On The Spot with Graham Fry
When the first ball is potted at the Crucible this year, viewers all over the world will be tuned in.
We take it for granted that hundreds of hours of coverage from inside the Crucible will be delivered into our front rooms. We are all blissfully unaware of what goes on behind the scenes to make it possible to not miss a shot during the Sheffield fortnight.
Global-snooker wanted to find out what was involved so we talked to Graham Fry, executive producer for IMG, who gave us the low-down.
IMG Sports Media is the TV production arm of of IMG. It is the largest independent producer, packager and distributor of sports programmes in the world.
Just to get an idea of Graham’s involvement over the years, we asked him how long he had been involved in snooker.
“My first event was the 1997 Grand Prix, won by Dominic Dale. I am proud to say that I have been involved in every BBC event since. So by the end of this season’s world championship in Sheffield will have worked on a total of 55 events;
There are at least half-a-dozen other people who have worked on all events with me, so it is a well-oiled machine where people know their roles and what is expected of others”.
How many people are involved with producing the pictures that we see on TV?
“In total there are 91 on the team in Sheffield.
46 are technicians, including cameramen, riggers, sound engineers, vision engineers and lighting crew.
Then we have a production team of 35, plus talent. Our presentation team of 10 includes Hazel Irvine and Ray Stubbs, Parrott and Davis and of course the commentators”. Rishi Persad is presenting in Sheffield this year as Hazel has just given birth to a baby daughter.
Are there any key people who make Graham’s life easier?
“They all make my life easier. But Alison Witkover plays a central role. She is responsible essentially for our snooker coverage on a day-to-day basis. She plans ahead to Sheffield full-time from January each year except for the time she spends on site at Wembley for The Masters and Newport for the Welsh Open.
Hazel and Ray are also top professionals and will spend hours researching, writing scripts and recording items for the programmes.
Twelve years is a long time in snooker, what are your favourite memories?
“That’s a tough one, there are so many, lots for very different reasons.
OK, let’s break it down, the most dramatic moment?
“I would have to say the Williams win on re-spotted black at Wembley against Hendry in 1999. I remember the atmosphere being electric and being a part of that was special”.
Funniest memory?
“I was covering the World Championship (or supposed to be!). I had to head to London to meet Prince Andrew, in my role on the Sports Steering Committee with NSPCC. I was just about to be introduced to His Royal Highness, when my phone went off – I politely turned it off.
Afterwards I discovered that the call was to inform me that a streaker had interrupted the match in Sheffield and everyone was trying to get hold of me to ask how we should handle the situation. At that time, it was the first session I had ever missed - sod's law!"
Least funny memory?
“That would definitely have to be Ronnie walking off against Stephen in York. Those are the times when you really earn your money. There were obviously a couple of hours of scheduled broadcast and I had just lost the biggest match. Luckily enough, it was two table set, so we could cut to the second match. There were a number of concerns and it was a case of running around and first of all making sure that Ronnie was OK, that he wasn’t unwell – or had received news which no one was aware. Once we had done that, it was our job to report the reasons accurately. And get on with it.
Another worrying episode was when 'rain stopped play' at the Crucible due to condensation dripping onto the baize from the lighting rig. At first I was told it was oil. This would not have read well for IMG.
Your most patient memory?
“It has to be the Graeme Dott, Peter Ebdon final at Sheffield. I remember sitting down to start the the sponsors post match dinner at around 3am. And the match didn’t go the distance, so I guess we should be grateful for that”.
Do you play snooker?
“I don’t get chance to play much now but I have played quite a bit in the past. I used enjoy a few frames after a round of golf. My highest break is 35, thank you very much!
But like all sports it takes dedication to maintain a level. My golf handicap is suffering too and is now 16 from 6”.
I used to play a colleague, Rhodri Evans, on the parctise tables but he fluked so many balls so often, I don't bother anymore!"
You work on lots of different sports – what are your favourite events?
“I enjoy working on Premier League football, and have been involved in games between the big four that have reportedly reached a billion people worldwide, which is really rewarding. The big four including Tottenham that is…
I really enjoy the buzz of “big events” – either for UK audiences or big for world markets.
The football World Cup, Wimbledon, Test Match cricket and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne to name but four.
Surprisingly one of the biggest events I worked on was the 1997 World Table Tennis Championship in Manchester. This attracted an audience of 200m in China alone.
What are the major changes you have witnessed in televising snooker?
“Technology is the biggest change – it has changed what we are able to cover and how we cover it. The speed of edit is much faster so we are able to respond more quickly to a particular story that unfolds around the event. The ease of accessing information via the internet helps hugely and we regularly use the global-snooker website as a valuable resource.
Broadcasting in widescreen has also enabled us to provide a new and improved viewing experience and HD is an option in time too.
And obviously the interactive facility offered by the BBC is a huge step forward that allows the viewer to watch every shot played at The Crucible”. There is the potential there to introduce new programming options on this service like the highlights show we are producing on the 'red button' at the Crucible.
Technology in sport plays an increasingly large role with the third umpire in cricket and the hawk-eye replays in tennis. Do you ever envisage this happening in snooker.
Not as a device to confirm refereeing decisions, no. Although the replacing of balls after a miss is one instance where TV technology can help. SImple replays can illustrate most if not all other instants that require a decision by the referee.
The use of Hawk-eye in the game provides the viewer with a virtual view from the opposite end of the table. Various attempts have been made to have camera views at the baulk end but it tends to disorientate the viewer. So the hawk-eye facility allows us to show what the player sees at the touch of a button.
It also has educational benefits as we are able to illustrate the shots that a player intends or intended to play. It also provides a visual aid to help the commentators explain to the audience what the players are attempting or considering to do”.
How long does it take to set up at the world championship in Sheffield?
“There would be two full planning meetings in Sheffield in the months leading up to the event. Even though we are familiar with the venue and have produced the event many times before – we have to make sure that nothing has changed that could affect our set up - and usually something has changed. The building work at the Crucible this year has resulted in the moving of the TV compound for example.
The ‘rig’ would commence exactly one week before the first ball is struck in the Crucible.
The scaffolding guys would be first in to set the porta-cabin village up. The technicians would be next on site to lay over 60 miles of cable running from the TV compound into the arena and back out again.
The Outside Broadcast trucks would be next on site with graphics and cameras close behind.
While all this is going on, our edit suite would be set up. We will have over 500 archive tapes on site, all logged which can be accessed in minutes, finding the exact piece of footage required to accompany any particular story that might materialise. Those edit suites are working flat-out for eighteen hours a day for eighteen days.
The production team would begin to arrive on Thursday with everyone on site by Friday lunchtime.
A full rehearsal is scheduled for 4pm on Friday. This is when we make sure that all the cameras are in the correct place and everything is working properly.
If we find that something is wrong then the changes will be made and rehearsals will continue until whatever time at night we are ready to go.
I remember on one occasion, we had snow in Sheffield on rehearsal day and we had to delay the check so that all the steps could be cleared in order to ensure that health & safety rules were obeyed.
Health & Safety is a massive concern in modern day outside broadcasting and with 60 miles of cabling we have to ensure that nobody is likely to trip or electrocute themselves, both the public and our staff”.
How is the refurbishment of The Crucible going to affect you?
The current location of the outside broadcast unit is outside the Theatre in Tudor Square. We currently have two storey porta cabins and are considering increasing these to three-storey as space becomes a premium.
There are even suggestions that we relocate to a different site across the road from the Crucible.
This would involve running the cables over the road, which would mean constructing trussing up and over the road in order to gain access to the arena.
The decorative bridge entrance into Tudor Square and dressed with sponsors branding is more about our requirements to maintain a safe environment than anything else.
How many cameras will be used?
“In total there will be 19. Reducing to twelve when the one-table set-up is introduced at the semi-final stage.
There will be seven cameras working to each table, including four in the pockets and two in the lighting rig, a further three in the studio, two single cameras for filming ‘colour stories’ and one giving the ‘beauty shot’ from the back of the arena.
How about positioning of the cameras, how important is that?
“The position of the gantry needs to be perfectly aligned in order to get the correct perspective of the table.
The ‘Master Camera’ will be 13’ from the ground to the base of the camera and the lens will be exactly 28’ from the blue spot at an angle between 27-30 degrees.
This is an exact science and there are no tolerance levels, if IMG get this wrong, then I will not be doing a piece like this for Global-snooker next year."
