Red Bull Drifting World Championship on SPEED TV! 12.21.2008

[Brian]

Josh/Ross/Will - These 3 guys should be hired to film anything FD has it's hand in. I don't think anybody will disagree.

[J.Herron]

Ok, I was finally able to watch the redbull episode.

It's a shame the rest of the season wasn't filmed the same way. I absolutely LOVED the 24fps shots/tracking shots/crane shots. THIS is what I was talking about. One gripe, I thought everything should have been shot in 24fps instead of the mix 24/30. Kind of gave an inconsistent look. But this is just personal opinion.

Was greatly disappointed with the lack of the full top 32. I felt the super long description of what drifting is was unnecessary. Probably would have been perfect to keep the same description you guys always give during the regular episodes. I definitely think this should have been a 2 hour show, but you guys made it work with the time you had.

I'll be honest I was worried reading all of these comments, but it actually was a solid show!!

It would be awesome if all of next season was filmed the same way. Some of those shots blew my mind!

-Josh

[Formula D]

Cool, cool, this is fun. Some of you sound like me when we are cutting this shiz up. Here are some of the answers to your questions:

I was out of line with my first post, frustration just got the best of me. I just want to see the show be as awesome as possible, ya know! It's awesome that you guys actually read and listen to what we have to say and take our comments to heart...not that many people can or want to do that. If it seemed like I was out of line, or completely off base, I apologize. There's just really no excuse for NOT having a show that melts peoples faces off every time they watch it.

That's ok, no offense taken. Though some of you may have consensus on what is cool, or good looking, like music it's all subjective; well except Celine Dion which is clearly crap. Anyway, sometimes, we are at the mercy of an executive that want programming a certain way. I am in no way throwing blame elsewhere. I totally agree certain elements could be better. I sometimes find myself frustrated too at certain things. The main thing for me is translating the energy of the event to the screen. Very hard thing to do, but stuff like having the nat sound up are the little things that can help. Stuff like that.

- Cameras for the clipping points. The only one I saw was at FD vegas, but it was pointing the wrong direction. To me this should be the most important thing for filming drifting. You want the general public to know how clipping points work, but we never get to see how close they actually get. Compare the long beach episode from this year to last year. Perfect example was when Haraguchi took the clip off of the wall. You got to see how close he actually was to the wall. Now look at this year...no shots like that were there. They don't need a $10,000 camera for this. You can have an $800 Canon HV20 on a tripod facing right at the clips or one clip. Realistically you only need one of these placed at the clip or zone where drivers get the closest. This is all production value. The general public hears this and thinks, "So they are supposed to get close to those cone things" If they were to see how close some of these guys get they would say "Holy sh*t that guy is insane" or "F*ck! how did he do that?!" Imagine a camera placed at the top of the bank at Irwindale when JR scraped the wall the entire way...again, production value.

Agree, this can get overlooked for sure. I don't want to complain about the cost of production since the items you mentioned are relatively inexpensive, but all I can say is, good idea, duly noted and we should find a way to do it. Lots of cooks, lots of ideas, lots of sh*t

- Commercials. I'm sure there's probably a reason there are so many commercial breaks, but that is probably the most frustrating thing about the show. You watch one run of top 16 and then we get the whole "When we come back...." statement. I'm sure this probably has to do with the cost of the time slot, but that's something that can potentially drive viewers away. What do people do when commercials come on? They change the channel to something that isn't playing commercials at that time. What happens if they change the channel to something else that grabs their attention? You lose viewers.

There is actually nothing that can be done for this. This is standard across the board for nearly every show, even network. The exception is if a sponsor buys the hour and they air programming uninterrupted. Domestic shows are 42 minutes. That means there is approximately 18 minutes of commercials and bumps. That could mean as much as 36, :30 commercials or a mix of :30's and :60's. I'm not a fan either, but I like our sport on TV and the commercials is how it becomes possible. Keep in mind, that giving brands like Nitto and Hankook for example exposure at that level actually helps support the growth of the sport directly. So often times we have to try and remember that though we have our selfish desires to have our programming as we want it, the process is all part of being able to do this in the first place.

