Telefis' posts, page 9

RTÉ News

Stunning evening backdrop of Dublin's quays last night on Nine - makes a change...

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/david_murphy__dublin.jpg

Though the lighting of David was poor - even above you can see the big shadow that kept casting across his face.


Yes I've always wondered about the likes of Tom MacSweeney too diarmy - Colm Connolly, the former Arts and Media Corr would be another (though he may still be with them). It's quite possible these people are employed as producers of radio or television programmes too - certainly MacSweeney presents a regular radio programme 'Seascapes' which keeps him busy.

Margaret Ward, Foreign Editor is another - haven't the faintest what she does for most of the year. A fantastic corr though, particularly on Eastern Europe and Russia. She really ought to be utilised more by RTÉ - a shameful waste

So whether these people are employed on a contractual basis or not I have no idea. Though they do have full working titles, so one would assume they're fully paid professionals...

Coronation Street

That is an excellent point - never noticed that till now!
Inevitably it's to provide support for the staircase and keep the lighting grid clear for the back room.

Another new angle we got to see recently was up the stairwell of the Peacocks, incl their landing ceilng and cornicing, when she came running down - though yes we did get to see something similar around the time of Maxine's death as I recall, their whole landing in fact.

I always presumed that three-wall sets were used on Corrie, with just moveable flats brought in to make up the fourth when required - is this not the case? The cameras are still mostly standard pedestals as far as I know, and they still need space for directors and sound ops.
Saying that, the 'extra' walls are always incredibly well incorporated, with not so much as a hint of a join, ever - leading one to believe that they may be permanent, even if just 1 foot corners...

Coronation Street

That is an excellent point - never noticed that till now!
Inevitably it's to provide support for the staircase and keep the lighting grid clear for the back room.

Another new angle we got to see recently was up the stairwell of the Peacocks, incl their landing ceilng and cornicing, when she came running down - though yes we did get to see something similar around the time of Maxine's death as I recall, their whole landing in fact.

I always presumed that three-wall sets were used on Corrie, with just moveable flats brought in to make up the fourth when required - is this not the case? The cameras are still mostly standard pedestals as far as I know, and they still need space for directors and sound ops.
Saying that, the 'extra' walls are always incredibly well incorporated, with not so much as a hint of a join, ever - leading one to believe that they may be permanent, even if just 1 foot corners...

Republic of Ireland

Ah yes - the aul Gaeilgoirí coming in for their bite of the cherry
Nuacht on the channel would actually be a very good way of increasing Irish output on RTÉ - regular full bulletins could remain on RTÉ One, and perhaps 5 minute segments every hour on RTÉ News? Or maybe longer bursts every few hours. The difficulty with regular segments is that it impedes the flow of regular news - especially breaking news.

Lots of good ideas there Phen – it would indeed be good to transmit live programming as such on RTÉ International where possible. I can see it being a difficult balance however in trying to separate repeated content on RTÉ Three from informational programming on RTÉ Four, as essentially this is what much of Three’s content would be outside of ‘youth’ hours, whatever they may be. Perhaps better to aim Three solely at the youth market and move repeats and informational over to Four, giving it a broader, more popular remit than BBC Four.

An RTÉ News certainly throws up a lot of challenges for the broadcaster – not least its repertoire of newsreaders which needs to be substantially beefed up in numbers and boosted in terms of quality and competency. It would appear however that there is excess baggage already which may help matters – there’s a lot of ancillary newsreaders from Ken Hammond to Anne Cassin to Niall Carroll etc that rarely get an outing.

But on simulcasting, it would make sense for RTÉ as such a small broadcaster to avail of this opportunity to save on costs and broadcast principal bulletins on both channels. Indeed given their limited resources, it’s very possible that we’ll only have one news set anyway! It’s not so much the studio and set costs etc that are in question, but as always: crewing. To constantly operate (and fit out, and maintain) two major news galleries is a big strain on resources for such a tiny broadcaster. RTÉ are renowned across Europe for their cost-effective operations in producing high-quality content – this may well turn out to be an example of this. Rehearsing for bulletins on set may be the only problem, but they may just have to live without it – all rolling news channels do for most of their operations.

