Future Rally Media Coverage

[RS]

Still some work to do on the live programmes. Was a bit of a mess today, lack of onboards, lack of stage end interviews (plus stage end interviews getting cut off), even PG didn't sound interested. It just seemed like they've put the logistics in place but haven't put any real thought into the editing/production.

I wouldn't pay £12 a month for this. Good if you have it for free with BT broadband though

[Simmi]

Agree the live shows are rough around the edges. But no live rally coverage is particularly polished these days.

It would be interesting to see what people think of as the 'benchmark' for well-executed live rally coverage. The old BBC RAC live stages seemed good but I'm not sure if that's just me looking back fondly.

[stefanvv]

My only recommendation for live coverage would be more land cameras through the stages in some interesting spots and some more onboards instead of Heli. Stage end interviews are interesting, but I rather see what is still going on the stage, probably they can show only some of the most interesting. There is some progress though with the live timing, we were able to see some split times.
Guest driver's comments are welcome for me, you can hear the opinion of a real driver actually about this and that, I think they're valuable.

[RS]

The BBC RAC stuff from the olden days was good, but it was mostly spectator stages around stately homes e.t.c. which means the action was contained within a small area and therefore much easier to produce.

Land cameras are not so easy because I think they are connected to the satellite trucks by cable and therefore it is only really easy to have them at the stage start and stage end sections.

The helicopter stuff is a nice part of the mix but what was missing from a lot of the helicopter footage yesterday was having the engine sounds/co driver calls overlayed. It somehow made the programme a bit "dead"

I don't know whether the WRC guys do it the same way but Eurosport have a plane up relaying the onboard footage so you are able to see onboards from pretty much anyone at anywhere in the stage. I'm not sure if the WRC people are able to do that, or whether they even had a camera in all of the top 10 cars?

It's good to have this live stuff from each rally, but some simple tweaks could make it a lot better.

[Barreis]

It's shame Eurosport didn't get rights for WRC...

[Franky]

Land cameras are not so easy because I think they are connected to the satellite trucks by cable and therefore it is only really easy to have them at the stage start and stage end sections.

Yep, all "land" cameras are connected with a cable. Maybe only the start and stage end camera is wireless to allow faster movement, tho even then there's the receiver which is hooked up to the Outside Broadcast truck.

I think you can have many "land" cameras if the stage is very compact and you can place the OB truck in the centre to optimise the cable lengths. Of course a completely other story is putting all the cables down. I remember hearing that for the bobsleigh track (1,2km) in Sigulda, Latvia they (the technical crew of the broadcast) plan an entire day for placing cables and testing that all the signals come through. Imagine the time it would take to rig a special stage with cameras ...

[SubaruNorway]

I talked to a guy from Filmworks this weekend about the inboard camera placing and he agreed and that they wanted them on the ear of the seat but FIA deemed it dangerous since they could come loose or go throughout the seat...

[Hasselhoax]

I talked to a guy from Filmworks this weekend about the inboard camera placing and he agreed and that they wanted them on the ear of the seat but FIA deemed it dangerous since they could come loose or go throughout the seat...

Why no roof cam anymore?

And what's the point then in having an onboard cam at all when you dont see s***? You could rather have an audio recorder in place and close your eyes...

[Motorsportfun]

Seems for Mexico we'll have three more LIVE TV stages. Both Power Stage passes included, of course.