am·bi·ance

[Jimmy_22]

[am-bee-uhns]

1. the mood, character, quality, tone, atmosphere, etc., particularly of an environment
2. that which surrounds or encompasses; environment.

I was watching College Football on Saturday and something hit me - I found myself watching the game with the most ambiance. Constant crowd noise, snare drums beating in the background, exciting announcers, and an overall feeling of a big time event. I preferred watching the Purdue and IU games, but found myself gravitating towards the Auburn, Notre Dame, and Alabama games. Why - because the ambiance made me stay.

How can we apply this same theory to ICS TV programming? I think a lot of it could be done by simply pumping more of the background sounds into the feed. Crank up the sounds of the air jacks (guns) and burnouts. Make it feel big. Give my ears a reason to get excited.

Bottom Line - the the ICS TV product is missing Ambiance.

[prell5713]

Astute observation. I too found the Alabama game interesting. Largly because of what I saw off field. http://www.americasbestonline.net/cheerleaderfun.htm

[gonzo]

How can we apply this same theory to ICS TV programming?

You need to start by having fans in the grandstands.

[stnkypete]

Crank up the sounds of the air jacks and burnouts.

Awfully hard to get the sound of the comparatively silent airjack when you have a basically unmuffled engine bouncing off the rev-limter during the pit stops.

[Formula Indy]

Ignore the angry puppet, I think it is a great idea. They can practice next year and be ready for the sweet sound of turbos in 2012. If there are not enough sounds naturally on the the broadcast, then pipe some in. They are pretty good at that stuff now, and you wouldn't consciously notice if done properly, imho

[Jimmy_22]

Awfully hard to get the sound of the comparatively silent airjack when you have a basically unmuffled engine bouncing off the rev-limter during the pit stops.

I guess I meant the air guns !!!

[Turn13]

Ambiance can be fed by the "buzz" that precedes it - media, as well as interpersonal communications included.

For the live event, I've long advocated some part of the broadcast be from the "fans in the stands" perspective. Harder to do that with the thin crowds these days, though.

[gonzo]

Ambiance can be fed by the "buzz" that precedes it - media, as well as interpersonal communications included.

For the live event, I've long advocated some part of the broadcast be from the "fans in the stands" perspective. Harder to do that with the thin crowds these days, though.

I've often wondered why the television broadcast team doesn't put spotters at certain points on the track similar to what the radio broadcast does. You want ambiance, there was nothing cooler to capture the ambiance then when they had Derek Daly (I think it was) standing on the inside corner of the hair pin at Long Beach with a cameraman years ago. They cut to him a couple times and it was amazing. The cars looked like they were going to run him over, the sunlight sparkled off the cars, and you could hear them scream as they jumped on the gas as they rounded the corner. The crowd was right on top of him also so you got the whole sense of the crowd, you could feel the excitement.

It's not hard to do, but what do you expect from a crew and series that has had Scott Goodyear in the booth for as long as he's been there putting fans to sleep.

You want ambiance? Put Lindy Thackston against the fence in turn one at Indy when they come flying by. Nothing would capture the ambiance better! I think fans that have never been to a live event would crap there pants when they saw the cars go by in that perspective.

[stnkypete]

You want ambiance? Put Lindy Thackston against the fence

There fixed that for you. Now THAT would improve ambience.

[11rowsof3]

One word... "vuvuzela"

[Motie]

I agree with you about the ambience, but why do we have to teach the TV guys how to do their job? How many decades have they been broadcasting races? Why do they keep getting worse and worse? Don't they teach you how to put a show together in broadcasting school? You would think that Randy Bernard would be very sensitive to this issue. Is he moving on it?

[gonzo]

You would think that Randy Bernard would be very sensitive to this issue. Is he moving on it?

No, he's busy building lame arse trophies.

[THE BEAR]

It's a wonderful suggestion, but the sport just doesn't attract enough interest, outside of Indy, to have much 'buzz' surrounding it.

I am thinking we need to take a step back to bring interest and drama to the sport. Yes, we have a few more entries lately, but still not much competition. There is more than one way to create competition...it is not just cars racing on a wide open track.

I'm thinking we need to go back to smaller venues....places that seat 20 or 25,000 and have a 3/4 mile or so oval...one mile for many of them. Run a couple of times each week, similar to the WOO schedule. You'll put the product in front of more people, and it wil be at the local level. Let's face it, running in front of 100,000 empty seats with 25,000 people scattered around a big track just looks silly. It makes the situtation look worse than what it actaully is: a smaller, more local sport, with no national following...no ambiance can be created from that.

Get back to smaller is beautiful. Get back in touch with the fans at the local level. Make the trip to the 'big' tracks each year a real highlight and you'll see people longing for the events...buying tickets...filling seats....watching the broadcast..and creating 'ambiance.'

[ptclaus98]

[am-bee-uhns]

1. the mood, character, quality, tone, atmosphere, etc., particularly of an environment
2. that which surrounds or encompasses; environment.

I was watching College Football on Saturday and something hit me - I found myself watching the game with the most ambiance. Constant crowd noise, snare drums beating in the background, exciting announcers, and an overall feeling of a big time event. I preferred watching the Purdue and IU games, but found myself gravitating towards the Auburn, Notre Dame, and Alabama games. Why - because the ambiance made me stay.

How can we apply this same theory to ICS TV programming? I think a lot of it could be done by simply pumping more of the background sounds into the feed. Crank up the sounds of the air jacks (guns) and burnouts. Make it feel big. Give my ears a reason to get excited.

Bottom Line - the the ICS TV product is missing Ambiance.

It's also missing quality, which is what the Auburn and Alabama games have. In droves.

[11rowsof3]

It's a wonderful suggestion, but the sport just doesn't attract enough interest, outside of Indy, to have much 'buzz' surrounding it.

I am thinking we need to take a step back to bring interest and drama to the sport. Yes, we have a few more entries lately, but still not much competition. There is more than one way to create competition...it is not just cars racing on a wide open track.

I'm thinking we need to go back to smaller venues....places that seat 20 or 25,000 and have a 3/4 mile or so oval...one mile for many of them. Run a couple of times each week, similar to the WOO schedule. You'll put the product in front of more people, and it wil be at the local level. Let's face it, running in front of 100,000 empty seats with 25,000 people scattered around a big track just looks silly. It makes the situtation look worse than what it actaully is: a smaller, more local sport, with no national following...no ambiance can be created from that.

Get back to smaller is beautiful. Get back in touch with the fans at the local level. Make the trip to the 'big' tracks each year a real highlight and you'll see people longing for the events...buying tickets...filling seats....watching the broadcast..and creating 'ambiance.'

I like it!!!!