Absolutely fascinating! Can someone explain the method behind the counting madness? That isn't the director, right? This can't be how every BBC music production was directed can it? I mean, Live Aid went on for hours. That would be humanly impossible! Love the look those massive cameras gliding in the studio gave. TV is 'better' now no doubt, but this older style has such charm.
Excellent video. I think thats also the late great Ron Green operating LINK 125, camera assistant and who likes like Lenny Henry in the bed. Excellent video!!
@jaworskij It's not the director, it's the script. And we use the same technique in Norway, and I would suspect that's because Norwegian broadcasters were trained by the BBC in the 50's!
Great video on this classic camera, gotta love how the female camera director instructs the cameramen on Top Of The Pops, she so sounds like an aerobics instructor, can easily imagine some chick dressed in 80s lycra on an aerobics program talkin like this to her students with some 80s dance pop playing in the background lol
I'd guess that these performances used pre-recorded fold-back music - those standard cans wouldn't keep out full volume pop making it hard to hear your talkback over the guitar amps!
@toresbe The "intercom" is a recording of production talkback. The Production Assistant is calling out the shot numbers and which camera is taking the next shot. e.g at 4.20 you hear "two, two next; three, one next; four, four next". This means we are on shot two, camera two is on the next shot, then we are on shot three and camera one is on the next shot, then shot four and cam 4 is on the next shot and so on. Explanation continued in next comment......
@toresbe ...continued. A lot of the shots are scripted to last for several musical bars, so you also get while on a particular shot a bar count. e.g at 4.44 you hear "ten, one next", which means as before, we are on shot 10 and camera one is next. Then you hear "two of seven". This means that this shot lasts for seven bars and we are on the second bar of the seven. The PA then counts the seven bars "three...four..etc" on the 7th bar she also counts beats 2 to 4 of that bar ("7,2,3,4").
@iwtoc65 Cheers for the info. I've since learned this; I got a peek of all this whilst sneaking into the OB bus whilst volunteering as a printer monkey during the 2010 Eurovision song contest in Oslo :)
Absolutely fascinating! Can someone explain the method behind the counting madness? That isn't the director, right? This can't be how every BBC music production was directed can it? I mean, Live Aid went on for hours. That would be humanly impossible! Love the look those massive cameras gliding in the studio gave. TV is 'better' now no doubt, but this older style has such charm.
nakamichiguy 2 days ago
love the music lol
MrBenbomb100 3 days ago
Excellent video. I think thats also the late great Ron Green operating LINK 125, camera assistant and who likes like Lenny Henry in the bed. Excellent video!!
101OLY 2 weeks ago
We use several of the very same Vinten head at our university college now!
bjadan 3 weeks ago
That's quite the way for the director to call out the next cameras. Must be really exhausting because it's non-standard way of doing it.
jaworskij 3 weeks ago
@jaworskij It's not the director, it's the script. And we use the same technique in Norway, and I would suspect that's because Norwegian broadcasters were trained by the BBC in the 50's!
bjadan 3 weeks ago
Great video on this classic camera, gotta love how the female camera director instructs the cameramen on Top Of The Pops, she so sounds like an aerobics instructor, can easily imagine some chick dressed in 80s lycra on an aerobics program talkin like this to her students with some 80s dance pop playing in the background lol
troysvisualarts 3 weeks ago
cool video; they should have had a PIP showing the result of the floor director's camera calls
Salmagundiii 1 month ago
I'd guess that these performances used pre-recorded fold-back music - those standard cans wouldn't keep out full volume pop making it hard to hear your talkback over the guitar amps!
Buckshot106 1 month ago
that tune is awesome
SuckMyFarts 5 months ago 2
This is amazing
BBT609 8 months ago
Absolutely fascinating.
allan5428 11 months ago
Comment removed
Ampex196 1 year ago
Link 125s - crappest cameras ever!
AidanLunn 1 year ago
@AidanLunn Oh God, yes.
joecox1990 1 year ago
Great video, thanks for sharing!
What is the string of numbers read out on the intercom at for example 2:30 and on?
toresbe 2 years ago
@toresbe The "intercom" is a recording of production talkback. The Production Assistant is calling out the shot numbers and which camera is taking the next shot. e.g at 4.20 you hear "two, two next; three, one next; four, four next". This means we are on shot two, camera two is on the next shot, then we are on shot three and camera one is on the next shot, then shot four and cam 4 is on the next shot and so on. Explanation continued in next comment......
iwtoc65 1 year ago
@toresbe ...continued. A lot of the shots are scripted to last for several musical bars, so you also get while on a particular shot a bar count. e.g at 4.44 you hear "ten, one next", which means as before, we are on shot 10 and camera one is next. Then you hear "two of seven". This means that this shot lasts for seven bars and we are on the second bar of the seven. The PA then counts the seven bars "three...four..etc" on the 7th bar she also counts beats 2 to 4 of that bar ("7,2,3,4").
iwtoc65 1 year ago
@iwtoc65 Cheers for the info. I've since learned this; I got a peek of all this whilst sneaking into the OB bus whilst volunteering as a printer monkey during the 2010 Eurovision song contest in Oslo :)
toresbe 1 year ago