BBC Breakfast

Be quiet, you cretinous fool - did you not real what Bail had to say at all?

I wouldn't be so smug and damn right rude if I were you. The subject is really a matter of opinion. Those who are likely to be nervous on screen are usually those who simply not used to it (the one off's if you like) and no matter how far away the cameras and lights are they are still going to feel those same feelings.

It seemed like the whole "more comfortable in a larger studio" premise was more anti-Salford than anything else.

The location is irrelevant. There's a definite anti-small studio feeling, and that's a view I share. I just have no clue why they would put a network programme into such a low height space. Those pictures of it look terrible.

I hope they never need Ben Thompson to fill-in on the Business News in that studio! He's like Hen fae Glebe Street.

I hardly think it's rude to state the obvious, and I don't think it is an opinion to state something if it is based on evidence.

I agree that the low ceiling in the new Breakfast studio will be a problem, and will perhaps either look quite bad for the (previously TC7 used) long-shots for the opt outs, or will not be used at all - making the studio looked cramped.

I suppose we'll find out on 10 April.

However, this concept that people are 'less nervous' in a large studio does bewilder me, somewhat.

If you're not used to being on live TV, then perhaps the size of your wider surroundings may become rather irrelevant. Wouldn't the individual be focused mainly on the Floor Manager/Assistant who took them onto the set, and then the person who was about to interview them?

I'm not sure that there would be time to admire the size (or lack) of the space in which you happen to be facing what may seem to be an ordeal. (We are talking about an interview on a News/Current Affairs type programme here, not a game show)

BBC News conducts many interviews from regional newsrooms: where often they are simply in the corner of the newsroom, with nothing more than a camera and screens showing themselves and the person interviewing them.

I'd imagine that's uncomfortable if the nature of the interview is interrogative (political), but not so much if investigative (victim/information/comment). Perhaps the second of those would be no different than the sort of video conference I have done at work: you are in a small place, and facing a camera (alone), but not necessarily an adversary who will challenge what you say.

That was never uncomfortable for me because of the space: I was more worried about how I looked. I'm not sure that I would have different concerns if I was sat in TC7. I certainly wouldn't have worries about whether I was sat in an aircraft hangar or somewhere the size of the main office at work.

Ultimately, perhaps size doesn't matter, it's the circumstances that count.

PS: I edited to add a sentence @ 11:08, but nobody had yet responded.

I did and I didn't begrudge him his viewpoint. I just happen to disagree, and since I've spent a long time in the broadcasting industry, off and on since 1990, I would say my own experience is as valid as anyone else who has worked in broadcasting.

You failed to counter his argument, simply put.

There's no doubt that a small contribution studio, with the single, unmoving, unblinking camera lens that close, and those hot studio lights could be considered an intimidatory environment. By comparison, at least if you are a guest in somewhere like N6, there are other people around that can at least help you feel more comfortable. But it is all in the mind, and as such, you can choose not to be intimidated by it. There's practically a whole industry teaching those in business how to be relaxed and confident in broadcast media environments. And some business are going even further and including their own contribution studios that the TV networks can connect to.

I think what's more likely to make Breakfast from SQ2 look a bit uncomfortable and cramped is the lightboxes between each of the backprojection screens. To keep them out of shot, the two-shot is really quite tight, and that makes it look quite claustrophobic.

Aren't they plasma's?

Ah, perhaps they are - that would explain the need for the lightboxes!