Action cam company GoPro has brought Rugby League enthusiasts on the field by strapping one of their cams to the referee. The immersive experience is being described as a “game changer.”
Watching a televised game of Rugby League has always been a mixed affair. Professional cameramen sit by the sidelines, zoom in and keep the picture steady. With multiple cameraman, what the viewer at home sees is a series of careful edits designed to show the chaos of gameplay-from a distance.
But what if the cameramen could go on the field?
Fox Sports Australia has been asking themselves just that question and they came up with a way to put a cameraman on the field. They strapped a GoPro action camera to ref Chris Pollock during the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs match.
People were no longer on the edge of their seats; they were part of the defence, digging deep when in a scrum or wanting to reach out and grab the player making a break. The subtle shake of the camera made the experience all the more intense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4lxXU-5rbPoThe GoPro captured immerse footage in high definition video and an RF system inside the ref’s vest transmitted the audio.
The results were extraordinary, to the extent commentators are referring to its introduction as a “game changer”. Footy enthusiasts took to Twitter to praise the RefCam, and FoxSports for being brave enough to try it out.
Read GoPro’s Hero3: Bring On The Action
Given the success of the RefCam, “it’s unlikely to be the last” time FoxSports uses it. In fact, we suspect action cameras will become a standard in a variety of sports.
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