noggin's posts, page 31

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NG
noggin Founding member

Television News Helicopters

Rkolsen posted:
Almost every if not all helicopters in the US use directional antennas. I believe there is a omni antenna that is constantly sending back telemetry data. In fact I’m some videos of just helicopter footage or live feeds it you may here squawk like noises (in the link) and that’s apparently the omni signal. Directional antennas are used because stations in the US only have two to four ENG microwave frequencies to use. So they have to be careful and can’t be jamming up one frequency. Normally helicopter receive sites are at the top of their tower with a a steerable antenna and the same frequencies can be used on the ground at lower receive sites. Omni antennas are not because the same ENG receive frequencies are used in adjacent markets, so you don’t want to risk of overshooting the signal.

Worth taking a look at this.


I think there is possibly some confusion between receive and transmit antennas going on.

Inspector Sands pointed out that the RECEIVE antennas (or aerials as we'd call them over here) are omnidirectional - so the receiver sites can receive from any direction, not just a single direction (and don't have to have active steering to point at the source)

The transmission antenna/aerial on the helicopter or other source may well be directional (to increase the TX gain) and use GPS or other automatic steering systems to point the TRANSMIT antenna (which may well be directional to increase gain) at a receive site. However I think Omni transmits may be in use in London though I may be wrong.

You may see directional aerials used on point-to-point ground links - particularly from golf buggy mid-points back to receive sites (so you can have an Omni TX on the camera head, an omni or directional receiver on a buggy, and then a directional transmitter on the buggy to get back to the main receive point?)

The way frequencies are licensed in the UK and the US differs quite significantly I suspect. In the UK you often book guaranteed licensed RF spectrum (whether for talkback, radio mics or microwave video links) with the JFMG (Joint Frequencies Management Group) who ensure you are the only user in the area that you are licensing that frequency. (Those licences can be long-term or ad hoc for a single day) That avoids the jamming issues. If you are doing an OB at Ascot Race Course with 4 RF cameras roaming the course, the frequencies used for that won't be allocated to a helicopter working within tens of miles of you.
Last edited by noggin on 5 June 2020 9:03am
NG
noggin Founding member

EastEnders

valley posted:
noggin posted:
If they are aiming to get back to 4 episodes a week - then surely you have to multiply that by two ? Whilst each 4 episode block may take 14 days shooting + 6 weeks editing (i.e. 8 weeks from shooting first dialogue to TXing first episode), normally they TX 4 episodes a week, so there will be parallel production to achieve that?


Well they normally have at least two teams shooting a week (maximum of three at Elstree on the lot / in the studios or on location; if shooting a two-hander on location there can be four teams as less crew required), I was referring to a single production team.

It depends on how quickly they would be willing to ramp back up, and if they were planning on location units filming as well. It’s harder to social distance when unloading a 5K on a wind-up from a truck than it is to wheel one round on set.

It’s worth pointing out that Elstree is undergoing a massive upgrade and that some filming earlier this year was disrupted by construction work (pushing at least two blocks of four episodes into multiple pick-up days), which hasn’t helped.


Yes - I was just clarifying that the challenge to get back to normal output requires more work than just that of a team working on a single 4 episode block.

And yes - observing 2m social distancing when setting, striking and lighting non-saturated grid-lit or semi-fixed plot shows is going to be somewhere between challenging and impossible depending on the situations.

Location filming has major challenges in terms of transport, and other practical issues. Plus the Elstree site is not dedicated to EastEnders and is also still a building site, as you say.
NG
noggin Founding member

EastEnders

valley posted:


Since they film four episodes over 14 days, plus normally 6+ weeks of editing, I struggle to see how episodes would resume before mid-August...


If they are aiming to get back to 4 episodes a week - then surely you have to multiply that by two ? Whilst each 4 episode block may take 14 days shooting + 6 weeks editing (i.e. 8 weeks from shooting first dialogue to TXing first episode), normally they TX 4 episodes a week, so there will be parallel production to achieve that?
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC News Presenter Count 1967-2020

itsrobert posted:
It's quite interesting to see Huw and Fiona's profile rising a bit in 1996 and 1997. I seem to recall initially they only presented news summaries, but they seem to have been phased into Breakfast News a bit more in the run-up to taking on the Six in 1999.


Huw had also had a decent stint as one of Krishnan Guru-Murthy's replacements (along with George Alagiah) in the 1200-1600 slot on BBC News 24 prior to taking over the Six, as well as being the News 24 Political Correspondent (or similar title).

Being able to present BBC News 24 in the late 90s was a real test of presentation skills.
NG
noggin Founding member

Good Morning Britain in 2020

dosxuk posted:
noggin posted:
There may also be an issue about insurance - as to use lighting hoists you have to test them (yearly or every two years?) and this involves taking them to the floor.


6 monthly and 12 monthly for the different components. Legal requirement under the LOLER / PUWAR parts of H&S legislation, not just for insurance.

Not sure if just not using them would be sufficient to avoid the need for testing unless you also found some manner of permanently securing all the components such that they no longer fall under the definitions of inspectable equipment.


There was a solution like that required for TC7 where lighting hoists above the Barco walls had to be taken out of service as they couldn't be tested.
NG
noggin Founding member

Good Morning Britain in 2020

bluecortina posted:
noggin posted:
Stuart posted:
This is a shot at 08:30 this morning on the return from the regional opt (which ITV at least still bother to do). It looks as though it might even be from the gantry, as it seems to be above the lighting rig.

