By: T-21 - 11th July 2008 at 20:22
Stop complaining, I was on a 12 hour day shift and we have BBC News 24 on overhead TV’s no sound . Just grateful to occasionally look up from the telephone and see the BBMF Lancaster .
By: Portagee - 11th July 2008 at 20:01
From what I saw of it, the BBC suffered what you might call the usual problem of covering a flypast.
Namely that the director didn’t “time” each aircraft/combination before cutting to the next in the stream. Also a little bit of lacking in spacial (spatial depending on your spelling) awareness of some aircraft appearing to be out of sequence, when in fact they weren’t. Resulting in showing some of the stream out of sequence which threw the on-screen timing off for the next section.
Likewise during the WW1 segment after the flypast, not knowing what exactly was going on, resulted in missing the british aircraft being bounced by the German aircraft.
I’m not intending this to be a Bash at the director, filming flypasts and mock engagements, can’t be easy at the best of times and if it’s not something that’s done regularly, it would be even more difficult.
The one thing that it did do was show how much I missed the days of Raymond Baxter covering such events.
Edit: excuse the same post in two threads, didn’t realise that this one was getting more attention. Perhaps they’ll get merged later
By: bloodnok - 11th July 2008 at 19:50
The dumb thing was, that the BBC had hired an intelligent, properly (no doubt self-briefed) commentator in Sean Maffett. The only trouble was he was only on the ‘red button’ interactive service.
As far as camerawork and direction is concerned, I’m amazed that the director clearly hadn’t properly recce’d the flight line, nor did he properly brief his cameramen.
I’ve worked around TV outside broadcasts (mainly in motor racing) for most of the last 20 years. If I was involved in that one, I’d hang my head in shame!
Even Sean Maffett made factual mistakes though.
Having said that though, I thought it was a pretty standard level of coverage that we’ve come to expect. These days anything of a technical nature (motor sport, vintage cars and aircraft etc) is dumbed down for the mass audience. Those who have an interest and some knowledge sit there picking holes in the coverage and the vast majority of the audience go ‘ ooo, coloured smoke!’ 🙂
By: bazv - 11th July 2008 at 17:34
Sorry but never been a fan of Dan or his dad,both IMHO (of course:D) come across as overenthusiastic overgrown schoolboy numpties :rolleyes:
As LnS said… not difficult to hire somebody who actually knows about aviation,always nice to see some a/c footage on the telly of course but ……….:rolleyes:
cheers baz
By: The Bump - 11th July 2008 at 17:23
The camera work wasn’t the best…….and a missed opportunity with the intermittent footage from the Lanc, but full marks to the beeb for televising it at all. They redeemed themselves by staying on for the BBMF display, the GWDT and the bombursting Tiffies.
Great to see the veterans, particularly Peter Brothers, 32 Squadron, Biggin 1940.
By: low'n'slow - 11th July 2008 at 16:34
Got to say it wasnt up to the normal Beeb standard, however in their defence it must be awfull comentating on a subject that you do not have full knowledge off.
The dumb thing was, that the BBC had hired an intelligent, properly (no doubt self-briefed) commentator in Sean Maffett. The only trouble was he was only on the ‘red button’ interactive service.
As far as camerawork and direction is concerned, I’m amazed that the director clearly hadn’t properly recce’d the flight line, nor did he properly brief his cameramen.
I’ve worked around TV outside broadcasts (mainly in motor racing) for most of the last 20 years. If I was involved in that one, I’d hang my head in shame!
By: XH668 - 11th July 2008 at 16:18
Like others, I was a little underwhelmed by the whole experience. I suspect the majority of us who were underwhelmed were of an older generation and grew up listening to the flawless, accurate and entertaining commentary given by the likes of Raymond Baxter. For those who haven’t heard of him I should think he’s more than worthy of a moment or two’s googling.
Regards,
Kev35
Very true i spose being 16 im not used to much and im just happy for anything to be shown
The whole BBMF routine being displayed was good shame they cant show RIAT all day 😀
________
Oregon Medical Marijuana Dispensary
By: Creaking Door - 11th July 2008 at 16:15
At least the BBC covered the event. I enjoyed the footage of the aircraft and I do feel a bit sorry for Dan Snow; those sorts of commentaries cannot be easy to do live, especially if you’re expected to keep chopping-in other commentators and interviews.
The ‘interviews’ with the veterans were truly dire; you cannot sum up the Battle of Britain in a sound-bite!
By: kev35 - 11th July 2008 at 16:08
i think someone of theses comments are unfair yes it wasnt perfect and the camers were a bit rough but i was quite happy with it all better than most
Like others, I was a little underwhelmed by the whole experience. I suspect the majority of us who were underwhelmed were of an older generation and grew up listening to the flawless, accurate and entertaining commentary given by the likes of Raymond Baxter. For those who haven’t heard of him I should think he’s more than worthy of a moment or two’s googling.
Regards,
Kev35
By: G-ASEA - 11th July 2008 at 16:00
I watch it found the commentary very poor, as i find with the BBC these days.
By: XH668 - 11th July 2008 at 15:58
i think someone of theses comments are unfair yes it wasnt perfect and the camers were a bit rough but i was quite happy with it all better than most
pt’s spit got a big plug i see lol
________
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By: GrahamSimons - 11th July 2008 at 15:47
goodness how I miss Raymond Baxter!
By: Rob68 - 11th July 2008 at 15:42
Got to say it wasnt up to the normal Beeb standard, however in their defence it must be awfull comentating on a subject that you do not have full knowledge off. Murray Walker once said that when people moaned about his mistakes he said lets see you talk for an hour and a half without them! Im not defending the Beeb as it was a bit poor but i dont think i would have come any where near the standard they did.
By: bazv - 11th July 2008 at 15:34
Was anyone else as underwhelmed as I at the poor quality of BBC’s coverage?
Poor direction, badly set-up camerawork and a stumbling, ill-researched excuse for commentary by Dan Snow. (I thought he would have done much better).
The only redeeming feature was if you switched to BBC Interactive where Sean Maffett did an excellent job of interpreting the pictures he was getting.
An opportunity missed by the BBC I think! 😡
In a word….YES
absolutely dire and cringeworthy !!
By: low'n'slow - 11th July 2008 at 15:24
Was anyone else as underwhelmed as I at the poor quality of BBC’s coverage?
Poor direction, badly set-up camerawork and a stumbling, ill-researched excuse for commentary by Dan Snow. (I thought he would have done much better).
The only redeeming feature was if you switched to BBC Interactive where Sean Maffett did an excellent job of interpreting the pictures he was getting.
An opportunity missed by the BBC I think! 😡
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July 10, 2008 at 5:01 pm