1897 replies to this topic

[AlexS]

Pole lap was not followed at all and many missing action  It seems there was no real TV director in this qualifying. 

 

 

Also when there are more drivers competing for pole 3 simultaneously running times are not enough.

[Hellenic tifosi]

Nowadays we have at least 4-5 cars capable for pole, so coverage of Q3 is very tricky.

[lamo]

Given that TV is a poor substitute for being there, I wish they'd sometimes stick with one camera at one corner while we watch the whole field pass by. Then we'd have a sense of who was where and what the gaps are.

 

I confess my own watching is distorted by being only the highlights package, which means we can go a whole programme without seeing Verstappen (except on the last lap) and Sargeant (except when the recovery truck comes out).

? F1 is one of the worst sports for knowing what is going on when you are trackside. You go home after attending a race and watch it on TV to find out what actually happened.

[Jellyfishcake]

What i'd like to see used more is the track map with the dots, it's so useful to know who is following who/where they are on the track 

[balmybaldwin]

What i'd like to see used more is the track map with the dots, it's so useful to know who is following who/where they are on the track 

This, plus actually show the times in the tower. all the time, not just half way through the sessions

[Wuzak]

Another case in Sprint qualifying of the director following a car (Lewis) on a hot lap, then continuing to follow him after he finished the lap and was going slower, then cut to looking a Toto in the pits.

 

Meanwhile, there were cars on hot laps, including the two Ferraris, which went 1st and 3rd at the time completely unseen.

[KWSN - DSM]

That back looking view is useless and annoying, double so when there are no cars behind to watch.

[Stephane]

Yeah, could be fun in the race, but no point in Q.

Car low, sparks, yeah, we got it also 30 years ago...

[FLB]

Yeah, could be fun in the race, but no point in Q.

Car low, sparks, yeah, we got it also 30 years ago...

30?

 

Cars were already sparking in the mid-1980s, so it's closer to 40.

[PlatenGlass]

I thought the end of Abu Dhabi was quite poor. They cut to a difficult to see shot of Norris finishing instead of a normal front shot. Meanwhile Hamilton passed Russell in a smaller box with the onboard - outside shot would have been better

[PayasYouRace]

It was terrible. But it was the usual script before sport direction F1 has had for years.

[ANF]

Maybe they were too focused on Hamilton vs Russell and panicked when they saw Norris entering the final corner.

[Stephane]

No, it was clearly to show the fireworks

[Beri]

Here is footage of Sainz' first run in a Williams. During this clip, the feed switches to various camera positions. Including one on the under tray. This angle should be made a mandatory camera position for live feed during the races. What an epic view this is.

 

See at 38s and at 1m 19s

 

 

Edit; Didnt know of a better thread to discuss this.

Edited by Beri, 08 January 2025 - 08:42.

[SenorSjon]

The rear wing position is a great classic as well. But I doubt teams would want such a clear view of tire wear on the live feed.

[IrvTheSwerve]

If you listen closely, you can hear Carlos say 'what a sh*tbox' under the sound of the engine.

[Cacarella]

Please not the T-tray cam. The director will cut to it right in the middle of an overtake.

[pdac]

Please not the T-tray cam. The director will cut to it right in the middle of an overtake.

 

Same with any camera that isn't focused on the on-track action.

[Sterzo]

Sterzo's Theory* states that TV directors and cameramen, and indeed most humans in most roles, set out to show how good they are. That's not a wicked characteristic, but it does mean that a cameraman will revel in difficult close-up shots of moving cars, and directors on sensational moments and compositional brilliance. Whereas we just want to watch a race.

 

It's not just racing. Look at all those YouTube live performances with unwatchable switches between singers' nostril's, guitarists' fingers and the drummer's chest (but not his drumsticks).

 

Replace cameramen with fixed tripods. Allow directors to make no more than three decisions per race.

 

 

*(Theory developed while drinking coffee and scratching armpit).

[r4mses]

Looking at he outcome, I still think the "director is a chimpanzee trained to randomly push buttons"-theory is just as plausible.

[arrysen]

Looking at he outcome, I still think the "director is a chimpanzee trained to randomly push buttons"-theory is just as plausible.

...or possibly the chimp is not trained at all, just going full "jungle" on the switching panel and that's what we get! 

[ATM]

Replace cameramen with fixed tripods. Allow directors to make no more than three decisions per race.


*(Theory developed while drinking coffee and scratching armpit).

I like the tripod idea, at least I won't be seasick watching some of the races. Where do I sign up for the petition?

[KWSN - DSM]

[dutra]

I saw the 2002 Monaco GP in F1 Digital. Great crew, very inventive. I like the broadcast as it is now, knowing the huge task  following a race live is, but it was better at the turn of the century. And my guess is that the remote broadcast is to blame. Not technicaly speaking, but the director staying thousands of miles away changes the perspective completely. I know Sony has a solution to hybrid production with the director at the venue and the whole processing remote, but since F1 uses Grass Valley gear I don't know if they have (or are interested in) that option.

Edited by dutra, 16 January 2025 - 00:20.

[F1 Mike]

I saw the 2002 Monaco GP in F1 Digital. Great crew, very inventive. I like the broadcast as it is now, knowing the huge task following a race live is, but it was better at the turn of the century. And my guess is that the remote broadcast is to blame. Not technicaly speaking, but the director staying thousands of miles away changes the perspective completely. I know Sony has a solution to hybrid production with the director at the venue and the whole processing remote, but since F1 uses Grass Valley gear I don't know if they have (or are interested in) that option.