Also, maybe it would be better to transmit the major One, Six One and Nine bulletins on International rather than RTÉ News channel editions, considering their format is already geared towards ‘roundup news’ positioned in a varied station schedule, as are their durations, ad break positionings, and production design. If the news channel ones turned out to be similar, then fair enough – in all probability they would be anyway!

Sophie Raworth Returns

Sophie's a strange one - she manages to be both frumpy and elegant at the same time. A bit like M&S.

Lovely camera deliverance: authoritative but friendly (and not the patronising-friendly of many other BBC newscasters).
Dare I say however, that she still lacks that certain something, a fizz if you will. She's a touch bland - just a pinch mind, not quite the full teaspoon.

Republic of Ireland

Good question, or perhaps more pointedly is there the funding for such extra channels? - especially TG4.
When the multiplexes were launched (the platforms on which the channels operate), RTÉ was given a whole multiplex to itself enabling it to have up to about six channels in total (incl RTÉ 1&2), while TV3 and TG4 were given half a mulitplex each meaning in theory they could probably have two extra channels each, but one is more likely. In any event, it's best to keep the number of channels per multiplex to four or five to reduce the amount of compression required. This is a problem in the UK I believe.

RTÉ's original proposals way back in 1997 were for a news channel, an educational channel, RTÉ Plus showing RTÉ repeats, an Oireachtas channel, and a channel possibly dedicated to local and regional access television.

By 2000 or so this had morphed into a 24 hour 'information channel' - presumably with news at its core - called 'Ireland Today', a young people's channel called 'Zap TV' (I know, it gets worse ), and a learning and education channel called 'Eolas'.

Whatever about the names, I can still see this package being rolled out today, presumably with 'Eolas' also encompassing repeats - RTÉ does have a vast archive that needs to be put to good use.
RTÉ Three and RTÉ Four should definitely be used as branding - remembering the RTÉ Branding Blitz that we so know and love today hadn't been invented yet way back in 2000
I think RTÉ News is enough as a branding for a news channel - what do you think? If it included other material though, it may need a broader name.

The thing about parliamentary coverage is that it is incredibly cheap and fills up vast quantities of time, so much so that it's really unsuitable for use on a news/information channel such is its sporadic nature and its eratic durations. A channel all to itself is really required, remembering that everything from Dáil sessions, to Seanad sittings, to Committee meetings can and ought to be covered.
At present there is continuous live feed from Leinster House to RTÉ in Montrose, and is probably even partly paid for by the Oireachtas, not sure, so either way it costs pretty much nothing to run an Oireachtas channel - just the start-up expenses.

RTÉ News

I've replied on this thread if that's okay

http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=394139#394139

Republic of Ireland

The trial line-up hasn't as yet been announced Seamus, but it'll only be the existing four channels, perhaps with Dublin's and Cork's City Channels thrown in - hard to say.

As for a permanent DTT system, RTÉ will almost certainly have at least two extra channels - things have been scaled down a lot from the five or so originally envisaged 10 years ago!
TV3 and TG4 also have a channel extra each, if not two, I think it's only one each though. Frankly I can't see them having much use for them at present.

Republic of Ireland

Also djmgpsp, a high summer schedule is hardly the most flattering of promotions for any television station.
You take an average autumn/winter/spring schedule and even daytime is virtually wall-to-wall home production, usually One O'Clock News, Home & Away, The Big Bite, News & Weather, The Afternoon Show, Nuacht, RTÉ factual repeat and/or acquired drama, Six One.

A very strong line-up, whatever about certain programmes that may not appeal to certain people.

RTÉ News

They're exceptionally plain dbl - simply a screen of a vibrant colour, with the Three logo and 3 circles over to the right adding interest.
Nearly too plain - can't see them lasting very long. Very much so a dispensible commercial ploy.

