Web of Success For Spidercam

The Rigging Partnership Ltd (TRP) flew into Twickenham last month for their first Rugby job in the UK with their new UK-based Spidercam system for the Six Nations Championships for the BBC.
With a huge 82,000 spectators and a TV audience of 6.5 million viewers, Spidercam provided before unavailable camera angles for the BBC sports team.
Being able to access the whole of the 7100m2 pitch, Spidercam provides the perfect solution for any broadcast company, allowing access to the entire pitch where traditional cameras are unable to venture.
Spidercam's unique rigging means that the camera can fly anywhere from 45m above the action down to mere feet above the pitch, although in the case of Rugby Spidercam was given a 32m minimum flying height during play.
The Rigging Partnership is again expanding further into the camera flying market with the acquisition of the Spidercam system. Specifically aimed at the large-scale arena and stadium events, the four-way flying camera system provides High Definition broadcast and film quality camera feeds at speeds of up to 10m/sec. The stabilised head is supported by four winches capable of a staggering 350m of travel, enabling the system to easily fly over stadium sided pitches.
The Spidercam system can be controlled by joysticks or pre-programmed with graphic visualisation, enabling you to see the position of your flight path with the camera image on a separate monitor. The four winches are kept extremely compact (1.5m x 0.9m x 0.7m) by mounting the gearbox and the motor inside a lightweight aluminium drum. Rather than using steel wire rope, the system uses Kevlar with a polyester sheath. Two Kevlar ropes have fibre optic cores; one to allow for control of the pan/tilt/focus/zoom/aperture of the stabilised remote head and the other to allow for live HD-SDI signal via slip rings in the winch. Therefore, there is no data loss and no wireless transmission involved. The system has also been approved by TUV for BGV-C1 certification.
Although Spidercam has been utilised in the European market over the last four years, this sees the first system based solely in the UK.
For more information: www.flywire.co.uk
(DS/JM)