Cameras on the singer

I have wondered if the reason that the camera's keep putting their cameras on the singer, etc., if maybe the artists are saying they have to be on camera on a percentage of the time they are there? Today it seemed much better than usual. I just really loved the show this time. Of course, I like most of them a lot.

That is a great speculation, GrGranny! I never thought of that possibility before, but it could be true.

MM

It's annoying. I remember being mad during last years Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony where the camera kept focusing on Vanessa Williams while Sarah Hughes was skating. Her we hadn't seen the girl skate in almost two years.

I had remembered that Fred Astaire had made a rule that they had to show his whole body when in the movies. It seems to me, in a case like that, maybe they could put up a small picture in the top corner of the artist singing, of course, it depends on who it is as a lot of them, I don't consider they are singing.

That's always been my speculation. These musical artists need to get something out of appearing in these shows. It's publicity for them as much as for anyone else (this year, Andrea Bocelli has a new CD coming out in January, which most of the songs were off of for this show, and I think a big reason why he is taking part in this show is to push that new CD). So a certain amount of face time, I would imagine, would be part of the contract.

It's funny, b/c I was just reading on a Bocelli forum that some people found the show a waste of time b/c they showed him so little. And skating fans find that they show the musical artist too much. I do wonder why they never split screen. It's not exactly a difficult technology...

tina, you beat me to it. my question was: maybe there are people who just tuned-in to see an hear andrea? well, if i wasn't a skating nut, that would have been my reason. besides, he's awfully cute.

Oh definitely there were people who tuned in just to see Andrea, just like there are people who went to the show in Toronto just to see Andrea. The crowd turnout was rather higher than it has been at most recent pro skating events that I've attended. And Andrea's people have been pushing his appearance on this show (along with a number of other concerts and appearances he's doing this month). I even had someone from Universal Music sending me a press release about his album and the show because they're trying to reach the widest audience possible.

And in the past, when Michael Bolton was the guest star, I saw posts on the Michael Bolton message boards about his appearance on Gotta Skate, etc. When Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies was on, I even was providing information for a BNL site on his appearance...

Make no mistake - they're not just targetting skating fans with these shows. I think the idea is to draw a broader audience by mixing the singers and skaters. Fans of the singer who would never have watched skating otherwise. Fans of the skaters who might not be aware of the singer before, or not aware that the singer has a new album coming out....And if you were a fan of Andrea Bocelli, not skating, wouldn't you want to see his face more than those distracting skaters on the ice? =)

Skaters inviting live entertainers to enhance their performances have turned ice shows into variety shows. If a big star is part of the ice show then it makes sense that singer or dancer would get some camera time. They don't show up just to sing from the back room. The skaters don't mind. I imagine it is quite a challenge for the camera crew to please everyone at home - especially - it's not so bad when one attends these shows - one can focus on the skaters and not so much on the guest. However, at home we are relying on the camera man to cover the whole show. It also does not help when a two hour show is chopped down to one hour and they go to commercial break. Then we really get short changed.

I'm pretty sure that the singers have terms in their contracts where they must appear on camera for x minutes. Otherwise, there's not benefit to the skater. I agree that they shoudl use picture-in-a-picture.

last year I sent an e-mail to Disson Skating about how I was fed up with not seeing any skating during these shows. They said they would forward to the producers of the show.