
Directing masterclass: Gudren Wanek on setting new records for crew equality at the Women's EHF Euro 2022 By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, November 21, 2022 - 18:09
Print This Story
Gudren Wanek, freelance director, working on the European Handball Federation Women's EHF EURO 2022
The final weekend of the Women's EHF Euro 2022 saw a new broadcast record in handball, from behind the scenes. The broadcast crew, which was 50% female throughout the event, grew on the last weekend for the Final with more replay operators arriving, taking the female representation on the team to two-thirds.
The team was led by director Gudrun Wanek, who has been directing since 2012 after starting as a replay operator in 2004.
The role of the TV director is basically to make sure that the viewers of the broadcast get to experience every aspect of the event taking place, says Wanek. I usually work in an OB van, where I am in front of a monitor wall, which displays all the sources available: cameras, slow-motion, replay outputs, TV graphics, picture-in-picture frames for video replay situations, and so on. I operate with a vision mixer, on which every button stands for a different source.
At the final weekend of the EHF Euro 2022, which ended on Sunday 20 November, Wanek managed 20 cameras and 10 slow motion replay outputs, as well as six different picture-in-picture frames, plus more.
You can sum it up as I push a lot of different buttons, talk and listen to a lot of people at the same time and, with all this crew effort, try to tell the story of the game as good as possible. It is a bit like being a team coach. You need all the others to deliver a good outcome. You are the guiding figure, says Wanek.
Fast-paced setting
To effectively guide so many people's work in such a fast-paced setting, it helped for Wanek to be familiar with the different team members and they with her. Although the team that worked together for the final weekend of the EHF Euro 2022 had not done so in this exact arrangement before, Wanek has worked with all of them.
I brought the replay crew because that is really crucial; they need to speak the same language. And ideally, they have worked with you before, because you have to be just so quick to bring something on the air that just happened a second before, says Wanek.
The experienced members of the team have backgrounds working in many sports, including football, table tennis, ice hockey, basketball, American football and of course handball. Wanek also played handball and comes from what she describes as, a handball family . Wanek was a director at the Men's EHF Euro 2022, handling the venue in Kosice.
Every broadcast day starts with a plan. You think about what are the possible situations in a match and what do you want each camera to do. So, I have long production briefings before we start the first production day and I go through every camera and tell them what I want from them in every instance of the game. For example, the camera which is low on the court: when there's a penalty, a seven metres, I want one camera to have a close-up of the player who throws and one camera for the close-up of the keeper.
Aside from capturing the match action, there are reaction shots, coaches and the audience. It is important also to capture the emotions of the match; the joy, the disappointment, and so on. I would not differentiate at all between men's and women's handball in terms of quality or speed or anything. In men's handball, they are all like, super serious; mostly. The women, they are having a ton more fun. You see so many smiles and high fives and dancing to music and stuff like that when they start to warm up or before they come onto the court. I see more joy.
When it comes to men's and women's handball, from a perspective of telling the story of the game, there is no difference. The only consideration is the size of the players, which can have a minor impact on some elements of the direction.
I would not differentiate at all between men's and women's handball in terms of quality or speed or anything, says Wanek, although she does find one different prior to the matches. In men's handball, they're all like, super serious - mostly. The women, they are having a ton more fun. You see so many smiles and high fives and dancing to music and stuff like that when they start to warm up or before they come onto the court. I see more joy.
Thinking of differences in men's and women's sport, Wanek says the way different athletes have often been presented in the media and by sports fans springs to mind. She says: It seems clear that some sports photographers, journalists and TV directors focus more on players they deem attractive than others or on trying to highlight features of the athletes' bodies.
As to whether Wanek has seen that change during her career she says: That is definitely something I pointed out to my camera operators as well, says Wanek, discussing some different warm-up games teams might play or exercises they might do that would end up highlighting certain parts of their bodies if shown on TV, as well as particular moments during the matches. That is also something which slowly changes. Many directors don't show that anymore because it is inappropriate, says Wanek.
