Episode 9 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to Points Of View,

where we will be bringing you the good, the bad

and the not very pleasant at all.

So let us indulge ourselves with the good first. General sigh of relief.

The Royal outside broadcast team,

the ones sitting in detention since the Jubilee river pageant,

have been given a gold star for Trooping The Colour Highlights.

Duke of Edinburgh salutes them as they go by.

Each gun is pulled by six horses.

The three on the near side are ridden

and three on the offside are held in hand

by the nearside jockey, who's known as the driver.

Horses, boats, but above all, the facts.

That is what you want, it seems, just the facts.

A fact that might finally be getting through.

Now, more of the good

in the form of one of the other supposed jewels in the BBC crown,

natural history.

Apparently, Secrets Of Our Living Planet

is stabilising the reputation that juddered a bit

when the BBC put out Planet Earth Live.

After all, you're covered with pests,

all of which want to gobble up those seeds

or snap up any tasty germinating seedling.

Your only chance is to get your seeds as far away from yourself

and those pests as possible.

Question is, how do you do it?

Experts, experts.

It is coming through loud and clear,

but are the programme makers receiving you?

Now, those were the out-and-out good programmes.

Are we now drifting towards the bad category? Let's see.

True Love has been an experimental drama from BBC One,

which the commissioner claimed

features some of our very best acting talent,

using improvisation to push the boundaries of each story.

That is what he said. Is that what it did?

It's OK.

It's OK.

I know you.

I love you.

So it's OK.

I love you so much.

Score? A 2-2 draw, shall we say?

Sorry, we've got football creeping in everywhere.

And a very different aspect of one of the football host nations,

the Ukraine, was drawn to our attention by BBC Four this week.

Panorama told us about racism a fortnight ago.

This documentary was Ukraine's Forgotten Children,

and it had a profound effect on those who saw it.

Can you imagine being one of these children?

Can you imagine being him, just there all day,

every day, for maybe 20 years?

Now, what angle do you take on camera angles?

We just can't seem to work out what we think of shows

where the camera person is crashing

and zooming their way around the place like a bull in a china shop.

You may not like it, but programme makers still use the technique

because it conveys excitement, or so they say.

Well, the cameras convey excitement - you are conveying confusion,

and not a little annoyance.

What do the Queen,

chickens and some dusty antiques have in common?

It's that long-reigning problem of chopping and changing camera angles.

# I love you too much to let go

# How do you think I feel when you call my name... #

And Diane is another viewer left in a spin.

I get so irritated about the frequency of camera angle changes

on BBC programmes.

I just get interested in one detail on the screen,

and the camera veers off or pans on to something else.

I feel that it doesn't stay focused long enough on one thing

for the viewer to take it all in.

I feel we miss out on a lot of the action.

This is especially noticeable in live shows,

like The Voice of the Queen's Jubilee concert.

In just one randomly chosen minute,

I counted 36 changes of camera angle,

and most of these were on the move.

The constant swinging and swaying, zooming in and out,

makes it really difficult for the viewer to appreciate

the dancing and the costumes, which is what we all want to see.

I appreciate that camera technology can do wonderful things these days,

but we viewers just can't keep up with the pace.

I want to shout, "Hold still a minute, I was trying to watch that!"

Whilst we're feeling slightly nauseous,

and I did promise the good, the bad and the rest earlier,

here is something pretty revolting. Steel yourself.

BBC Two's documentary The Men Who Made Us Fat

has been lifting the lid - you see what I did there? -

on the processed food we eat so much of,

and it has not made for appetising viewing.

You're interested in the effect that this load of sugar

has on the body and the liver in particular.

Exactly, and I like to describe that as a tsunami.

You have this huge load of sugar going to the liver,

and that's the impact not only on fat in the blood

that may lead to cardiovascular disease.

So, food manufacturers are now strictly policed

to protect the nation's health.

And TV programmes are under inspection, too,

for the impact they can have on health. Take flash photography.

Goodness knows how many working hours have been amassed

warning us that this or that programme may contain flashes,

news programmes especially.

And not surprisingly,

people wonder, are such warnings going to be necessary for ever?

What exactly is the problem here and what does the BBC do to resolve it?

The BBC and other UK broadcasters

take the issue of photosensitive epilepsy very seriously,

and in line with the Ofcom broadcasting code

take a significant number of steps

to ensure they're in line with guidelines.

As part of technical checks, all pre-recorded programmes

are passed through an Ofcom-approved industry standard device, a Harding,

which identifies material that might cause a risk.

Three main visual effects can cause seizures.

These are flashing, and that is moving between light and dark,

bright reds and movement between bright reds,

and also what we call spatial patterning,

so patterns on the screen that move between light and dark.

The analyser gives a pass, a fail or a caution indication

along with a picture

that allows us to identify the sequences which are at risk.

These sequences are then repaired or removed from the programme.

If a sequence is integral to the editorial content of the programme,

subject to additional sign-off,

a verbal and sometimes also an on-screen warning will be made.

Now, from flashing lights to flashy modern art,

and whether we like or need it.

The Culture Show this week took a look at the Orbit monument,

newly erected in London.

Orbit will stand 115 metres tall,

and will weigh in at more than 1,400 tonnes.

The total cost is estimated to be in excess of £20 million.

But will it be art, or just a really weird building?

Let's move seamlessly from sculpture to music, and it would appear that

two programmes from very different ends of the TV spectrum

are sporting theme tunes that bear a striking resemblance to one another.

Oh, Alice, I love these. Let us take a listen.

MUSIC PLAYS

SIMILARSOUNDING MUSIC PLAYS

OLYMPIC TORCH ADVERT MUSIC PLAYS AGAIN

TREE FU TOM THEME TUNE PLAYS AGAIN

OLYMPIC TORCH ADVERT MUSIC PLAYS AGAIN

TREE FU TOM THEME TUNE PLAYS AGAIN

OLYMPIC TORCH ADVERT MUSIC PLAYS AGAIN

I hear where you're coming from, Alice,

but the Tree Fu Tom music

was written by the highly regarded composer Michael Plowman,

and the Torch Relay theme

was by none other than the indie rock heroes Elbow,

so very different people.

But was it a very different tune? Let's hear another snatch.

OLYMPIC TORCH ADVERT MUSIC

TREE FU TOM THEME TUNE

OLYMPIC TORCH ADVERT MUSIC

Well, I'm no expert,

but I would say by coincidence, they do share the string flourishes

and brass fanfares and driving percussion and the same key choice

and similar tempos, so no, Alice, it was not your overtired brain.

It's a good spot. Could just be a coincidence, though.

We have been reliably informed we will be hearing the full version

of the specially-commissioned Olympics track First Steps,

performed by the BBC Philharmonic complete with gospel choir,

throughout the Olympics.

If, like Alice, you would like to point anything out to us,

get in quick because it's our last programme of the series next week.

Amongst other things, we'll be talking to the head of daytime TV.

Here's how to write to us.

You're also more than welcome to e-mail.

Jump on the messageboard if you like. It's lively.

Or you can phone us.

The number is charged as a local rate call from any landline.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd