What we've made

When an event involves competing in front of Her Royal Highness The Queen at Ascot, crowning five champion horses and their jockeys, and giving away over £3m in prize money on Britain’s richest ever race day, you need something special to capture the moment. Which is why dedicated racing channel At The Races (ATR) asked CAN to produce a 24-minute 3D film of the spectacular inaugural QIPCO British Champions Day.

Our brief was to create a centerpiece film that would mark the highly anticipated new climax to the flat racing season and promote the upcoming British Champions Series. Using six 3D cameras, we created a ‘just like being there’ experience. By closely following the races on a tracking car as well as capturing the action at the finish line, in the crowds and in the winners’ paddock, everything from the excitement of the crowd to the intensity of the action was caught on film.

When you’ve got to capture not just the look but the feel of the mighty Frankel, the world’s best race horse, you need some pretty smart technology and the expertise to use it. Perfectly complementing our 3D rigs, we opted for Sony’s new TD300 handheld 3D camera – one of its first ever public uses. It's compact size and portability allowed our crew to set up exceptional shots very quickly and meant they could get deep among the crowd to film instant reaction, giving a real sense of the day’s high drama – just like being there.

The finished 3D result beautifully captured the action, buzz and remarkable detail of the whole event, giving viewers an intimate experience of horse racing as it has never been seen before.