2268 replies to this topic

[Disgrace]

Following on from the more specific start replays thread.

 

Who else noticed the horrendous TV direction for the Canadian Grand Prix? Cutting to the fans and pits mid-battle, even mid-overtake?

 

The worst performance I can remember - lucky the race was brilliant otherwise we'd actually be discussing it.

 

What are the excuses for this to persist?

Edited by Disgrace, 08 June 2014 - 23:20.

[mark f1]

Agree Disgrace, today was one of the worst coverage's I've seen in a long time.

[PorcupineTroy]

I'm glad someone made a topic about this. When they cut away from Hamilton running wide at the hairpin to a shot of the fans' reaction I was yelling at my TV. Then we cut back, and look! Rosberg's ahead now!

[Jerem]

Totally agree. Horrifying GP in terms of FOM coverage.

[superdelphinus]

Canada has always been one of the crapper ones unfortunately. Shame as it's usually one of the best races too!

[Andrew Hope]

Almost started this thread myself, unbelievably **** job by FOM today.

[Peat]

Yeah, it had me cursing.

 

"WHY ARE WE LOOKING AT THIS????? THERE'S ACTION OCCURING, RIGHT NOW, ON THE THE TRACK!!!!"

Edited by Peat, 09 June 2014 - 05:45.

[Pyrone89]

As David Coulthard put it when Bottas seemed to have a Kimi 2003 style wobbling wheel (turned out to be ok in his case): "Well, we are not going to find out by looking at Massa's brother are we?"

 

I am getting fed up with the directors. I am honestly saying that any racing fan would have done a better job than this guy with all his TV education etc. The director just seems to have no clue about racing. He seems to only care about filming the celebrities that are in the pits. We do not care about those people, if we want to see more of those media-craving celebs we would open a tabloid, not watch F1.

Edited by Pyrone89, 09 June 2014 - 05:39.

[slideways]

Unforgivable was ignoring the most basic rule of them all: always, always give precedence to a lead battle.

[icecream]

yep was shocking

 

* cutting away from the action to senselessly zoom in on the crowd

* cutting away from critical pit lane exits (at exactly the wrong moment) to showing nothing happening at the front

* almost completely missing ric taking the lead to win his first ever gp

 

with so much money is poured into telecasting, how can they get this so wrong?  

Edited by icecream, 09 June 2014 - 06:01.

[Francesc]

I'm still waiting to see a replay of Button passing Hulkenberg and Alonso.

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

No great shock, poor FOM direction is becoming common nowadays.

[BT44/45]

worst coverage i've seen in a long while. coulthard's (massa's brother) remark was spot on.

[ensign14]

What's more, they cut away to zoom in on a comatose crowd.  If there were topless streakers or something I could have understood.

[Knot]

It was dingleberries.

 

Dingle.

 

Berries.

[Boing 2]

Pretty poor, first time in a while I've actually shouted at the tv with all the hairpin shennanigans.

 

Although a standing gripe is those pitlane close-ups that linger awkwardly too long, they always make me cringe.

[Knot]

Although a standing gripe is those pitlane close-ups that linger awkwardly too long, they always make me cringe.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I don't tune in to look at Some_Random_Guy's_Nosehair_001.

 

HOW CAN THEY NOT KNOW THAT PEOPLE WATCH FOR THE RACING.

[Lights]

Happy I'm not the only one who noticed the poor coverage. Where was the splitscreen girlfriend cam while Ricciardo was side by side with Rosberg? I wanted to see their faces damnit!

[ANF]

It wasn't good, but I actually think Monaco was worse. There must have been ten yellow flags during the weekend that the director either missed or ignored. Didn't even show a replay of them.

[froggy22]

The fact that we didn't even see how Button got ahead of Hulk and Alonso says it all really.

[Nonesuch]

Who else noticed the horrendous TV direction for the Canadian Grand Prix?

 

Absolutely, as I noted in the Rate the Race thread:

 

Additional note: Here's hoping the 'expert' director gets a new job soon. The camera on the pit-exit missed all the cars going through turns 1 and 2, we saw enough generic blondes and nondescript hangers-on to last us through the whole season, and worst of all: reaction shots of the audience while the action was taking place. Also, what's up with having almost no useful information on lap times etc. while the Mercedes drivers were having their initial problems? Terrible effort.

 

As for the excuses for this to persist? It's usually not too bad. The uninformative pit-exit shots might be silly, and the crowds reaction shots might annoy some, but if you look at the Live threads there is definitely an audience for the pit garage shenanigans. The amount of folks asking - or begging - for 'name of that cute girl in Ferrari pit' - or going crazy over the appearance of 'random actor 902' is quite substantial.

 

Then there's the FOM's interest in selling its Live Timing application, which I suspect is part of the reason the on-screen information is so generally uninformative.

 

 

Where was the splitscreen girlfriend cam while Ricciardo was side by side with Rosberg? I wanted to see their faces damnit!

 

I suppose we should be consoled by the knowledge that it can always get worse. At least IndyCar has the good sense to make it splitscreen.

Edited by Nonesuch, 09 June 2014 - 10:05.

[ANF]

Happy I'm not the only one who noticed the poor coverage. Where was the splitscreen girlfriend cam while Ricciardo was side by side with Rosberg? I wanted to see their faces damnit!

Have you ever watched the last ten minutes of the amazing Indy 500 battle between Mrs Fittipaldi and Mrs Unser?

[Lights]

Have you ever watched the last ten minutes of the amazing Indy 500 battle between Mrs Fittipaldi and Mrs Unser?

Haha, I hadn't, what an absolute joke that was. I think I saw some racing inbetween.

[SenorSjon]

WTCC has the same director. Cutting away to stills of nothingness when something is happening on track.

