The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Finale

Last night (12/5/18) saw the Grand Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

The annual Song Contest is the big gala event of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Founded in 1950 the EBU is a network of 72 television and radio broadcasters from 56 nations. Its mission is to promote unity throughout its members and to further technological advancement in the field of Information Communications Technology.

The EBU held the first Song Contest in 1956. This was the year before the first satellite, Sputnik-1 was launched into space. It was twelve years before the invention of the microprocessor. So at that first Song Contest the ability to broadcast live images and sound across an entire continent was an extremely radical idea.

This mission of technological advancement has continued throughout the EBU's history. In many ways the Song Contest is just the thing we point the camera at to give us an excuse for all this behind-the-scenes boundary pushing.

At this year’s Song Contest two particular technological advances in the field of broadcasting have been particularly to the fore; Internet Streaming and Augmented Reality (AR).

Internet Streaming:

Within TV circles all anybody seems to talk about these days is how the old broadcast model is dead. This involves a broadcast network airing a set number of shows on a set number of channels at a set time. Either using traditional aerials, digital aerials or satellites.

Instead now rather than watching "TV shows" people now consume "media content" which can be TV shows, movies, songs, music videos or video blogs (Vlogs). They access this content through broadband Internet choosing what they want to watch and when they want to watch it.

The use of Internet Streaming has become so widespread that even I, as almost the ideological successor to the Unabomber, have adopted it. At the start of 2018 I finally activated the "Roku" powered "NowTV" Internet Steaming service I was given as a gift the previous year.

With the gala event of the EBU really being the sort of place to discuss this sort of thing I did really want to be included by Internet Streaming part of this year's Song Contest. Unfortunately my preparations for this year's Song Contest and in particular the First Semi-Final proved to be somewhat disordered.

At the risk of boring you all with my hypochondria I've spent this week experiencing one of those not quite colds which just slows everything down and sucks all the joy out of life. Normally it takes me 2-3 dedicated days to background all the Song Contest acts and the issues they raise. This year it took me six. I only finished when the countdown clock on the Eurovision.tv website had less than 22 hours on it.

Then of course there is US President Trump's decision to announce the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement one hour before the First Semi-Final. Reacting to that in the hour before Israel's Song Contest performance doesn't leave much time for anything else. 

The main reason though was far more selfish.

For me and particularly my father the main attraction of the NowTV Internet Streaming service is that it allows you to buy access to Sky Sports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This means English Premier League (EPL) football.

Today (13/5/18) is the final day of the EPL season. Over the past week Sky Sports have been showing a game almost every evening. This prompted my father to buy a week's pass to watch them all. Including the games which clashed with the Song Contest semi-finals.

Tuesday (8/5/18) evening's match was a vital relegation decider between Swansea and Southampton. So I couldn't quite find the energy to fight to watch the First Semi-Final instead. Particularly as I wanted to stream it on the Internet.

Immediately after the live broadcast had ended I tried to stream on the BBC's - the UK's EBU associate broadcaster - streaming platform "iPlayer." However due to some reason to do with either broadcast rights, commercial sponsorship or just laziness it was not available.

The big problem with the Roku powered NowTV service is that it does not include an Internet browser. Instead it uses applications or "Apps" which only allow you to access specific parts of the Internet.

So to stream the First Semi-Final on the Eurovision.tv I first needed a Eurovision App on the Roku App market place. Such a thing does not exist.

This type of problem is exactly why the concept of "Net Neutrality" is so important.

If Net Neutrality is scrapped then Internet Service Providers (ISP) such as Roku will start charging content providers such as Eurovision to have their Apps included in their market places. If the content providers don't pay up no-one will be able to see their content. 

Once they've paid to access the market place ISP's will start demanding more money from content providers to make sure their content is delivered at reasonable streaming speeds.

This commercialisation of the Internet will act as a form of censorship and destroy the creativity of the Internet where currently someone can have a good idea and instantly share it with billions of people.

This inclusion of an App marketplace is perhaps less of an issue for Eurovision than for an organisation like the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC is currently rushing to embrace Internet Streaming in order to bypass traditional broadcasters and boost its revenues. By contrast the Song Contest is produced by a network of traditional broadcasters. So if you cut out the broadcasters there simply won't be a Song Contest.

The Roku marketplace does though have a YouTube App. So I used this to watch eventually both semi-finals on Eurovision's YouTube channel. Last night I also managed to live stream the winner's press conference in the same way. Both without any particular problem

I say any particular problem. There is one very common problem with Internet Streaming familiar to all those who've used it. When your Internet connection fails or the device runs out of memory due to the sheer volume of data the picture freezes, breaks-up and often drops out completely.

This isn't a huge problem when you're watching something pre-recorded. Normally the picture returns to the exact point where it dropped out. However when you're watching something live this is the most infuriating thing in the world.

For example last Saturday (5/5/18) I was watching the Stoke v Crystal Palace match. Stoke's Shaqiri scored one of his typically spectacular free kicks to give Stoke a 1-0 lead. I think you can guess the exact moment my Wi-Fi dropped out.

Sweden's entry "Dance You Off" by Benjamin Ingrosso made an interesting contribution to this discussion. The video in support of the song is a mixture of what appears to be early-1990's era Low Definition (LD) footage seeming to be shot on VHS tape and High Definition (HD) digital footage.

If you work in the television business or want to get into the television business one of the first questions you'd be asking the Swedish delegation backstage is whether the video was really shot on VHS tape. If not what type of digital filter were they using to get that LD effect.

Throughout the video the picture constantly freezes, breaks up and drops out completely. As if your Internet connection was failing or your device was running out of memory.

Although it's probably better suited to the Para-Olympics than Eurovision I do have one other, rather specific complaint about Internet Streaming.

