A special “wooden” Q-Ball, a remotely controlled pan/tilt/zoom camera from Camera Corps, a Vitec Group company with extensive experience in designing specialty camera systems, joined the equipment roster for the Trinity Church Wall Street’s new HD production facility. The Q-Ball was installed at the pulpit to provide panoramic views of parishioners and performers to chronicle church activities. An artist was commissioned to skilfully paint the “wooden” exterior of the camera housing to match the wood grain of the pulpit. The fixed position “wooden” Q-Ball joins two other portable use Q-Ball cameras.
“Any other camera would have been too obtrusive,” says William Jarrett, director of media, production and operations, for Trinity Church Wall Street. “When we came across the Q-Ball we felt it was the perfect solution in terms of something that could almost invisibly fit up in the pulpit and deliver the types of shots we envisioned for the new HD production facility built within the church. Commissioning the color matching of the Q-Ball case to the wood grain of the pulpit really helped it disappear, to the point that when we say ‘take a look at this camera,’ even people who work here look right at it and do not see it.”
Most recently the “wooden” Q-Ball was employed for a series of Christmas 2013 performances, including a special performance of Handel’s “Messiah” that was dedicated to the life of Nelson Mandela.
“We are deeply honoured to have Q-Ball chosen by Trinity Church Wall Street as the go to camera for special location shots for their video productions,” says Camera Corps Managing Director Laurie Frost. “The Q-Ball enabled the Trinity Church Wall Street production team to unobtrusively achieve archive footage of its church presentations. The metal Q-Ball was expertly air-brushed by artist Kevin Cordy in the UK to fit the Trinity Church specifications. This is another case where the design flexibility and visual look of a Q-Ball lends itself to custom installations.”
Trinity Church Wall Street, founded in 1697, first presented Handle’s “Messiah” in 1770. The 2013 program was performed by the Grammy Award® nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Julian Wachner conducting. Before the performance of the Messiah, the church was filled with the chorus of “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” in honor of Nelson Mandela. The remote controlled Q-Ball was completely inconspicuous to the audience and performers helping to capture the magic of this and other performances.
The Q-Ball has delivered close-up HD broadcast pictures from many very high-profile broadcast events in recent years, including the BBC Proms, Summer and Winter Olympics, international football, motor racing, water sports, tennis, football and rugby. Housed in a robust and weatherproof cast-aluminium sphere of similar diameter to a standard compact disc or DVD, the Q-Ball head comprises a 1080i camera with 10:1 zoom optics plus a fully rotatable pan-and-tilt head. High-precision motors enable the operator to adjust the camera angle from practically any location, including smooth adjustment of vertical and lateral tracking speeds.
The Q-Ball system is available globally for both sale and rental. For more information regarding rentals in the Americas, please contact sister Vitec company Bexel at 1 (800) 225-6185 / www.bexel.com or Camera Corps direct at www.cameracorps.co.uk.
