Stamford, Conn., Nov. 29 - Yesterday, Speedvision's Formula 1 crew produced
their final two programs of the year, the annual The Year in Racing,
reviewing the highs and lows of the 2001 season, and a 30min special: An
exciting, fast-paced round-table discussion hosted by Bob Varsha. Both
shows were fun to make. The atmosphere in the Speedvision studios is always
light... even after I screwed up one of my voice-overs for the fifth time
(too quick - too slow - misreading words - not synchronizing my lines with
the carefully edited video footage). The more I tried to relax, to read the
line, "Michelin secured their first 'comeback' win a mere four races into
the season," the more impossible it became not to read the line as "Michelin
secured their first 'comeback' with a mere four races into the season." It
was like trying not to see an image of an egg if asked to think of anything
else but an egg. Peter Windsor had flown from Europe to join us at the
Stamford studios, and together we all offered our views and comments of the
season past, and our hopes, thoughts and predictions for the season to come.
Will Michael Schumacher continue to dominate? Will Montoya overshadow his
teammate at Williams? Is Ron Dennis' new allegiance with Michelin a good
move for McLaren, or an even better move for Ferrari? Two-way data
transmission: What is it, why is it? We were there for 12 hours, the
producer and director methodically orchestrating things; the camera guys
calmly moving and resetting their equipment for the different shots, while
the sound engineers were constantly adjusting recording levels and attaching
microphones and 'ear pieces' to the announcers as each of us was called upon
to read our lines or chat on-camera. Twelve hours to end up with sufficient
taped material for the producers to then massage into 90min of finished TV
program. A reasonably long session, but nothing compared to the tens of days
spent by the guys who patiently searched through hundreds of archive tapes,
locating and editing the relevant shots needed to add the perfect pictures
to the announcers' stories. When I worked with Benetton, one of the most
frequently heard comments from people touring our factory was how surprised
they were at the amount of people it took to manufacture and maintain the
cars. Composite specialists, machinists, fabricators (the real artists),
electricians, designers, mechanics. Hundreds of people, just to get two cars
onto a starting grid. Yet, the cameras at the circuit only reveal 20 or so
people in team shirts fussing around the garage, the other 400-500 employees
are never seen. Now, as I wander around the Speedvision facilities, I'm
always surprised by how many people I come across: Producers, directors,
assistant directors, tape machine operators, font coordinators, floor
managers, sound engineers, camera engineers, researchers. And more besides -
I just don't yet have sufficient knowledge of the profession to know what
they all do. In between takes, I love to stand at the back of the control
room and watch these pros at work. The control room buzzes during the taping
of a show, a veritable hive of activity. People are holding three different
conversations at once, calling over the top of one another: A haze of
technical parlance I can only guess at understanding. Digital clocks
precisely count the seconds - and fractions of seconds - as the separate
segments of the show are created. [This room is a shrine to state-of-the-art
microelectronics, yet Danny, the director, still grips a mechanical
stopwatch in his right hand, saying he prefers to see the sweep of the fine
black hands as they tick across the white face. He does this out of the
corner of his eye, while his main concentration is fixed on 10 more pressing
matters.] One screen of a wall of screens reveals Sam Posey sitting behind
the announcers' desk in the studio, reading his script during a voice-over.
Sam's image is on screen but he's not being filmed, only his voice is being
recorded; the timing of his delivery has to perfectly match the shot changes
of the accompanying video. Sam finishes his last line spot-on to time. Frank
Wilson, our producer, keys a microphone: "Okay, Sam, that was perfect. We'll
just check the tape, then you're done. Bob's up next." Sam gets it perfect,
first time out... it takes me five times. I try to take consolation from the
fact that Sam's been doing this TV stuff for decades; he even has awards for
it! Bob and David, too, both make this work look so easy! But the feeling of
screwing-up... well, no one likes to screw up, do they? But any trade's the
same, I guess: You watch the pros at work, and bit by bit you learn and
improve. Doesn't matter if that trade's plumbing, painting, bolting a racing
car together, writing books or recording voice-overs. Being prepared to give
it a go, I think that's the main thing, and the people at Speedvision - all
the people at Speedvision - have shown me nothing but encouragement. The
recording of these final shows marked more than just the end of the 2001
Formula 1 year, it also punctuated Speedvision's tenure at Stamford, Conn. A
wind of change is blowing through the company; the whole operation is in the
midst of relocating to Charlotte, N.C. In fact, much of the taping and
editing equipment is already in transit - and the guys began dismantling the
F1 sets the split-second our shows were finished. Indeed, the chairs the
announcers had been using during the roundtable show were leaving the studio
before we'd managed to remove our lapel microphones! The Year in Racing and
the round-table shows may be the last to feature the current F1 announce
team, too. Next year, you could see Bob Varsha hosting the channel's
exclusive coverage of the CART series. Will David Hobbs be his partner in
the booth? Nothing has been decided yet, but both are fine, professional
announcers and would be terrific on the CART shows. It has been (and I hope
it will continue to be) an honor to work alongside them, I know that Sam
would say exactly the same, too. Speedvision's new management is extremely
keen to continue their Grand Prix programming and the company remains in
negotiations to retain the rights to Formula 1. - Steve Matchett
) 2001 Speedvision Network LLC Site produced by
Racer Communications, Inc. http://www.racer.com/
Matt Murray
mattm@optonline.net
Please reply to the home domain mattm@optonline.net as I am no longer at the
mdmurray@gwns.com domain. Please, update your address book(s).
Copyright 2001, Matthew D. Murray. Permission to reproduce these words
on the list explicitly granted.
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