Another inside look...
Torino is home base for most of our KING 5 live shots from the 20th Winter Olympic Games. Occasionally you'll see us in the majestic mountain town of Sestriere too, but of course there's alot you don't see when Allen and Mimi are standing at those pretty locations.
Yes, sometimes it's a bad idea to see where they make the sausage, but here goes...
Here they are... Allen and Mimi's 'cozy' live shot digs... the platform we share with NBC stations all over the country. There are 4 total platforms in the parking lot of Palazzo Del Lavoro. One used by Nightly News and MSNBC, another by Telemundo, and two by the NBC affiliates. The platfoms are in front of a park-like area near the Palavela, the venue where Short Track speed skating and Figure Skating are held.
Our 5'x15' section of one platform holds our lights, camera, audio equip, cables and - oh yeah - Allen, Mimi and our photog Alan Douglas too. Tools (or tricks) of the trade are stashed everywhere.
An example... At night, we use "flags" (the large black cloth to Allen's left) to keep the lights used by the folks next to us from spilling over and washing out our shot.
It's important get the light level right on your talent so that it balances with the light outside. Instead of blasting the reporters with artificial lights during the day some are using scrims, the black fabric you see behind the reporter on the right side of this shot. This helps cut down the glare of the background in bright sunshine or hazy conditions. Almost everyone used scrim material in Athens. It's not as necessary here.
There are reporters, photpgraphers and producers here from all over the country. Some groups have just a couple of reporters doing live reports for a dozen and a half stations. All it takes is just a couple of seconds between shots to switch mic cubes...
Mic cubes? You know, those little square plastic things that seem to pop up in front of almost every person interviewed on local TV. They tend to be just laying around each live position, ready to slide onto the micophone at a moments notice.
Let jump up to the mountains. Here's Mimi at that gorgeous live spot we've been using. It's on the back deck of the Principi Di Piemonte hotel in Sestriere. Using an NBC News "flyaway" satellite uplink, we can report from a spot a bit closer to the alpine event venues. When they are there, you will see Campbell Brown, Natalie Morales and our own Allen Schauffler and Mimi Jung from this link.
There's plenty of hardware at this spot too. Of course the picture here was taken before the snow storms of this weekend...
It gets mighty cold and windy up there. I think the next spot we better set up is next to the fireplace in the lodge.