The Newsroom

The new NEW Central West and BBC Midlands thread

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RK
Rkolsen
noggin posted:
Rkolsen posted:
It looks good but based on the caps I can't tell if the screens behind the sofa are real. If they are it's a shame they're used for static backdrop.

They are screens - the background in them animates rather than just twinkling (like the lightboxes some regions have) Suspect they are LED-backlit LCDs.

Quote:

Coming from an American perspective I just can't get past the use of sofas and coffee table height desks for a newscast. I think someone mentioned that the local news is more of a news magazine instead of a straight newscast. I guess the casual look works where there isn't such violence reported on every newscast. Soft seating areas are generally reserved for light entertainment portions of a local newscast - such as when a movie critic comes in.


Yep - we always find US local newscasts hilariously OTT though... It's like they are trying to 'out news' the network newscasts...

Here a sofa doesn't instantly translate to lightweight. BBC Breakfast can do serious news from a sofa with no problem at all. It means being able to switch from serious news to lighter interviews without needing to repo or have multiple areas.

At the end of the day - if you need a desk for your hard news to be credible, the set really isn't your problem Wink

However you are correct - some of the BBC 1830 regional news programmes are quite magaziney, particularly in their second halves. They are also, often, the most watched 30 minutes of news in the UK. (The BBC 1830 bulletins outrate almost eveything else, but don't hit the BARB figures because each show is rated separately)


I guess the desks are just burnt into our culture. I agree with your sentiments that if a desk is needed for hard news to be credible.

At times even on the national morning shows (Today & GMA) it seems like the anchors look uncomfortable (in my opinion) sitting on a couch vs sitting at a desk (with out a front panel where legs are showing) or just on stools interviewing people. Maybe it's because sitting on a couch for news is different than sitting at home.
DV
dvboy
John posted:
Nick needs an Anne to bounce off.

But seriously regional magazine programmes are better presented double headed.


I think it's absolutely fine single headed, but perhaps that's because I'm used to watching them presented that way now. Plenty of company for Nick in the studio today - I think if it was double headed you wouldn't have the reporters in the studio anymore. Shefali joked that Nick was being kept at a distance.

Sorry these aren't in any particular order, they were jumbled up when I uploaded them to postimg. Elizabeth Glinka started on the sofa next to Nick and then got up and walked to the screen.

All of the background is fake newsroom. You'll notice they use different panels for the sport and weather logos, and replace them all with election graphics for that part of the programme.

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Last edited by dvboy on 3 May 2017 1:42am - 5 times in total
JO
Jon
I think people myself included had too high an expectation for the new set. But it looks a lot better on screen then the old one which was always felt very awkward with the plasmas leaving too much of a gap with them being too high. The new set is a lot more versatile. I think the backgrounds look a lot better now on the new screens I like the subtle Birmingham backdrop mixed with the empty newsroom, TV formers get annoyed with the empty newsroom but your average viewer isn't going to think too much about it. Anyway if it's good enough for ITV national news it's good enough for Midlands Today which has the added value of subtle Birmingham backdrop which is a bit more obvious now.

I wouldn't be surprised if they've got half a mind on bringing back double headed pres in the near future, when the old set launched they knew they were going single headed but didn't initially.
JO
Jon
South Today posted:
Typical BBC - I honestly begrudge paying £147 a year to it. I would rather pay ITV. Back to Central News for me again.

This is ridiculous, the new set looks a lot better than ITV's half arsed regional implementation of the national set with the awful black bars at the top and bottom of the backdrop. I also don't think you can form your opinion of licence fee on what you regard wrongly in my opinion as an artistic misstep rather than the editorial content of the programme. I regard your post as one of the most absurd I've seen in a long while on here.
Last edited by Jon on 3 May 2017 2:40am
JO
Jon
RDJ posted:
As a set I think it is a nice change. But this was their chance to give the programme a total revamp with the backdrop, music and titles, just like other regions have done when they have revamped.

But alas it still looks practically the same as what they had before, just minus a desk. The set would look a lot more impressive if they didn't decide to use exactly the same backdrop as before.

To compare the two main presenter shots, you'd barely know anything has changed, though you can see there there has been a tinkering with the colouring.

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The second image is much much better though. Better positioning and as you say looks much sharper but that shot is only half the story here. The new set feels quite a bit bigger and much more flexible.


It's not an amazing revolution but they have corrected the problems of the original.
RK
Rkolsen
Seeing the changes in monitor graphics look good. But I got to ask since they're still an SD operation - are the graphics and "newsroom backdrop" created in and played out in HD?
LS
Lou Scannon
John posted:
Nick needs an Anne to bounce off.


I don't think they're *that* well acquainted... Wink
DE
deejay
While I can understand why some members of this forum might be a little underwhelmed by this, I think it's a great improvement over the previous set. It's nothing radical, but it's much more in keeping with other sets and I think works well in the space. Nice to see the stand up podium position, it'll be interesting to see if that's just an election idea or if they'll continue to use it in the future. Reporters/Correspondents coming in to join the presenter on the sofa is quite a 'current' idea (though nothing particularly new!) and isn't something all regions do. The lighting is very nicely done and the colour balance of the set/screens and BBC News colour palette seems much better (there was always something a little 'Orange' about the previous set!). It'll be great to see how they re-dress it for Politics.
MW
Mike W
Rkolsen posted:
Seeing the changes in monitor graphics look good. But I got to ask since they're still an SD operation - are the graphics and "newsroom backdrop" created in and played out in HD?

The stuff on the screens is HD - all their reports are also filmed and edited in HD and downscaled at playout.
NG
noggin Founding member
Mike W posted:
Rkolsen posted:
Seeing the changes in monitor graphics look good. But I got to ask since they're still an SD operation - are the graphics and "newsroom backdrop" created in and played out in HD?

The stuff on the screens is HD - all their reports are also filmed and edited in HD and downscaled at playout.


Are the background LCDs hardwired to HD playout servers (Ravens?) then, or have BBC Birmingham upgraded their studio router and/or vision mixer to handle HD-SDI? (Or added a small HD-SDI screen router and some upconverters to allow SD sources to be routed instead of an HD background server?)

Last time I checked the Birmingham operation still had largely SD-SDI (i.e. SD) infrastructure (i.e. the core router and vision mixer were SD-only), and whilst they had HD capable location cameras, they were still editing in the SD domain on their Quantel gear (though Inside Out was edited HD on a separate platform - FCP I think)
Last edited by noggin on 3 May 2017 2:35pm - 2 times in total
DJ
DJ Dave
Jon posted:
South Today posted:
Typical BBC - I honestly begrudge paying £147 a year to it. I would rather pay ITV. Back to Central News for me again.

This is ridiculous, the new set looks a lot better than ITV's half arsed regional implementation of the national set with the awful black bars at the top and bottom of the backdrop. I also don't think you can form your opinion of licence fee on what you regard wrongly in my opinion as an artistic misstep rather than the editorial content of the programme. I regard your post as one of the most absurd I've seen in a long while on here.


Don't be including Granada Reports set in this, but I do agree the others look naff with the black bars. I think it looks OK and dare I say better then North West Tonight's?
PC
Philip Cobbold
I think the only thing letting it down is the reused square rostrum. If this was changed for a curved shaped one similar to East Midlands Today, then it would be pretty perfect.

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