NEW YORK – Although MLB Network and FLDA were still rookies, having both been founded in January 2009, they had an auspicious debut at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' 31st Annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center. MLB Network took home four Emmys, and FLDA lighting designer Bruce Ferri shared in the credit for two of the awards. Ferri was part of the design team that won for Outstanding Technical Team-Studio as well as Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction for MLB Tonight. Others sharing in the Sports Emmy honors included John Entz, Jim Fenhagen, Gary Fippinger, Bryan Higgason, Joe Lamberta, Chris Mallory, Tony Petitti, Tony Santomauro, Michael Sheehan, Susan Stone and Karen Whritner.
"It is very exciting as both the MLB Network and FLDA both launched in January of 2009, so I have a real connection to that project," said Ferri. "I am very honored to be sharing in these awards with the great team from MLB Network and with the rest of the designers from both Jack Morton/PDG and the entire team from Blackwalnut. I also want to thank my colleague, FLDA lighting designer Mick Smith and assistant lighting designer Ben Pilat, who worked with me on this project."
MLB Network's studios in Secaucus, New Jersey consist of two studios, both lit by Ferri. Studio 3 and Studio 42, which are named in honor of Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, total 15,200 square feet. Every video display in both studios is fully native HD, as is all video produced at the studios. Studio 3 is the primary home of the live nightly studio show, MLB Tonight. The second studio, Studio 42, measures nearly 100 feet by 100 feet. It is an open, half-scale baseball diamond and is where Sportscaster Bob Costas conducts his interviews with baseball standouts.
If FLDA is still a relative newcomer as a company, Ferri is no stranger to sports television lighting. In 2004, he received a Sports Emmy nomination for ESPN's SportsCenter.
"Sports broadcasting is an interesting challenge because they are giving fans the day's news, but also presenting it in a fast-paced, high energy format, and the studio needs to be able to convey that energy and excitement. Also, the space itself is used for multiple different setups and styles of shots, so you really have to break out of just the ‘guy sitting at a desk look,' but at the same time, the lighting can't compete with the show, it has to enhance it."
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