One of the reasons it’s hard to get my father interested in the Eurovision Song Contest is that he is hearing impaired. This means he's really just not that into music and when he watches TV he is totally reliant on subtitles/closed captions.

The provision of subtitling on Internet Streaming is utterly appalling. As a public service broadcaster BBC's iPlayer is okay when it comes to programs that have been broadcast on its traditional channels. However it is totally impossible to get subtitles on any live stream.

On the other channels and content providers subtitling is utterly nonexistent. Both on live streams and pre-recorded content. In a detail that may be worth remembering the only English language Sky show I've found with subtitles is; "Big Little Lies" which my father wouldn't want to watch anyway.

So I find it extremely frustrating that we have this exciting new technology from which my father and other hearing impaired people are just totally excluded.

Particularly as how at previous Song Contests we've been discussing how advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other forms of automation have dramatically brought down the cost of subtitling.  

YouTube seems able to allow users to do it automatically for free.

Augmented Reality (AR):

Augmented Reality (AR) is such a new technology that it is not strictly defined. However it generally refers to any live viewing that is augmented by computer generated sensory stimuli. Be that sight. sound, touch, smell. Most commonly though it involves visual images.

This type of technology is far from new for particularly military pilots. They have long used so-called; "Head Up Displays (HUD)." These project information from their instruments and weapons systems onto the cockpit canopy or onto their visor. It allows them to monitor the aircraft's systems while still looking where they are going.

In 2013 the technology company Google brought this type of technology to the civilian market with their; "Google Glass." These are a pair of spectacles with clear lenses with a small computer attached. While wearing the glasses users see the world as they would normally. Only the computer projects digital information onto one of the lenses adding to, or augmenting, the user's view of the real world.

Another widely known, commercially available example of Augmented Reality is the smartphone game; "Pokemon Go." Although I think an expert in the area may argue this is strictly speaking an example of Mixed Reality (MR).

In Pokemon Go you use the mapping software on your smartphone to direct you to a specific GPS location. There you open up the camera function on your smartphone and characters from the computer game appear on screen. As if running around in the real world.

I suppose at a stretch the filters you use on Snapchat or the little "Like" bubbles that pop-up when you're watching a Facebook livestream could also be counted as examples of Augmented Reality.

It is this type of Augmented Reality that TV broadcasters are most interested in. After all when you are watching something on TV you are not watching real life. Instead you're using a screen to watch a copy of something which has happened sometimes a great distance away. Both in terms of space and time.

As such many of the competitors at this year's Song Contest incorporated elements of Augmented Reality into their live performances.

The clear winner here was Malta with their song; "Taboo" by Christabelle. Their live performance in the Second Semi-Final featured a 3D computer generated model of an anatomically correct, beating human heart floating in the air. This model was so detailed it could easily have passed from a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model or an example of extremely high-tech medical imagery.

For the most part though most of the example of Augmented Reality on display were quite poor. They were  2D images which often seemed hand drawn and then effectively just held up in front of the camera. They were closer to a Snapchat filter then a character in Pokemon Go.

Technically rather than being an example of Augmented Reality these were examples of Rotoscopotry. A technique of hand drawing graphics onto film frame-by-frame. Far from being cutting edge Rotoscopotry dates back to around 1915.

Norway's entry "Now That's How You Write a Song" by Alexander Rybak also made an interesting contribution to the discussion.

In both their Second Semi-Final and Grand Final performance Norway made extensive use of Augmented Reality including for the musical instruments the performers were using. This raised particular questions about the use of AR at the Song Contest.

Although they are allowed to consider the vague; "General Perception" at the Song Contest the expert panels are strictly speaking only allowed to judge the acts on their live performance. This is actually the rehearsal performance which takes place the day before the performance the public get to see. 

The problem with Augmented Reality is that you are viewing reality with just your eyes rather than through some sort of device/screen you can't see the digital component. So viewed live Norway's performance was extremely peculiar. It was essentially just Alexander Rybak randomly waving his arms about in thin air.

At the very end of the Grand Final performance Norway brought in an actual, real-life violin for Rybak to play. Making the point that the people in the arena couldn't see the computer generated violin he'd been playing all along.

The graphics used during Norway's performance were all very simple. Resembling a child's crayon drawings. Far from being due to a lack of technical ability this was a specific artistic statement.

The 2015 Eurovision Song Contest was controversially won by Sweden with the song; "Heroes" by Mans Zelmerlow. Their big contribution to the technical aspects of the contest was that during his performance Zelmerlow danced and interacted with figures resembling childlike drawings shown a massive LED display behind him.

This year Norway took the concept from Sweden's 2015 performance and used Augmented Reality to bring into three dimensions. If you are familar with the controversy surrounding Sweden's 2015 win you would know there are certain Eurovision participants who seem to need a lot of help writing songs.

The Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia also made an impressive contribution to both of these discussions with their entry; "Lost & Found" by Eye Cue. Even if they didn't make it through to the Grand Final.

During their Second Semi-Final performance Macedonia used Augmented Reality graphics to simulate the viewer's Internet connection dropping out. They used this as distraction for the singer Marija Ivanovska to do a quick costume change. Ripping off the top layer of her costume to reveal a second costume underneath.

This was intended to send viewers into a blind panic as they rush to work out what had happened while their Internet connection was re-setting. Rather like coming back into a football match to discover Stoke are suddenly 1-0 up.

During Cyprus' Second Semi-Final performance of "Fuego" by Eleni Foureira my Internet connection did actually drop out. Due to Macedonia's earlier performance when it returned I managed to convince myself that Cyprus had repeated the trick and Eleni Foureira had changed her costume.

Scrolling back though I discovered that no. It was merely 2AM and I was quite drunk.

Part two to follow.

13:10 on 13/5/18 (UK date).