RTÉ News

By the way, RTÉ’s Test The Nation website is here:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/testthenation/


Well following on from the events around the country today, Six One were admirably quick on their feet (which they tend to be to their credit), and broadcast from the forecourt of Leinster House, just beside where the largest of the public gatherings had taken place in the afternoon. Bryan Dobson was at Leinster House while unusually John Finnerty was in studio. Combined they made for a highly efficient bulletin - so refreshing.

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/bryan_leinster_house_1_copy1.jpg

(Typically bad bug just tossed up at the top though )
Leinster House is of course an ideal location - away from noise and passing traffic, right next to RTÉ's city centre studio base, and protected from passing pedestrians, being one of the most guarded spaces in the country! Bryan's location was nicely chosen - not really evident in the shot above, but mostly there was nice and soft dappled sun on his face making for a lovely shot.

Some very nice composition elsewhere too:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/two_screen_copy1.jpg


However there was the usual disaster also. The location interviews with Pat Rabbite and Richard Bruton were appallingly shot. Some nice snappy vision mixing yes, but woeful picture framing and dodgy exposures. Rabbite's sound was also peaking.
But worst of all was the fact that there was only one tripod! One camera was tripod mounted but the other was hand-held! It's unbelievable that the broadcaster's flagship news bulletin gets by with such appalling facilities, especially coming from a parliament location, the most basic setup and location most fundamental to any news organisation. So very poor.

And another so easily avoidable cock-up: when Michael McDowell was finished being interviewed, they cut back to Bryan who began speaking to camera, only for us to see McDowell aimlessly walking off behind him! I mean, who was directing this thing?! Did they even have a floor manager on location? Clearly not by the looks of things. This is something RTÉ never get their head around - floor managers never tell guests beforehand to stay where they are when finished. Even on the odd time back in the studio I've seen guests climbing out of their seats! The same goes for the Late Late - guests are never told beforehand to remain seated. They just won't learn


At first I couldn't believe that RTÉ News would go to the effort of setting up a remote camera position on top of a building to get this imposing view of the Four Courts:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/vivienne_four_courts_copy1.jpg

...until the penny dropped and I recalled Vivienne’s One O'Clock bulletin from earlier on.
Have a look at this below. Can't believe this hasn't happened on RTÉ News before, not to my knowledge anyway. You do get the odd kid or whatever interfering with reporters, but nothing as idiotic as this. Not that this fool ought to be given further attention, but have a look at 3.15 below ()

http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2145726.smil

So if this is what it takes for RTÉ to put a bit of effort into their choice of locations, perhaps it should happen more often!

I've never seen something as bad as that on ANY news bulletin! Good heavens that will certainly make its way onto the out-take shows!!! Yes I thought six-one was quite well done today....like you said Telefis, quite efficent except for the usual messing. Missed that ident this evening...I'll try and get it tomorrow or whenever.

It was pretty bad alright. Seen mooning and things on UK news, but given the sheer volume of news content produced over there, it is to be expected. This is probably the worst RTÉ have had so far.

Hopefully this will spur them into action regarding locations. I don’t know they they shoot from here every day – not only does it look awful, it’s a very dodgy part of the city behind the Four Courts there. They’re asking for trouble shooting here – this has been coming a long time. Indeed I’m surprised they haven’t been affected before this.

RTÉ should make arrangements with a building in the area to shoot from on a regular basis, preferably a public one, such as the Civic Offices across from the Four Courts which is ideal, or the Garda Station round the back. There’s plenty of opportunities if they’d get their finger out.
I wonder if this will now inform location policy? I’ll be interesting to see where they shoot from from now on! Hopefully this will finally spur them into action.



On a different matter, there’s currently a music programme on RTÉ One with the Three Irish Tenors coming from Studio 4. Look how massive it looks with the seating rearranged! And indication of what’s possible for Test the Nation on Monday.

Well at least this News programme will become very profitable for RTE if it sold for out take TV.

I wouldn't have thought so, I watched the clip and if anything I didn't find it rather amusing, I was a bit more shocked, plus the guy's gesture was hardly family viewing, it was also a serious subject matter, not your average silly story.

Either way it was a blink and you miss it moment.

Indeed - kinda disgusting. And as you say, what these idiots don't consider is the subject matter being discussed..

As far as I know, both the station and the person/people involved get paid if clips are used. Derek Davis has a classic Live at Three clip, and he said before that he gets about £200-£300 stg every time it's shown.

