38 replies to this topic

[FucF1]

Is it just me or although we had a great race the Spa coverage was almost unwatchable?

Drunken cameramen unable to focus on the cars, swinging the view back and forwards and usually missing the car entirely or zooming in so far that we can tell the drivers eye colour, cutting from one incident to another seemingly at random (usually from the action to something totally uninteresting). One thing I really, *really* hate is when the cameramen zoom in so all we can see is the car, which, while nice for the sponsors means the viewer can't get any sense of speed or see anything else.

Basically the only watchable shots were either from the helicopter (really showed the elevation of the track, especially Eau Rouge) or the in car shots.

Spa: Race Coverage

[repcobrabham]

even the chopper screwed up by missing the moment when MW and TS had their prang

[karlth]

Agree. The TV coverage was a considerable letdown after Hockenheim especially. Not horrible but disappointing.

[alpinestart]

RTBF, Belgian broadcaster for the French part of Belgium, was the host-broadcaster.
It seemed to me that the director of the race followed the comments made by the 2 RTBF-commentators.

[fifi]

didnt help that ITV went to ads each time somthing good happened

[206 sp]

Couldn't agree more, the coverage was the worst I can recall. Even my girlfriend -who could care less about F1- commented on the quality of the coverage as she walked past..

Not only was the shooting poor, there appeared to be no thread through the choice of shots..just randomness.

SPA deserves much better -and has had it in the past.

[Schuting Star]

It was bad. Just as Kimi was shaping up to overtake we cut to the two Renaults doing nothing except leading.

I have no idea what some of the camera operators were thinking but at times I was feeling seasick.

[repcobrabham]

new story up on homepage about belgian military police getting heavy-handed with photogs at spa

this does fit under the "awful coverage" ambit by a broad definition as the cops manhandled the snappers out of an FIA-approved shooting gallery at le source: this is why there have been no decent photos of the opening corner fender-benders

[eoin]

They did cut away from a number of moves, but their was alot going on early in the race.

They did have one brilliant camera angle for eau rouge. My father who isn't even that into the sport, anti MS!!, swore when he saw them flying through it!

[Mat]

wasnt there talk of that german director taking over for the rest of this years races? Or was that for '05?

[stylus]

Originally posted by FucF1
...One thing I really, *really* hate is when the cameramen zoom in so all we can see is the car, which, while nice for the sponsors means the viewer can't get any sense of speed or see anything else.

...watchable shots were either from the helicopter (really showed the elevation of the track, especially Eau Rouge)...

Strangely, I'd been thinking those very same thoughts about the "sense" of speed before this weekend - is it Hockenheim that had the fast-as-the-cars camera on a high wire? The effect is doubly bad at the circuits with huge and anonymous run-off areas.

The helicopter shot though: speed and elevation. Of course, too small for the sponsors, I understand that, but...I'd never realised just how steep it is.

[FrankB]

Originally posted by stylus The helicopter shot though: speed and elevation......I'd never realised just how steep it is.

I don't know if it has never been shown before, or if some trees have been felled or perhaps I simply hadn't noticed - but the drop between the approach to and exit from Rivage was really prominent in the helicopter footage.

[mwalshe]

Be thankful you don't have to live with the Irish broadcast, primarily done by a guy who used to be a DJ on the national radio station, and who got the job because he's related to the head of the
national television station!! A man who knows as much about F1 as Anna Kournikova knows about winning Grand Slam tennis tournaments.



Oh, and David Kennedy, the ex-F1 pilot.

[repcobrabham]

Originally posted by mwalshe
Be thankful you don't have to live with the Irish broadcast, primarily done by a guy who used to be a DJ on the national radio station, and who got the job because he's related to the head of the
national television station!! A man who knows as much about F1 as Anna Kournikova knows about winning Grand Slam tennis tournaments.



Oh, and David Kennedy, the ex-F1 pilot.

yep, RTE coverage is pretty shoddy - i really hate how they cross to EJ every ten minutes and no, i'm not exaggerating - but unless you live way down south you can also watch on UTV

even better, by switching between the channels you avoid all the ads!

but we all get the same vision...

[Rene]

Originally posted by karlth
Agree. The TV coverage was a considerable letdown after Hockenheim especially. Not horrible but disappointing.

Agree 100%, although I think the coverage was borderline horrilbe, with proper TV this would have been one of the top Grand Prix in the last several years...