I like TG4's obscure, off-beat idents - even if a bit too contrived and achingly postmodern . They're fun to watch and certainly offer a Súil Éile!
DTT trials are due to start in Septmeber Seamus, covering most of the east coast, and will last for two years, at whgich point it is hoped it'll be rolled out countrywide - quickly. Hopefully RTÉ will also lauch a satellite service at that point.


Anyone watching Nine last night? One of the most amateurish productions I've yet seen from RTÉ News - the gallery and studio doors were left wide open during transmission, enabling the viewer to hear every word uttered in the gallery for the full 27 minutes of the bulletin!
It was unbelievable - I heard every single bar one VT being called over the entire half hour! It was noticable from the very start where there was a heck of a lot of noise around the headline intro - by the first report it was clear the studio and gallery doors were wide open!

Truly astoundingly unprofessional - I was that close to ringing up the Newsroom and telling them to shut the feckin doors. Who is this idiot of a man directing - hiding behide the anonymity that the lack of credits on Nine affords.
Scroll in to 1.00 below to hear him calling a report VT as clear as day, or again at 4.45 - indeed any of the reports or LVOs. Some of the quality isn't great due to Realplayer:

http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2156812.smil

It's interesting to note how much more relaxed Anne was last night, as if more reassured by the door being open...

And more bad pre-production and/or camera operation at 16.23. Watch the end of Anne's link and the following courthouse VT
And not only can you hear that VT being called like all the others, if you wear headphones during the awkward silence you can hear the director calling "cut", even though there's no camera ready. You then hear the vision mixer complaining something like "even though there's no camera?". The director then calls "yes, clear Anne" at which point an instant cut is made back.

Also note on the following Microsoft story, the VT kicks in way too late, in spite of the director calling it three seconds earlier
See how robotic Anne gets the second she realises the slightest problem has occured, when she sees the camera beginning to move

Indeed if you want to know how a news bulletin is made, this is the programme to wtach with a decent set of headphones - you can even hear the director chatting away during Anne's links! (you could also hear that background noise last night).
Aside from the astounding unprofessionalism of it all, there is a nice director cue at 22.20 - a standard practice, but listen how he draws out the instruction "annnnnd in" when dissolving/mixing back from the VT. As much a cue to Anne as the vision mixer.

Republic of Ireland

What are you, six? I can't stand Natasha Kaplinsky, so the British Broadcasting Corporation is a pile of sh*te?

Yes RTÉ has the odd dodgy rip-off thrown into the mid-market pit that is the 8-9 slot, but what broadcaster doesn't? At least it produces its own material; check the schedules of the public service broadcasters of Sweden or Belgium or Italy and see the amount of acquired content they shove in at this time - a least RTÉ makes its own.
In any event, the appalling rip-off formats of House Hunters etc comprise a tiny section of what RTÉ broadcasts at this time, and a fraction again in the broader station context.

RTÉ makes an astonishing amount of programming, with nearly everything you see mid-week on RTÉ One being home-produced aside from Eastenders and the odd afternoon filler. And most of an international standard - a far superior service to that available elsewhere in Europe. RTÉ Two is deliberately geared towards foreign material, intertwined with home-grown young people's content, as well as sport and childrens. As such ir provides a wide ranging service, but at the same time should not be taken as being 'Iirsh Televiion' as so many young people seem to think it is. There is a flagship channel the national broadcaster owns - you may have heard of it...

However if you determine the quality of a television station on the basis of the amount of American content it acquires, I suggest you move to the US.

RTÉ News

Certainly come on in leaps and bounds alright - even Rós Na Rún is miles ahead of Fair City with a fraction of their resources!
The flight of talent however diarmy could be viewed as a bad thing

Yes, no doubt the move to widescreen is in anticipation of the digital trial in (hopefully!) September - TG4 is a station that tends to be forgotton about on the technical front!

When/how TG4 gets sliced off will indeed be interesting, not least in terms of how it will be funded as an independent entity expected to fulfill a public service role.
The potential elimination of the RTÉ Authority in favour of the BCI also raises its ugly head as part of this...