Would a ‘Spotter’ in the broadcast booth help the broadcasters?

Snoqualmie
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1/25/2020 7:07pm Edited Date/Time 1/26/2020 10:16am
Not sure if this has been discussed

Al Michaels has a Spotter for his NFL games as an example Malibu Kelly Hayes is one

Idea is to help process in real time what is going on to help the broadcaster stay on top of things

Could this work for SX broadcasters?
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mxnick
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1/25/2020 7:27pm
There is and always has been a spotter, sometimes two. Bevo and Jim Holley usually do it. I had the pleasure of doing it at Santa Clara a few years back. It’s a tough job, but you are always looking for battles.
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crowe176
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1/25/2020 7:31pm
This dude is a spotter?? LMAO
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Snoqualmie
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1/25/2020 7:38pm
mxnick wrote:
There is and always has been a spotter, sometimes two. Bevo and Jim Holley usually do it. I had the pleasure of doing it at Santa...
There is and always has been a spotter, sometimes two. Bevo and Jim Holley usually do it. I had the pleasure of doing it at Santa Clara a few years back. It’s a tough job, but you are always looking for battles.
Really. Did not know. Actually very surprised that they are there given the amount of errors the broadcasters make. Scratching my head right now....understand the challenges but still.
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The Shop

Regis
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1/25/2020 8:28pm Edited Date/Time 1/25/2020 8:31pm
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they are. It really comes down to the truck and producer watching all the cameras and putting on the broadcast the best possible action.

Super tough job done in real time at the mercy of the team. Monday morning qb’s always think they can do it better.
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p0wn
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1/25/2020 9:12pm
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes are being made and Will's telling us about how many bowel movements alex ray had that day it gets super frustrating.
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Crush
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1/25/2020 9:15pm
crowe176 wrote:
This dude is a spotter?? LMAO [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/01/25/400440/s1200_2017_UNADILLA_NATIONAL_MOTOCROSS_49.jpg[/img]
This dude is a spotter?? LMAO
About as biased as little Johnny is angry too.
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Fourth_Floor
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1/25/2020 9:50pm
Bring Emig back!! RC and Fro in the booth!!!!!
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1/26/2020 6:11am
p0wn wrote:
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes...
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes are being made and Will's telling us about how many bowel movements alex ray had that day it gets super frustrating.
You don’t like Ralph mentioning mossimans “fun facts” 10 times last night assume.
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TDeath21
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1/26/2020 6:36am
p0wn wrote:
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes...
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes are being made and Will's telling us about how many bowel movements alex ray had that day it gets super frustrating.
You don’t like Ralph mentioning mossimans “fun facts” 10 times last night assume.
People on this forum who are hardcore fans don’t care. But the casual viewer? Yeah that’s a cool little wrinkle to them. They aren’t announcing the race for us. We know that Tomac hasn’t won the SX Championship and he’s number 3 on the green Kawasaki. We know that Anderson was the 2018 Champion. We know what caused X rider to crash and we don’t need a detailed explanation from RC. Etc etc. But casual viewers might not know any of that stuff, and that’s what the announcing is catering toward.
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Zaugg
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1/26/2020 7:03am
p0wn wrote:
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes...
The broadcasters need to learn to drop these narratives they keep trying to bring up while something exciting happens. It's good filler content but when passes are being made and Will's telling us about how many bowel movements alex ray had that day it gets super frustrating.
You don’t like Ralph mentioning mossimans “fun facts” 10 times last night assume.
You mean twice....He only mentioned that twice. (I actually thought that was cool additional info about Mossiman actually.)

You sound like a real pleasure to be around in real life. HAHAHA (That's sarcasm for you keeping score at home.)

racerxx276
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1/26/2020 9:12am
as I understand it the announcing staff are in the NBC trailer and only see what we see on the screen. They are not watching a race live. Seems pretty dumb but what else is new...
tingo
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1/26/2020 9:38am
racerxx276 wrote:
as I understand it the announcing staff are in the NBC trailer and only see what we see on the screen. They are not watching a...
as I understand it the announcing staff are in the NBC trailer and only see what we see on the screen. They are not watching a race live. Seems pretty dumb but what else is new...
I don't think this is correct. The director may be in the trailer and deciding which cameras to broadcast live, but Ralffey and RC are both looking at screens AND watching the race from a booth high above the stadium floor.
Regis
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1/26/2020 9:53am
racerxx276 wrote:
as I understand it the announcing staff are in the NBC trailer and only see what we see on the screen. They are not watching a...
as I understand it the announcing staff are in the NBC trailer and only see what we see on the screen. They are not watching a race live. Seems pretty dumb but what else is new...
tingo wrote:
I don't think this is correct. The director may be in the trailer and deciding which cameras to broadcast live, but Ralffey and RC are both...
I don't think this is correct. The director may be in the trailer and deciding which cameras to broadcast live, but Ralffey and RC are both looking at screens AND watching the race from a booth high above the stadium floor.
You are correct,


Could you imagine the absolute meltdown this place would have if RC and Sheheen were taking about some good racing that wasn’t on the TV!?!? Holy shit.

all live race announcing is done this way. You talk about what is on the monitor. What the TV broadcast is showing.
Snoqualmie
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1/26/2020 10:08am
Regis wrote:
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they...
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they are. It really comes down to the truck and producer watching all the cameras and putting on the broadcast the best possible action.

