Basketball court angles or perspectives????

[wan2no]

I need some help with some angles to shoot a basketball game. First of all i have 2 cameras. Now the setting is, I am in a gym so lemme just say regardless of the camera i would see the entire court without zooming. I was thinking of having a camera in the center and pan along with the gameplay and have the other camera on the other side of court in the center as well. My problem with that is that I am wasting a camera because both cameras are shooting the same perspective. The next option I had was to position both cameras in opposite corners on the opposite sides. However the problem lies when the subject comes close to any camera, they are going to be blind spots.

So can anyone suggest a way to get around these problems or suggest another alternative?

thanks in advance

[edDV]

I need some help with some angles to shoot a basketball game. First of all i have 2 cameras. Now the setting is, I am in a gym so lemme just say regardless of the camera i would see the entire court without zooming. I was thinking of having a camera in the center and pan along with the gameplay and have the other camera on the other side of court in the center as well. My problem with that is that I am wasting a camera because both cameras are shooting the same perspective. The next option I had was to position both cameras in opposite corners on the opposite sides. However the problem lies when the subject comes close to any camera, they are going to be blind spots.

So can anyone suggest a way to get around these problems or suggest another alternative?

thanks in advance

Both cameras need to be on the same side of the court. There is a basic rule for shooting video that you shouldn't cross the line of action. It confuses the viewer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180_degree_rule

Normal camera positons for live basketball are elevated in the middle 50% of the court. Camera one provides the wide coverage while camera 2 attempts to follow the action with a tighter shot. Camera 3 and 4 if used get the corners from floor level including face shot during free throws or jump shots. All cameras should be on the same side of the court to avoid confusing the viewer.

This is the normal way to do it. Watch games on TV to see how they use additional cameras.

I found this manual which may help.
International basketball federation – television manual
http://www.fiba.com/downloads/Miscellaneous/FIBA_TV_Manual_2007.pdf

[edDV]

The assumed camera positions for FIBA games. Cam 1 and Cam 2 anchor the coverage.