by ChrisB » 11 May 2010 09:44
If they feed in the stuff produced by Chris Courteyn (what is normally shown on EuroSport) I can promise you will like it. I mention Chris Courteyn here, as he is not the only one producing for EuroSport, but he does most European IRC rounds. It is a very small company, just a few people, working on a fraction of the budget certain other organisations have, but he is a fan and producer since many years. Just shows what can be done without millions with the right, enthusiastic guys.
Maybe you have heard before that some people say the IRC EuroSport footage could contain more road side cameras. They certainly don't do that as much as we see in WRC. I believe it is a legacy to them having a limited number of cameras and men. But I personally love their mix. EuroSport IRC is usually a mix of helicopter and onboard. Whenever possible Chris is up with the helicopter, I have seen some of his old work before IRC and helicopter is a real Chris Courteyn trademark. I really love it, because what WRC has completely forgotten, the landscapes/sceneries are an integral part of every single rally and the helicopter brings that across nicely. Whenever possible means i.e. the much talked about Monte Turini Night live footage had no helicopter possibilities and therefore was entirely onboard, nothing else, we saw hours of onboard only, and it still was absolutely mega!
It is a shame WRC has absolutely zero helicopter, i.e. last round in NZ, you just can't get the full picture of the stages and settings without at least a few helicopter scenes. Onboard we have a lot in WRC too, but there is something strange in IRC. Chris Courteyn and actually every round, so whoever does it for EuroSport, they all have the weird habit, i they mount a camera inside a rally car, they point it into the direction of travel. So if you are used to WRC, you need to rethink a little for IRC. Because if you are with an onboard camera expecting a crash, you would obviously show feet, a pair of eyes behind crash helmets, roof trims.... IRC/EuroSport doesn't do that, they show the road ahead and how the crash happened!
Enjoy!
Oh, and hope rallies shown live you get live too in USA. Don't hesitate to write your critics on our forum. Especially if it is live. IRC and EuroSport are reading our forum and they are happy for critics, even bad ones, because they want to deliver a good show for fans! I know of at least one case (though this was not only our forum), when in Monte Vouilloz camera was mounted too high, I think they played with several mounting options and especially Vouilloz's was not liked, people wrote that on forums and imagine next loop in the evening the Vouilloz camera was lower and EuroSport went wild thanking everyone pointing it out to them! Now that is producing for the fans!