So how about that camera director...

[Ranger]

Pretty scrappy I thought. Yes, there was a lot happening but the people at the Nurburgring managed to catch everything when there was everything happening there.

Alonso's crash was missed (I still haven't seen what caused the crash... just him hitting the wall on a replay), Kimi vs. Heikki on the last lap was missed as they showed Hamilton with his arms up in the air, Vettel and Webber's crash was missed (Likewise I still haven't seen the moment of collision, even when they showed it on replay), not to mention the various other spins and such.

Should have done a bit better IMO.

[Hawkmoon]

Pretty scrappy I thought. Yes, there was a lot happening but the people at the Nurburgring managed to catch everything when there was everything happening there.

Alonso's crash was missed (I still haven't seen what caused the crash... just him hitting the wall on a replay), Kimi vs. Heikki on the last lap was missed as they showed Hamilton with his arms up in the air, Vettel and Webber's crash was missed (Likewise I still haven't seen the moment of collision, even when they showed it on replay), not to mention the various other spins and such.

Should have done a bit better IMO.

I agree, it was pretty poor. We had a bit of the obligatory "let's follow the Japanese driver/car/engine" bit and only saw the aftermath of most of the interesting stuff.

I can't believe he cut away from the Massa/Kubica duel on the last lap to show Hamilton. That was the best bit of racing we've seen this year!

[truefan72]

Pretty scrappy I thought. Yes, there was a lot happening but the people at the Nurburgring managed to catch everything when there was everything happening there.

Alonso's crash was missed (I still haven't seen what caused the crash... just him hitting the wall on a replay), Kimi vs. Heikki on the last lap was missed as they showed Hamilton with his arms up in the air, Vettel and Webber's crash was missed (Likewise I still haven't seen the moment of collision, even when they showed it on replay), not to mention the various other spins and such.

Should have done a bit better IMO.


I agree, it was pretty poor. We had a bit of the obligatory "let's follow the Japanese driver/car/engine" bit and only saw the aftermath of most of the interesting stuff.

I can't believe he cut away from the Massa/Kubica duel on the last lap to show Hamilton. That was the best bit of racing we've seen this year!


Yes I agree 100% an extremely poor job by the world feed. Especially the Heike/Kimi and Massa/Kubica battles. The worst job of any world feeds all year long.

As a general rule, I think that if the winning driver corsses the finish line fairly well ahead, you can show him crossing the line, but then immediatley cut back to the action. You need only return to the winning driver one all the action has been completed, there is plenty of time to see him waving to the crowd and punching his fist in the air.

[Tazio]

Yes I agree 100% an extremely poor job by the world feed. Especially the Heike/Kimi and Massa/Kubica battles. The worst job of any world feeds all year long.
I agree with your post in it's entirety!
We got really "weak dealed" on these two battles. Even Hobbs said "don't cut away now" in reference to the RK FM battle. I'm all like "what the he!! is this I'm watching" for about the first half of the race. When it really got interesting it seemed like they lost their sense of judgement, and went with all I can say is a sense of propriety.

[truefan72]

I agree with your post in it's entirety!
We got really "weak dealed" on these two battles. Even Hobbs said "don't cut away now" in reference to the RK FM battle. I'm all like "what the he!! is this I'm watching" for about the first half of the race. When it really got interesting it seemed like they lost their sense of judgement, and went with all I can say is a sense of propriety.


Yes, Well Said !

[tinchote]

They should definitely standarize the direction of the broadcast. There is capable people out there, and with the size of the whole operation, flying a few tv crew people shouldn't be that difficult.

[ShiftingGears]

It was awful. I only just saw the greatness of the Massa/Kubica battle, via youtube. Unfortunately no-ones uploaded Raikkonen and Kovalainen battling, since some moron decided that watching someone cruise for the remainder of the lap for the better part of 30 seconds was just too important.

