8 ticks of the clock

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:35 pm

Is there a particular reason why the editing during the clock countdown
lasts exactly 8 ticks for each shot?
Contest A, contestant B, long shot, etc..all for 8 ticks of the clock.
Has anybody considered doing it differently?

Kieran Child · Post by **Kieran Child** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:00 pm

I don't know quite what you mean. But the banging riff that goes on behind it is in 4/4 which may be why.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:59 pm

I don't see how this can be the case as there are 30 ticks and that's not divisible by 8. Am I missing something?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:04 pm

Can anyone else hear the blip in the tempo that occurs after (at a guess, I'll try and listen more carefully today) perhaps 8 bars, 5 or 6 seconds in?
I always hear it. It sounds like a quarter of a second has been taken out of the tune (to make it fit 30 precisely). No one else I've asked (well, Phil and Charlie) has ever heard it.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:38 pm

Ralph Gillions wrote:Is there a particular reason why the editing during the clock countdown
lasts exactly 8 ticks for each shot?

Because 8 ticks corresponds to 2 bars of music in 4/4 time. In a multi-camera TV studio, the cross-cutting between cameras is normally done at the time of recording by the vision mixer, rather than in post-production by the editor. Where shots are cut to music, it's standard practice in vision mixing to make the cuts fall at the beginning of a bar - it looks more professional that way (or rather, if it's done that way the viewer won't notice anything untoward, whereas the cuts would jar if they weren't timed to the music). You tend to see this particularly during closing credits on shows (like EastEnders) where the credits are shown in separate blocks rather than scrolling up the screen; each block of credits flashes up for a set number of bars, with each changeover coming on the strong down beat at the beginning of a bar.

I don't think there's any particular reason (perhaps Damian can offer an insider's view if he happens to read this) why each shot during the clock music in Countdown last for exactly 2 bars - you could just as easily have C1 closeup for 2, C2 closeup for 2, then wide shot for 4 etc. But having each shot the same length keeps things simple and 2 bars feels about right.

Jon O'Neill wrote:I don't see how this can be the case as there are 30 ticks

No there aren't - there are 64. Count 'em. The music lasts for 16 bars and there are four beats to the bar. If you watch the clock when it starts, you'll see that there's no correspondence between the ticks in the music and the seconds on the clock.

Matt Morrison wrote:It sounds like a quarter of a second has been taken out of the tune (to make it fit 30 precisely). No one else I've asked (well, Phil and Charlie) has ever heard it.

When did you ask me this?

But anyway, no I can't hear it - I reckon it's your imagination. There's no need to adjust the timing halfway through, since the whole piece is timed to last exactly 30 seconds at 128bpm (I had to work all this out when I did the Apterous clock music which is how I know).

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:51 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:It sounds like a quarter of a second has been taken out of the tune (to make it fit 30 precisely). No one else I've asked (well, Phil and Charlie) has ever heard it.
When did you ask me this? But anyway, no I can't hear it - I reckon it's your imagination.

Aaaaaaaaages ago, probably not long after I joined the forum, and possibly about the same time you first constructed your own version.
Is the official version anywhere online to listen to? Preferably as a file.

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:55 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Can anyone else hear the blip in the tempo that occurs after (at a guess, I'll try and listen more carefully today) perhaps 8 bars, 5 or 6 seconds in?
I always hear it. It sounds like a quarter of a second has been taken out of the tune (to make it fit 30 precisely). No one else I've asked (well, Phil and Charlie) has ever heard it.

Yeah, it doesn't loop properly. Noticed this for as long as I can remember.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:57 pm

Ben Hunter wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Can anyone else hear the blip in the tempo that occurs after (at a guess, I'll try and listen more carefully today) perhaps 8 bars, 5 or 6 seconds in?
I always hear it. It sounds like a quarter of a second has been taken out of the tune (to make it fit 30 precisely). No one else I've asked (well, Phil and Charlie) has ever heard it.
Yeah, it doesn't loop properly. Noticed this for as long as I can remember.

Thank you. Thank you so much Ben. Also have noticed this forever. I'm not mental. Get in.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:05 pm

Pretty much spot on, Phil.

Not all shots during the clock sequence last for 2 bars though, i think the slow creep in at the end of the clock and sometimes the panning shot across the desktops from left to right are longer but i could be wrong.

I think the vast majority of people are focusing on what is below the strapline, ie the selections, to give a fig about what is going on above. They used to zoom in on pot-plants on Des Chiffre, such was the interest on the none-gameplay side of things.

Just listened to the studio master copy of the clock music, there's nothing untoward with the audio so far as i can tell.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:08 pm

D Eadie wrote:They used to zoom in on pot-plants on Des Chiffre, such was the interest on the none-gameplay side of things.

Haha, that's brilliant. Maybe they should do things like zoom in on naked ladies to see if anyone notices.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:13 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:
Ben Hunter wrote:Yeah, it doesn't loop properly. Noticed this for as long as I can remember.
Thank you. Thank you so much Ben. Also have noticed this forever. I'm not mental. Get in.

Hmm. Just listened to it a few times with the PC sound turned up as loud as I dare, but I'm not hearing it. Is it before or after the key change? If you can give me a bar number, even better. (The key change occurs after 4 bars.)

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:25 pm

It doesn't happen every round, so it's probably something to do with the way the show is edited.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:50 pm

THERE! Comes only a second or two in - forgot to listen to it much today (22/09) because the challenger is fairly hot (spoiler), but have a listen to the start of round 9.
Sounds like someone scuffing a shoe along the floor or something.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:58 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:... because the challenger is fairly hot (spoiler) ...

Male or female?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:06 pm

Jon Corby wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:... because the challenger is fairly hot (spoiler) ...
Male or female?

I remain, ungay.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:13 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:I remain, ungay.

Is that a Freudian comma?

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:14 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:... because the challenger is fairly hot (spoiler) ...
Male or female?
I remain, ungay.

Wait til you've tried my 'appliance'!!
http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic. ... f=8#p59276

c4countdown

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