Image via CrunchBase
NBC producer Fred Gaudelli started planning for Super Bowl XLVI in the summer of 2010. He recently took his crew to film an Indiana high school football team, the Fisher Tigers, as they ran through the offensive and defensive playbooks of the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. That way NBC can work out the optimal camera positions for the formations and plays at the Lucas Oil Stadium.
Gaudelli is a 10-time Emmy winner. He’s watched 30 hours of games to know which formations he wants the Tigers to run. For a regular Sunday Night Football broadcast, he watches 10 hours. Then he sits down with game announcers Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, the production team and the players and coaches to glean strategy and look for ways to break down the action.
When Gaudelli was at ESPN in the 1990s, he implemented the virtual first-down line that now every television broadcast uses. He also created NBCEE, which allows zooming in on a shot and panning around a frame. It allows viewers and replay officials to see precisely whether a player has fumbled before going down or has caught the ball in bounds.
Gaudelli said to Wired that you have to stay true to the game and make what is happening on the field a priority. Otherwise, if you get caught up in the hype of the game, you’re going to make mistakes and it will be a long day.
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