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Auto Express Car Reviews
Lights, camera, action!
ITV’s live coverage of the UK’s top race series totals a huge 50 hours this season. Our man joins their team...
Text: Jack Rix / Photos: Mark Fagelson
03rd May 2008
The sound engineer runs over and grabs my arm: “Have you seen Jane?” he asks. “She’s supposed to be doing post-race interviews in two minutes!”
He doesn’t even wait around to hear my answer, before sprinting back into the pits to find his presenter. I can tell this is going to be a stressful day.
Anyone who thinks there’s anything glamorous about producing a five-hour live ITV broadcast for the BTCC is sorely mistaken. And I’ve been roped in to help out the film crew for the second weekend of the season at Rockingham.
The day kicks off with a production meeting: this sees 28 people, ranging from presenters and directors to general helpers like me, crammed into the bottom level of a double-decker bus.
Producer Nick Moody calls the shots, planning the live broadcast in as much detail as he can. But the problem with motorsport is anything can happen.
The moment the meeting is over, everyone disperses to all corners of the Northants venue – and I’m left standing in the car park wondering where I’m supposed to be! I’ve been given a set of headphones, so I can hear everything that’s going on. Commentators are on one channel. The presenters rehearsing lines are on another. And the producer is barking orders on the third.
Deciding to throw myself in at the deep end, I head to the production truck to see if I can help. This is the hub of the operation, and as I squeeze through the door into a room with more screens than the Starship Enterprise, I realise I’ve picked the wrong moment.
We’ve just gone live, and producer Nick has moved up to defcon five: “We need to fill for the next 45 minutes! Shall we go with the Ginetta race or the Clios? Quick, someone make a decision, we’re back from the break in 58 seconds!”
Unless I can see five hours into the future and plan the entire show for him, I’m not going to be much use here. So, I head to the top of the pit garages, where main presenter Ted Kravitz is stationed. Surely he’ll have an exciting but vital errand for me to run? As I approach the podium from where he’s presenting, I’m intercepted by Kravitz’s frantic personal assistant. “Water!” he screams. “We need water for the presenters! There’s lots back in the car park.” Great. That’s where I’ve just come from – and it’s a 10-minute round trip.
I return with an armful of bottles, and am instantly set my next task. “Looks like it’s going to rain, Jack,” I’m told. “See if you can find an umbrella – it must say BTCC on it.
“Try the merchandise stalls, and say it’s for Ted Kravitz. They won’t charge you anything.” I wonder what else I could say was for Ted Kravitz – like the shiny Vauxhall VXR8 on display at the entrance gate!
With the umbrella delivered, I hear over the headphones that Jane Omorogbe, the second presenter, is about to do a grid walk. So I jog across the pitlane, hurdle a concrete wall and join her and the camera crew on the starting grid. She’s about to interview the drivers, just before the race. It’s my job to clear a path for her. But I don’t know why it’s called a grid walk; she builds up to a full-on sprint between drivers – all I manage to do is nearly trip up the cameraman.
As the cars fire up their engines, we are ushered off the grid. It doesn’t get more stressful than that – although Jane disagrees. “That’s my favourite bit!” she says. “I only wish I had 10 minutes to do the interviews, not just one.” It takes a certain type of person to be a presenter!
As the touring cars scream off the line, I can hear through my headphones the director shouting which shots he wants the viewers to see, while at the same time preparing the commentators for what’s about to be shown on screen. It makes you realise just how every single picture, angle and graphic has to be chosen in real-time – as the action unfolds on the track. Ironically, the moments when the presenters are least busy is during the race.
I take this opportunity to have a chat with Ted Kravitz, and try to uncover the secret to delivering a polished programme when there’s such mayhem behind the scenes.
“The key is to be absolutely clear about what you’re doing,” he tells me. “If somebody thinks they know what’s going on, but they haven’t checked that information, I’m the one who makes a fool out of himself on camera.”
