...a lot of what is happening. It's amazing how just before something important happens in a routine there is a switch to a long shot so you cannot see what is going on. Abysmal direction and they must have known or should have known from rehearsal when to cut and which cameras to use.

They've had this problem for years. It's so annoying. You'd think they'd have sorted it out by now!

The high shots from the cameras in the ceiling show nothing (that is, they add nothing) and also obscure what is happening.

I agree it's really annoying. You cannot see anything surely they realise that.

Shocking camera work! . It's as if the director is manically pushing buttons to change the camera angle just for the sake of it.

Indeed they must and probably decided that a close up at that point would show up how ugly and / or clumsy a manoeuvre actually is.

I hate the way there are 'busy' patterns all over the ice when they're dancing as well. Very distracting.

Middle shots, not close-ups, are needed. Middle-shots that keep with the motion of the skaters and flow with them, Indeed a tracking camera, or several, on long tracks, would work better than what we currently have.

I've video'd many skating shows and could do a much better job than the DOI cameramen/women do. I guess it's the director's fault since they choose the shots. It is terrible.

I agree, they make BGT look like pros. I remember how sometimes the camerawork seem more focused on the audience and stage then it did for the dancers, for example.

I really hate the overhead shots! I agree the medium shots would be best - where you can see the whole body and get some appreciation of the movement and flow over the ice.

Yep. If you ever watch competitive skating it's so much better. They seem to be able to keep mid distance and follow the skaters.

Which goes to reinforce my earlier point.

Glad I'm not the only one. Really frustrating as it was hard to watch. They just have way way too much going on at once. Overhead flash lighting, and bright bold moving patterns. Goodness help anyone with photo sensitivity or epilepsy!

I was thinking the same. Chico was doing some really fast intricate steps and suddenly we're having to watch them from far up above. The camera should have been his feet, not a long distant shot of the top of his head.

They do dress rehearsals to help decide the camera positions so surely they should have known that those steps were coming.

Bad camera positions take away from a performance rather than showcase it.

There is no good excuse for it as the director has seen the routines and knows when the most suitable time for a wide shot would be. That would be when they are doing a long static glide part and not in the middle of an important 'trick'.

How are we supposed to judge something that we haven't seen properly?

the overhead shots provide nothing at all ... for a start you can hardly see the skaters as the shot is so far away and then the skaters blend into all the kaleidescope lighting on the ice

it takes your eyes a couple of seconds to make out what are legs/arms etc and who's the pro and who's the celeb so you cant see what move they're actually doing and by the time you're tuned into it they cut back to a normal shot

I totally agree with you all. The overhead shots are distracting and add nothing. The camera work is rubbish. I hope it improves through the series.

I noticed that I could barely see the end of Rosemary's routine as they'd used so many different shots.

Glad I'm not the only one who gets driven mad by this. Another thing that annoys me on occasion is the patterns on the floor. It's distracting. Sometimes it's pretty but when it's tons of geometrical shapes it gets on my nerves.

Simply answer is that you aren't. It is not that kind of a competition.

The camera work on all these live reality talent shows is very amateur. I often wonder if they have any technical rehearsals at all or if they just get some school kids in to have a go.

totally agree - what the heck is the point of a camera in the ceiling

It's useful in competitions to see if there is any travel in spins or any asynchronicity between pairs during elements but I think at this level of skating it is near useless.

Gives the kids operating the cameras something else to play with I suppose.