Sonia is on the early shift today - her opening announcement (not even a good morning) told us that 'in case we missed it' Pop Idol was on ITV 2 now! Incorrect it was CD UK - Pop Idol is on an hour later - now considering they share the same area (ish) at LNN she should have got this right!
ITV continuity is getting worse not better - simple mistakes like this are just sloppy.
Is it me or is Sonia without doubt the dullest announcer on there?
Sasha at least tried a bit of personality last night.
Don't feel inclined to have a pop at any individual as there are those who seem unable to tell the difference between an opinion expressed regarding how effective the announcer may be and a personal remark.
Is ITV1 continuity that bad? No it isn't. On the majority of the population it makes no impression at all and there doesn't appear to be the will within ITV1 to change that situation.
Sonia could be the best announcer in the world for all of September and the net result I expect would be the same pay cheque and the same feedback. All the announcers on ITV1, contract and freelance, just keep smiling and taking LNN's money as long as it's available to you.
I take Banksey's point about not popping at any particular individual, but I have watched a bit of ITV1 on the last two Saturday evenings and was really disappointed by last evening's style when compared to the previous Saturday night.
I just wish "enthusiasm" was included in the training for this latest batch of announcers.
Anyone's who's ever done any voice-over work will know that it's ESSENTIAL to sound enthusiastic about what you're talking about, even if you HATE the product.
There will be people on here who've read my thoughts about caravans in Comment, but will also have heard me being incredibly enthusiastic about them on radio. That's the way it is and that's what you've got to do.
A continuity announcer should NOT sound as if what they mean is "Okay folks, you've got Matthew Kelly to watch now,but I can't stand the bloke, so I'm about to ask my controller to plug Beeb Two up on the ring main".
"Does it good continuity REALLY matter?" asks Mr ITV1-Suit. For your service, for your image, for your viewing figures and for the company balance sheet the answer is yes. It has to make a difference and at the moment it isn't.
The fact that Nick Harvey and Banksey care doesn't matter in the least, the fact that Mr ITV1-Suit neither cares nor understands should be of great concern.
I would caution anyone tempted to try and make a difference. I did and look what happened..... Ho hum, at least abject poverty is good for the waistline.
Oh, for the dizzy heights of network ITV1 professionalism..
Mind you, Sue has got the programme she's referring to correct on at least the last five occasions I've been watching.
If that isn't a record, it's a damn good fluke -- she'd have won a fortune if it was a horse race.
There will be people on here who've read my thoughts about caravans in Comment, but will also have heard me being incredibly enthusiastic about them on radio. That's the way it is and that's what you've got to do.
It's not just the announcements they can't seem to get the ECP's right either. At the end of Corrie just then it looked as if we had 2 ECP's on top of each other. Corrie at 7.30 was superimposed over the trailer and Midsomer Murders appeared twice in the listing.
It's not just the announcements they can't seem to get the ECP's right either. At the end of Corrie just then it looked as if we had 2 ECP's on top of each other. Corrie at 7.30 was superimposed over the trailer and Midsomer Murders appeared twice in the listing.
Yes it appeared as if the first voice over concerning the two episodes of Corrie was live whereas the ITV2 and ITV1 now...then...later bit was actually prerecorded!
I think this just goes to prove what many of us "anoraky luddites" as the likes of Glorfindel, Larry Scutta, call us, have said all along.
Pre-recorded continuity doesn't work. It either comes in at the wrong time, repeats the name of the previous programme as the programme coming next (even if it IS a double bill - but why can't it be announed that way?) or is totally wrong altogether.
Whether the announcement is coming off a live mic, a mini-disc, a PC hard disk, or a piece of 10" shellac, it really doesn't matter.
There's no excuse for constantly letting things go out wrong, but just sit back and say, "it's not our fault guv, it's the technology. Get used to it."
With that attitude you may as well do without announcements altogether and instead broadcast codes to trigger the digibox's EPG. Obviously nobody in TV circles cares anymore if announcements go out wrongly on a regular basis; those who don't know about how recorded continuity "works" is expected to do media and sound engineering courses when really all a viewer should be is just that; a viewer. It shouldn't be a viewer's job to understand what goes on behind the scenes. What the viewer should be able to expect are announcements that are always correct - which is what you get with live announcements - or if a slip-up is made an instantaneous apology - like you would get if a newsreader slipped up.
The fact that recorded announcements go wrong so often and with no apologies, ever, shows that we can no longer expect any sort of manners from anybody in transmission control rooms anywhere in this country anymore -- but then, isn't that just like everyday life? No manners in real life - so no manners on television. After all, why bother? Everything in life should just be easy for us all with no consideration for others. Perhaps it's the culture that modern TV has bred that means myself, a 6'2" tall bloke who even a partially sighted person could not miss on the street, will routinely be knocked and shoved in all directions by couples, families with pushchairs, and people with backpacks, as if I wasn't there, and when and if they notice they've knocked somebody, just look back as if it doesn't matter - the look in their eyes being "well, how was I to know? Should I really have to bother looking where I'm going? You should understand I'm in a rush/not from this country/with family. You're single and English. Even though I wouldn't do that to you where I come from I'm in London enjoying myself and I can do what the hell I want."
Welcome to the global village. Communications technology that can span the world put in the hands of people who using their God-given senses can't communicate six inches.