Once the racing is over, I find myself next to Alan Gow, BTCC series director. He nods as I tell him what I’ve been up to all day. “Live TV broadcasts are like a swan,” he says. “They look smooth and graceful on the surface, but underneath its feet are scrabbling around madly.” I couldn’t have described it better myself.
He doesn’t even wait around to hear my answer, before sprinting back into the pits to find his presenter. I can tell this is going to be a stressful day.
Anyone who thinks there’s anything glamorous about producing a five-hour live ITV broadcast for the BTCC is sorely mistaken. And I’ve been roped in to help out the film crew for the second weekend of the season at Rockingham.
The day kicks off with a production meeting: this sees 28 people, ranging from presenters and directors to general helpers like me, crammed into the bottom level of a double-decker bus.
Producer Nick Moody calls the shots, planning the live broadcast in as much detail as he can. But the problem with motorsport is anything can happen.
The moment the meeting is over, everyone disperses to all corners of the Northants venue – and I’m left standing in the car park wondering where I’m supposed to be! I’ve been given a set of headphones, so I can hear everything that’s going on. Commentators are on one channel. The presenters rehearsing lines are on another. And the producer is barking orders on the third.
Deciding to throw myself in at the deep end, I head to the production truck to see if I can help. This is the hub of the operation, and as I squeeze through the door into a room with more screens than the Starship Enterprise, I realise I’ve picked the wrong moment.
We’ve just gone live, and producer Nick has moved up to defcon five: “We need to fill for the next 45 minutes! Shall we go with the Ginetta race or the Clios? Quick, someone make a decision, we’re back from the break in 58 seconds!”
Unless I can see five hours into the future and plan the entire show for him, I’m not going to be much use here. So, I head to the top of the pit garages, where main presenter Ted Kravitz is stationed. Surely he’ll have an exciting but vital errand for me to run? As I approach the podium from where he’s presenting, I’m intercepted by Kravitz’s frantic personal assistant. “Water!” he screams. “We need water for the presenters! There’s lots back in the car park.” Great. That’s where I’ve just come from – and it’s a 10-minute round trip.
I return with an armful of bottles, and am instantly set my next task. “Looks like it’s going to rain, Jack,” I’m told. “See if you can find an umbrella – it must say BTCC on it.
“Try the merchandise stalls, and say it’s for Ted Kravitz. They won’t charge you anything.” I wonder what else I could say was for Ted Kravitz – like the shiny Vauxhall VXR8 on display at the entrance gate!
With the umbrella delivered, I hear over the headphones that Jane Omorogbe, the second presenter, is about to do a grid walk. So I jog across the pitlane, hurdle a concrete wall and join her and the camera crew on the starting grid. She’s about to interview the drivers, just before the race. It’s my job to clear a path for her. But I don’t know why it’s called a grid walk; she builds up to a full-on sprint between drivers – all I manage to do is nearly trip up the cameraman.
As the cars fire up their engines, we are ushered off the grid. It doesn’t get more stressful than that – although Jane disagrees. “That’s my favourite bit!” she says. “I only wish I had 10 minutes to do the interviews, not just one.” It takes a certain type of person to be a presenter!
As the touring cars scream off the line, I can hear through my headphones the director shouting which shots he wants the viewers to see, while at the same time preparing the commentators for what’s about to be shown on screen. It makes you realise just how every single picture, angle and graphic has to be chosen in real-time – as the action unfolds on the track. Ironically, the moments when the presenters are least busy is during the race.
I take this opportunity to have a chat with Ted Kravitz, and try to uncover the secret to delivering a polished programme when there’s such mayhem behind the scenes.
“The key is to be absolutely clear about what you’re doing,” he tells me. “If somebody thinks they know what’s going on, but they haven’t checked that information, I’m the one who makes a fool out of himself on camera.”
Once the racing is over, I find myself next to Alan Gow, BTCC series director. He nods as I tell him what I’ve been up to all day. “Live TV broadcasts are like a swan,” he says. “They look smooth and graceful on the surface, but underneath its feet are scrabbling around madly.” I couldn’t have described it better myself.
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