[Ranger]

They should definitely standarize the direction of the broadcast. There is capable people out there, and with the size of the whole operation, flying a few tv crew people shouldn't be that difficult.

Bernie Ecclestone's FOM has coverage (camera direction) for all the races this year so I'm wondering how it could be so bad. Regardless, coverage of Japanese GP's of late have been very poor by all accounts so I'm not too surprised.

[ioan]

It was awful. I only just saw the greatness of the Massa/Kubica battle, via youtube. Unfortunately no-ones uploaded Raikkonen and Kovalainen battling, since some moron decided that watching someone cruise for the remainder of the lap for the better part of 30 seconds was just too important.

It's because Hamilton is the future of F1, at least from Bernie's view point at this moment. So we have to see him win!

[Mark]

They have certain direction on what they are supposed to film, and I imagine showing the winner cross the line then 30 seconds of him celebrating after that is probably compulsory.

[Garry Walker]

I imagine showing the winner cross the line then 30 seconds of him celebrating after that is probably compulsory. Only if it is The Golden Boy winning the race.
Awful coverage yesterday, most of the overtaking moves were missed and never missed. Disgraceful.

[truefan72]

They have certain direction on what they are supposed to film, and I imagine showing the winner cross the line then 30 seconds of him celebrating after that is probably compulsory.

It's a shame iof that's the case and most certsnly doens't help their popularity. F1 coverage has never been stellar. and I'm not sure what the solution is. I guess it should be like the world cup or something where there is the world feed. but the individual TV channels have acces to all camera angles and choose themselves which one to focus on.

Perhaps F1 should come out with a total package ( as they had proposed many years ago) with alternate live feeds and on-board camera access to all drivers. I'd pay $200 for that season package :)

but knowing Bernie, he'd charge like $1000 for that service.

I thought the technology was there already.

[nigelred5]

I'll chalk a lot of it up to being at a new track, poor weather and the chosen one winning the race. I can remember races where the battle was followed and the winner was cut to later. F1 coverage and direction is stellar compared to the crap we get for Champcar, but they seemed to have difficulty following action at Fuji. Camera angles were less than ideal in several corners and I found it hard to get a feel for the track the way the director was making camera transitions. I suspect the hills make locating the cameras difficult and not having a helicopter for aerial shots may have also affected the directors plans. In car shots were miserable due to the rain
It was kind of like the year when they didn't have the camera at La Source following the cars down the hill and through Eau Rouge at Spa. It's just not the same looking at Eau Rouge from the opposite direction, even if it shows the elevation changes better.

[markabilly]

It was terrible--replays were not very good

locals at the news station could have done about the same--speed tv crew at the motorcross and other minor ama races have done better and that ain't saying much

overall score
:down:

[BobbyC]

Artie Kempner would have found the race for that position better than Bernie's crew could!

[ShiftingGears]

I still haven't seen the Heikki/Kimi dice for second or Alonso losing control and crashing yet :\

[winer]

This is a new track, so perhaps they just don't have the number of cameras required to fully cover the whole track. If they did, then the replays of the KR/HK fight should have been available, I would think.
The program directors at any race never seem to have any concept of what is actually happening on the track. I wish the commentators had some input as to what was being broadcast.

[ShiftingGears]

This is a new track, so perhaps they just don't have the number of cameras required to fully cover the whole track.

I think thats extraordinarily unlikely. No expense is spared at Tilke tracks to make sure the facilities are top notch.

If they did, then the replays of the KR/HK fight should have been available, I would think.
Yes I agree, however I think the KR/HK fight being missed was down to incompetence on the directors part. Likely due to favouritism/cashing in on Hamilton.

The program directors at any race never seem to have any concept of what is actually happening on the track. I wish the commentators had some input as to what was being broadcast.

Well the Euro GP had fantastic coverage, and there was A LOT happening in that race. I dunno if the race camera director is different at each circuit or what. But at Fuji it was mediocre.