Clear representation
Although this might be more of a consideration with female players, especially for a female director aiming to ensure positive change in terms of how women are presented and valued, it must also be taken into account for men. That is something which is probably a certain awareness that is changing slowly, says Wanek.
It is not only concerning the athletes where certain shots or focus on particular athletes because of the way they look can be an issue; that can also happen when it c
Most recent headlines
01/05/2023
Our Chief Executive Simon Redlich was recently invited by Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) to share his views on what 2023 might hold. Read what Simon and other...
26/01/2023
UKTVs free-to-air entertainment channel W has commissioned brand new UKTV origin...
26/01/2023
Siretta have another high performance antenna coming to the Oscar range. Let us introduce the OSCAR 67.
The OSCAR 67 is a highly efficient directional antenna,...
26/01/2023
Picture Shop, Streamland Media's picture division, has announced that renowned artist Natasha Leonnet has joined its talent roster as a senior colorist. Leo...
26/01/2023
Blackmagic Design has announced that the EuroHockey Indoor Championships relied on an acquisition, control and delivery workflow based on Blackmagic Design hard...
26/01/2023
The Cinema Audio Society has announced its nominees in seven categories for the ...
26/01/2023
By Christine Bunish
Most of us strive to achieve balance in our professional and personal lives, and Ali Greer appears to have succeeded balancing her inside ...
26/01/2023
By Debra Kaufman
One month into 2023, HPA is already fully engaged in evolving its programs and initiatives to meet the community's interests and needs. Pr...
26/01/2023
Deep down, I know that I belong here, I matter and I am enough....
26/01/2023
MWC Barcelona keynote lineup includes CEOs from Extreme E, Maersk, NEC, Vattenfall
26 January 2023, Barcelona: The GSMA today hosted a preview press conference...
26/01/2023
It's back! Starting today, GoPro Awards is kicking off its biggest challenge of the year-the Million Dollar Challenge.
Open exclusively to owners of the ne...
26/01/2023
Brand's Vocal and Instrument Microphones Assist Varying Musical Performances With Sound Quality, Clarity and Reliability
Despite the varied cultural differ...
26/01/2023
Brand's Mics Complement Ensemble's Unique Vocals in Recorded and Live Applications
From first listen, it's obvious that amplified vocal ensemble Ro...
26/01/2023
Studio Owner Greg Miner Relies on Full DPA Microphone Lineup for Inaugural Clients at High-End Recording Space
Nestled in an idyllic wooded setting just north ...
26/01/2023
LONDON Content protection and anti-piracy services specialist Friend MTS this week announced the appointment of Daniel Harris as its chair of the board of direc...
26/01/2023
TVBEurope catches up with ACCESS:VFXs founder Simon Devereux and new European chapter lead Chris Kiser to talk about the need for a European-wide organisation a...
26/01/2023
Among the new use cases are: show control, camera calibration on the go, control of disguise servers, status support and greater colour capabilities.
By George...
26/01/2023
The studio is aiming to deliver sustainable productions and minimise its carbon footprint, with local film and TV crews available
By Jenny Priestley
Publishe...
26/01/2023
Warner Bros Discovery said it will return to The Theater at Madison Square Garden for its upfront event on May 17, the Wednesday morning of broadcast upfront we...
26/01/2023
Disney Advertising said it reached an agreement with measurement company EDO, which will provide outcome measurement for streaming campaigns....
26/01/2023
Reporter Alex Presha has been promoted to correspondent at ABC News. He will be based in Columbus, Ohio. He's been with ABC News since 2020, reporting from ...
26/01/2023
Here's a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of January 16-22, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data smart TV data ...
26/01/2023
Disney Advertising Sales regaled advertisers with tales of the data and technology prowess that, along with the company's content, creates effective campaig...
26/01/2023
Entertainment magazines benefited from the start of awards season, which launched with the January 10 return of the Golden Globes on NBC and the Critics' Ch...
