Telefis' posts

Eurovision 2015 - 60th Anniversary Edition

Spider Op. I want that on my passport!

That would make sense alright noggin. But most of the camera shakes are coming from the peds on the ground. Like the ops cannot keep pace with things. Perhaps matters will improve by Thursday/Saturday.

Eurovision 2015 - 60th Anniversary Edition

I only caught four successive acts, so I haven't formed a rounded judgement on this year's contest yet. The stage is okay - with resonances of Dublin 1997 and Latvia 2003 - but not as dynamic as I had hoped, perhaps because there isn't the breathing space between it and the audience that we have come to expect. It's also quite shallow.

Like others, I am not a fan of the direction. The CuePilot may have a role (thanks for the information noggin), but it is shot selection that is really letting things down. It is inconsistent and has no particular logic, moving from sweeping wides to jarring, weird tight shots. There isn't a flow to proceedings, and certainly no sense of a dynamic, creative response to songs that we have so come to expect of SVT productions.

A particularly irritating trait is two sets of cameras performing the same function, but from entirely different positions. The majority of cameras are located in the stage area - nice and clean, in on the action, getting close-ups etc. But the head-on cohort of cameras in the middle of the arena are also being used for close-ups and they are simply too far back, with perspective stacking up like a pack of cards behind the performers. It gives so much of the production a distant, 'arena-based' production value, rather than one made exclusively for a television audience. This hasn't been a problem in previous years, but is very obvious here for some reason. Perhaps a combination of a shallow stage and a too-distant position in the audience. There's also a dated, almost comical reliance on fixed zoom shots which are not to be commended.

On further point - camera movements are all over the place. Shakes, shudders, mis-aligned shots, movement kicking in too late etc. Perhaps to be expected from a crew not used to such frenetic production values, as well as the CuePilot, but what I cannot explain are the creaky jib arm shots - even they are not smooth! Jolty in movement and countless awkward turns.

It is interesting how SVT, having set the new standard for Eurovision, may inadvertently have made future contests less polished than they otherwise might have been in their 'host style', as other broadcasters simply cannot operate in the production language that they are now all but obliged to operate to.

Looking forward to the next installments.

RTE News - Ireland

Who on earth is in charge of RTÉ News editorial? It is nothing short of breathtaking, never mind downright disgraceful, that there wasn't so much as an LVO of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations on either Six One or Nine tonight. Not that it is in the least bit surprising, as RTÉ News has an appalling record of reporting British state events - events that are of keen interest to the majority of Irish viewers, with Britain being both our closest neighbour and the strongest cultural link beyond our shores.

Instead, they were obsessed with the usual financial stories, with the majority of reports either focused on money, money, money, or mind-numbing civil service disputes. Never mind not having a full report on the London events, there wasn't even an LVO of them, with two of their LVOs concerned with matters as trival as third level salaries being higher than permitted and a new appointment to the High Court. Even these issues were considered more significant than the greatest UK public celebration - royal wedding aside - held in a decade, with over a million people filling central London, not to mention the achievement of the second longest serving British monarch in history and her recent connection with Ireland.

RTÉ continually maintains a truly bizarre, bordering on a parental 'we know best' mentality, that Irish people are not interested in British affairs of state, and less still relating to the monarchy. It is a preposterous and thoroughly outdated viewpoint they continue to peddle, even after the Queen's immensely successful state visit last year. Though one must question if is indeed a relief that proceedings were not reported, given the typically infantile, patronising and detached stance they take on such stories on the rare occasions they feel obliged to cover them, with personalities being so over described that you'd wonder if Mick or Paddy ever heard of the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh. Grow up RTÉ and serve your public.

The Late Late Show - Ireland (RTE One)

The 50th anniversary show was surprisingly entertaining - an indication of what can be achieved when there is a flow in proceedings and synergy between various parts.

I don't think the show is necessarily too long - rather, how the show has changed in recent years makes it more tedious than it should be. As previous contributors have mentioned, it is chopped up like a modern chat show into bite-sized 15-18 minute slots, which, when repeated over the course of two hours, is thoroughly repetitive and formulaic. It is also frustrating, as the number of guests and items booked injects the programme with a sense of haste and a palpable anxiety to get through a marathon schedule. When things are getting good with a guest, or debate gets lively, it is chopped off in the interests of time and accommodating later items. There is also the associated issue of rigid scheduling - the programme should have reasonable rein to exceed its length when appropriate. RTÉ laughably and persistently boasts about the show being the living room of the nation, while demonstrably failing to accommodate the vagaries of this unique programme.

