:-(
Many European countries don't have anywhere near as strong a tradition of TV craft skills as the UK. They often have very high pure technical standards, and high quality kit, but the actual quality of on-air camera work, design and direction, as well as location camera and editing, is often quite poor. They often seem far less ambitious in terms of production techniques - and don't use the best methods to actually tell the stories of the day.
I don't know... When it comes to TV news, the British definitely have a long tradition of quality journalism and are admired throughout Europe for the way they craft their reports. I would also second your comments about camera work, editing, and so on. The oft-cited comment about Britain historically having the "least worst television in the world" has a lot of truth to it.
However, when it comes to news design, many European countries seem to prefer an American-style approach, or at least some elements thereof. I would say that commercial stations in particular tend to be more open to American that British ways. British television design is certainly cutting edge, but it is also an aquired taste, and doesn't work universally. Many people in Europe prefer lively graphics and music to the minimalist approach, which is common in Britain and, say, in France. It would therefore be a huge mistake for European stations to just adopt British graphics and leave it at that. In my experience, the most effective European stations combine American boldness with European/British elegance. A case in point is Portugal's RTP, which I mentioned above. You can see their main newscast by clicking on the "Telejornal" link on this page:
http://noticias.rtp.pt/wportal/multimedia/
As I see it, RTP manages to combined good modern design with an attractive set and lively graphics. There's a lot of both Europe and the US in it.
ProSieben's new look is totally different, but I also love it because it has American (Hollywood computer graphics, dramatic camera movements...) and European (BBC News-style elegance, the use of modern graphic design) elements. I probably feel the way I do because I think American TV design isn't elegant enough, while British design isn't bold enough, very generally speaking. I don't buy the view that one is inherently superior to the other.
BTW, I've heard that most TV design awards are won by American, British, and German companies (not necessarily in that order), so all of these three countries can claim to have good TV design. My experience would confirm that.
A former member
noggin posted:
Many European countries don't have anywhere near as strong a tradition of TV craft skills as the UK. They often have very high pure technical standards, and high quality kit, but the actual quality of on-air camera work, design and direction, as well as location camera and editing, is often quite poor. They often seem far less ambitious in terms of production techniques - and don't use the best methods to actually tell the stories of the day.
I don't know... When it comes to TV news, the British definitely have a long tradition of quality journalism and are admired throughout Europe for the way they craft their reports. I would also second your comments about camera work, editing, and so on. The oft-cited comment about Britain historically having the "least worst television in the world" has a lot of truth to it.
However, when it comes to news design, many European countries seem to prefer an American-style approach, or at least some elements thereof. I would say that commercial stations in particular tend to be more open to American that British ways. British television design is certainly cutting edge, but it is also an aquired taste, and doesn't work universally. Many people in Europe prefer lively graphics and music to the minimalist approach, which is common in Britain and, say, in France. It would therefore be a huge mistake for European stations to just adopt British graphics and leave it at that. In my experience, the most effective European stations combine American boldness with European/British elegance. A case in point is Portugal's RTP, which I mentioned above. You can see their main newscast by clicking on the "Telejornal" link on this page:
http://noticias.rtp.pt/wportal/multimedia/
As I see it, RTP manages to combined good modern design with an attractive set and lively graphics. There's a lot of both Europe and the US in it.
ProSieben's new look is totally different, but I also love it because it has American (Hollywood computer graphics, dramatic camera movements...) and European (BBC News-style elegance, the use of modern graphic design) elements. I probably feel the way I do because I think American TV design isn't elegant enough, while British design isn't bold enough, very generally speaking. I don't buy the view that one is inherently superior to the other.
BTW, I've heard that most TV design awards are won by American, British, and German companies (not necessarily in that order), so all of these three countries can claim to have good TV design. My experience would confirm that.