BBC Midlands Today

Surely she could just step up onto the platform she's directly in front of?

Personally I think she should step back, on the end shot she looked too close it!

Really? That's strange, but I definitely prefer the 2008 music to the South East Today.

The Rotunda is definitely a better choice of final image than the previous Birmingham Town Hall was, IMHO.

The Rotunda surely is distinctive enough that it is instantly recognisable as Birmingham, in the same way that, say, Big Ben is for London, or the Spinnaker Tower is for Portsmouth. Midland viewers who've seldom/never visited Brum and therefore have, at best, only the broadest knowledge of what that city centre looks like, may well still find the Rotunda to be easily identifiable.

The same absolutely isn't true of Birmingham Town Hall, for those Midlands viewers with little/no more intimate familiary with Brum city centre. The "faux-Roman columns"-type stylings of Birmingham Town Hall look effectively indistinguishable from countless civic building etc in many towns and cities nationwide. Many viewers may well have not known for sure where in the midlands the building in the old logo was.

Therefore, the Town Hall always seemed an odd choice for the finished logo. The Rotunda is a much better choice, IMHO.

If I remember rightly the day they launched the new BBC News, Nick Owen said the Town Hall was "to be a bit different" because at the time Central News had littered their titles and their backdrop with the Rotunda, it was more a curveball - it does look nice though, isn't everything nice and sharp now!

Ah. Cheers for that info.



Indeed it does!

EDIT: Further to my previous post...

I also really like the particular choice of angle they've shot the Rotunda from, so there's a bit of "old" (the Rotunda, built 1960s) and "new" (that "slice of lemon"-shaped structure (just to the right of the Rotunda/just above the bus roof) is part of the "new" (2003-built) Bullring).

Also, it's nice to have the sped-up vehicular/pedestrian activity, as a sign of human activity and city-centre "hustle & bustle". The previous Town Hall endcap's lack of people/vehicles/movement made it look for all the world like a still photograph, rather than moving footage (for all I would know, maybe it really was a still?!).

The new opening titles in full: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150960670859761

I don't think that second moving shot of the roadsign works very well compared to the other images.

Yes, the second clip needs to be stronger for the amount of time it's visible in comparison to later shots. In fact, there are a few odd directional choices in there.

Love the set though, a good example of regional interpretation - faithful but distinctive and a definite improvement.

The music seems ok....But I still prefer the 2007 music, its got a bit more oomph to it.

I'm going to watch at 1830 and then I'll write what I like and dislike about the set, but as it goes I think it's one of the better looking, if not the best looking regional sets, not just by how it looks and what it's got but it's a really clever, inventive and good use of the space (or misfortunate lack thereof) that BBC Midlands have, and what they've achieved is ultimately better than what was put in back in 2010 (and 2004) and certainly looks like it's fit to broadcast from.

If I'm right in thinking there's new cameras in there or at least they've been fine tuned for the new set, and the titles were rendered in HD...

That looks like quite a nice set in view of the space restrictions.

I wonder if those regions who opted for the earlier makeovers are now kicking themselves for being first in line? The plasmas are far more versatile than just lightboxes.