From: matrix29@charter.net   
      
       Flipped over at 9:08 PM today to take a peek.   
      
       Noticed the people had a "digitally accellerated" look to them.  Then   
   noticed the camera was tracking the players and "Gladiators" way too   
   accurately for a human hand to move so I realized they're using digitally   
   controlled cameras with an location sensor in the helmets of the players &   
   Gladiators (probably with an averaging system to keep 3 humans in the shot   
   at all times).  The shots minus the helmets are all notable of drifting   
   shoulder-cam human control (though these movements can be faked with a   
   simple program too for a gliding standard TV camera).   
      
       The lighting system is interesting too.  The "digitally accellerated"   
   look could be the sife effect of deliberately using fast strobes + regular   
   lighting to fast light the movements of the people onscreen.  If you look   
   closely at the people in the stands while the action is onscreen, there is a   
   trace flicker of a strobe.  On the other hand there does seem to be a   
   deliberate clipping of frames in the action + audio too to digitally   
   compress the time onscreen.  The lighting system reminds me of "The Weakest   
   Link" and I get vibes of the large studio being the same.   
      
       I do notice some problems with the set design this time around.  The   
   rigid platform tops appear to have sharp edges and if a person were to hit   
   one, they'd get a nasty slice.  I notice that they're including neck braces   
   and some other token safety items to players and Gladiators, but a few spots   
   on the action rigs "Earthquake Event" for the closeup cams could cause a   
   nasty event for any person falling on them.   
      
       The male Gladiators look acceptable (no horrible perms this time   
   around).  "Wolf" has a deliberate "Ted Nugent" crazy-man look to him.  The   
   former gay porn star "Militia" looks pretty good (the ones worth watching   
   usually do).  The rest of the dudes look like they have muscles that are   
   usable rather than for show.   
      
       The events are still silly from the distance camera shots, but they do   
   give glimpses of how the game looks from the player's viewpoint on   
   occassion.  The swinging teardrop pendulums with the bridge over the water   
   looks silly from a distance, but the closer cams under the player and from   
   the end of the bridge make the event look somewhat scary.  The "Pyramid"   
   event looks fairly interesting when the players tumbled down with one of the   
   Gladiators.  The distance shots made the thing look only moderately silly.   
   The events tend too not look too bad at a distance of about 45 feet, but   
   look really silly at a distance of about 200 feet.  The player's exhaustion   
   in the "Eliminator" obstacle course did finally lend an air of credibility   
   to the action versus the 1989 series where many of the events looked totally   
   effortless in the distance shots.  They need some cameras that give an   
   impression of "this is big" from the player's viewpoint (at minimum a few   
   "Worms Eye Viewpoint" shots) to give the viewers the impression that the   
   show is not a bunch of distance shots from cameras placed in the rafters.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)