The Newsroom

1997 General Election

BBC Parliament - 7 May 2007 (April 2007)

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MA
mark Founding member
Steve in Pudsey posted:
There were - the version we're seeing today was recorded upstream of the aston machine, so that footage of interviews was "clean" to be reused on other programmes at a later date. The fact that the BBC logo was due to change a few months later may or may not have played a part in that.

That's strange... I could have sworn that when I was watching earlier the live interviews with MPs at their counts had the big BBC Logo and location at the top of the screen. Did I just imagine this?
IS
Inspector Sands
mark posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
There were - the version we're seeing today was recorded upstream of the aston machine, so that footage of interviews was "clean" to be reused on other programmes at a later date. The fact that the BBC logo was due to change a few months later may or may not have played a part in that.

That's strange... I could have sworn that when I was watching earlier the live interviews with MPs at their counts had the big BBC Logo and location at the top of the screen. Did I just imagine this?


The counts did. IIRC these were added either at source or at one of the hubs (the feeds from the various counts go into several hubs so that all of them don't have to go back to London) so would still appear on the 'clean' version from teh studio.

Putting them on at source means that they are easily identified, which is presumably why they are so big!
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I think I read a comment at the time that it was partly because the kit producing those captions at some of the OB locations was fairly basic/elderly and that design was settled on as something that could be produced consistently from everything that was being pressed into service.
DC
Des Cartes
The intercutting between a Labour couple's complete inability to open a very large bottle of chamagne and D-Ream performing "Things Can Only Get Better" was inspired! Laughing

Is anyone else seeing a very slight letterboxing of the output?
NG
noggin Founding member
Steve in Pudsey posted:
I think I read a comment at the time that it was partly because the kit producing those captions at some of the OB locations was fairly basic/elderly and that design was settled on as something that could be produced consistently from everything that was being pressed into service.


Yep - the design was suitably simple to allow reasonably basic astons to be used in the hubs to burn in the graphics (hence they survive on the pre-dsk recordings)
GE
thegeek Founding member
Des Cartes posted:
Is anyone else seeing a very slight letterboxing of the output?
Is it perhaps to do with the way your box is set up? BBC Parliament doesn't have any widesceen signalling, so along with the rest of their 4:3 programmes, the election's being broadcast as 4:3 pillarboxed in a 16:9 frame - your set-top box might be trying to ARC it to 14:9.
BU
buster
BillyH posted:
Sometimes if you look at the monitors behind the presenters, you can see the held/gain astons appear and disappear as on the original broadcast.

Fascinating viewing, as an eight year old I remember watching Have I Got News For You and the Election Night Armistice, but I didn't see this. That moment with all the Labour lot fighting to open that wine bottle, intercut with live footage of D-Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better" was absolutely legendary!

And if anyone has a good version of that awesome synth version of the Election theme played during the 'story so far' bits, I'd love to have it!


Keep watching - right at the end of the whole thing they do a "whole story" thing which goes on for a few minutes and has a very nice long version of that theme!

Was a bit puzzled why they went off at 5.50am until I remembered that Breakfast News came from the same studio in 1997 so they would need the time to changeover. Does anyone remember what BBC1 showed for ten minutes?
NG
noggin Founding member
buster posted:
BillyH posted:
Sometimes if you look at the monitors behind the presenters, you can see the held/gain astons appear and disappear as on the original broadcast.

Fascinating viewing, as an eight year old I remember watching Have I Got News For You and the Election Night Armistice, but I didn't see this. That moment with all the Labour lot fighting to open that wine bottle, intercut with live footage of D-Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better" was absolutely legendary!

And if anyone has a good version of that awesome synth version of the Election theme played during the 'story so far' bits, I'd love to have it!


Keep watching - right at the end of the whole thing they do a "whole story" thing which goes on for a few minutes and has a very nice long version of that theme!

Was a bit puzzled why they went off at 5.50am until I remembered that Breakfast News came from the same studio in 1997 so they would need the time to changeover. Does anyone remember what BBC1 showed for ten minutes?


ISTR that there was a long reigonal opt to allow for in-depth local results. BBC East did these opts fully split - with Cambridge and Norwich going their own separate ways. Quite ambitious for Cambridge - who had only been on air for 5 months.
DC
Des Cartes
Don't think its the set top box, im watching it on Virgin Media in 4:3 in a 16:9 frame, but there is still a tiny but discernable line at the top and bottom (along with the pillarboxing) when compared to output on other channels. No cropping is evident.

Any news on whether they intend to show Vote 2001 or the 2005 Election Night in the near future? I'd love to be ringside once again for the Paxman/Galloway mauling.
AP
Aphrodite007
The Paxman/Galloway thing is on YouTube if you want to see that again.
DV
DVB Cornwall
Just seen the now UKRD's CEO William Rogers losing St Ives.
NE
NEWS 24
Just heard old Paddy Ashdown claim the beeping at a News Conference he held was that of Matthew Amroliwala as it "usually is" apparently. Who was Matthew working for before joining News 24 at its launch?

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