Some Studio 4 views:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/studio_4_wide_1.jpg

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/studio_4_wide_2.jpg

Yaaay!
Michael 'and that's the news for the moment' Murphy has made a welcome return to RTÉ News after a good few years off the airwaves

http://www.thetvroom.com/images-rte-one/rte-one-news/6-michaelm-96.jpg
www.thetvroom.com

He read the news on Radio 1 for all of Friday morning, and this morning too.
I wonder if he's returning to our screens too?


He is the consummate professional and not dissimilar to John Finnerty, he works in the industry of media training and television presentation. He is/was a lecturer at the Bil Keating Centre. Some info from their site:

Michael joined RTÉ as a Continuity Announcer on Radio 1 in 1971. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed newsreader, reading news in Irish and English on radio and television for which he won the N.A.D. award. In 1980 he became a television Producer and Director, working in RTÉ’s Light Entertainment Department, then to RTÉ 1where he produced such programmes as ‘S.B.B. on Tour’, ‘Access Community Drama’ and ‘Access Community Television’ for which he won the Prix Jeunese Internationale and a Jacobs Award. In 1990, he returned to the newsroom as Senior Newcaster.


An interesting devleopment - bit like Mary Kennedy returning to newsreading around 1999/2000 for a short while.

I usually wake up to Morning Ireland and today I was quite surprised to hear Michael Murphy alright...thought I was imagining things!

I'm just curious as to how you can tell thats Studio 4 above, Telefis? It looks huge...more like a sound stage to me but you're probably right. The late late and tubridy sets must take up a lot of space because Studio 4 looks awfully cramped on these shows but it looks massive in those captures.

Doesn't it? Admittedly I cannot tell for definite that this is Studio 4, but would be almost certain that it is - the shape and size seems just right. To my knowledge, the only time a soundstage was ever used for a conventional studio programme was when Soundstage B (formerly of Glenroe) was used for WWTBAM, and not necessarily because it wouldn't fit into Studio 4, as I'd imagine it could have squeezed in. It was more the fact that the nature of the WWTBAM set is such as to make it semi-permanent, not one you can strike every few days. Also the Late Late and certain other one-off programmes like Crimecall etc generally require that Studio 4 be kept ready for use as much as possible.

So for an RTÉ studio programme to use a sound stage is very rare, and rarer still for a music programme which requires extensive audio technical back-up which I very much doubt the soundstages in RTÉ have - they're probably little more than soundproofed warehouses with limited gallery facilities.
Saying all of that, the lighting for this music programme was very basic, and the lighting grid seemed a bit low in some shots, maybe suggesting a soundstage, but most unlikely. This series is on the next few weeks, so we can look again!

The thing is, as is always the case with television studio production, it's mostly all an illusion. Not necessarily intentional either - it's just the nature of black cyclorama curtains that suggest that the space goes on forever even if it obviously doesn't. Indeed if you look closely at the picture, there's only a pathetic four rows of seats per block! There's barely 100 people in shot!

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/studio_4_wide_1.jpg

Yet it looks like there's ranks and ranks of seating catering for a good few hundred! Obviously it's all about light and contrast and keeping a distance from things – not to mention doing things on the cheap. Black curtains let you get away with murder – you just saturate the set with light, forcing all the camera exposures down, meaning anything that isn’t lit such as cameras and all other equipment, manky scratched floors, messy seating railings, fire exits etc are all magically concealed! A lot of people complain that RTÉ use it too often though – the look is somewhat dated alright if not treated properly. Of course it goes without saying that the Late Late's treatment of its audience backdrop is utterly abominable in this respect.

The Late Late and TT sets don't take up that much space at all - rather it is the audience block that does, being 10 seats deep. Pretty small/average by international standards but it still takes up a lot of space relatively speaking. It's only when the seating is removed entirely that you can get fantastic sweeping shots of the studio - great for Election and Budget coverage with acres of flooring. Above all else it is exposed flooring that gives the impression of space, as evident in the above pic. There's nothing like it.

I'm not going to start a new thread because this may as well be the home of Irish TV chat for this forum, but Telefis, if you're watching, I imagine you're already slightly embittered by the camera work at the start of TTN.

Telefis, I eagerly await your rant. If I were you I don't know where I'd begin.

Like ye say...I'll let Telefis do all the talking but here's some caps from the show:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/pvr000_copy3.jpg

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/pvr001_copy1.jpg

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/pvr002_copy1.jpg