 

But to misquote Bernie: F1 is just a fad.

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

With regards WTCC (sorry, slightly off topic, but anyway), I will NEVER understand the point in going on board with a random driver a few seconds after the start as everyone heads down to turn 1. It's beyond pointless. It's the sort of thing I'd expect FOM to do with the way they've been directing in recent times.

[Fastcake]

The TV direction was shockingly bad yesterday. Cutting to the crowd or Massa's brother right in the middle of a battle for the podium is unacceptable. I did however notice FOM used a static camera close to the starting line for the lights out moment, which is what some people have always wanted.

I think it's a far harder job than some people give credit for. There are up to 22 cars dispersed around the circuit, some involved in battles for position, others occupied by big names some wish to watch drive, all capable of breaking down or spectacularly crashing at any given moment. It's unlikely that they'll ever do a perfect job.

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

They'll never do a perfect job Fastcake, but it can't be too hard to do a half decent job surely?

[PayasYouRace]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

[Fastcake]

They'll never do a perfect job Fastcake, but it can't be too hard to do a half decent job surely?

They do most of the time. This race was an exception.

[SenorSjon]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

 

Yes, switch to another one of the zillion camera's around a track and tell the cameramen never to do that with an overtake again (I assume they have radio contact).

[Farhannn15]

Not just today but throughout the season the live feed has been pretty frustrating to say the least in my opinion

[jimbox01]

I was going to post a reply, but then I thought people would prefer a cute photo of a ducking.

Pretty sure I saw it in the grandstands on Sunday.

[Alfisti]

It was monumentally ****. Staggered as to how bad it was. 

[Tomecek]

Totally spot on topic. I was MAAAAAAAAD!!! Still furious about it! 

[Tomecek]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

It really doesn't work like that...

[Tomecek]

There was already problem in Monaco. Yellow flags indicated, and it took like 15 seconds to locate the incident!

[Disgrace]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

 

It revealed the nature of the poor direction; it seems like the feed was relying on pre-selected shots without any regard to what was actually happening on track. The hairpin to crowd pan is actually a fairly common shot, not so while there's a battle on the circuit. It reeked of a computer doing the work, rather than a human, especially one who is familiar with F1.

[Francesc]

There was already problem in Monaco. Yellow flags indicated, and it took like 15 seconds to locate the incident!

 

But Monaco is an special case, because the Tv director is not the usual from the FOM. During the Gp2 coverage Will Buxton was all the time moaning about it.

[Andrew Hope]

I can't decide if it was worse than the last 10 laps of the Indy 500, which is a bit like debating if something was slightly more or slightly less painful than getting your nuts hooked up to a car battery.

[ANF]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

That had me wondering if the panning is automatic and pre-programmed nowadays.

[GoGro]

What the director did yesterday was like missing a goal in football. Unforgivable. He should get away.

[ANF]

There was already problem in Monaco. Yellow flags indicated, and it took like 15 seconds to locate the incident!

The Monaco GP actually has a local producer. I believe that's the only race that isn't produced by FOM.

[chipmcdonald]

Yeah, it was bad.

 

What was also interesting was the level of the location mics - they are trying to crank them up to make the cars sound "louder" but it's just bizarre.

 

I did like that on some shots they seemed a little less busy with the zooming, which was nice, and they're leaning more on the overhead static shots, which I also liked.  

[Clatter]

Can you really blame the director for the cameraman at the hairpin panning to the crowd during an overtake?

Yes, if he was the one telling him to do just that. Or just as easily he could have briefed the cameramen to focus on what was happening on the track and not in the stands. And there is no one else to blame when it comes to showing the various relatives in the garages. 

 

Edit.

Just to note that this race is not the first time that this P*** poor direction has happened. It's been going on for years and they don't seem capable of learning from their past mistakes.

Edited by Clatter, 10 June 2014 - 16:24.

[HaydenFan]

The cameraman usually pans to the crowd when he knows he isn't being used for live footage. The director failed to switch to the right camera. No fault for the cameraman. The director is the one doing the directing. You don't blame bad actors in movies. They are only doing as good as the director lets them be. 

[Clatter]

The cameraman usually pans to the crowd when he knows he isn't being used for live footage. The director failed to switch to the right camera. No fault for the cameraman. The director is the one doing the directing. You don't blame bad actors in movies. They are only doing as good as the director lets them be. 

There were cars racing just up the road from the cameraman. They should be panning back to capture that action so that the director can switch to it if required. 

[chunder27]

Does anyone know?

 

Are all the races now covered by FOM?

Or does  ahost director still get involved?

[zztopless1]

Does anyone know?

 

Are all the races now covered by FOM?

Or does  ahost director still get involved?

 

I could be wrong, but I believe everywhere but Monaco done by FOM now, as others have suggested.

[OO7]

We often complain about such things and wonder how obvious mistakes are made and occasions missed during the broadcast, but a part of me thinks it can't be that simple, there must be a reason, perhaps that it is a lot more difficult and involved than we give credit for, that is the only thing that makes sense.  I'm just finding it difficult to believe that such professionals can be so incompetent so often.

[king_crud]

The TV direction was shockingly bad yesterday. Cutting to the crowd or Massa's brother right in the middle of a battle for the podium is unacceptable. I did however notice FOM used a static camera close to the starting line for the lights out moment, which is what some people have always wanted.

I think it's a far harder job than some people give credit for. There are up to 22 cars dispersed around the circuit, some involved in battles for position, others occupied by big names some wish to watch drive, all capable of breaking down or spectacularly crashing at any given moment. It's unlikely that they'll ever do a perfect job.

 

yes, plenty to keep people entertained. So why the constant shots of things that aren't the cars on the track?