In a spectacular example of bad planning, the Breakfast studio's real windows face towards the sun in the morning making it impossible to use the real windows in the morning.
Though isn't that direction the best view anyway?
So unless they planned the whole development on the other side of the dock they'd always have that issue
NWT studio was originally going to be in the sports centre.
Plans were changed at the last minute when Breakfast was added to the Salford mix. Breakfast didn’t want the real window view for lighting and security reasons.
Wasn't that (the then) DG Mark Thompson who stepped in with that comment re. Security etc?
And also didn't Gill / Jill Dummigan (spelling needs confirming) say that a different part of the BBC base in MediaCity was going to be the NWT studio / set as she mentioned that NWT was "coming from here" with the 'here' representing the space / room where the studio was supposed to go and not 'here' as in the building. I seem to recall.
Sport in Salford seem to have mastered using augmented reality - Breakfast would seem like an obvious candidate for an AR "window", where the perspective moves with the cameras.
For it to be AR you'd need to ensure nobody is in front of the window, otherwise you'd need to use chroma key (and hope no guest wears green) or LED screen (and ensure the close-ups are clean or the jib ONLY moves on shot).
Pure AR screens are tricky as you have no way of keying a camera over them, only them over a camera.
Aren’t there augmented reality systems for backdrops like windows. So in the studio the monitors would stay the same but the video would move. Viz has done stuff similar during their NAB shows for years except instead of multiple windows they use a big video wall.
Yes - hence my comment about LED screens
However you have to be very careful not to have AR-driven "real" screens in shot on close-ups or do nasty in-vision screen changes triggered by tallies (as Kanal 5 Sweden did during the Winter Olympics). The perspective only works on the camera the AR is tied to, and if it tracks that camera at all times you'd get very odd results on a close-up as the AR jib repos...
They work well in cleverly designed sets - but aren't a panacea...
Last edited by noggin on 27 June 2018 12:48pm - 2 times in total
For it to be AR you'd need to ensure nobody is in front of the window, otherwise you'd need to use chroma key (and hope no guest wears green) or LED screen (and ensure the close-ups are clean or the jib ONLY moves on shot).
Pure AR screens are tricky as you have no way of keying a camera over them, only them over a camera.
Aren’t there augmented reality systems for backdrops like windows. So in the studio the monitors would stay the same but the video would move. Viz has done stuff similar during their NAB shows for years except instead of multiple windows they use a big video wall.
Yes - hence my comment about LED screens
However you have to be very careful not to have AR-driven "real" screens in shot on close-ups or do nasty in-vision screen changes triggered by tallies (as Kanal 5 Sweden did during the Winter Olympics). The perspective only works on the camera the AR is tied to, and if it tracks that camera at all times you'd get very odd results on a close-up as the AR jib repos...
They work well in cleverly designed sets - but aren't a panacea...
I didn’t get what you meant with the LED comment. I assume in a situation like that all cameras would be tracked and connected to Viz (as they’re the choice of BBC for AR) engines. But I imagine if they are all at the sofa and the main cameras that don’t really move - say the ones typically used for each presenter and guest - and the director cuts between cameras without some sort of wipe it would be a bit wonky with the background suddenly moving especially if the whole screen is still visible. (Am I making sense?)
Do you have a video of Kanal 5 during the Olympics?
Why not just bring it back to NBH, consolidate the workforce in the newsroom and broadcast from a revamped The One Show studio: which could handle Breakfast in the morning and TOS in the evening? You could even have morning segments, mini concerts from the plaza outside (I know I'm venturing into NBC's Today presentation territory here and IMHO that isn't a bad thing). TOS studio manages to broadcast without an issue when its dark oustide so winter mornings shouldn't be a problem
Why not just bring it back to NBH, consolidate the workforce in the newsroom and broadcast from a revamped The One Show studio: which could handle Breakfast in the morning and TOS in the evening? You could even have morning segments, mini concerts from the plaza outside (I know I'm venturing into NBC's Today presentation territory here and IMHO that isn't a bad thing). TOS studio manages to broadcast without an issue when its dark oustide so winter mornings shouldn't be a problem
Politically isn't going to happen, and why uproot the teams many of whom remain on the programme and moved their lives to the north west with it. The other issue is Breakfast and The One Show use very different galleries. The One Show gallery is much more "traditional" whilst Breakfast is obviously driven by Mozrt and Open Media.
