ESC 2015: booing and censorship

Let me say it like it is: now and then during the voting sequence of the final in Vienna I didn't really understand what was going on. I didn't get why the presenters and Conchita suddenly looked so stern, even less why the Russian singer was reduced to tears every time we saw her in the green room.

The next day it all fell into place as I understood the audience had been booing heavily from the moment Russia took the lead and on. On the request of Russian television, apparently, EBU and ORF had foreseen this, muted the sound of the audience and added pre-recorded cheering and applause instead.

I can agree with the live audience on one thing. Russia wouldn't be my dream choice of host under the current circumstances. I'm not convinced it would even be possible to combine this event with the present Russian legislation. But that's another thing.

Polina Gagarina had spoken up for equality, vaguely but still. She had told her social media feeds what an admirable and exceptional performer Conchita is, and defended her when people wrote nasty comments. For a singer representing Russia abroad today, this is about as far you can go. Polina Gagarina was not playing it safe and yet the audience would boo her.

Could anything she said or did have made a difference? I doubt it. She could probably have wrapped a rainbow flag around her and ended her career and still get booing in return.

I'm no big fan of booing but I enjoy censorship even less. I don't know what is the official EBU line on this, but at least SVT - next year's host - often pride themselves with being "free television" and underline the importance of trustworthy public service broadcasting.

Muting booing on political grounds, replacing it with cheerful applause, is definitely crossing a line. Altering an event, pretending that what you show is the real thing, is propaganda. It doesn't matter that this is just an entertainment show. If you start airbrushing reality in entertainment it won't be long until you change things in other areas too. To please somebody. To make somebody look better.

If public service is going to mean anything to anyone, I sincerely hope we will have more backbone and a whole lot less fake applause in the future.

ESC 2015: making television isn't easy

After the first semi final it is easy to conclude one thing. Making television isn't easy. The ESC always aims at being state of the art tv and therefore it's audience is hard to please, but there were a number of easy mistakes to spot last night.

I wouldn't blame ORF for all of them, they are inexperienced with hosting the ESC. Erika Vaal is no longer around to sort things out for them, they are excused. But the EBU are not inexperienced, however. This is what they do. And they should have paid more attention to a few things regarding the show.

The camera work has upset quite a few people watching the show. I thought it was pretty fine, but some of the cameras kept wobbling up and down. That's not nice and gives a cheap impression.

Another problem is the abundance of flags in the audience. They are fun and create an atmosphere but they keep getting into every shot, obstructing the way, blocking out what is supposed to be seen. Isn't there a way of placing the cameras so you can get clear flag-free shots?

The structure of the show was an even bigger problem. Two hours is a long time to fill and most of the filler material really wasn't good enough. The chat with Australia and France went on forever and added precious little of value. That clip where pets discover Vienna was a bit cute but far too long. That idea would have worked for a maximum of 90 seconds or so.  Conchita was great in the green room but she did have a lot of time to fill. We saw more of her than of our actual hosts.

Speaking of our hosts, I am sure they are all three lovely people with great personalities. But there was no room for them to develop any roles. Like a three-headed monster they just stood together, reading one line each from a script that one single host could have handled brilliantly alone. Like three girls at school, reading their project work straight off the paper.

But the biggest flop of the first semi was - undoubtedly - the complete lack of excitement and circumstance when the qualifiers were revealed. All that non-content had been allowed to take up so much time that there was no time left for what we had all tuned in to see.

I hope there have been meetings in the Eurovision headquarters today, addressing these issues. It would be so easy to tweak things still. Make them better. Make more appealing television. I really don't mean to whine or trash Austrian tv here but there are people who work all year round with this very show. Why didn't anyone perform any quality control before the first semi went on air?

Camera angles and stuff

Singing on television is not an easy job. You can sometimes be lead to believe it is easy since some people make it look easy, but if you are a newcomer you could really do with some good advice from somebody who knows.

At this very moment, I am thinking of Clarissa and Josh in the Finnish final this year. This is what their performance looked like in the second heat:



Clarissa feat Josh - Top Of The World

Perhaps I would have a few objections to their styling - particularly that hood covering Josh's head for far too long - but that is less important here. Easy to fix, a light makeover could take care of that. There are much bigger problems here.

It is hard to sing and dance at the same time. Clarissa is moving quite a lot on stage - especially before Josh comes in - and it clearly affects her vocal abilities. Better to stand still and let the camera-work create the movement instead.

There must be chemistry. If you sing a duet, the audience wants to believe you have something going on between you. Standing very far apart throughout the entire performance is not a good way of achieving this.

It also looks ugly. The cameras can never catch both of you in the same frame without using a very wide shot of the entire stage. For television viewers, you will look like strangers dancing on your own. It takes two minutes before we get the first image of Clarissa and Josh standing together and it is a very short one. Too little, too late.

You must always be aware when the camera is on you. At 2:28, Clarissa gets a close-up at the same time as she starts jumping up and down, seemingly spontaneously. Had she instead sung straight at the camera, she would reach out much better to the viewers at home.

When you are singing at a concert it is important to focus on the people seated in front of you and try to convince them of your greatness. When you sing on television, it is so much more important to focus on the cameras. You sing for the people at home - the people in the hall are a special effect and not your prime target.

If Clarissa and Josh make it to the final - which I hope and think they will - I hope they will throw their present stage presentation out the window and start over from scratch. Find a choreographer who understands television, cut down on the dancing, stay closer to each other - so that the cameras can deliver many tight and pretty shots of the two of you together - and make sure you are always aware of where the cameras are. You don't have to look into them all the time, but you must be aware of them.

Eurovision is above all a television show. Design your performance for television and you will be fine. (Ignore the cameras and you lose.)