UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL NHL PRODUCTIONS CREATES AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT--ON AND OFF THE ICE--OF MINOR-LEAGUE HOCKEY PLAYERS

As it heads into its 85th season of world-class play, the National Hockey League is once again relying on Sony’s DVCAM equipment to create Chasing The Dream, a television series that chronicles the efforts of minor-league hockey players. NHL Productions, the league’s video production arm, employs DSR-D150, DSR-250 and DSR-300 DVCAM camcorders to shoot the series, which offers an all-access look at a minor league team and its players, from their

“Capturing the intimate lives of the players wouldn’t be possible without DVCAM camcorders,” says Patti Kleinman-Fallick, vice president of NHL Productions. “The cameras deliver excellent picture quality in an ultra-compact package.”

This season, Chasing the Dream follows the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ American Hockey League farm team. Last year’s programs—which earned rave reviews from both critics and fans—followed the Johnstown Chiefs, an East Coast Hockey League team.

The show’s senior editor, Chip Swain, cited the cameras’ compact designs as a key factor for capturing candid shots. For instance, the cameras enable Swain and his crew to do a multitude of segments in which they sit in the front seat of a car shooting a player or coach talking as he’s driving. And because they are so easy to use, the cameras don’t require an entire crew to operate—an important consideration for a program aiming to create an intimate portrait.

“Sony’s DVCAM camcorders allow us to have a ‘one-man band’ atmosphere, so it doesn’t seem like we are a huge crew following someone around—and that’s a huge advantage on shoots,” Swain says. “With a smaller DVCAM camera, we’re not as intrusive, and we can capture the moment a lot easier.”

The reliability of the cameras is also a key factor, Swain said. In five years of shooting with DVCAM camcorders, only one has broken down in the field—after it took a direct hit from a hockey puck.