Very distracting TV coverage

[Guest]

Is it just me, or is the TV direction thoroughly irritating?

Golden Rule No 1 for any TV director must be not to distract from the performance. In other words, if the viewer notices the camera angles, the zooms, the pans or the 'jump cuts', the director is doing it wrong. Seemless, thoughtful, discrete and unintrusive are all words that should apply. The trouble is that they don't, and they haven't for many years. The director is so often trying to 'improve the visuals' by imposing their own thoughts on how the TV coverage should be delivered. The result is that we have a one second shot of a timp being struck, cut to woodwind for a quick phrase, violins because they are doing something, back to the timps for another beat, cut to conductor, cut back to somewhere else, and so it goes on such that very soon I find myself screaming at the TV to stop messing about with the pictures!!!!

As I say, is it just me, or have the BBC lost the art of seemless, thoughtful, discrete and unintrusive coverage?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It isn't just you. Attention-seeking has become a fact of life for directors and camera operators.

[french frank]

Hello, slava - and welcome!

No, it isn't just you - this point has been mentioned in previous years. I suppose it's because there's so little music programming on television now it isn't worth employing people who know how to direct.

[Roehre]

It isn't just you. Attention-seeking has become a fact of life for directors and camera operators.

and for the presenters and the talking-head-professors and... and... and...

[Bryn]

I do like the way the directors so often help out the listener by homing in on a member of the orchestra who can't actually be heard at the time of the close-up, meanwhile leaving those who can clearly be heard to get on with it, out of shot.

[PhilipT]

It isn't just you. Attention-seeking has become a fact of life for directors and camera operators.

That is a little unfair on the camera operators, who by and large do a demanding job very well. Every shot is scripted, and the camera operators get little or no freedom of action. The script tells them: "Shot 117 - tight focus on leader's fingers on strings" or whatever, and then to duck down sharpish once the shot is over, and they do it. Whether the result adds to the performance is another matter. I was in the Hall for the "Sea Symphony", and later saw parts of the concert on iPlayer. I can only assume the purpose of the broad, swooping shots over the orchestra was to make the viewers feel sea-sick ..

[Sir Velo]

As I say, is it just me, or have the BBC lost the art of seemless, thoughtful, discrete and unintrusive coverage?

Or even discreet?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

It isn't just you. Attention-seeking has become a fact of life for directors and camera operators.

Unfortunately the TV coverage for the Proms now seems to be outsourced to a company that majors on clever technology rather than sympathetic coverage. Were I to turn up for a Prom and find my (paid-for) view from a stalls seat obstructed by their boom camera, my reaction would be less than sympathetic. (I trust those buying said seats are warned in advance). The boom camera frequently obstructs performers' sight-lines as well.

Ironically, its website claims "an impeccable track record in high-quality live productions". IMHO it would be better covering sporting events than concerts.

[slava]

Many thanks for the welcome and supportive responses.

Whilst I would not want to emulate those Russian TV recordings of, say, Oistrakh or Rostropovich where the camera would regularly hold a LS of the entire orchestra for upwards of ten minutes, even during a concerto, there should be a happy medium.

So it is not just me. That is reassuring, thanks :)

[Hornspieler]

Is it just me, or is the TV direction thoroughly irritating?

...... or have the BBC lost the art of seemless, thoughtful, discrete and unintrusive coverage?

No. Like ALL TV directors, they haven't LOST it, because they NEVER had it!!!

A simple example: if the picture zooms out, shouldn't the audio go quieter? (and vice versa)

Who remembers that first TV concert director, Patricia Foy?

I quote: " ... On you, Two. - Coming to you One. - Stand by Three. - Oops, sorry Four"

HS

[slava]

Or even discreet?

Whoops. 'Discreet' it should be. Doesn't look right though!

[EnemyoftheStoat]

if the picture zooms out, shouldn't the audio go quieter?

Well, maybe if you expect opera glasses (not that I ever use the things) to make the music get louder....

[Richard Tarleton]

Whilst I would not want to emulate those Russian TV recordings of, say, Oistrakh or Rostropovich where the camera would regularly hold a LS of the entire orchestra for upwards of ten minutes

Just when an LS of the orchestra was essential - when they did Mahler 3 at the proms - what was it, 2-3 years ago? - cue the offstage posthorn, the TV coverage cut straight to the player standing in a grotty corridor of the RAH, completely missing the magic of the sound from an unseen source stealing into the music - an unforgettable moment the first time you experience it......

Welcome slava - a cellist yourself perhaps?

[Zucchini]

That is a little unfair on the camera operators, who by and large do a demanding job very well. Every shot is scripted, and the camera operators get little or no freedom of action. The script tells them: "Shot 117 - tight focus on leader's fingers on strings" or whatever,.

You're quite right and Andrew Clark's article on the Proms in the FT 5/7/2013 shows how hard it is:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e293f1b8-e3da-11e2-91a3-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2Zrsrlk6H

In which he says:
"Slots on BBC2 and BBC4 are booked before Christmas, and by mid-May the programme director will have “locked down” camera positions for the 27 televised concerts."

"'A typical Prom concert has 800 scripted camera shots, “each planned, numbered and described in the score, and given on cards to the camera crew,' explains executive producer Francesca Kemp. 'It’s not busked and made up like football – it’s a carefully thought-through journey.'"

[slava]

...Welcome slava - a cellist yourself perhaps?

Sadly not, merely celebrating 50+ years as a music lover.