It's definitely an improvement, but just strikes me as a little bit drap and brown. I'd like to see them use a 'view' behind the sofa in the way that the NBC today show does - changing as the seasons change. Still, it looks a lot more 'real' than the last one - when I tuned in this morning I thought they'd actually gone for a streetside studio at first, until I looked properly.
Calendar News was 4:3 but it seemed seemless at least on analogue, no moments of the presenter looking fat.
I think this new look is really good, its good to see how they've modernised and updated it without loosing the core GMTV values. It's all different but at the same time all the same!. I was worried they would do something that just wouldn't look right on GMTV. Glad to see they've kept the music, and not updated it like that disaster last year, you can't really beat the GMTV Today theme for an upbeat bright and breezy morning tune.
The flashing lights and the wide shots are also great, as is the new shiny GMTV lettering on the idents. The new entrance on the left hand side is also a good feature.
I don't particularly mind the background 'window', not sure about using the London studio as many would like them to, wouldn't GMTV, This Morning, Loose Women and London Tonight all using live shots of London in the same day really be too much?
Oh and those of you saying it looks like Breakfast, well Breakfast copied GMTV in the first place with a red sofa and the whole GMTV type look!
It really is a very nice studio. Im glad the yellow has gone, it was starting to look a bit dated. Only thing i would change is the border on the clock. It either needs to be made a bit thicker or get rid of it cause it strobes.
Could be wrong, but that view reminds me of what would be from the opposiste side of the building to the river views of the London Tonight studio - looking out across South London.
Haven't been to the LTC for ages, but it has that feel.
Could be wrong, but that view reminds me of what would be from the opposiste side of the building to the river views of the London Tonight studio - looking out across South London.
The buildings don't look quite like anything in the immediate vicinity of the London Studios, as far as I could see (though I will look more carefully tomorrow!)
There is an estate a couple of streets away that looks a bit like that, but certainly not as close as the backdrop would suggest.
I like the way a few people are saying its a copy of Breakfast, even though GMTV has always consisted of a sofa, windows, laminate floor. Even TV-AM was like that. And from what i can see its hardly the same shade of beige that the BBC use. Its common these days that people copy an idea if its good. Why try to out do something if you can just produce something similar. Airlines copy eeach other, Broadband companys copy each other. Thats just called business.
Could be wrong, but that view reminds me of what would be from the opposiste side of the building to the river views of the London Tonight studio - looking out across South London.
The buildings don't look quite like anything in the immediate vicinity of the London Studios, as far as I could see (though I will look more carefully tomorrow!)
There is an estate a couple of streets away that looks a bit like that, but certainly not as close as the backdrop would suggest.
[I live about 5 minutes' walk from Kent House]
OK, thanks for ruling that one out anyway.
Like I said, haven't been there for ages, just reminded me of the area.
I wasn't up early enough to see the new look, however I will probably catch it or tape it for tommorow. From what I've seen from the pictures everything looks great indeed! However, the background IS quite disturbing and doesn't quite fit it, and I'm not sure about the flashing red/green lights at the start of GMTV Today.
Did they switch to 4:3 for the regional news - or was it cropped / squashed / centered?
It varied from region to region. I had a flick through a few on Sky. London was arc'd to 14:9 as were Anglia and Scottish IIRC. Granada, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and Central were 4:3. Not sure about the others. The arc switch I saw was also very messy with no fade to black.
The London opts were all 16:9. I was watching on digital cable - perhaps the analogue terrestrial signal was different? I didn't catch analogue off-air, but I'm assuming it was in 14:9, in which case the programme should be shot and protected to 14:9 rather than 4:3, shouldn't it? That would allow a tad more space each side, but not much.
Most people in News shooting 16:9 usually end up shooting and protecting for 4:3. You don't make it look "nice" in 4:3 centre cut - but you do keep the main bits of the people talking mainly in (this usually has the benefit of it looking quite nice in 14:9 - rather than a bit cramped). This is partially because most news studio shots are so simple - basically a few people talking whilst sat down - that when they aren't shot 4:3 safe they often look ridiculous when viewed in 4:3 (I've seen 2 shots used on some shows that would appear empty - apart possibly from a pair of noses... - in 4:3) Other genres of shows have more complicated content within the frame - so the issues are slightly different - and there is often a much wider variety of shots (so fewer shots cause 4:3 issues)
There are so many Sky, Freeview and DCab set top boxes out there now - and most come configured for 4:3 centre cut (and never have that setting changed) - that you have to keep 4:3 safe at least partially in your mind when directing in 4:3.
If you are a digital only channel then only a few viewers (those with clever Freeview and DCab boxes) will ever see you in 14:9... Then you probably only have a few viewers anyway though.
Nice to see moving wide shots - someone has been watching Liquid News and BBC Three News...
...or Channel 4 News. They've been doing that stuff for years.
Yep - though whenever I hear it mentioned in the industry people usually mention Liquid (I've heard people have requested to "shoot it like Liquid" before now...) I think it was quite influential in changing the way studio interviews are shot - possibly because its audience consisted of quite a lot of people in the industry... Liquid was on-air for 4 years - and the "floating" wide shot style was there from day 1.
Not saying they invented moving wides - just that their use of them was influential. BBC Three News followed a similar - though more subtle style.
Suspect the C4 News and Liquid audiences are a bit different!