It can't move back to NBH, as it was never there in the first place. If it's all to do with the studio then The One Show studio is smaller than the one in Salford, it would be a step back.
As for the outside area, they have a much bigger one in Salford which only gets occasional use now. Remember it's primarily a news programme, so there's little need for an outside space.
Breakfast is not in Salford for practical reasons, moving it to London would need some serious reasons.
NWT studio was originally going to be in the sports centre.
Plans were changed at the last minute when Breakfast was added to the Salford mix. Breakfast didn’t want the real window view for lighting and security reasons.
Wasn't that (the then) DG Mark Thompson who stepped in with that comment re. Security etc?
Aren’t there augmented reality systems for backdrops like windows. So in the studio the monitors would stay the same but the video would move. Viz has done stuff similar during their NAB shows for years except instead of multiple windows they use a big video wall.
Yes - hence my comment about LED screens
However you have to be very careful not to have AR-driven "real" screens in shot on close-ups or do nasty in-vision screen changes triggered by tallies (as Kanal 5 Sweden did during the Winter Olympics). The perspective only works on the camera the AR is tied to, and if it tracks that camera at all times you'd get very odd results on a close-up as the AR jib repos...
They work well in cleverly designed sets - but aren't a panacea...
I didn’t get what you meant with the LED comment.
I was talking about tracked screen fills - where an LED screen is filled with a graphic that is generated dynamically based on the jib position to create a dynamic window with parallax. This allows an AR-tracked screen to be in shot with talent in front of it on a wide, without having to do any keying (the reason for using an LED screen or projection is to avoid chroma key to put the screen 'behind' talent)
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I assume in a situation like that all cameras would be tracked and connected to Viz (as they’re the choice of BBC for AR) engines.
For totally overlaid AR - yes - absolutely.
However for AR rendered LED screens - where the screen is fed with video, you can't cut between cameras in different positions and expect the screen in-fill to change dynamically based on the camera shooting it and the position of that camera. If the LED screen IS in shot on other cameras you either have to ensure the jib doesn't move (or you'll see the LED screen content move) or that the screen content changes to something non-tracked (which is what Kanal 5 did)
You usually either ensure the LED screen is only in vision on one camera, or shot by two cameras on the same perspective angle(ish) AND make sure the camera with tracking doesn't suddenly repo when you're on the close-up (causing the graphics to move)
That only works if the augmented graphics are entirely overlaid - and if you aren't keying them into the set using chroma-key style techniques, they have to be foreground only as you have nothing to generate a key from the live cameras.
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But I imagine if they are all at the sofa and the main cameras that don’t really move - say the ones typically used for each presenter and guest - and the director cuts between cameras without some sort of wipe it would be a bit wonky with the background suddenly moving especially if the whole screen is still visible. (Am I making sense?)
What happen if the camera that is tracking the LED screen infills moves whilst you are on another camera? The background moves...
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Do you have a video of Kanal 5 during the Olympics?
Not to hand.
Remember AR is great for foreground elements that don't need to be keyed into set elements, but if you need to see the tracked graphics behind talent you either chroma key or use real screens. The latter has the limitations I describe, the former has all the limitations of chroma keying still (even if it's just a green window)
If they're going semi virtual, some virtual extension of the set to mask the lighting grid (I'll be generous and call it a grid) on the wide shot would be a big improvement
I think the ‘banners’ on the screens featuring the disco ball have been updated and are now more orange and less disco-ey...or is it my eyes? I’ve not quite woken up yet!?
