Al Jazeera English | Refresh 2020

Just generally hate Sky News full stop to be fair, and yes their lower thirds are one of the reasons.

Well that was underwhelming.

(In the words of Tracey Pritchard from W1A): Im not trying to be funny or nothing. But this seems like a huge expensive exercise to recreate what you already have, just ever so slightly different.
Anna Rampton: Yes, No. I dont want this.
Siobhan Sharpe: Yeah like totally. No one is going to notice.
Simon Harwood: Brilliant.

Haven't had a chance to watch a full hour of AJE e.g. the TOTH but from first impressions all looks fine to me.
AJE's presentation was already good (and had aged very well) so any changes needed to be evolutionary rather than somethign completely new

The graphics are certainly much longer and 'white space' in the main box and spare space where the headlines are is much more notable than previously (can't help feeling it would've been better to have the main box extend to the end of the screen) and can't say I particular like the white border with the clock (which wouldn't have been needed had they not changed the ticker to grey)
That said the rejigged TOTH music works for me - a strong element of the old music and sounds very grand. The whole package too (studio, music, graphics) mesh together very well for me. And the Doha studio is impressive as ever. Surprised though that it's not more similar to London - in particular with the desk.

So a thumbs up from me.It keeps the authoritive feel that AJE has and is an evolution rather than complete change from the original look

I find it interesting they seem to have three jibs - one from the ceiling in the opens, a regular jib closer to the desk and a TechnoDolly on the right. The TechnoDolly seems surprising as it’s motorized and can extend the arm. However it requires a specially trained operator and someone holding a “deadman’s switch” when the arm is moving. Seems like a huge expense, be interesting at how they use it.

Also surprised they didn’t go with LEDs as some have stated they are far enough away from the desk, but even if it was closer there are smaller pixel pitch. In addition some of the LCDs or Barcos don’t seem to be properly calibrated.

I wrote my first impressions to the refresh earlier in this thread, and now I've watched more, and had some time to think about it, and overall, I think this refresh was very poor. Most of the changes have really been very superficial and have done little to make me more interested in the channel.

The best things have been the picture in picture for guests and b-roll, that was nice, and also the addition of the standup position, I think that's a nice improvement. Everything else feels a little half-hearted, as if it was, well we have to do this upgrade, but we don't really want to change anything.

The reporting is still as solid as ever, but the general presentation still feels lacklustre, almost to the point of boring. I'm not saying they should go all Fox News tabloid style, but the whole presentation still feels like it needs a kick up the rear end, which has been the problem for a while now, and this refresh did little to actually rectify those problems.

About a 4 out of 10 for me.

At 1:26 is that the shot from the TechnoDolly? At 0:13 the shot seems like a shot from the jib in the air and you can see the TechnoDolly facing the newsroom but in a retracted position.

Well whatever their presentation is like, they'll likely be very busy for the next few weeks/months!

If the desk can rotate, why not at least use the newsroom as the background instead of the newswall overkill?

News from London open:

Is it just me or do the London opening titles (visually) kind of seem like a mix of the old AJE titles and the Game of Thrones opener...

Jokes aside, I was really worried they'd drop their signature melody (or whatever the tech term is)... people don't really realise how much it's part of the brand. Heartbreak when BBC World dropped their iconic melody/tri-tone for the standard BBC News ident theme... ah well.