TC3 is a large studio, and even though they are only occupying half, it must feel very empty for the crew and talent as there is hardly anyone about.
*


That looks like it is taken from the balcony that runs around the studio and would lead into the various control rooms (which from memory are at 2nd floor level).

It's well below the lighting grid in the studio. The lamps you can see in shot are not directly suspended from the grid, and are instead mounted on scaff-pole structures themselves suspended from the grid (or similar suspension points)


Is there any reason why they are using suspended scaffolding rather than simply hanging the lamps directly from the grid?


TV Centre studios all have saturation grids. In TC1/2/3 there are lots of luminaires attached to pantograph style lighting hoists. These are designed for fast turnaround set-and-light for entertainment and comedy / drama (yep they date back to the 60s/70s style of studio production) and wouldn't be a great lighting solution for a daytime set lit in a modern way. You'd end up having to spread out your lights more and run with your hoists lower, or use the luminaires - which are less accurate than the fixtures they are using currently.

[img][img][img][/img][/img][/img]As a result ITV have decided to rig a fixed rig lower, with sources much closer together than a hoist-based grid like those in TV Centre studios would allow.

There may also be an issue about insurance - as to use lighting hoists you have to test them (yearly or every two years?) and this involves taking them to the floor. With a permanent set installed in the studio it may not be possible to do this, so they have may have decided to 'write off' using those hoists for the duration.

* This image shows a TV Centre lighting grid. The lamps can all be taken down to ground level for maintenance and adjustment, and run at lower heights.
NG
noggin Founding member

Emmerdale

Jez posted:
A few weeks ago a Friday and Monday episode was put together due to a similar problem of not all scenes being completed. It goes to show how much is filmed out of sequence and I guess with the village being some distance from the studios (not like Corrie where its all on one site) that can lead to more filming out of sequence at Emmerdale.

I think a good plan would be for time to have moved forward by the time we reach the lockdown episodes as realistically lockdown wouldn't have happened over night even in the soap world, and viewers should be able to draw their own conclusions to how some storylines have moved on if the writing is good. It will be interesting to see how long the soaps reference covid 19 as its going to be around in the real world for a long time to come. Realistically in the soap world pubs could be closed for a long time and even when they do open its going to be very different. That would need to be reflected in the soap world.


One aspect that people often ignore when thinking about soap production is efficiency of cast use. They will often shoot out of sequence to maximise the work that cast members will do in a day - so they aren't called in just to record one three minute scene for a single episode. If there are a run of scenes involving the cast members across a couple of episodes they will shoot those in a block (with costume changes between each scene) on the same day too. Particularly if they are location shoots.
NG
noggin Founding member

Emmerdale

JAS84 posted:
True. The Woolpack set, along with the Rovers Return and Queen Vic in the other soaps, will have to be mothballed, as they can't film in them until the pubs reopen in real life.


They could be used if they reflect the reality for those who own those pubs and their lives under lockdown, and tell their stories.
NG
noggin Founding member

Good Morning Britain in 2020

Stuart posted:
This is a shot at 08:30 this morning on the return from the regional opt (which ITV at least still bother to do). It looks as though it might even be from the gantry, as it seems to be above the lighting rig.

TC3 is a large studio, and even though they are only occupying half, it must feel very empty for the crew and talent as there is hardly anyone about.
*


That looks like it is taken from the balcony that runs around the studio and would lead into the various control rooms (which from memory are at 2nd floor level).

It's well below the lighting grid in the studio. The lamps you can see in shot are not directly suspended from the grid, and are instead mounted on scaff-pole structures themselves suspended from the grid (or similar suspension points)
NG
noggin Founding member

NOW TV

London Lite posted:
noggin posted:
Jeffmister posted:
Really hope Boost eventually arrives on Apple TV - it's dumbfounding why ATV has been the neglected platform for so long now


I think Apple TV 4 and 4K is a bit of a halo platform. It's a premium platform from a premium manufacturer - but in terms of market penetration and share, I think it lags a long way behind the much cheaper Amazon Fire TVs, Rokus and Now TV devices.


The only person I know with an Apple TV is an Apple fanboy. They have an iPhone, an iMac and a iPad.

Apple TV isn't much of an incentive to get one either.


One real incentive, rather than fan boy one, to get one is if you are an AV enthusiast. It's one of the only platforms that delivers Netflix and Amazon Prime with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos AND correctly changes the output frame rate based on the content you are playing on those two platforms. Very few other platforms have this functionality for both of the main streaming services.
NG
noggin Founding member

NOW TV

Jeffmister posted:
Really hope Boost eventually arrives on Apple TV - it's dumbfounding why ATV has been the neglected platform for so long now


I think Apple TV 4 and 4K is a bit of a halo platform. It's a premium platform from a premium manufacturer - but in terms of market penetration and share, I think it lags a long way behind the much cheaper Amazon Fire TVs, Rokus and Now TV devices.
NG
noggin Founding member

New Sky channels: Crime, Comedy, Documentaries, Nature

valley posted:
noggin posted:
Wasn't the announcement that their 2160p content would be available on-demand?


Yes, that was what I thought too but there were some comments on twitter than seemed to claim that the linear channels were 2160p...


There's no sign of them as 24/7 UHD channels at 28.2 that I can see. They may be overlaying linear HD with a UHD ad hoc channel (as per sport)

I have seen reports of people watching Sky Nature UHD HDR (HLG) stuff - but that's not been via broadcast.