FORMULA D TV #5 (New Jersey Coverage)

[J-Rod]

I know you guys did notice that the show was lengthened to an hour, which is awesome!
The producers do understand that it would be ideal to be an 1.5 hours but we'll see.
WE NEED YOU GUSY TO SUPPORT AND APPRECIATE for it to be bumped up.
Do you guys wnat more drifting action on the Round episodes?

I think extra technical commentary from somebody that speaks english on top of my screaming and shouting would be good.

[MATT BACK VASS]

hey jrod

totally off topic but


my name is matt vassallo

my nick name is matt back

but you called me matt vass on qualifying :-)

matt vassallo or matt back please! thanks dude!

[G4tv]

Ok here goes:

towards the end there was way to much commercials, like every 5 min

All of the commercials are 5-6 minutes apart. Sorry man, thats the TV format, can't do much about that.

have a camera at every corner, and you should have like an arial camera, so that you can see the whole turn or even the whole track maybe. or maybe you just need to find some better angles.

We're always looking for better angles. Some venues are easier than others. The average is about 6 cameras on track for each run plus the POV on car cameras which is as many as 3 per car. We have a jib which lets us get above the cars in at least one turn depending on the track set-up. Arial camera is probably not going to happen.

you need more than just 1 guy doing commentary.

maybe have some quick information on the car and its horsepower and what not come on the screen before hand and show what the drivers name is on screen with their car ?

I agree and I agree. I'm working on it.

yeah and if you do another carshow segment please dont do that annoying whistle.

We won't reuse the whistle. For the record I thought it was funny and asked to keep it in. Oh well, different strokes...

judges need to commentate. Period. Get someone to translate Tarzan, and get his opinions.

Explain the judging better- like where it starts on the track, what the judges are really looking for (whats the most important part of a good run? Closeness to the wall? Speed? Angle? Line?), and explain the tsuisou judging.

Ill keep watching Formula D- but only because right now you have a monopoly on US TV drifting coverage, and I like drifting more than I like most TV shows. Plus, I cant really travel to every FD event to gather my own opinions and see it for myself, so Ive got to trust you guys to bring it to me. the truth is, Id much rather see it presented more like a race event. go watch some Option videos and model your coverage off that. Please.

I don't know that the judges are the best to comentate, but I do see your point. I would like to get more of what they are looking for from the drivers, and we did try to capture that in Atlanta. We will spend more time explaining the judging as well at each event.

I'm glad you're going to keep watching the show. That's good, because we're going to keep making it There is no monopoly, we only have the exclusive on Formula Drift.

mayleen is a good co host, does the main host have to shout the entire time? How bout some postproduction commentary to add some more story to the battle. We already know its not a live show, and a lot of people already konw the results of the show, so why not give us more insight on the back stories.How bout picking a couple of drivers for each event and do a follow them type thing, everyone had issues going into the event, and it would give more character to the drivers. (for example, like the show the contender, its not great boxing that makes the show, its the stories behind the competitors that make it great)

I know, he shouted a lot. It's actually pretty loud up there between the PA and drifting and the judges and the crowd.

And to sum up:

thanks for your mostly great feedback. I'm a big fan of this sport and want to see it grow. We will never be able to make everyone happy, so were just trying to make the best show we can.

[conspire]

I thought the camera angles were fine, the problem that I saw was the amount of zoom used (actually overused) and I think a wider lens is needed on the boom camera (too much action was missed = only one car in alot of the shots). Other than that, it was like I expected and I think came out fine.

And thanks for the shot of East Coast native Nathan Brasz on the show!!1

[my 1 88 u]

more in car footage, if someone spins show the rest of the other drivers run, top
32 best qualify runs. It makes the top 16 more inportant if you can see how they got there. What better reward for trying so hard to pre-qualify than to get your best run aired nationally even if you dont make top 16. I hope to see Ross Petty, Hubert Young, Any Sapp, Tony Shultz, and more who gave some great qualifying runs but didn't make the cut when you air round 2 in june.

