In hosting the Q&A session with Adrian Chiles in the sixth form centre back in December, Ollie and I both received extensive advice and support from him on how to establish yourself in the ever-changing industry of Journalism. Adrian also promised us the chance to go to a live ITV match production to see how the actual material we see on our screens gets put together. He was true to his word and before we knew it we were making our way up the M6 to see the FA cup sixth round encounter between Everton and Wigan Athletic.
We were told to meet him at the broadcast trucks in the stadium car park and at 10.30AM we had arrived. Adrian took us on a brief tour of the two major trucks in which ITV were operating and introduced us to a few important people before he had to go to the studio to begin rehearsing. All of the production staff were very friendly and enlightened us to the countless logistics behind producing a two hour transmission.
The first broadcast truck housed around 20 people and was known as the VT room. Each of the workers followed different camera feeds and significant moments in the game prompted loud recommendations for particular shots to be used on air.
It was then the role of the Vision Mixer, along with the director, to select the feeds to go to broadcast. The feeling of calm was inspiring and I was particularly taken aback by the complete lack of nerves shown by everyone, even when the goals were going in. And they were: Wigan scored 3 goals in just 3 minutes and 23 seconds! Ollie and I spent a half each in this truck as well as enjoying 45 minutes observing the ongoings of the other truck. This other truck was the OB truck (gallery). In here were the senior producers, the editor and most importantly the director. The director had a multitude of live feeds at his disposal (there were 27 cameras inside the stadium) and this array of screens enabled him to accurately choose which one to put to air. He remained in contact with the entirety of his team and it was interesting to see the camera feeds change when he required them to. For instance, Wigan midfielder Ryo Miyaichi was the subject of an ankle injury during the second-half and the director wanted a brief shot of him being stretchered off. One of the cameramen inside the stadium was consulted, the feed switched accordingly and like clockwork this was then put to air. How simple. What wasn’t simple however was the rush to finish the show on time after a lengthy period of added time. After all, ITV is commercialised. Advert breaks are an obligation and the programme must go off-air at a certain time. Pundits Lee Dixon and Gareth Southgate concisely summarised the match before Adrian conducted a brisk interview with Wigan manager Roberto Martinez. This left just enough time for Mr Chiles to finish off the production uttering a closing line of ‘good afternoon’ just as the assistant in his ear reached the end of her countdown. That was it. Success.
We waited in the truck for a while after the game and thanked various crew members for their hospitality. John (the director) asked us if we had understood what had been going on and despite the obvious lack of expertise, I feel we had gained a fairly decent grasp of it all. The technology was all completely mind-blowing and the casual way in which each of the crew members were able to manipulate it all was particularly impressive.
Adrian soon returned and we both expressed our gratitude for this terrific and enlightening opportunity. There was a bit of coming and going in the truck and the next thing we knew we were standing next to ex-England international footballer-turned pundit Lee Dixon, as well as the well-known commentary team of Jim Beglin and Peter Drury. Not too bad a crowd for even the average football fan.
A long journey home ensued, however reminiscences of the things we had learnt as well as the obligatory service station pit-stop kept us in high spirits.
A great day topped off with a great KFC chicken fillet burger meal…
We were told to meet him at the broadcast trucks in the stadium car park and at 10.30AM we had arrived. Adrian took us on a brief tour of the two major trucks in which ITV were operating and introduced us to a few important people before he had to go to the studio to begin rehearsing. All of the production staff were very friendly and enlightened us to the countless logistics behind producing a two hour transmission. The first broadcast truck housed around 20 people and was known as the VT room. Each of the workers followed different camera feeds and significant moments in the game prompted loud recommendations for particular shots to be used on air.
It was then the role of the Vision Mixer, along with the director, to select the feeds to go to broadcast. The feeling of calm was inspiring and I was particularly taken aback by the complete lack of nerves shown by everyone, even when the goals were going in. And they were: Wigan scored 3 goals in just 3 minutes and 23 seconds! Ollie and I spent a half each in this truck as well as enjoying 45 minutes observing the ongoings of the other truck. This other truck was the OB truck (gallery). In here were the senior producers, the editor and most importantly the director. The director had a multitude of live feeds at his disposal (there were 27 cameras inside the stadium) and this array of screens enabled him to accurately choose which one to put to air. He remained in contact with the entirety of his team and it was interesting to see the camera feeds change when he required them to. For instance, Wigan midfielder Ryo Miyaichi was the subject of an ankle injury during the second-half and the director wanted a brief shot of him being stretchered off. One of the cameramen inside the stadium was consulted, the feed switched accordingly and like clockwork this was then put to air. How simple. What wasn’t simple however was the rush to finish the show on time after a lengthy period of added time. After all, ITV is commercialised. Advert breaks are an obligation and the programme must go off-air at a certain time. Pundits Lee Dixon and Gareth Southgate concisely summarised the match before Adrian conducted a brisk interview with Wigan manager Roberto Martinez. This left just enough time for Mr Chiles to finish off the production uttering a closing line of ‘good afternoon’ just as the assistant in his ear reached the end of her countdown. That was it. Success.
We waited in the truck for a while after the game and thanked various crew members for their hospitality. John (the director) asked us if we had understood what had been going on and despite the obvious lack of expertise, I feel we had gained a fairly decent grasp of it all. The technology was all completely mind-blowing and the casual way in which each of the crew members were able to manipulate it all was particularly impressive. Adrian soon returned and we both expressed our gratitude for this terrific and enlightening opportunity. There was a bit of coming and going in the truck and the next thing we knew we were standing next to ex-England international footballer-turned pundit Lee Dixon, as well as the well-known commentary team of Jim Beglin and Peter Drury. Not too bad a crowd for even the average football fan.
A long journey home ensued, however reminiscences of the things we had learnt as well as the obligatory service station pit-stop kept us in high spirits.
A great day topped off with a great KFC chicken fillet burger meal…
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