- Release dates for shows. The end of the season?!?! Really? This has been the biggest gripe that I've heard from EVERYONE. I mean is there any sort of reason that justifies this? There should be no reason at all for this. By the time the show airs, the buzz about the event is gone. There's usually a one month gap between events which is ample time to put out an hour long show, so why do we have to wait 5+ months to see round 1? There should be absolutely no excuse for this. Don't have the time to get into the studio to narrate the show? Find someone who does. The crew doesn't have time to put the show together? Get a crew who does. People have short attention spans, most of them forget to watch the shows by the time they air. What if there was some sort of controversy at an event, like 07 when Haraguchi brake checked tanner. Everyone was buzzing about that yet there was no footage of it until half a year after the fact. People see something crazy, they go talk about it, the buzz gets around, people want to see it for their own eyes. How easy would it be to promote the show at the event? "Tune into Speed next Sunday to see tonight's event all over again" People are going to remember this. Instead people hear "Tune into Speed at the end of the year to see tonight's event (Which happened in April)" People are going to forget all about the event by then.

There should be no reason and there isn't on our side. I'm with you all the way bro. We want a show one month after each live event with re-airs plus a block in the fall for consecutive weeks. This is what we want. This is what we asked for. We have no issue doing a show in a month. Matter of fact we generally do and it just sits on the shelf. However this is not what we got. This is what we were offered. This is what we were given. We negotiated hard too. If you feel so inclined write an email to Speed, it may help us for next year. It is true if they hear from fans that things do happen. I will mention however that, though it sucks for all of us to have to wait so long, "we" are maybe 1/10 of 1 percent of the viewing audience who have no idea of when the events took place.

of course speed is gunna have an amazing response

To the contrary actually. They are very open about what is crap and what needs to be fixed. There is no a** grabbing involved. We have to impress them, not the other way around.

so the places OUTSIDE of the USA will get the good *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*, but *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* everyone where the events actually take place??

I think I understand what you are saying, but its hard with all the censored. I think you misunderstood me. What I meant was that the INTL is being distributed to places that may have never seen drifting. I used Russia as an example. So, in that, the basics of drifting and "what is drifting" is more elaborate. In addition, there may have been a piece or two featuring a driver that was cut from the domestic show. Hard decisions, but rest assure some dude in Russia isnt getting a better show than you.

we dont need an interview about how the band is a bunch of bad drivers

Even though they are a sick band, I agree. In hindsight the individual that wanted it in agreed too after the fact that it should not have been included. Sorry.

.5 seconds of takatori dosent count. and i never heard kyle mohans name mentioned once

Kyle's name was mentioned 4 times actually if I remember correctly. I actually keep track of mentions. Mental, I know. Obviously not getting out of the round of 32 doesnt help either

im sure they would. i would if i was in their shoes. but they hardly got any actualy coverage. i saw more of MAD MIKE then i did of takatori, or ueo, or james deane.

Mad Mike made it far in the comp and is a Red Bull driver. This is the game we play folks but it was not over the top Red Bull actually doesnt like that. Notice they did not have one commercial. Everything they try to do is organic. Ueo actually actually had pretty good TV time. From mentions to actually how far he went in the event, he did pretty good. Takatori, out in 32, but featured in opening. James Deane despite being knocked out in 32 got a good crash shot and a lil love. Again, its a two hour show for sure. Send emails to Speed and we can get all the goods.

please talk to the fans that have been into drifting for a long time as well as the media guys that film at these events as well. we have ideas and insight on things to help keep it true to the drifters and not some fly by night production

I hear you bro, but Fusion is a very widely respected production house and Chabin who is the lead producer totally gets the scene and knows the guys and the stories to tell. He does read this so he will see it and I imagine he might be slightly offended with "fly by night" given they are a 20 year old production crew and produce a ton of amazing stuff, but I totally respect your opinion. Again, I hear you though.

Is there gonna be a DVD of this event all by it's lonesome? If so it would be epic to get some of the full solo runs in there, like rhys's attempted 108mph entry that he barely pulled out of.

DVD very possible. That is actually the first thing I started working on after wards. The dynamics of ownership of the production is a bit different than regular FD shows, but I'm fairly confident we can do it. If we have to cut a 2 hour DVD, it could be some time, but If I can take the INTL cut, add some b-roll and some more Top 32, we could maybe distributed it endemically through Live Sockets to get it out there quickly.

eah, I know you are Hubert.


I think my point was this,

This is a feedback thread about the biggest drifting production to date. For some reason, 99% of the people seemed to have overall negative feelings about it. That should be a red flag right from the get-go.

FD will say they liked it.
Pro drivers will probably say they liked it. (I think you are the first pro driver to respond, Hubert)
General audience will probably like it.
"core fans" don't seem to like it.

