I wonder if Jake Knott was on the carpet this morning? For those who don't share my interest in the credits on TV programmes, he was the sound supervisor on last night's debate between the party leaders, and he didn't have Gordon Brown's mic faded up ready for the Labour leader's first response. When it happened, I thought "Pity the poor sod mixing this. There'll be words afterwards". The only saving grace for Mr Knott is that the director wasn't the late Stewart 'Keep the DG in shot for Christ's sake' Morris.
By the way, it was great to see all the old 'Granada TV' signs in the news coverage of the debate. When Quay Street closes, the Manchester skyline will lose a little more magic. It's already lost a bit with the removal of the lattice tower on the roof of the main office block. The debate was, unless I'm much mistaken, done in studio 6, more usually home to The Jeremy Kyle Show. It was also where they did Crown Court, Wheeltappers and Shunters and The Comedians. Please supply your own punchline.
As for who won, I couldn't care less. Brown was the most fluent. Clegg appeared to be the most sincere. Cameron ballsed up by maintaining our right to nuke China. Why couldn't I care less? We don't have a presidential system, so this debate was a mere sideshow. I'll tell you who lost, though. Alastair Stewart. Bleeding useless, much as I expected. I know Cliff Michelmore's 91 now, but he'd still have whipped Stewart's sorry arse.
3 comments:
Can I add a slightly different perspective to this? I didn't see the programme, but heard it on the car radio. I was surprised when Mr Brown followed straight on from Mr Clegg. I was expecting Alistair Stewart to invite him to speak as he did Clegg. And I expect that the sound mixer did as well. Whether this was a question of unclear direction (as has happened to me several times) or just a mistaken assumption I don't know. Perhaps it was even meant to happen that way and Brown jumped in unbidden. Watching what the vision mixer did might give a clue, but you can be sure that the sound mixer got the blame!
It would be much simpler if we could blame it all on Alastair Stewart. Just re-watching my recording, the vision mixer cuts back to Stewart, who cues Brown with a hand gesture.
Well, having looked at a lo-res jerky version, I think that the gallery expected AS to say something between speeches. The mic was faded up by the time the VM cut to Brown. Or maybe the director said something like "Alistair Next" (directed to the VM) and the SM understood this to mean that he would speak as well.
However, I can't believe that the opening, at least, would not have been rehearsed to death, and there was no intro to Cameron, so only those who were there will really know.
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