Horrible Technical Superbowl XL

[KahunaPhotog]

Did anybody besides me see how horrible the camera work and directing was for the Superbowl Pregame, Halftime and Postgame! The game aspect was fine, but all the other crap, was just that, crap.

What did yall think?

[Nightside]

I skipped the pregame coverage.

But I too noticed all the sloppiness from the second play on, when the pre-recorded player positions were being announced with graphics--then switching to the play with the players audio still going over the play. How would ABC have handled a touchdown with players pre-recorded audio announcing their positions during the action?

I thought the on-field post game lacked too. Terrible camera selection--I felt bad for Cowher. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed the ongoing tech lapses.

Was the lead guitar missing for the first couple of minutes for the Stones halftime show? It seemed to suddenly pop in.

[pre-set]

Anyone else think the video levels looked low on most of the crowd shots? Not just low, but low AND grainy. It couldn't been THAT dark in there.

Also, lots of focus issues on the handheld stuff. Like the director and A/D weren't looking at stuff too closely before taking the shot.

[lenscracker]

Lets see ... SkyCam nearly hitting a Sea Hawk player in the 2nd qtr or nearly dropping into the Pittsburg huddle in the 4th. And then there were the butt shots. Maybe a new marketing tactic to keep women interested in the game? Goal-line pylon cam no where to be seen. Would have come in handy on a couple of plays.
Camera mic not punched up during cheerleader shots.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

Like you people could've done better...

[Tippster]

Was the lead guitar missing for the first couple of minutes for the Stones halftime show? It seemed to suddenly pop in.
Somebody kicked Keith and he woke up.

[Todio]

maybe it was just the difference between commercial break lengths between USA and canada but up here there were frequent periods of dead air coming out of breaks. Really annoying.

That and being unable to get the 'cool' commercials! Canada has a policy of substituting Canadian commercials for the American ones so we got really lame old spots.

Lame, I say!

And there were a couple of switcher errors that shouldn't happen in such a big event 9although, to be fair, I've been in a truck and it's a real pressure-cooker)

[eb]

Keith thought they were playing Brown Sugar...but Ron was playing Satisfaction. THAT was the problem! ;)

The end of the game was directed horribly. There were no shots of celebrating. Only Cower at mid field looking for Holmgren. And shots of the confetti cannon....back and forth.

[Icarus112277]

Like you people could've done better...
For once I agree with you.
The people working this show are not rookies.
Sure, mistakes get made but I would wager that the problems evident in the shows coverage had reasons behind them that were impossible to correct.
The Superbowl crew is pretty consistent.

[KahunaPhotog]

For once I agree with you.
The people working this show are not rookies.
Sure, mistakes get made but I would wager that the problems evident in the shows coverage had reasons behind them that were impossible to correct.
The Superbowl crew is pretty consistent.

Yes, as a photographer, I could have done better. I'm not a director but I have seen much better coverage in past Superbowls than this one. And I'm talking about ten years ago better!

[Icarus112277]

First off, photogs don't work broadcast games. Cameramen do.
Secondly you don't know what situations were going on that may have affected the visuals.
Third if you're so good why weren't you working the Super Bowl?

[Buck]

ABC mailed it in. They are out of the NFL business now. I can't wait to see what NBC does with the NFL in 2006.

[freedom]

Lots of missed audio cues.

Lots of botched focus...that I know I could have done better; been there, done that.

[KahunaPhotog]

First off, photogs don't work broadcast games. Cameramen do.
Secondly you don't know what situations were going on that may have affected the visuals.
Third if you're so good why weren't you working the Super Bowl?


Who gives damn what title a cameraman or photog has. The shooting sucked. And "situations", thats what planning is for. Do you think they just said, "Okay, everybody ready? Go!"? And after that Superbowl, I wouldn't want to be associated with it.

[Icarus112277]

1- a lot of people
2- you can't plan for everything. I would think someone in this business would know that
3- yeah, right

[Run&Gun]

ABC mailed it in. They are out of the NFL business now. I can't wait to see what NBC does with the NFL in 2006.

But ESPN isn't. Who do you think is gonna be doing the Monday night games on ESPN? The ABC Monday night crew. Also in some shots, I saw guys that I recognize that shoot for the FOX and ABC and CBS broadcasts, and they weren't mailing it in, because those are the guys that are working every weekend.