[mwalshe]

yep, RTE coverage is pretty shoddy - i really hate how they cross to EJ every ten minutes and no, i'm not exaggerating - but unless you live way down south you can also watch on UTV

Yeah, I don't have anything against EJ particularly, but the RTE coverage has degenerated into an
extended commercial for them!!

I suppose nothing can be done except switch between ITV and RTE.

Either that or make extensive use of the Mute button!

[Buttoneer]

I get frustrated when the diretcor decides we all want to see the ferrari/BAR/Williams/whoever pit crew having a relax while watching the race. Why show this?

Was the on track action not thick and fast enough?

And as for following the Renaults when Kimi made a move on DC, that was unforgiveable especially when he had a second bite of the cherry with the long shot back to the macca's.

[ren]

Originally posted by FucF1
One thing I really, *really* hate is when the cameramen zoom in so all we can see is the car, which, while nice for the sponsors means the viewer can't get any sense of speed or see anything else.

That has annoyed me for a while now.

I find it especially frustrating during qualifying when even the smallest mistakes can be crucial. Occasionally the cameraman goes in to Hubble telescope mode and zooms up the drivers nostril at the apex so that it's impossible to tell how well the driver goes through a corner.

[FrankB]

And why all the slow motion?

Many times I caught myself thinking things like "Kimi's got a problem, he's coming to a standstill" - only to realise that I was watching a slo-mo replay.

[Jodum5]

I agree, the spa coverage was confusing, it was as if the race director was trying to hard to offer up variety in the coverage. But admit it, there have been worse this year plus at least they are trying!

as for the dosing pit crew shots, I think they're funny and add a teeny bit to the coverage allthough its not the point we are up early to catch the race. Same with the shots of the wives doesnt add anything but if it takes 1.2 second shot why not?

[tifosi]

While the coverage may not have been spectacular, it was far, and I mean really far, from the worst coverage ever. This thread needs to be retitled "I will always find something to bitch and moan about no matter what".

[DREW]

Yeah...At least we weren't stuck with Jason Priestly as an announcer... Or Rick Whatshisname...

DREW

[Wouter]

Originally posted by alpinestart
RTBF, Belgian broadcaster for the French part of Belgium, was the host-broadcaster.
It seemed to me that the director of the race followed the comments made by the 2 RTBF-commentators.

Well, certainly not when KR was lining up/overtaking DC, the RTBF commentators were screaming about it while the director went to Trulli/Alonso - a weird miss, but it was probably not intentional.

On the plus side, there were at least plenty of replays from the action.

[Wouter]

Originally posted by repcobrabham
new story up on homepage about belgian military police getting heavy-handed with photogs at spa

this does fit under the "awful coverage" ambit by a broad definition as the cops manhandled the snappers out of an FIA-approved shooting gallery at le source: this is why there have been no decent photos of the opening corner fender-benders

It wasn't military police (why would they be at a 100% civil event?), but just federal or even local police. Perhaps there's some confusion because (part of the) federal police used to be the "rijkswacht", a police organisation nominally part of the army (but not to be confused with MP's - it was mainly a statutory thing)?

[stylus]

Originally posted by tifosi
While the coverage may not have been spectacular, it was far, and I mean really far, from the worst coverage ever. This thread needs to be retitled "I will always find something to bitch and moan about no matter what".

Thing is, have you been to a race - so that you really know how fast and loud the cars are, or how steep some of the hills are?

A lot of people (me included) get their entire idea of what it's like through the tv picture and the commentators. If it looks like the car on the screen is effectively static because the camera image is static, then how can we tell?

These are fast cars, and I get that there's a lot of energy there, but until they crash it's hard to fully appreciate what's involved in creating and racing them.

[TEquiLA]

Originally posted by Wouter

Well, certainly not when KR was lining up/overtaking DC, the RTBF commentators were screaming about it while the director went to Trulli/Alonso - a weird miss, but it was probably not intentional.

On the plus side, there were at least plenty of replays from the action.

Of course it wasn't intentional, you hardly are aware that you suck to do it on purpose...
I think this thread hasn't had that much input because Michael didn't win, had he done it, this thread would have been the topic of choice for many of us.

[Wouter]

Originally posted by TEquiLA
Of course it wasn't intentional, you hardly are aware that you suck to do it on purpose...
I think this thread hasn't had that much input because Michael didn't win, had he done it, this thread would have been the topic of choice for many of us.

The coverage wasn't that bad, there was constant action on screen. They missed KR/DC pass (live at least, it was repeated x times) and the Eau rouge incident wasn't filmed well, but there were plenty of other passes (and safety car starts) pictured well.