Most decisions back then on which cars to follow and at what time seemed sharper. The switching of cameras around the circuit just had a more artistically slick feeling to it somehow.
I especially enjoyed parts where the director would hop between onboard and trackside cameras to follow a driver around a lap. Doesn't feel like we get much of that now. We're given spells of onboards but they're not cut into the world feed in the energised way of that time. That era seemed to be lost completely when they closed the operation after 2002.

What gradually returned in later years just hasn't been quite the same. That team of people late 90s-early 2000s on the digital TV output were truly a well oiled machine and did a great job!

[dutra]

I believe that they can't cut from on boards to the track like in the old days because of the delay betwen the fiber optics "wired" cameras no track and the onboard cameras. In Monaco would be even worse, going from a trackside camera with the car going into tabac, cutting to an onboard, with the car just going into the same turn again.

 

Sometimes I feel that the main (maybe the only) goal of this current broadcast team is to be as different as possible from the old team. If they focus on improving what we had 20 years ago it would be great. But they seems to be obsessed with changing every single aspect of the old broadcast. From camera positions, to infinite long replays, like the 148 different shots we have of the start of the race.

[dutra]

Well, that today was inexcusable. Everybody knew that with a slow 3.3 for Max the pit exit would be eventfull and EVEN then the main director did not cutted right away to the track mix. Really bad call...

[SenorSjon]

Both leaders pit and we get to see the Leclerc stop...

[Muzzyf1]

I was yelling at the TV i could see both where side by side and we cut to the Ferrari pit stop

[PayasYouRace]

They must have the cuts queued up well in advance because they have no apparently ability to stay with the action. They’d clearly got the instruction to show each pit stop in sequence and that was what they were going to do.

 

I like to imagine a competent director saying, “stay with them!”, but that’s clearly not how it works.

[Beri]

What a stupid move by the FOM not to show Piastri taking the flag.

I stand by this and call for a new all time low on the matter of stupid TV directors calls.

[Ruudbackus]

I stand by this and call for a new all time low on the matter of stupid TV directors calls.

Agree. Directing was out of this world today, in a bad way

[PayasYouRace]

For once the director did a good job of staying with the battle on the last lap. Piastri was well ahead and you had the PIP covering that. Good job TV director. You didn’t suck completely today.

[SenorSjon]

The broken timings didn't help the director either.

[Beri]

Agree. Directing was out of this world today, in a bad way

A winner should always be on the main screen. Regardless.

Aside from that opinion, everyone knew the battle wouldn't be decided, under normal circumstances, there where the cars were when Piastri crossed the line. Would have been time enough to switch to seeing Piastri win and then cut back to the fight before Russell and Norris reached the last corner.

[MikeTekRacing]

How did the miss Max on Gasly? Everyone knew an attempt will come

[icecream]

Yeah, I reckon out of respect to the winner, they should always get the full screen coverage as they round the final corner and cross the finish line. On going track action should simultaneously be shown PIP, and then get full screen again after the winner has taken the flag.

 

After Piastri's race domination, him crossing the line to take the victory in a PIP window looked more like a side note than the key outcome of the race.  

[PayasYouRace]

See France 1979 coverage for getting it perfect when the action is for second place.

[Beri]

I am not wishing for a complete lap of the winner and his onboard celebrations when taking the flag. But merely, like said above out of respect, showing the winner taking the flag before switching back to the main fight going on.

[mhno1f]

The chances of lando making the move on george after the first few corners was remote at best - given that, they should have switched to oscar crossing the line. Also - why the insistence on small window, what's the issue with a 50/50% split?

But it did feel the directing was really bad, but that might have just because the timing screens were down, so not only did we not know what was going on, neither did  the director.

[PlatenGlass]

By the way in qualifying I think it's not the best idea to simply show the lap of the driver (out of the general frontrunners) who happens to start their lap first. For the final Q3 runs I think we got Antonelli.

[midgrid]

I think there's a happy medium of showing the winner crossing the line as the primary screen, but without the need to continue on the victory lap, team and spectator shots etc. when a battle is raging lower down.  I prefer not having the winner on the primary screen at all to them receiving excessive coverage, although it's ironic that we missed the actual overtake on the final lap!

[F1 Mike]

The way they covered it is also terrible for the sports news, who often show the exact pictures broadcast at the time. Perhaps they'll be given an alternate cut? Just seemed a bit odd to me.

[Beri]

The way they covered it is also terrible for the sports news, who often show the exact pictures broadcast at the time. Perhaps they'll be given an alternate cut? Just seemed a bit odd to me.

Those outlets are usually given the World Feed. And this happened on the World Feed. So my guess is; no.

[The Passenger]

There was so much going on during this race (Bahrain) that I'm not surprised this thread got bumped. Action-packed!

[Taxi]

Not showing Piastri winning was disgraceful. Lando and Russell were not wheel to wheel and were not like fighting for the championship. Past the last DRS zone nothing was going to happen. Show the winner for 5 seconds and then go on to the "battle". 

[B Squared]

Will Power went from 7th to 5th in a close three or four car battle in the last few laps at the Long Beach IndyCar race. The directors joined in after it had already been accomplished and then didn't even show Power, but showed Scott McLaughlin in a similarly painted car and called him as 5th place. These guys really do go beyond all efforts to show us how much they are unprepared for what they are commenting on or broadcasting.

[H0R]

Then again I think we should be grateful they didn't call him Zanardi or Vasser.