This is actually pretty true Brian. I liken it to a band that is real underground and then when more people like it, maybe the band adjusts their sounds a little bit to appeal to a wider audience and then the original core fans think the band sold out. I totally get what you are saying. I just wanna keep this on air and keep it growing. Because without that, lots of people don't have jobs. However we can do that, I'm game. If we can be like the Rolling Stones or Tool maybe where we still keep our core audience happy, but have broad appeal for masses, I think that is a win win. The core is just that, your core. So that's important to us

[Brian]

I "feel" you.

make that money.
I do my best with that too.

[J.Herron]

Thanks for clearing everything up! I was fairly sure that some of the things I mentioned were out of your guys' hands, but I wanted to ask anyways

Looking forward to next season!


If you guys ever need an extra hand, you know who to call! hahaha

-Josh

[deadpirate]

i do not mean to call the fusion guys a fly by night production. i was commenting on the production by speed TV. andy and the fusion TV guys are very good at what they do and i know and respect them greatly.

its good to know that you guys are actually considering alot of the suggestions that have been brought up in this thread.


and

thank you again. for putting on a spectacular 2008 season. see you next year

[courantcom]

Anyone have a real idea of how much that cable operated camera system is that's strung between two towers far apart from one another? The camera zips back and forth on this cable track suspended in the air.

I've seen them being used in stadium truck off-road racing. It can pace with the trucks, catch them in the jumps, as they drift around banks, etc., etc. I've also seen something like this at a football game...it paced with the football flying through the air. I think something like this could be used for drifting, but I've heard that this camera setup is super $$$,$$$.$$ I'm just picturing the setup pacing the two cars, and just sticking with them throughout their run. The cameras can pace, zoom, rotate, etc... The cable can be stretched so that the camera can be completely on top of the cars and have a total birds eye view of how close they get to one another and/or the wall.

Is there one that's LIKE it, but just more basic?

[Formula D]

i do not mean to call the fusion guys a fly by night production. i was commenting on the production by speed TV. andy and the fusion TV guys are very good at what they do and i know and respect them greatly.

its good to know that you guys are actually considering alot of the suggestions that have been brought up in this thread.

That's what I mean Deadpirate is that Fusion does everything from A-Z. Start to finish, it's all them. Speed provides no production at all. They are just the outlet.

That being said, Chaboing-boing is a great sounding board for ideas.

[courantcom]

Josh/Ross/Will - These 3 guys should be hired to film anything FD has it's hand in. I don't think anybody will disagree.

If the 3 can work together, maybe we have something here...kinda like having the 3 formula d judges. Ernie, Ken, Andy -- in no particular order.

[alex]

+1 for releasing a show within a few weeks, instead of a few months

SPEED should release some unused content online since they do not have enough time to show it all on TV

[courantcom]

+1 for releasing a show within a few weeks, instead of a few months

SPEED should release some unused content online since they do not have enough time to show it all on TV

Yah...like a "check out the website for more insight on blah blah blah..." I'm guessing they just concentrated on producing the TV show, and then just dumped the rest?

[alex]

Yah...like a "check out the website for more insight on blah blah blah..." I'm guessing they just concentrated on producing the TV show, and then just dumped the rest?

yeah
more traffic for SPEED TV's website
more exposure for Formula D and the participating teams

[Formula D]

Anyone have a real idea of how much that cable operated camera system is that's strung between two towers far apart from one another? The camera zips back and forth on this cable track suspended in the air.

We've looked into it and it is all based around there were so many factors that established a ball park cost. For example:

- What is the shot?
- How does the camera need to move?
- Is there a certain speed the camera needs to film at?
- Location
- Film format
- Union or Non-union.

But 10k and above per day is not uncommon even at the lowest common denominator.

SPEED should release some unused content online since they do not have enough time to show it all on TV

YES! We have all wanted that. We got away with some live webcasts of top 32, but we want actual footage captured from the production team

[Mars]

Im watching it for the first time right now after work. id agree with most everyone, its a good episide so far, but it does really more interviews with the other drivers, some background info about what drivers had to do just get themselves and their cars here, plus the 32 qualifiying. I was more exicted to see all the new drivers come over than the FD drivers ive seen all year long drive.

You guys should do a $10 dvd, or a web online only 2 hour no commerical episode for the diehard fans.

[deadpirate]

That's what I mean Deadpirate is that Fusion does everything from A-Z. Start to finish, it's all them. Speed provides no production at all. They are just the outlet.

then i retract my statement.

i was under the impression that speed TV did the majority of the production with a little help from fusion.