While acknowledging that it has become more difficult in recent years to arrange stimulating panels of guests, it is far from impossible to achieve. It is patently apparent that this organic model of content is being consistently avoided in the interests of brevity, ease of management and indeed Tubridy’s own limited skills in this department. This has been the single most damaging downfall of the Late Late over the past ten years; if the show does not play to its strengths and unique format, then simply, what is the point? It might as well be the Saturday Night Show, and indeed there has been occasion for more stimulating debate on that in recent times than on the Late Late.

Tubridy also needs to get his act together. There is no point in indulging in personaility disputes, as everyone differs on this front, and by and large I think he is a competent presenter, but he needs to focus on his act. His insessant interjecting during interviews, including just ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’, never mind his opinions, is both highly irritating and adds an unnecessary air of haste to conversation. Gay Byrne’s sterling performance the other night, listening to audience members and just nodding, highlighted in stark contrast Tubridy’s constant gabbing.

He also needs to facilitate debate much more, instead of limiting his role to cutting people off and pushing items to a typically premature close. He also requires more depth and a more engaging presence on issues. His interviews on artistic or cultural or environmental or religious matters are embarrassing for their lack of even a passing iota of interest in the subject, never mind his usual diversions onto what an item is worth, or how much money can be made in a pursuit, or how lucrative such and such an activity can be. He always returns to a base matter, as if this is all his audience wants.

He is a highly competent presenter – superb at links, working a stage and a busy studio environment, and is generally good with young people and quite well informed, but he needs to let his own eagerness take a back seat.

The same for the show itself – its pace needs to slow down and treat its audience with more intelligence.

Oh and please, somebody push director Niamh White over the gallery balcony. She has brought the show back to the 1980s in presentation. It is truly, shockingly bad.

Queen's State Visit To Ireland

Yes it was the constant Garda helicopters circulating over the city for the duration of the visit causing the disruption, rather than broadcast choppers. As you say, there were no aerial shots for any of the four-day event which was a great shame. The highest we got was an elevated jib-arm in the gardens of the Áras.

Aerial views of the cavalcade passing up and down the quays each day would have been spectacular. The deserted streets of the city most certainly would have attained much greater attention had such shots been attained.

Queen's State Visit To Ireland

The Convention Centre event was an appalling production, symptomatic of yet another RTÉ/Tyrone Productions/McColgan/Byrne love-in, where the 1990s are dredged up, tarted up and regurgitiated as what can only be described as a trashy Eurovision reunion. It was beyond cringe.

Mary Byrne's performance was the worst of hers I have ever heard. Olivia O'Leary's polemic was uncharacteristically crass and frankly grossly inappropriate in parts, the dancing was beyond embarrassing, while the set was barely a notch up from the Tullamore Christmas pantomime. Gay Byrne was smug, dismissive and largely uninterested (though his diction flawless as ever). The production values were shocking, without even a jib-arm in the auditorium.

RTÉ's wider coverage of The Queen's visit varied from subtle and elegant in the Áras, to truly abysmal in Dublin Castle. RTÉ's coverage of events in the Castle are always appalling, usually reliant on woeful handheld cameras, appalling sound, badly or entirely unplanned off-the-cuff shooting, and crass commentary.

The significance of the State banquet was completely lost in its woeful coverage, with Miriam O'Callaghan - crassness personified - wheeled out with London Editor, Brian O'Connell, and Eileen Gleeson, formerly involved in State protocol (or lack thereof). All three were located out on the media stand in the Dubh Linn garden, with hand-held rifle mics picking up the myriad helicopters circulating overhead. No commentary box was provided for interior coverage. The preposterous scenario then unfolded of full interior coverage of events in grand state rooms with a full backing track of roaring helicopters. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Disgraceful hand-held shots of the Castle's Upper Yard provided the scenic wallpaper during initial discussion. There was no camera on the quays to capture the entourage making its spectacular entry to the city and approaching Parliament Street and City Hall. No jib-arm was located in the Upper Yard for dramatic shots of the car sweeping through the entrance gates, nor even for capturing arriving guests. The shot of The Queen and President ascending the staircase was another dodgy hand-held affair, this time with staff permitted to wander straight in front of the camera. This happens every single time RTÉ shoots at this location, and each time they make a complete balls of it. The coverage in St. Patrick's Hall was also distinctly lacklustre.

Meanwhile, Miriam was out the back churning out the most appallingly crass and inane commentary, remarking on what women were wearing, who was related to who, and squealing with excitement when she recognised somebody - all as if chatting and making casual observations whilst watching the proceedings at home with her family. She and Brian knew nothing about the wider setting of the proceedings, the State Apartments, precedent for State banquets or even the protocol involved in such events. It was embarrassingly dire. And to cap it all off neatly, they cut away early from the most important State event in modern history for Fair City. Lucikly I had long switched over to Sky News, of all broadcasters, for full, quiet, eloquent, informed and throughly dignified coverage. For shame RTÉ.