Also, just to be fair, I had a party going on, so I didn't watch the game with as much attention as I would have liked to, so I didn't notice ALL of the bad stuff that ya'll are talking about, but I did get tired of the confetti canon shots, too.

[Icarus112277]

Exactly- ESPN-Disney= same crew
But its been pretty much the same for years anyways

[Grip]

Buck-"ABC mailed it in. They are out of the NFL business now. I can't wait to see what NBC does with the NFL in 2006."

NBC is the absolute worst at sports, look what they have done to the Olympics. NBC should stick with Barn-ball

ABC is much better

[freedom]

The ABC MNF crew will not automatically move over to ESPN MNF.

[ColorCorrection]

You should remember that viewers at home don't watch tv the same way we do. Relax and let it go Kahuna Photog. Here to Super Bowl XLI!

[dhart]

I noticed that the music mix was terrible. Vocals way under, even the civilians I was watching with noticed it. I'd blame it on the music groups mixdown but it was the same in pre-game and halftime so it looks like the truck's A-1 gets tagged.

[Dave Putnam]

ABC mailed it in. They are out of the NFL business now. I can't wait to see what NBC does with the NFL in 2006.

I sincerely doubt that anyone from "ABC mailed it in". I wasn't there so I can't speak from first hand experience but I've worked on enough big shows like this from both the network and the local side to know everyone involved is top drawer talent. Many members of the Monday Night Football technical team have been together for a long time. If I'm not mistaken, there are one or two of the folks that worked on the first broadcast in 1970 still working on the show this year. There is a lot of pride in product among those people and believe me, nobody on the crew "mails it in".

Logistically the Super Bowl is a monster. The pregame and halftime shows usually have their own crews and production trucks. Some sharing of resources and personnel between the shows takes place but it is not the norm. Keep in mind that ESPN also had a big presence with their own crews and production trucks. Throw in a large contingent of world and national press, including still photographers and crews from many local stations and you have a better feel for what they were up against.

When it comes to covering something like the Super Bowl there are several extra cameras thrown into the game coverage along with extra wireless cameras and mics. The ABC compound was a small city at the stadium. When you have a network show selling commercials for over $2 million a crack, the expectations for broadcast are pretty high. I doubt if anyone in the front office gave instructions to the show producer and director to "mail it in" either. The folks in charge are always trying to make their mark by trying something new and different when they produce a show of this caliber and the members of the technical team have good reason to strive for quality because their chance of the next big gig depends on it. As many of us know, when you walk the tightrope by trying to do something new and tricky on live TV, you sometimes have SNAFUs.

Seeing that the television viewing audience was the best in a decade, I don't think they were alienated by what some of us might consider glaring errors. IMHO, I think the technical SNAFUs on the broadcst paled in comparison to the caliber of refereeing that took place during the game and I'm not even a Seahawk fan.

[Icarus112277]

The ABC MNF crew will not automatically move over to ESPN MNF.
I would bet about 90% will be the same.

[2000lux]

I thought the audio mix for the Stones sounded awful. Even my dad (not a TV guy) noticed.

[Sportsguy]

I thought the audio mix for the Stones sounded awful. Even my dad (not a TV guy) noticed.

Apparently, the Stones sounded great in person. The TV feed, well...

I just noticed a lot of clipped mics when they were supposed to be up. Other than that, my inebriated self noticed very few other problems with the HD feed of the game.

[MOShooter]

I was watching in SD at home for the pregame music and from halftime 'til the end. The music mix was horrible. Vocals were buried, and, like sportsguy said, mics weren't potted up when they should have been. This was especially noticeable in the pregame performance, usually when anyone but Stevie Wonder was singing. I kept switching through my receiver's surround settings to see if it was a decoding issue, but couldn't find much difference between Dolby Pro Logic II and Circle Surround II. Like I said, I was restricted to SD, so I don't have the ability, just yet, to listen to the 5.1 mix, which may have been better, but if that's the case, should I be forced to listen to a sub-par mix just because I haven't upgraded to HD, yet?

As for the pylon cam, that someone else mentioned, I don't think those are HD, yet. According to articles I've read in some of the trades, ABC was attempting to make this the first Superbowl where everything from camera shots to graphics originated from an HD source, rather than being upconverted from SD to HD resolution.