Race was good as well, so no wonder this thread doesn't get too much input - it wasn't like the only manouvre of the race was missed or the director showed Ferrari/Renault for 42 out of 44 laps.

[wagner]

Well I think the camera work was just fine. Really good camera locations which made the race spectacular to watch and feel the speed. If it was too clinic it would all look stationary

Okay they missed Kimi's pass but everyone knew David wouldn't block his teammate.

[TT6]

Originally posted by FrankB
And why all the slow motion?

Many times I caught myself thinking things like "Kimi's got a problem, he's coming to a standstill" - only to realise that I was watching a slo-mo replay.

Spot on. Slow motions were pointless and misleading.

One particular misjudgement was Massa overtaking Montoya showed from the side angle inside Montoyas cockpit. There was no way to know what it was all about, were there some overtaking, who overtook who etc.

[Martijn]

You do not mean Massa and Montoya on their run up Eau Rouge right after Montoya's pitstop i hope? That was one of the best shots ive seen this season, very very spectacular, reminded me a lot of the "chicken run" kind of sport, see who backs out first...

Well i tell you it was Massa with the bigger balls this time

[Henrik B]

As we had already seen the pass the sideways Montoya/Massa replay was excellent! There was some very good camera placements and onboard shots in this race - trouble was that the director seemed to choose the wrong camera all the time. That there wasn't a static camera shooting the whole of La Source was stupid aswell - the start incidents were particulary badly covered.

[FucF1]

Originally posted by tifosi
While the coverage may not have been spectacular, it was far, and I mean really far, from the worst coverage ever. This thread needs to be retitled "I will always find something to bitch and moan about no matter what".

(a) At what point did I say the coverage was "the worst ever"?

(b) Plenty of people seem to be agreeing with me

© Exactly how often do I complain about the coverage? Ask anyone (from the chat) and they'll tell you that my usual statement is that the coverage is fine and the only thing I find annoying is the ad breaks. (though I do bitch and complain about the tracks themselves though thats entirely valid imo)

(d) While I can understand that with a race that action packed it can be hard for the directors/cameramen etc to catch all the action, however the Hockenheim crew seemed to manage it and I really think it isn't too much for a cameraman to be able to hold the camera steady, frame the car/action nicely so we get a good sense of speed + detail and track the car as it moves past (you didn't notice the camera on the pit straight that managed to swing around ssslllooowwwyyy so that by the time the car was past and it was turned it was already around the corner?)

The coverage was giving me a headache and that can't be a good thing, as someone else said because of it a great race was turned into merely a "good" race, and that can't be a good thing.

[TT6]

Originally posted by Henrik Brodin
As we had already seen the pass the sideways Montoya/Massa replay was excellent!

Dammit. I missed it obviously. Just saw something blurry from Montoyas sideways angle wondering what the heck it was all about...

[MrSlow]

They started off really bad, but it became better as it progressed. It was never really good though. They missed for instance the DC/Klien battle except for the very last part, and at that time there was not many cars left on the track.
They also had a lot of Ferrari in picture, regardless what they where doing at the time.

No, they must solve this.

[Gilles4Ever]

As Bernie has the TV rights why doesn't he work for his money? Set up a TV crew that covers all the races, with good camera operators who know what they are doing and a good director who knows something about F1 and then sell the stream.

[Zeus]

The director missing Kimi setting up Schumacher and then missing the entire pass on DC really pissed me off. Otherwise it wasn't too bad, and in fact there were some camera angles I don't recall seeing in the past. The helicopter shots on the parade lap were awesome, as is the shot of the cars coming through Eau Rouge. Overall I'd say the director needed to pay more attention to the race.

I totally agree about the extreme zoom lense robbing the effect of speed. There are also too many head on shots, not enough of the car driving away. These speed shots can be mixed in without detracting from the action.

[Jack Rabbit]

Originally posted by Gilles4Ever
As Bernie has the TV rights why doesn't he work for his money?

Because he doesn't have to.

[Dalton007]

I get frustrated when the diretcor decides we all want to see the ferrari/BAR/Williams/whoever pit crew having a relax while watching the race. Why show this?

I hate it, too. I hate it!!!!

Why do I want to see Jean Todt looking at a timing screen?

[Buttoneer]

Originally posted by Dalton007


I hate it, too. I hate it!!!!

Why do I want to see Jean Todt looking at a timing screen?

The pitwall screens all show the same pictures we do.

I reckon that when Flav gets all upset and hits the screen etc it's because he wants to see the race too and yet the monkey director is showing pointless pics of the back of his head.