26/01/2023
B+C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv (opens in new tab) for a weekly ranking called Promo Mojo: Exclusive data sh...
26/01/2023
Jose Flores, president and general manager of KTLM McAllen (Texas), a Telemundo ...
26/01/2023
WASHINGTON The FCC has levied a fine of $504,000 against Fox for willfully violating commission rules on transmitting EAS Tones during regular programming. Th...
26/01/2023
PARAMUS, N.J. Sony has launched two scalable new series of its Crystal LED premium display: the bright and rich BH-series and the immersive CH-series....
26/01/2023
MARLOW, U.K. TSL has announced that it is working to help broadcasters migrate to IP infrastructures by launching the MPA1-MIX-NET. Building on the success of i...
26/01/2023
SEATTLE AWS has announced that AWS Elemental MediaLive now offers timecode burn-in so that users can add timecode visually into individual video outputs from a ...
26/01/2023
LOS ANGELES MuxIP, a leading provider of automated solutions for ad-supported streaming, has announced that it will deliver 24/7 live FAST channel capabilities ...
26/01/2023
Best Lightsaber Plugin for Final Cut Pro X!
Render FX January 26, 2023
0 Comments
Check out our latest tutorial on the best lightsaber plugin for Final...
26/01/2023
AJA FiDO Mini-Converters Simplify Long Cable Runs for Focal Point Productions
Brie Clayton January 26, 2023
0 Comments
Baltimore-based Focal Point Prod...
26/01/2023
CoreWeave Acquires Conductor Technologies, Enhancing Its Offerings to VFX Studio...
26/01/2023
WRAL TechWire turns 20 this year! Filling a niche as the only technology-specific news publication in the Triangle, TechWire continues to hone its role as the f...
26/01/2023
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 26 January 2023: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online...
26/01/2023
SVG Sit-Down: NBA's Teddy Kaplan on the Metaverse and the Future of Fandom NBA Lane in Meta's Horizon World is intended to allow fans to congregate and ...
26/01/2023
Hazelden Betty Ford's Thought of the Day and How to ACT and Break Negative T...
26/01/2023
Tennis Australia, Gravity Media Efforts at Australian Open Embrace Virtual Adver...
26/01/2023
Published On: January 26th, 2023
data-orig-src=https://www.sgo.es/wp-content/u...
26/01/2023
Back to All News
Ensemble Cast Joins Ed Helms and Jennifer Garner in Family Leave
Entertainment
26 January 2023
GlobalUnited States
Rita Moreno (80 for Bra...
26/01/2023
There can't be many hotels in the world where you can look out of the window and see the Eiffel Tower, St Mark's Campanile and the Roman Coliseum - all ...
26/01/2023
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has announced Outstanding Achievement Award nominees in feature film, documentary and television categories. Winn...
26/01/2023
The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) has announced that Tom Cruise will be am...
26/01/2023
26
January
2023
Local Tamil series Zombie Kadhali premieres 30 Jan on Astro
First local Tamil zombie-themed fantasy romance series
Astro customers can l...
26/01/2023
Arvato Systems Positioned as Leader in the Quadrants Digital Business Enablement and ESG Services and Public Cloud - Solutions and Services
ISG Provider L...
26/01/2023
Oslo, 26 January 2023 - Commissioned by the radio broadcasters NRK, P4-gruppen (Viaplay Group) and Bauer Media, Nielsen has upgraded the measurement of the radi...
26/01/2023
WATCH: The River - Tonight's teaser E254 S5Watch tonight's episode of The River and catch the latest episode every weekday at 20:00 on 1 Magic, don'...
26/01/2023
WATCH: 7de Laan - Tonight's teaser E21 S24Don't miss out on what's happening on tonight's episode of 7de Laan and Catch the latest episode every...
26/01/2023
WATCH: Diep City - Tonight's teaser E214 S2We've got you covered on what's happening tonight. Episodes of Diep City air on Mzansi Magic from Mondays...