Skip to main content

Keep Your Eye On The Ball: Filming Snooker

Just don't miss the ball.
- Unknown.

  I'll admit I've never had too much of an interest in snooker or pool (other than in the pub). But today I found myself somewhat fixated when voluntarily watching Ronnie O'Sullivan reach his record-extending 13th Masters final with a 6-3 victory over Ding Junhui.

 Watching the match televised live, I could fully appreciate how many different cameras were covering the game at Alexandra Palace: a wide safety shot (see below); one on each quarter of the table; reaction shots of the players, audience and officials to name a few. The vision mixer must have a field day!
The wide safety shot in today's game (Source: BBC Sport)
  As well as being impressively shot using probably more cameras than University Challenge* ever has, what I also find impressive is the level at which snooker is covered by broadcasters. According to wheresthematch.com, today's semi-final was broadcast live on BBC2, BBC1, BBC1 Scotland, Eurosport 2, and BBC Connected TV. 

 According to Simon Mahon of BBC Genome, snooker was only covered a handful of times on black and white TV in the 1950s and 60s. It later saw a rise in popularity, and on April 28th 1985, BBC2 live broadcast snooker legend - and now BBC commentator - Dennis Taylor beating Steve Davis in an ever on-going match which continued until 12:30am (cutting the broadcast of Charles Dicken's Bleak House which was scheduled for 22:10 that evening - showing how significant the match really was). BBC2 reached 18.5 million viewers, this still being a record audience for both them and any UK programme broadcast after midnight.

 The BBC hasn't always been one to cut a show for the sake of snooker however. According to The Guardian, in 2013, World Snooker chairman, Barry Hearn, criticized the BBC for pulling the plug on coverage of Ronnie O'Sullivan's opening Crucible match. O'Sullivan was near victory in what was his first match since announcing his comeback when BBC2 switched coverage to show a repeat of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em at 20:00. For anyone other than avid watchers of the sitcom, was not taken lightly.

 At the time, the BBC had just signed as host broadcaster of the snooker World Championship, UK Championship and Masters tournaments until the end of the 2016-17 season. Barry Hearn once again piped up at this, saying these events were "among the highlights of the sporting calendar, so [it was] terrific that they will remain on terrestrial television".

 Six years on from this announcement, the BBC are still covering these major events in snooker at the forefront of the sport's televised broadcast. Nevertheless, according to sport-onthebox.com, the 2018/19 season is also being covered by Eurosport, Quest, and ITV4 - so it's not all down to the BBC fortunately, although you'd be mistaken if you thought they didn't carry most the load when it came to snooker.

Where snooker is being broadcast in the 2018/19 season (Source: sportonthebox.com)

*Please don't quote me on that - it's mainly a throwback to first year studying TV shows...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hierarchy of Snowsports: In conversation with Jack Tompkins

Today I had the pleasure of catching up with sports cinematographer, Jack Tompkins, following his return from filming for his company, Ski The Kingdom , just outside of Geneva in Switzerland.  Jack out filming in Switzerland (Source: Instagram @jackwrtompkins)   Check out what he had to say about the latest film kit making a name for itself in the snowsports industry; the impact the popularity of snowsports filming has had on the sport itself; plus, we chat about the professional skier whose turning to vlogging for publicity and entertainment... If you've got a spare few minutes, also have a quick look at Jack's blog - full of brilliant ideas and advice about making it in the film industry!
Post a Comment
Read more

What The People Want: How We Watch Sport

It's funny how sport can become such a part of one's life. And in recent years, this has been partly down to the media.  Before the likes of TV sports broadcast, if you wanted to watch a sporting event, you had to physically go to experience it. And although - thanks to developments in technology and social media - we have a huge breadth of sports content available to us, most of us prefer watching sport in real life.   In a recent survey I conducted (of which I had nearly 50 responses)*,  75%  said they preferred watching sport in real life over on TV. This was mainly so they could experience a more immersive atmosphere, and to have control over what they were watching. One participant, for example said "watching [athletics] in real life makes you realize how fast people actually run, how far they jump and throw: you get to see your idols in person". Nevertheless, those who preferred watching in the comfort of their own home praised the accessibility and ease...
Post a Comment
Read more

British Indoor Athletics Championships: Filming Athletics

Last weekend saw the  Spar British Indoor Athletics Championships  take place in Birmingham. The two day event was broadcast live on the  BBC  both on connected TV and online. It saw the likes of Chris O'Hare and Laura Muir win their respective 3000m titles, and Muir's training partner, Jemma Reekie secure her place in the upcoming European Indoors.  Athletics is a fascinating sport - mainly on a very personal level for me - to study how it is filmed. I have watched TV broadcast athletics meets for most my life, and have had many a conversation with my Dad to how cameras could follow the likes of Usain Bolt at such a speed. Usain Bolt winning in Beijing 2008 Olympics (Source: The Independent)  The sport has seen some major technological innovations support the execution of the sporting events. For instance, Hawk-Eye developed SMART Replay technology which "helps  at IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations] relay tourna...
Post a Comment
Read more