The Newsroom

BBC National/News Channel from New Broadcasting House

(March 2013)

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GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
itsrobert posted:
Speaking of which, did anyone else notice the focusing problems on last night's Six? George was blurry for a while before the camera managed to focus itself.


I did.

I doubt it focussed itself, though.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Gavin Scott posted:
itsrobert posted:
Speaking of which, did anyone else notice the focusing problems on last night's Six? George was blurry for a while before the camera managed to focus itself.


I did.

I doubt it focussed itself, though.

Ah, sorry Gavin. I thought they were truly robotic - I guess they would need some human intervention somewhere along the line.
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
itsrobert posted:
Gavin Scott posted:
itsrobert posted:
Speaking of which, did anyone else notice the focusing problems on last night's Six? George was blurry for a while before the camera managed to focus itself.


I did.

I doubt it focussed itself, though.

Ah, sorry Gavin. I thought they were truly robotic - I guess they would need some human intervention somewhere along the line.


They probably have the abililty to autofocus but it would be naff if they used it. Did you notice that whoever pulled focus went the *wrong way* momentarily before correcting? Shocked

Must have been a new operator - as pulling correctly becomes instrinctive after not very long.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Ah, interesting. Yes I did notice that the blurring got worse before it got better. I suspect you're right then that it was a mistake by whoever was operating the cameras.

It reminds me a little of TVC's nuances regarding sound mixing. The sound desk in TC7 had faders which opened when pulled downwards, whereas N6 had ones that you pushed to open. If you were sound mixing the Six and Ten shift, you had to watch out for that as you were mixing in both galleries during the one shift. It probably gets easier with experience, but I do feel for those freelancers who had to cover. Imagine working at various different organisations, each with their own way of doing things, and having to be across it all. It must take quite a bit of skill.
MU
Muckspreader
itsrobert posted:
Ah, interesting. Yes I did notice that the blurring got worse before it got better. I suspect you're right then that it was a mistake by whoever was operating the cameras.

It reminds me a little of TVC's nuances regarding sound mixing. The sound desk in TC7 had faders which opened when pulled downwards, whereas N6 had ones that you pushed to open. If you were sound mixing the Six and Ten shift, you had to watch out for that as you were mixing in both galleries during the one shift. It probably gets easier with experience, but I do feel for those freelancers who had to cover. Imagine working at various different organisations, each with their own way of doing things, and having to be across it all. It must take quite a bit of skill.


The 6 and the 10 are hardly the most taxing of programmes to mix.

Anyway, Mosart mixes sound automatically these days. Plenty of time to snooze at the sound desk.
NG
noggin Founding member
Gavin Scott posted:

They probably have the abililty to autofocus but it would be naff if they used it.

Not sure they do - HSC-300s with Fuji lenses controlled by Furio control system (that also controls the remote tracking) I believe. Auto-focus on normal studio cameras and lenses is still relatively unusual.

Quote:

Did you notice that whoever pulled focus went the *wrong way* momentarily before correcting? Shocked

Must have been a new operator - as pulling correctly becomes instrinctive after not very long.


Sure it does when you're using a Focus demand unit on a camera or manually adjusting on a lens and do it all the time.

It's probably a bit less intuitive and takes a bit longer when you're using one of these : http://www.rossvideo.com/robotic-camera-systems/furio/products/furio-robo/joystick-control.html and have only been using it for a little while. (Wonder if it goes the same way as the Shotoku or Radamec ones?)

Particularly if you're also racking and lighting. (Not sure if the One/Six/Ten and/or News Channel have a dedicated remote/racks/lighting op or not these days. There's certainly not a studio operator AFAIK)
MO
Moz
Pete posted:
Moz posted:
Whatever happened to the beam of light that was supposed to come out of the top of the sculpture on the John Peel wing. Thought they would have featured that somehow in either the countdown or the opening to the 6 and 10.


It shines and is *very* bright.

Shame we can't see it then!
MU
Muckspreader
noggin posted:
(Not sure if the One/Six/Ten and/or News Channel have a dedicated remote/racks/lighting op or not these days.)

They do, and the position is in the gallery.
SR
SomeRandomStuff
Muckspreader posted:
noggin posted:
(Not sure if the One/Six/Ten and/or News Channel have a dedicated remote/racks/lighting op or not these days.)

They do, and the position is in the gallery.


You are Mary Hockaday and I claim my £10.

Great to have your insight on the forum.
MU
Muckspreader
SomeRandomStuff posted:


Great to have your insight on the forum.



Happy to answer questions, within reason.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Muckspreader posted:
itsrobert posted:
Ah, interesting. Yes I did notice that the blurring got worse before it got better. I suspect you're right then that it was a mistake by whoever was operating the cameras.

It reminds me a little of TVC's nuances regarding sound mixing. The sound desk in TC7 had faders which opened when pulled downwards, whereas N6 had ones that you pushed to open. If you were sound mixing the Six and Ten shift, you had to watch out for that as you were mixing in both galleries during the one shift. It probably gets easier with experience, but I do feel for those freelancers who had to cover. Imagine working at various different organisations, each with their own way of doing things, and having to be across it all. It must take quite a bit of skill.


The 6 and the 10 are hardly the most taxing of programmes to mix.


I'm sure that's the case for staffers who did it regularly. You will notice that I was talking about freelancers who work for several organisations at once. I was merely saying that it must be difficult to remember little nuances of format or engineering from place to place.
MU
Muckspreader
itsrobert posted:
Muckspreader posted:
itsrobert posted:
Ah, interesting. Yes I did notice that the blurring got worse before it got better. I suspect you're right then that it was a mistake by whoever was operating the cameras.

It reminds me a little of TVC's nuances regarding sound mixing. The sound desk in TC7 had faders which opened when pulled downwards, whereas N6 had ones that you pushed to open. If you were sound mixing the Six and Ten shift, you had to watch out for that as you were mixing in both galleries during the one shift. It probably gets easier with experience, but I do feel for those freelancers who had to cover. Imagine working at various different organisations, each with their own way of doing things, and having to be across it all. It must take quite a bit of skill.


The 6 and the 10 are hardly the most taxing of programmes to mix.


I'm sure that's the case for staffers who did it regularly. You will notice that I was talking about freelancers who work for several organisations at once. I was merely saying that it must be difficult to remember little nuances of format or engineering from place to place.


A freelancer who would be booked to do sound anywhere, including on the 6 and 10, will have been required to learn, trail, and be supervised before they get to fly solo.
So for a professional, experienced sound person, who has been trained, it's really not a problem.
Yes, people get rusty. But faders going old skool BBC way on a programme as straight forward and formula led as a news bulletin, shouldn't, and isn't, that taxing.

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