The same can be said of Mary Kennedy's truly shocking coverge in the Áras the day before, Inane is an understatement. She demonstrated zero knowledge of the events, their political, historical or social context, nor exhibited even a shred of understanding of what was unfolding in front of her. When The Queen and President entered the State Drawing Room and stood greeting Enda Kenny for a short while, she nattered about a woeful gilt coffee table hidden behind Martin McAleese, and paintings in the entrance hall that the audience couldn't even see, before scrambling in her notes for anything else she could find to talk about. Her whole tone was mammyish and primary teacher rolled into one, and couldn't have been more inappropriate.

Bryan, as ever, was the saving grace for most of the events. He literally holds all of RTÉ's outrageously bad outside broadcast news events together, and has done for years. They'd be unwatchable otherwise.

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

All in all, a distinctly lacklustre staging this year I feel. As others have mentioned, the considerable distance of the cameras from the stage was by far the biggest hindrance to enjoying the event. It lacked the clarity, engagement and personability so important for a production of this kind, creating a cold and distant feel for the whole event. The resulting camera operation was less than desirable, with slight nudges much more pronounced in telephoto shots and the pixelation of the LED screen constantly brought into grossly unflattering focus. Jib arm operation lacked dynamisim, while there was an over-reliance on boring mid-shots taken from three miles away and truly awful tracking shots taken at a ridiculously low level behind the first few rows of seats. You could barely see the performers on stage.

Does anyone have an explanation for why the stage had to be that high? Was it purely to visually relate it to the overhead unit? Either way, it didn't work. Performers always looked like they were about to fall over the edge, while its high design failed to integrate in a satisfactory way with the wider venue. It was just too upright and isolated. I liked the off-shoot stage and pathway, from a conceptual perspective as well as its sculptural aesthetic in wide shots, but it was barely used.

Above all though, it was the thoroughly dull set, or rather the complete lack thereof, that made it such a disappointing show to watch. A vast LED screen a set most categorically does not make. In essence, there just wasn't anything for the director to work with by way of foreground or midground camera interaction, never mind sweeping jib shots. The complete absence of set elements to add depth and interest gave the entire night a flat and repetitive feel, as did the lack of interaction with and 'dressing' of the wider venue. In honesty, the stagng was Tallin 2002 ranked up a gear.

Saying all that, the lighting was stupendously good, the graphics great, and Graham added much amusement as ever. He strikes the perfect balance between being interested and thoroughly bemused by the event. His observation regardng one of the highly 'done' voting presenters being located under a bridge of a Saturday night stole the event Still miss the broadcaster logos though The lack of engagement of the host presenter with the voters was a little dull, but certainly made for an efficient sequence.

Still not 100 per cent sure about the new shuffling of the voting. Yes it makes matters less predictable, but equally you get a slightly poorer sense of what songs are generally the most popular across all countries. I suppose we're just used to the consistency of old - generally I think it's a positive development.

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

Oh you're such a tease! I'd often suspected there was something simmering under the lid of that topic.

And definitely salt.

Or toffee when available.

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

Yep fully agreed - from what I could gather she appeared supremely professional and entertaining.



Oh do go on...

<sits back with popcorn>

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

My, who knew Alexander was such a tall boy? Great performance.

Fabulous NKR opening sequence - good old family entertainment too.

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

Great song - seems everyone's on Gaga fever this year.

Slightly surprised at the somewhat same-y shooting script. Exceptionally dynamic there's no doubt, and nobody's complaining about those close-ups, but a bit more jib action other than 'collapsing' aerial shots wouldn't go amiss. It was just a little bit on the flat for me - especially with a dark stage.

That tracking and zooming out shot at 2.06 is stupendous! And the speedy audience jib work exhilarating.

RTE News - Ireland

I see RTÉ Nine has a new opening sequence following the titles, with robotcam tracking and deflating from a high level across the studio floor with the presenter addressing it as it moves. It was used for the first time on Friday night with the Japanese tsunami story. It was used to better effect tonight, where the movement blended into the titles rather than suddenly kicking in live in shot as on Friday. Mixing the title bed into it is still a problem though, and losing the drama of the 'da-dun' mixing of shots is a shame.

I'm still not convinced by it (though the movement is gracious), as it makes the studio look a lot smaller, the Barco screen which is supposed to be 'set' turns into a giant crude 4:3 monitor which falls off a cliff into black to the left of screen, and the sequence has the potential to be extremely inconsistent - being dependant on who is operating and directing. Not that it should be, but this is RTÉ 'standards' in operation here.

We shall see how things pan out (pun unintended).