American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 98

The Last

Page

NFL Films Tackles the

Olympics
Barcelona's

processing and correcting it during transfer
D-3 PAL videotape. NBC produced and

An NFL Films

of

cameraman, at

statue of Columbus;

to

sprinters' fingers
finding marks atthe
starting line; a run¬
ner checking the

edited all of its Barcelona work in the Euro¬

left, shoots
16mm

footage
alongside a TV
cameraman

at

last summer's

Olympic Games

lanes beside him;
the pointed toes
of a synchronized

in Barcelona.

swimmer;

the

saw.

Despite the lab's quick turn¬
around, Tuckett says, many segments came
together at the last minute. The four-hour

mer,

side two other

delay between shooting and processing
required some adjustment from NBC work¬
ers. "In the beginning, some folks were frus¬
trated," Tuckett recalls, "because they
couldn't pull our images out of the air and
broadcast them. But once everybody saw
that our plan could be integrated into their
system and work, we had very good coop¬

crew

team.

eration.

hand of a "Dream
Team" member tip¬

ping in a rim shot.
Besides

di¬

recting and helping
to edit the seg¬

Like the athletes in Barcelona this past sum¬

Phil Tuckett and his five-person film
had something to prove.
"We're filmmakers, and we
wanted to show that film had a role in the

day-to-day broadcast of the Olympics," says
Tuckett, vice president for NFL Films of Mt.
Laurel, N.J.
Tuckett had no problem convinc¬
ing the people at NBC to hire NFL Entertain¬
ment, the non-football division of the firm
best known forthe high-impact 16mm high¬
light footage it produces each fall weekend.

Tuckett's

crew

devoted about

ments, Tuckett

manned a camera along¬

cinematographers in his
They used 16mm PhotoSonics cam¬
eras at speeds up to 500 frames per second
for high-impact, slow-motion sequences.
Arriflex 16SRs at speeds up to 150 frames
per second were employed for confined
areas, such as the gymnastics arena. With
400-foot magazines on their cameras, the
cameramen planned their shots carefully
and switched magazines rapidly.
The team used Eastman's 500T
7296 and 250D 7297 stocks, Tuckett says,
to maintain depth of field atthe high speeds

low-light images. When the
shining and the cranking speeds
weren't too fast, the team shot with
Eastman 7245, rated at El 50 in daylight.
Tuckett says that the versatility

half their time in Barcelona to filming

and to capture

"Enberg's Moments," short features
compiled by NBC commentator Dick Enberg
which aired nightly during the Olympic

sun was

broadcasts. The rest of the time, the team
used their high-speed 16mm cameras and

long telephoto lenses for several special as¬
signments, including pieces about the U.S.

of NFL Films, as well as its extensive expe¬
rience shooting action on film and turning
it around quickly, helped the outfit land the

basketball "Dream Team" and track star

NBC

Joyner-Kersee. Set to music, the
pieces strove to capture the emotion and
"visceral impact" of the games.
"We wanted to give viewers a
chance to see, up close, the faces and rip¬
pling muscles of the athletes," Tuckett ex¬
plains. "Although most people in America
wouldn't know the difference between
filmed and videotaped images, they remem¬
ber the emotional quotient film adds."
The

crew

captured the details: a
platform within sight

diver twisting from the

American

Cinematographer

assignment.
"We've learned

Jackie

96

pean PAL format to stay compatible with
the host broadcaster, RTO, which supplied
much of the coverage American viewers

exactly what we

get away with," he explains. "For in¬
stance, we prefer not to have filters be¬
can

tween us and the

image. If we filter, we
losing depth of

have to open up the lens,
field and possibly the shot.

We expose the
500-speed film in the lowest light - even
if it's daylight-without a filter. We know
the film has enough latitude that we can
correct the color during transfer."
Barcelona's Foto Film

four-hour turnaround

January 1993

on

provided a
each day's film,

"I can't speak for the

continues, "but I

never

others," he

felt tired. It

was a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Tuckett began the month
Barcelona by preparing a few segments

in
in
advance, as well as working with NBC's
O'Neil to edit another pet project-a look
back at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. O'Neil
worked his first Olympics that year for ABC.
Fie hired Tuckett last year to direct, edit and
write a documentary about the kidnapping
and murder of Israeli athletes, as well as
controversial decisions by Olympic officials
in Munich.
Tuckett was honored to have his
team's images added to the filmed history
of the Olympics, an archive so rich with dra¬
matic and memorable moments. "I think of

stunning images, such as Bob Flayes win¬
ning the 100-meter run in the 1964 Olym¬
pics," he says.
The question of whether the
newest

additions to the chronicles

were

worthy of inclusion was answered for
Tuckett in NBC's final recap of the games.
"It was the last thing viewers saw," Tuckett
says. "Our work comprised some thirty per¬
cent of that piece. When you realize that our
film images were only a tiny fraction of
what the editors had available, I think we

proved

our

point."
-

Greg Smith
American Cinematographer - January 1993

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