Eurovision 1963: Nothing’s as it seems | Super-cut with animated scoreboard

An edited down version of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 from London, with a scoreboard using today’s technology. This all started as a lockdown project!

This edit will give a flavour of the evening (Saturday 23rd March) with the BBC commentary from David Jacobs (although, as in 1960, not during the voting).

Having hosted in 1959 and 61, 1963 would prove too much for RTF’s bank balance, but the problem with the 62 result is that the next two down the list were micro-state Monaco and then the last hosts Luxembourg. They both refused to take it on, and so the BBC were offered it (I wonder if Yugoslavia were considered).

Luckily for the Contest the BBC are keen EBU members, and they had a relatively new building to show off. BBC Television Centre, or TVC to fans, had been officially opened a few months after the 1960 hosting. It was the largest building of its kind in the UK and thoroughly state of the art. I’m lucky enough to know people who worked there (I only visited once) and all I hear about is how magical the place was – a maze of offices and studios that housed some extraordinarily creative people working on culturally significant projects. I’ll post some links in the comments if you want to deep-dive, but if you’re fan of the mighty British TV industry, there’s a chance one of your vintage favourites was made there.

Therefore, this Contest is a radical change to CLT’s production - firstly opening with helicopter(!) shots and a smart, modern set full of mirrors and statement lights. Studios TC3 and TC4 were used, the two studios that were finished at the time. TC1, the largest in the complex, would go on to host flagship productions like Election Night, and globally known shows like Graham Norton – it’s ripe for Eurovision, but it didn’t open until 1964.

TC3 was earmarked for drama, and TC4 for light entertainment. In the end, that’s what we got. TC3 was built for speech production, so the audience, scoreboard and veteran of ’60, Katie Boyle, were based there. TC4 had a variable acoustic system involving microphones and speakers around the walls, ideal for orchestras. Due to being in a studio and being far too early for anything ‘personal’ in the microphone department, the artists could perform without standing in front of one – boom mics out of shot would pick up their voices. This freed them up to move around and use props more than before.

As there were no mics on camera though, there’s always be accusations that singers were lip synching. There’s also technical flourishes we haven’t seen before, like every artist looking towards the same camera at the end of their performance, remarkably well timed. Props and different sets raise the question about timing, although there were much longer ‘postcards’ (not in the modern sense), so much so David Jacobs seemed to run out of things to say. So what wasn’t live? Who knows, I don’t want to unnecessarily take away from an extraordinary technical achievement, but it’s also lightyears ahead of what we’ve seen before.

The production changes were followed by an excellent voting sequence. If Norway had had their house in order, the sequence would have been just as tense as what panned out, with DEN & SUI on 37 points and ITA on 33, with 1 country left to vote. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. Norway appeared to alter their vote when they were not ready the first time, Swiss votes were literally removed from the board and given to the Danish at the last moment. One final illusion in a production full of them.
*DESIGN AND THE BOARD*
63 was supposed to follow my 1960 board, and the core of it does. I had planned to replace images of the Royal Festival Hall will ones of TVC…but then I remembered, I don’t own any copyrights. In fact, I’ve accredited the 1960 photo I used but it does make it risky. I also wanted to achieve something lighter, and went about recreating the set. My best find, which will be linked below, is Television Centre fan and former employee who’s recreated the Washington Post font seen on all the early signage. I couldn’t help but use it everywhere I could. I know it’ll divide some people, but there’s no typeface that could encapsulate the building more than that.

Approaching the confusing scoring was always going to be difficult. I felt the best thing to do was to remove all the Norwegian votes, but I am aware the drama is in the vote change during the last round. I’ve attempted to keep both, maybe that’s a mistake, but it’s what felt right.

*TRANSFER NEWS* (source: Wiki)
For the SECOND time, none.

*INTERVAL ACT*
On yer bike! (Must have been dizzy by the end)

*CREDITS*
@Lucas Hammar for the show upload,
Flags: countryflags.com
All Copyright belongs to BBC.

00:00 Intro
03:35 Song super-cut
23:46 Interval
23:36 Voting intro
26:44 The reorder board 63
40:51 The Final Round
43:27 Recap, data & reprise

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