[G4tv]

i agree. We tried to film wider in Atlanta. We want to keep both cars in frame at all times. Wall was hard, the tandem runs were not as close at times. I also think we should track the car behind as they tend to catch up to the car in front (at least they are both in frame). I also agree, we cant zoom in so much. These are the things you learn as you go.

top 32 is harder, only because of the time. We're trying to show as much as we can. Thats why we cut spin suns short and thats why we didn't show more of 32. I wanted to, but there is only 44 minutes of TV to fill, and the top 16 dont all fit as it is. I totally agree with your point though.

In car is MUCH harder. We did a lot of in car that was unusable in Wall because it was too dark. Atlanta had even worse lighting, so we didnt use in-car as much. I want more in car in general. I want it as much as you do. We'll figure it out, but lighting at the track is a nig factor. We have lights on the on-car camera, but lights on the in-car would screw up the drivers.

We're trying different things until we find what works. We have years of drifting to cover and we'd rather try things now so we get it right in the long run. Feedback like this helps. Can't please all of you but the feedback helps us make choices.

[Mike Peters]

i thougth it was awesome for the time yall had, keep it up!

if yall can get more time though maybe a top 32 recap would be cool , also maybe a detailed explanation of the track layout, what judges want while showing different people running the track while your talking about it before you start qualifying/tandem and a short thing on the tequniques used on that part of the track for the new peopel watching?

i do understand that time constraint though. lot of info not a lot of time.

[Slapshotnerd]

Just saw the episode (yay for moving and having g4 at the new house!)

I definately agree with alot of what was said in the thread already - wider angles if possible to try and get both cars, more information on each car, etc. I also understand the time constraints, I used to work on another TV show and it was a hassle trying to cover everything adaquately and still get it all into the timeframe.

I think that the interviews with the drivers could use some work. They all seem to say the same thing... "the car is running great, i'm excited, can't wait for the next round". It might have been good to get Alex and Rhys seperate at the end so that you could get more information from both of them without having each other peering over the shoulder...

I also liked seeing the Junction-equiped G35 car. If you could profile 1 car like that at every show, that'd be awesome. And it doesn't have to be the show winner (because they always get alot of coverage), just something that's nicely modded (just like the G35!).

When the Atlanta show debuts, i'll probably have a little viewing party at my house, might have to invite some of the drivers over too since I know not all of them have access to G4. If that happens, you know you'll get some pics / feedback from me ASAP =)

[Hubert Young]

Great work! It totally protraits drifting as a professional and legitimate sport! I love it! There are a few minor details that can be improved and are already mentioned. After those, it seriously could not get any better! Keep up the good work!

One question though: Are there plans to release each round on DVD and possbility a longer show in the DVD version?

[kaneda3]

host is terrible plain and simple

didnt anyone else notice that every single time the camera was on him that he did that stupid "point at the camera and try to look cool" move
i mean it, every single time

the new chick co-host seems really solid
good voice, seems interested and involved
and as a bonus shes easy on the eyes

the other new co-host...
umm
he really doesnt look like he cares at all


finally i couldnt believe you guys dubbed in that crowd roar!! at the announcement of rhys as the winner
1/3 of the crowd left way before the final run and half of those remaining were running through the parking lot as soon as the runs were over(it was obvious who had won at that point)

maybe im wrong but it seamed oftly exaggerated to me.

[my 1 88 u]

If the dvd's include top 32 runs I will definately subscribe.

[tanner foust]

Nice job!

Regarding potential commentator additions, maybe one of the 16-32 drivers can join as a guest in the booth. For the driver that misses the cut and gets asked to serve as the show’s technical advisor this may be like chewing down the last meal while on death row; but, the commentators would gain an advisor that just spent 2 days learning the intricacies of the course.

Hopefully the driver's frustration from not being able to put 2 freaking runs together for qualifying after flying out to various corners of the country won't come through on camera. Hopefully the driver/commentator won't just stand there with drool dripping off of his/her chin muttering "man that looks fun."

On second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea. Anyway, great job G4tv!

[captobvious]

does anyone happen to have a tv capture card and want to upload this somewhere, i always seem to miss the show and i want to see it

[TIREKILLER]

Werd, I want to see it too. I would defuinately be down if they offerd them on DVD as well. Expanded coverage would be really nice too since I dont usually make it too far in competition.