- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A number of sources, both here on The Roar and in the mainstream media, have reported significant drops in viewing audiences for AFL matches in 2010. If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then one need look no further than Friday’s telecast of the Fremantle-Collingwood game for an explanation.
There was a time when Channel 7 were the undisputed masters of televising Australian Football.
They were the days when the great Alf Potter was producing the broadcasts. No longer.
Alf has long departed the world and with him, it seems, has gone the ability to televise football.
Australian Football is a game which is best viewed from a distance, where the spectator can see the context of the action. It is a fast flowing and, these days, almost continuous game which requires that you can see, simultaneously, where the ball has come from and where it is going to in order to be able to follow the plot.
Rather than show this context, however, Channel 7 are in love with the close-up, darting in and out from the action like a weaver on speed.
Trouble is, despite the constant camera changes, they were frequently much too slow to get the action. All too often the picture showed the player who just handballed, but not the ball and not the recipient of the ball.
Close ups of players running failed to show the opposition players pursuing him, giving a completely false impression of what was happening. Even worse, the constant switching of camera angles meant that a ball which was one moment moving to the left of screen was next moment moving to the right of screen, all while still moving in the same direction up the ground.
Combine this with the extended ad breaks every time a goal is scored and the frustration of the viewer, unable to discern what is happening, begins to mount exponentially.
Too many cameras, too many unnecessary close-ups and too little appreciation on the part of the broadcaster of what the game is about is detracting from the enjoyment of the broadcast and ultimately may damage it.
Continual close ups may work well for the rugby codes and for soccer and certainly for American Gridiron broadcasts where the movement of the ball is less swift and generally over a lesser distance.
But continual close –ups destroy the continuity of Australian Football for the viewer, by failing to show the context of the ball movement.
It’s great to have large numbers of cameras at the ground to replay close-ups of critical action. But overuse of cameras only destroys the spectacle.
As my guitar teacher once told me, music is made as much by the strings you don’t play as by those you do.
Channel 7 should try and avoid using all cameras just because they have them. Alf Potter would be turning in his grave if he was watching the game Friday night on celestial TV.
Do something about improving your techniques Channel 7 if you are to avoid the ratings graveyard yourselves.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.