“This is exactly the type of broadcast the Q-Ball was designed for,” Camera Corps managing director Laurie Frost said. “It enabled the Red Bull production team to achieve shots that would have been extremely dangerous, if not impossible, any other way. The production team was able to make full use of the platform-mounted Q-Ball to capture close-up and follow shots of each contestant during the approach, launch and descent. The Q-Ball provided footage from the center of the action without requiring a camera team to operate in a dangerous and potentially distracting location. Each dive was televised both live and in slow motion to capture the full emotion of this extreme sport.”
As one of the most physically demanding sports, the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series invites the best high divers in the world to launch themselves from a platform eight stories above the water. Speeds clocked between 53 and 62 mph are typical and this is what the Q-Ball, with its high-precision motors, was designed for. Pan/tilt/zoom commands from a Camera Corps PTZF joystick-based control unit are sent to the Q-Ball via a two-way optical link from the Red Bull Production facilities, which in turn receive broadcast-quality 1080I high-definition video. The operators were able to follow all the diving action, from the approach and takeoff to the dive and entry into the water, with no tracking problems.
