Don't hire the people who filmed this event

viennaskater · Apr 4, 2017

I can't comment on the camerawork during the competition because I was actually there, but NOT for the gala. I saw highlights of that at home in the evening and I noticed that that the camera zoomed out several times so that I could barely see what the skaters were doing, and it was probably harder to see anyway because of the gala spotlighting. I will certainly give feedback about it because there is definitely NO excuse for this.

Teddy99 · Apr 4, 2017

TheGrandSophy said:
It looked like they hadn't attended practices to select angles etc either since at times it was obvious they were using the wrong camera for what was going on e.g. when Shoma and Sui & Han finished their FS and SP respectively the camera was at the side or behind them rather than ending on their front so you could see their faces. They also went up to the sky cam as a matter of course during pairs' step sequences so for Sui and Han you missed all the sass they brought to the movement and expression.

I thought the same thing and was NOT happy about it!

Sackie · Apr 4, 2017

Put on a positive note - I did notice when they showed the overhead camera shot of Gabby's Free how fast and what great ice coverage she gets!

tzazu · Apr 4, 2017

nimi said:
Well, if viewers only complain to each other in forums like this instead of contacting the network, there won't be much negative feedback that actually reaches the people responsible for the camera work.

Posted this link before, gonna post it again: http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2016/06/06/contact-us
Yle is the Finnish national broadcasting company - based in Pasila, Helsinki, near the Hartwall Arena - that broadcasted the competition in Finland and I think it's probably their people who were responsible for the camera work.
Scroll down, there is a contact/feedback form. it's very likely that (some of) these same people are gonna shoot the Finlandia Trophy next autumn, and who knows what else in the future, so international viewers giving some constructive criticism NOW could help in the future. (During the 4cc, didn't somebody post something about a Finnish team being selected to shoot the figure skating event at the next Olys? God, I hope I remember that wrong, because that would be likely this very same team...)

Thank you for the information, I left my message :thumbsup:

Sloopy · Apr 4, 2017

Thank you for the link. I just left my feedback and hope that others will as well. I was polite, but emphatic about the issues at the same time. Here's hoping that if they are the crew handling the Olympics, they will take our suggestions to heart.

treblemakerem · Apr 4, 2017

I guess I am the only one who liked the far away view. Usually you can never really tell how fast they are going or how much they're covering the ice. For someone who has never been live, it was interesting to see that for once.

lavender · Apr 4, 2017

I agree...all the beautiful lil parts of sui & hans short propram and another fav propram was ruined for me.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

rain · Apr 5, 2017

lavender said:
I agree...all the beautiful lil parts of sui & hans short propram and another fav propram was ruined for me.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

I was really angry that they used that stupid skycap and ruined my enjoyment of their fabulous SP footwork sequence. They reduced them to the size of ants so we couldn't see even half of the expression!

amateur · Apr 5, 2017

treblemakerem said:
I guess I am the only one who liked the far away view. Usually you can never really tell how fast they are going or how much they're covering the ice. For someone who has never been live, it was interesting to see that for once.

You're not the only one - me too! I just now rewatched Gabrielle Daleman's FS, and they used that shot for the entire final spin.. which I was surprised at, expecting them to cut in at some point before she finished. But past my initial "what the...?" reaction, it was quite interesting seeing at once the whole rink that the skater is alone on and has to fill, how they achieve this with a spin, and seeing a huge section of packed audience all together... it really brings home the drama of the final moment of such a performance (and the spin still looked nice, anyway). I give this a thumbs up as a production decision, actually.

Yes some "detail" is lost, but for sure something is gained as well, from this kind of shot. (and we otherwise get to see more or less the same standard shots all the rest of the time, anyway, so I hardly feel we're missing anything).

The shot may not be a winner every single time, and I can understand some low-level griping about that here and there, but we are also losing something else with the endless closeups and standard framing of skaters that we are used to on TV, anyway (like sense of a skaters' ice-coverage, as is frequently discussed in forums). We could just as easily say that the more standard shots "ruin" some things about a performance, but we are simply used to them.

