CN's posts, page 10

Eastenders Title Screen

I agree entirely, besides, people identify a soap with its opening sequence. It's the main tool for marketing a soap towards a particular group, something Neighbours seem to have forgotten now that we're heading towards yet another new look on BBC screens within the next few weeks. Very poor indeed, never does our UK soaps any harm to have some continuity in styles for umpteen years at a time.

Emmerdale

The way all soaps are consumed has changed more in the past ten years than ever. The plane crash was carried on three half hourly episodes in a week, that was just one above the norm of the time. Now we have five a week, an hour long today and a sixth on Sunday.

The pace of the storytelling has also increased greatly, the best example being if you were to watch an episode of Corrie from ten years ago and compare it to now. The difference in pace is very obvious.

Another thing too is that dialogue tends to be much shorter and snappier thesedays too. Whether this is all about the fact we have more choices and can flick the remote more easily today than in the past so to hold our attention, these devices have been introduced, I don't know.

Either way though, I felt the music and direction worked well on tonight's Emmerdale. My only disappointment was that I felt the ITV ECP over the credits undermined the effect a little, otherwise, top notch!

Emmerdale

Well I've just seen the first installment and I'm very impressed. Fantastic writing that such a dark episode could also contain so many lighter lines like the joke between Ashley and Louise before their crash and Diane joking about Viv wanting the food for free if she knew the dog was in the kitchen.

As for the stuntwork, top notch for the crash. Although it wasn't done strictly in-house, instead done by the same company who did the last Bond film, the effect was fantastic and I thought it was fairly impressive.

Overall, so far a brilliant tribute to the plane crash. Of course a reference to the fact that it's 10 years exactly since that day wouldn't have gone amiss, their decision not to risk undermining this plot by such references and instead giving it a mention a fortnight ago was clever and something I think I preferred.

Hopefully tomorrow's hour-long will be just as good, especially Trisha ending up under the chimney!

BBC News 24 Relaunch

Bit of irony there that on the day of the relaunch, instead of utilising the regions, London grabs all the headlines by hosting a historic procession! The references to the regions via the countdown look good though, liking how they managed to capture the agriculture industry without overly milking the concept of cows grazing or being herded as before.

BBC News 24 Relaunch

Fantastic! That must be giving the studio quite an atmosphere. One of my favourite things about live television is the noise of the crew or phones ringing, etc. Definitely should make the programme feel pacier and more natural.

Really liking what I'm seeing of this relaunch, haven't seen it live yet, only the caps so will wait before passing full judgement but from those, the countdown looks great, nice variation on the January 03 one. The titles look interesting, looking forward to actually watching them to see how they animate. The set looks amazing, very contemporary and definately retains that feel of 'broadsheet' quality they aim for without being too stiff or staid.

As for BBC World, love their countdown graphics! Pity they couldn't have their set updated but I imagine that'll follow once the News 24 one is established and they can risk running a CSO for a few weeks.

Are there national titles relaunching today? Also, have the Weather graphics been affected by the relaunch? I know there was talk of a revised take on the current set but has that happened.

The Northern Ireland Election Thread

I was under the impression that the BBC NI system was a NI branded version of that used for the English elections back in May, they used the same barcode logo did they not for their "Vote 03."

I've been watching bits and bobs of the coverage and up until now, presentation-wise, UTV have failed to impress me. They do seem to have the OB distribution down to a tee though and the BBC mistake with the locations and Fergal walking inbetween does sound hilarious! Overall, I'm not particularly taken by the BBC NI set but their graphics have impressed.

Emmerdale

I reckon the titles are in for a revamp anyway as Emmerdale in the past has always refreshed its look after every 4-5 years or so, the last set being outdated by the change to their own village. It'll be five years this Christmas since these titles were introduced, they weren't made in 16:9, merely cropped to that end and for that reason, it may well be that they'll take this opportunity to relaunch.

I wouldn't expect this storm to change the face of the village that much. Remembering how much the set cost, if any buildings are to be lost, they'll be ancillary sets such as the Glover's old house or Andy's farmhouse I'd say. Pulling off something like the chimney stack coming down on the Woolpack is interesting, will it come down the two stories, as far as the bar meaning that needs redone again or will Trisha be upstairs?! So many questions but I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens!

Emmerdale

Yup, that is exactly what I meant, was just in a rush in uni this morning and very tired from last night, sorry!

Emmerdale

From Digital Spy:


Well following speculation in the papers earlier in the year that Emmerdale were to do a mock documentary to mark 10 years since their £1m plane crash this New Year's Eve, it now seems that they're going to mark that stunt by rivalling it with another, killing off yet more characters!

It does sound a bit naff but then Emmerdale recently seems to take pride almost in doing the soapy clesés with contrived, manipulated directions for their stories. It doesn't seem to harm it mind, ratings are still strong, there just is that Brookside factor though where the soaps must be aware there is a fine line that can be crossed with overly sensational plots.

My main thought is that they've just redone the Woolpack accommodation and the pub itself isn't too long refitted after Trica blew it up! As for "the village will be entirely flattened", erm, I think not giving how much it cost ITV to build it, especially if anyone has read the book on the development of their own set, getting a church took four years because funding was too stretched already for it initially and in the end, they converted a pre-used set. For that reason, I'm not expecting anything too severe.

One thing this story will do though is give the soap more publicity as it enters 2004 and we all know the affect that had on ratings back in 1994 when they doubled overnight!

Anwyay, thought it'd be interesting to see what people think, hence the poll!

Brookside Closed

That's exactly why I just logged on now, to rant about that too! I cannot believe it! They harped on about poor ratings when it hit 400,000, now even in its relegated slot, it gets over a million (and nearly 2m!) yet is panned. Shoddy journalism if ever there was an example, surely the journalist at media Guardian knew he wasn't to expect millions. Pfft!

Channel 4's 21st birthday

Yup, and the only thing I can see happening is the promotion of Hollyoaks to five nights a week, which is more a contractual thing I imagine since many commissions on C4 run from November to November. That too explains why Brookie is going at such a time too.

Its a pity they're not celebrating their birthday, but then perhaps that is more a strategic move as the channel isn't one to necessarily hark on about being old, instead promoting itself as being youthful and innovative. Why then did the 10th and 15th birthdays get a mention? Different management at the time perhaps? I dunno!

As for a rebrand, I reckon we'll know either way if More4's branding uses the blocks logo. Talking of their branding, whatever happened to the fantastic 4Active branding, with that truly impressive take on the 4 blocks logo?

New ITV Chairman

What's that Nick, she kneads the bread?

I suppose you might also say she's well bred... <Boom Boom!>