and enjoy a [world-class meal](http://www.oscars.org/press/presskits/assets/83aa_govball_01_menu.pdf) (.pdf)? Then the bird's-eye view of the Governors Ball feed (captured by the gear up high and to the right) is for you. It will give web viewers an inside look at the annual Oscars after-party.  After Oscar winners pass through a series of dark, narrow hallways, they end up at the revamped (and web wired) official portrait station (above). The video feed here will show how the Academy systematically captures professional-grade file photography of each Oscar recipient.
04oscars-360-cam
Oscars 360 Cam -------------- An extra layer of ABC's web experience comes courtesy of a handful of these controllable 12-lens, live-streaming, 360-degree cameras. To pull this off, ABC employed the help of Dallas-based [BigLook360]( http://biglook360.com/) and its staff of eight to provide, deploy, monitor and adjust these rigs at their various locations throughout the show.  BigLook360 executive producer Stephen Zelenka (left) and director Greg Hughs hunker down in their command post outside the Kodak Theatre. Though this is their first time providing gear for the Oscars, they're no strangers to giving web audiences the reins of their 360-degree tech. "That's the real power of this camera," says Hughs. "We can take an online viewer and drop them anywhere in the world."  One of the 360-degree cameras stealthily staged on the (soon to be) red carpet. Even minute details like the camera's diminutive physical footprint and electrical and bandwidth needs are planned, mapped and logged in the Academy's intricate floor plan for this year's broadcast. A [live stream from the red carpet](http://oscar.go.com/red-carpet) starts at 4 p.m. Pacific before Sunday's awards ceremony. To amp up the Twitter crowd, the Academy (@TheAcademy) enlisted [some nominees' moms to tweet](http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/24/the-academy-goes-online/) about the awards.
05oscars-broadcast-cams
Oscars Broadcast Cams --------------------- A camera operator makes adjustments during a dry run of an Academy Awards musical number inside the Kodak Theatre. Ultimately, the broadcast portion of the show will employ 21 high-def cameras. Most of what television viewers will see is shot with six enormous, long-lens pedestal rigs like the one pictured above. Remote-control robotic cameras also come into play inside the theater, with one located within the orchestra and the other surreptitiously perched on an archway at stage left. Wiring the place for video is only half the equation. "We're still trying to figure out how to position the robotic orchestra camera," says the Academy's head engineer, Tad Scripter. "We need to be able to get clear shots without the noise of the camera carrying over into the orchestra mics."  Rounding out the broadcast camera fleet are steadicam rigs, like the one above, and mobile handheld units. By mechanically isolating the cameraman's movement, this rig is able to deliver buttery-smooth tracking shots of Oscar winners walking down the aisle. "The handheld rigs are great for sending crews out to catch those unexpected moments, too," says Scripter.
06oscar-statues
Oscar Statues ------------- These large Oscar statues might appear to be distributed throughout the [Kodak Theatre](http://www.kodaktheatre.com/) with abandon. However, the Academy's head engineer says even little accoutrements like these are sketched, incorporated into the AutoCAD renderings that fuel all the production's planning, and sent out to bid for construction to various prop houses.  
07oscars-projectors
Oscars Projectors ----------------- Fourteen high-def projectors are stashed in a cramped, sweltering room between the ground floor and the nosebleeds inside the Kodak Theatre. According to Tad Scripter, the Academy's head engineer, this bank of machines will deliver all the video and images viewers will see projected on the enormous retractable "screens" onstage. Another 59 hidden projectors are tasked with cranking out the illusion of the stage's various textures, surfaces and illuminated archways. 
08governors-ball-the-oscars-after-party
Governors Ball, the Oscars After-Party -------------------------------------- This is one of the first fully staged tables for the post-show dinner and schoomzefest known as the [Governors Ball](http://www.oscars.org/press/presskits/governorsball.html). Even the look, feel and spacing of the table settings is considered and tested. The colorful plumage-meets-foliage table dressing exemplifies the production designer's Copacabana aesthetic for this year's event.  Transforming the staid Grand Ballroom into the lush Governors Ball is one of the larger components of the show's production design. Poster boards highlighting inspirational photography and concept imagery (above) provide decorators with the production designer's overall motif for the year.
09oscars-video-nexus
Oscars Video Nexus ------------------ Systems engineer Hugh Healy sifts through the multitude of patch cables in the main video truck parked behind the Kodak Theatre. Due to the complexity of this year's stage show, the engineering team had to start rehearsals and video tests long before the video truck made it out to the show. "We're fully set up now, so we can send picture and sound to all of the release points in the area," says Tad Scripter, the academy's head engineer. "But before the truck got here we had to have some of our sound mixers and video staff testing the mix from temporary workstations inside the actual theater."
