Milwaukee BIG Bang - 6/29

[viva-vegas]

MILWAUKEE -- WISN-TV (Channel 12) will broadcast the "Big Bang" fireworks display live, in high definition, on Thursday, June 29 at 10:30 p.m., immediately following WISN "12 News at 10:00." The 30-minute special becomes the first high definition local production by a commercial television station in southeast Wisconsin.

FWIW, I spotted the MPTV HD Truck adjacent to the new Discovery World on Wednesday evening, I would assume they would be handling the production for WISN.

Craig

[MathWiz579]

I don't know about you all, but I for one am extremely impressed with the picture quality on these fireworks.  The commentary could be a lot better, but the views/angles are excellent!  I hope this starts a trend for more local programming in HD!!!  :guitar:  :guitar:  :guitar:

[Milwaukee12]

I don't have an HDTV, but I even noticed the picture quality.  I hope they keep it up.   :rofl:

[Tom Snyder]

As the closing credits roll:  

Graphic Design

Staging and lighting

Production Assistants

Channels 10/36/staff

Looked awesome... nice to see 12 do something cool... and co-operate with MPTV to do it to boot.

[LoadStar]

Wow. That sucked in ways I cannot adequately put into words.

Evidently, they thought people who tuned into a fireworks show wanted to see shots of the crowd, the back of Caroline and Patrick's head, and the friggin' boat more than the actual fireworks show.

And can I just say how much I loved the soundtrack of completely random snippets of music with Caroline and Patrick talking incessantly about just about anything? It added so much to the fireworks show that I'm told was happening at the same time. They had to tell me about it, because evidently they weren't about to show it to us.

Technically, it was well done, but I expect nothing less of 10/36 engineers. (Oh, and I idly note that they seem to have forgotten to flip back to the ABC digital feed for Nightline.... way to go, WISN engineers.

[LoadStar]

I don't know about you all, but I for one am extremely impressed with the picture quality on these fireworks.  The commentary could be a lot better, but the views/angles are excellent!  I hope this starts a trend for more local programming in HD!!!  :guitar:  :guitar:  :guitar:

The angles were EXCELLENT?!?!?  :eek: Which ones, the 5 minutes of the show where they, oh, I don't know, actually showed the fireworks show? Or the 25 minutes of people watching the supposed fireworks show, the back of the hosts heads, and the blurry out of focus shots of the fireworks between the masts of the Dennis Sullivan?

[Milwaukee12]

Oh, boy...  here we go...

[gopheralex]

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!

Did you know that this was the FIRST LOCAL COMMERCIAL HI-DEFINITION TELEVISION  BROADCAST IN MILWAUKEE HISTORY?

I DIDN'T!!!

IT IS!!!

It was the.... FIRST.... LOCAL.... COMMERCIAL.... HI-DEF TELEVISION BROADCAST IN MILWAUKEE HISTORY!!!!!!!


The ***FIRST***!!!!!!

And my god it looked great!!!!!!

[Milwaukee12]

As I said before, I loved it even though I don't have a HDTV.  However, we should all expect the commentary to be what is was after years of the same thing on all stations.  I think they should get lessons from professional narrators or something.

[gopheralex]

The angles were EXCELLENT?!?!?  :eek: Which ones, the 5 minutes of the show where they, oh, I don't know, actually showed the fireworks show? Or the 25 minutes of people watching the supposed fireworks show, the back of the hosts heads, and the blurry out of focus shots of the fireworks between the masts of the Dennis Sullivan?

It's called context Francis. I don't recall seeing the fireworks out of focus at all. Maybe your set needs adjustment.

Great videography I thought. Very purty.  :cool:

[gopheralex]

Just a reminder in case you didn't catch it......

This was the *FIRST* local commercial hi-def broadcast in Milwaukee history!!!!!!!!!!

[LoadStar]

Don't get me wrong. It was very pretty looking for anything but a show that was supposed to be a fireworks show. I don't fault the cameramen... I'm sure they were shooting exactly what they were told to shoot. And all the technical staff, the engineers and such - awesome job.

The director for the show though... yeesh. And Caroline and Patrick - SHUT UP!

[LoadStar]

It's called context Francis. I don't recall seeing the fireworks out of focus at all. Maybe your set needs adjustment.

Great videography I thought. Very purty.  :cool:

When the mast of the Dennis Sullivan is in perfect focus - anything behind it is going to be out of focus. And that was the case much of the show.

And I know the context. The context is that it's a fireworks show on the lakefront. So give me a couple of nice looking wide angle shots of the sky that also include the skyline, the ship (in the background), etc.

And there's no excusing the numerous shots of the back of the hosts heads. That added nothing to the show.

And I doubt the fault lies in my TV - if you can tell me how to focus a direct-view LCD television, I'll certainly check that.

[Bluto]

As the closing credits roll:  

Graphic Design

Staging and lighting

Production Assistants

Channels 10/36/staff

Looked awesome... nice to see 12 do something cool... and co-operate with MPTV to do it to boot.

They even gave a shout-out to Channels 10/36 during the 10pm newcast and interview one of the 10/36 guys that would be working the truck during the show.

I thought it was pretty damned impressive myself.   Room for improvement?  For sure.  I thought the shots of the Hoan Bridge and the shots of the fireworks through the riggings of the Dennis Sullivan looked pretty good, picture-wise.  I hope they do it every year - they'll learn from their mistakes this year and get better.

I'm glad they hyped the crap out of the show being in HD, too.  Maybe it'll help spur HDTV sales in the area, which will put pressure on the locals to produce more content in HD.  Then we all win.

And LoadStar is right - overall, the direction left much to be desired.  Hopefully they learn and do better next time.

[Talos4]

Techincally the presentation was great.

Howver, I think the television presentation was directed, designed and produced by Michael Cudahy.

Out of the six cameras I think four of the six all had shots of Pier Wisc. "The latest and greatest of his gifts to Milwaukee".

Technically, I think it really showed off the advantages of OTA HD over cable and satellite.  During the intense bright explosions not one hint of macro blocking, pixelating or any type of artifacts.

Unfortunately, due the late hour I wasn't able to crank the audio to check that out.

Overall Good Job WISN, WMVS Staff.