Super tough job done in real time at the mercy of the team. Monday morning qb’s always think they can do it better.
It is just my opinion that a good spotter would make Ralph or Leigh more accurate as they called the race. This is not a thread on their style. A spotter who knows who the riders are and maybe even uses binoculars could help improve the race narrative by funneling the info to the broadcasters. There are too many errors currently- my opinion.
Regis
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1/26/2020 10:15am Edited Date/Time 1/26/2020 10:16am
Regis wrote:
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they...
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they are. It really comes down to the truck and producer watching all the cameras and putting on the broadcast the best possible action.

Super tough job done in real time at the mercy of the team. Monday morning qb’s always think they can do it better.
Snoqualmie wrote:
It is just my opinion that a good spotter would make Ralph or Leigh more accurate as they called the race. This is not a thread...
It is just my opinion that a good spotter would make Ralph or Leigh more accurate as they called the race. This is not a thread on their style. A spotter who knows who the riders are and maybe even uses binoculars could help improve the race narrative by funneling the info to the broadcasters. There are too many errors currently- my opinion.
Honestly, I understand what you are saying. However, we all talk about this stuff in heind sight. Not within seconds of it happening. it’s easy to knit pick, even 1 minute after it has happened.
Alex.434
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1/26/2020 6:47pm Edited Date/Time 1/26/2020 6:56pm
It's more of a truck thing.

I work in esports production currently and we have what we call 'subject matter experts' in the truck who are former esports pro's (aka: know the games inside and out) and sit alongside the show producer and show director. The Subject Matter Expert (SME) can see EVERY SINGLE camera that is filming. In esports, we at times have 32 different games going on (in the lower brackets) and the SME will look and see what games are 'going off', let the director know, and then the director can switch the broadcast over to the more interesting game. Or in a game that's 6v6, the SME can see every player's POV, and call out which player the 'live feed' should be moving to.

The Director makes the final call, but the SME can help the Director make that choice by providing intel.

The Show Producer mostly sits there tracking the Run of Show (ROS) which is the second by second blueprint of everything that happens in the show. Every graphics package, in-broadcast feature, commercial break, toss to the floor, etc is pre-planned out in the ROS. The Producer communicates to Talent (Ralph, Ricky, Blair, and Will) what's coming up next, what tosses to make, and basically what's going on.

The Talent all have multiple people talking in their ear during the show. The Producer does most of the comms to them, but they can also speak directly to the Director. Plus they have the Live Feed normally, and they are talking to you. So when they are talking to you, they often have 1-2 people passing instructions to them in their ear "okay Ralph wrap this segment and toss to Blair. Blair you have :30 seconds and then over to Will"

In live action sports, like SX, your SME would be seeing all of the live cameras, and seeing what's going on on-track, and relay to the Director 'hey battle for 5th Webb and Adam is heating up) and then Director can then 'go to that camera'. Every single camera has it's own screen in the truck, and someone sitting at the main board can see them all.

I don't know if SX has a SME in the truck, but I do know I've been very unimpressed with how the director calls the show. Bad PIP (picture in picture) calls. Bad on-screen graphics. Miscues coming out of break. It's really bad. To be fair, the Show Producer and Show Director 99.9% of the time aren't really experts in the sport they are working (that's what the SME is for) but most of the miscues I see are basic show production things, regardless of your familiarity with the sport.

While I'm on the subject, here's the talent team breakdown.

Ralph - Play x Play: Ralph is your main play x play broadcaster. He's the show host also. Meaning he intros us at the top of show, coming off breaks, and closes the show out. During racing, he's calling the action primarily.

Ricky - Color: Ricky in the color commentator. He gives Ralph breaks and helps add 'color' to what's going on. He'll take the cue from Ralph and just paint in a little more detail. He also is the 'Pro Perspective' guy, the former racer, champion, who knows what it's like to be out there and can give that Pro POV.

Blair - Analyst: Blair seems mainly in the analyst role. They go to him to break down a section of the track, giving insights and detail to what's going on. He does a little bit of side line reporting also.

Will - Sideline Reporter / Interviews: She's in the sideline reporter/interviews role. Pretty self-explanatory.

Hope that helps explain a bit of what goes on. As I do not work on the SX broadcast... I'm using my experience on other broadcasts to make some educated guesses, but it's all pretty basic TV 101 stuff.
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EngIceDave
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1/26/2020 6:53pm
Regis wrote:
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they...
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they are. It really comes down to the truck and producer watching all the cameras and putting on the broadcast the best possible action.