I've also never been to a competition live, which could be part of why I found this view more refreshing and interesting, too.

For what it's worth, my non-skating-fan friend who watched Ice Dance with me really liked some of the sky-cam shots, too.

mysticice · Apr 5, 2017

I was at the arena and the whole event felt so great. It’s so unfortunate that the main thing that remains for people to see in the future is this overall bad camera work.

I seriously hate that sky cam. It doesn’t give me anything, but loses a lot of expression, edge work etc. Worst of all it breaks my emotional connection with a performance.

This excessive use of sky cam happened during Finlandia Trophy too. I had hoped that they’d learned from it but unfortunately I guess it is something that TPTB in Finland prefer.

PS. I just left my feedback too.

kiches · Apr 5, 2017

Just wanted to add that I've finally got a chance to watch some of the videos after coming home from Helsinki and they're pretty awful.

Also wanted to add that I sat by the Kiss and Cry and they had a VERY annoying crane cam set up there. I complained to the info desk and they said there was nothing they could do and that they don't know beforehand what equipment they would bring, I felt like that was a bunch of BS though. This affected the entire section and at least two others voiced the same opinion, that seat isn't cheap and I'd like to at least know when I'm paying top dollar for an obstructed view, and to learn that the camera work it produced was crappy makes me even more angry.

Pamigena · Apr 5, 2017

^ They had another one of those crane things at the other side of the rink on the judges' side. We've been saying plenty of times how unhappy people in the corner sections must be that these huge things go up and down right in front of their noses all the time. Those ice level tickets really are too expensive for this kind of crap :noshake:

kiches · Apr 5, 2017

Pamigena said:
^ They had another one of those crane things at the other side of the rink on the judges' side. We've been saying plenty of times how unhappy people in the corner sections must be that these huge things go up and down right in front of their noses all the time. Those ice level tickets really are too expensive for this kind of crap :noshake:

Yes I noticed that on the other side as well, but it seemed like it may not have been directly in front like it was on my side but I wasn't sure. I love being able to see into the Kiss & Cry, but I hate not being able to see people do their spins! I know that at Skate Canada my friend got an email saying their seat they purchased had an obstructed view and they moved them, I would've expected at least some type of notice but nada.

Sabrina · Apr 5, 2017

The recording in this competition was horrendous. No aesthetic reason can explain the birds eye view. This was a huge rink and the ceiling was so high, so the poor skaters looked like mosquitoes. For example they started zooming out when Boyang was staring his pantomime joking steps. They realized the mistake and they zoomed in again but they lost a couple of seconds. Zooming out may not be bad per se, but again the ceiling was far too high. They could have paned the crowds when clapping, after the program has ended. This was by bar the worse video recording in a figure skating championship. They also had to fend of some blind spots from unwanted walls.
Plus that thread hanging from the ceiling was weird itself. At least the public was marvellous.

Pamigena · Apr 5, 2017

kiches said:
I know that at Skate Canada my friend got an email saying their seat they purchased had an obstructed view and they moved them, I would've expected at least some type of notice but nada.

Yeah seems like they were pretty oblivious about several things and it usually ended with "sucks to be you". There were two instances when I just happened to be near the info desk and heard people complain about an obstructed view. One time I saw a Japanese lady try to explain to a staffer that the railing right in front of her row was too high for her to see over it, and that was a premium seat. (though I admit that this is something that you could at least see coming and avoid, unlike the weird crane camera)

Ic3Rabbit · Apr 5, 2017

nimi said:
Well, if viewers only complain to each other in forums like this instead of contacting the network, there won't be much negative feedback that actually reaches the people responsible for the camera work.

