If you are going to enter sports cinematography/photography you will definitely have to cover athletes arrivals to games/events. In every sport its an opportunity for access to the athletes the fans at home do not normally see in the broadcast (or if they do its for a few seconds). With the NBA, I am usually obligated to ask players questions as they arrive or get them to talk to the camera. Boxing/UFC that is not what is asked of the shooters, the goal to cover this arrival was to capture Mayweather and the atmosphere around him at sync speed (24 frames per second with audio). The footage would ultimately be for the epilogue episode of Showtime's All Access. I was one of several cameras covering the event for the All Access Show, other cameras filming arrival for show are shooting slow motion for beauty shots. No matter your assignment and no matter what sport, a rule that always applies to all situations is making sure the broadcast camera has top priority for best position and you stay out of their way. Broadcast camera is the live camera for the viewers at home, they are spending the money, which is why they are priority. Broadcast cameras will have an assistant handling the cable attached to their camera and will guide them as they walk. Below is a video from a go pro and from my Canon c300 marki , so you can see some of the behind the scenes in covering an arrival.
:00 - Go Pro angle of waiting on Mayweather's arrival. Camera is low to ground (resting on ground) for an establishing shot of the SUV arriving.
:08 - c300 establishing shot of Mayweather's SUV arriving.
:13 - REPOSITIONING - After landing the establishing shot for several seconds, I reposition in front of the door where Mayweather will come out of car. Slow mo camera to left of me, also getting arrival.
:42 - REPOSITION AGAIN - When covering Floyd, there is always a ton of people around him , so if you want to keep on getting shots as he advances you have to keep getting ahead of him. You can also see on the go pro camera that I readjust the monitor on camera. There is more media waiting behind the security tent, so I know I will have to raise my camera above the crowd, so I flipped monitor for better view when raising camera.
1:00 - REPOSITION AGAIN - This time we are going inside , which means white balance and exposure will change. Exposure is somewhat easy to change in this situation , because the c300 has ND filters built in to camera, so I just take those off as I go inside. The biggest change is in white balance, outside was around 6000K , inside was closer to 4000K , so I changed white balance on way through the door.
1:08 - Now we are inside and SHOWTIME's broadcast camera is waiting , they have priority so I try to position next to them to not get in their shot.
1:19 - And then check out how cool and calm Mayweather is a couple of hours before the entire world is watching him.