Super tough job done in real time at the mercy of the team. Monday morning qb’s always think they can do it better.
Correct

If the camera is on some guy, they’re not going to start talking about some guy down in the sand

You guys blame the announcers for shit, when they’re to announce what you see.
They don’t control the broadcast.

If you want to blame direction or production, that’s fine, but some of you also seem to think the broadcasts are tailored for experienced and knowing MX racers, it’s not, it’s produced towards the least knowledgeable.
Zaugg
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1/26/2020 7:02pm Edited Date/Time 1/26/2020 7:04pm
Alex.434 wrote:
It's more of a truck thing. I work in esports production currently and we have what we call 'subject matter experts' in the truck who are...
It's more of a truck thing.

I work in esports production currently and we have what we call 'subject matter experts' in the truck who are former esports pro's (aka: know the games inside and out) and sit alongside the show producer and show director. The Subject Matter Expert (SME) can see EVERY SINGLE camera that is filming. In esports, we at times have 32 different games going on (in the lower brackets) and the SME will look and see what games are 'going off', let the director know, and then the director can switch the broadcast over to the more interesting game. Or in a game that's 6v6, the SME can see every player's POV, and call out which player the 'live feed' should be moving to.

The Director makes the final call, but the SME can help the Director make that choice by providing intel.

The Show Producer mostly sits there tracking the Run of Show (ROS) which is the second by second blueprint of everything that happens in the show. Every graphics package, in-broadcast feature, commercial break, toss to the floor, etc is pre-planned out in the ROS. The Producer communicates to Talent (Ralph, Ricky, Blair, and Will) what's coming up next, what tosses to make, and basically what's going on.

The Talent all have multiple people talking in their ear during the show. The Producer does most of the comms to them, but they can also speak directly to the Director. Plus they have the Live Feed normally, and they are talking to you. So when they are talking to you, they often have 1-2 people passing instructions to them in their ear "okay Ralph wrap this segment and toss to Blair. Blair you have :30 seconds and then over to Will"

In live action sports, like SX, your SME would be seeing all of the live cameras, and seeing what's going on on-track, and relay to the Director 'hey battle for 5th Webb and Adam is heating up) and then Director can then 'go to that camera'. Every single camera has it's own screen in the truck, and someone sitting at the main board can see them all.

I don't know if SX has a SME in the truck, but I do know I've been very unimpressed with how the director calls the show. Bad PIP (picture in picture) calls. Bad on-screen graphics. Miscues coming out of break. It's really bad. To be fair, the Show Producer and Show Director 99.9% of the time aren't really experts in the sport they are working (that's what the SME is for) but most of the miscues I see are basic show production things, regardless of your familiarity with the sport.

While I'm on the subject, here's the talent team breakdown.

Ralph - Play x Play: Ralph is your main play x play broadcaster. He's the show host also. Meaning he intros us at the top of show, coming off breaks, and closes the show out. During racing, he's calling the action primarily.

Ricky - Color: Ricky in the color commentator. He gives Ralph breaks and helps add 'color' to what's going on. He'll take the cue from Ralph and just paint in a little more detail. He also is the 'Pro Perspective' guy, the former racer, champion, who knows what it's like to be out there and can give that Pro POV.

Blair - Analyst: Blair seems mainly in the analyst role. They go to him to break down a section of the track, giving insights and detail to what's going on. He does a little bit of side line reporting also.

Will - Sideline Reporter / Interviews: She's in the sideline reporter/interviews role. Pretty self-explanatory.

Hope that helps explain a bit of what goes on. As I do not work on the SX broadcast... I'm using my experience on other broadcasts to make some educated guesses, but it's all pretty basic TV 101 stuff.
To this point, for people who know what happens behind the camera, I agree, this is more of a director/ producer/ production staff shortfall.

It's easy to blame the announcers because that's all most people know, see, and hear. Seems everyone on here wants to blame Ralph and RC because they don't understand that both of them have people yapping in their ear while they're trying to pay attention to the race AND simultaneously calling the action. I hear too many times responses that Ralph is a professional and he should be better. Even Diffey, who is a seasoned motorsports announcer was struggling. My guess due to frustrations with production staff.

Would be interesting to know if Ralph and Leigh shared notes on just how frustrating it is working with this particular production crew. (If it is frustrating.)

I've heard both Ralph and Leigh announce other events and sound amazing. Perhaps the real reason the show is bad is because of the guy in Ralph and RC's ear. haha






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Shenzi
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1/26/2020 7:03pm
Regis wrote:
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they...
The announcers announce what is being shown to us. They aren’t going to talk about something that would frustrate the viewer who isn’t seeing what they are. It really comes down to the truck and producer watching all the cameras and putting on the broadcast the best possible action.

Super tough job done in real time at the mercy of the team. Monday morning qb’s always think they can do it better.
the adult in the room.....
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