Posted this link before, gonna post it again: http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2016/06/06/contact-us
Yle is the Finnish national broadcasting company - based in Pasila, Helsinki, near the Hartwall Arena - that broadcasted the competition in Finland and I think it's probably their people who were responsible for the camera work.
Scroll down, there is a contact/feedback form. it's very likely that (some of) these same people are gonna shoot the Finlandia Trophy next autumn, and who knows what else in the future, so international viewers giving some constructive criticism NOW could help in the future. (During the 4cc, didn't somebody post something about a Finnish team being selected to shoot the figure skating event at the next Olys? God, I hope I remember that wrong, because that would be likely this very same team...)

Thank you for the information you provided. I just submitted my feedback on the website.

YesWay · Apr 6, 2017

nimi said:
Well, if viewers only complain to each other in forums like this instead of contacting the network, there won't be much negative feedback that actually reaches the people responsible for the camera work.

Posted this link before, gonna post it again: http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2016/06/06/contact-us
Yle is the Finnish national broadcasting company - based in Pasila, Helsinki, near the Hartwall Arena - that broadcasted the competition in Finland and I think it's probably their people who were responsible for the camera work.
Scroll down, there is a contact/feedback form. it's very likely that (some of) these same people are gonna shoot the Finlandia Trophy next autumn, and who knows what else in the future, so international viewers giving some constructive criticism NOW could help in the future. (During the 4cc, didn't somebody post something about a Finnish team being selected to shoot the figure skating event at the next Olys? God, I hope I remember that wrong, because that would be likely this very same team...)

Thank you, I left feedback using the form, and also sent emails.

I've already been emailing as many people as I can regarding such things, for some time. I try to give proper reasons for my requests eg. figure skating is a sport, where points are earned according to the skater's movements and how they move across the ice. Things like extreme closeups make it impossible to see these movements so fans can't tell how well the skater is performing... and casual viewers can't appreciate the full beauty and drama of the choreography and performance. Some TV commentators are watching remotely and they need to see everything to do their jobs. Closeups should therefore not be used during actual competition performances - directors should save all their video "artistry" for warmups, and replays before and after. Etc etc

I also address stuff like motion-sickness-inducing camera movements, useless and distracting skycams, audience-obstructing camera cranes, Japanese "ice whiteouts" etc... but always relating my complaints/suggestions to reasoning like the above.

kiches · Apr 6, 2017

Pamigena said:
Yeah seems like they were pretty oblivious about several things and it usually ended with "sucks to be you". There were two instances when I just happened to be near the info desk and heard people complain about an obstructed view. One time I saw a Japanese lady try to explain to a staffer that the railing right in front of her row was too high for her to see over it, and that was a premium seat. (though I admit that this is something that you could at least see coming and avoid, unlike the weird crane camera)

You may have overheard me at the info desk then! Either way, I provided the feedback via the survey link they sent me today. I doubt anything will happen. I'm actually more peeved about the banners not all going up than the camera I guess as I could at least look around it at times.

Pamigena · Apr 6, 2017

kiches said:
You may have overheard me at the info desk then! Either way, I provided the feedback via the survey link they sent me today. I doubt anything will happen. I'm actually more peeved about the banners not all going up than the camera I guess as I could at least look around it at times.

Well I overheard and saw, and that was definitely not you :slink:

there were a few more unhappy people, I suppose.
Yeah I also mentioned the view situation in the survey, and griped about the banners some more (not that anybody will care :rolleye:

but wasn't going to miss a chance to complain about it one last time)

kiches · Apr 6, 2017

Pamigena said:
Well I overheard and saw, and that was definitely not you there were a few more unhappy people, I suppose.
Yeah I also mentioned the view situation in the survey, and griped about the banners some more (not that anybody will care but wasn't going to miss a chance to complain about it one last time)

Yep, I also griped about the banners too. That really was poorly handled. The least they could've done was be upfront about not having space. Even Boston had more space than Helsinki did for banners.

Don't hire the people who filmed this event

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