The Newsroom

BBC National/News Channel from New Broadcasting House

(March 2013)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
FL
flaziola
No one seems to have noticed we've got more new countdowns with evening/night scenes at BH.
JO
Jonny
It's also good to not have the BBC News logo appearing at the end of the countdown so you'd essentially have two formups in the space of a minute. That's something that has crept in during the last few years and it never worked IMHO. Also good that there isn't that cheesy gallery shot a la World.

Do like the break bumper after the weather into promos - just like the early days of News 24 before they dropped it to speed things along!

Yes, the 2pm TOTH was a good example of how much of an improvement this is - countdown hits zero, studio, thunderclap and first headline. That 2-3 second animation really hampered the immediacy (this feels more like a return to the polished 2007 era). The World News style stings/bumpers are great.

The N6 close was perfectly handled; something extremely powerful and eerie about News 24 fading to black before that fantastic elongated countdown. Very well done.

Graphics seem to have been tidied up considerably, although I don't know how much my preference for Swiss over Gill biases this opinion. Shame the old, half-cooked trail endboards live on (although at least there's no Ultra Bold in sight) and the box's new size and layout doesn't fit with the other channels' so we'll probably end up with a BBC Two-style collection (won't flog that dead horse; the horizontal format just works better).

Impressive.
HE
headliner101
It looks like the green screen hasn't completely disappeared. The N24 weatherman prior to 19.30 was sporting a clicker.
FL
flaziola
OK folks, it's now a new studio, revamped titles, new schedule, I think it's time to let '24' go.
WO
Worzel
Nick's going on Newsroom wanders again lol.
WO
Worzel
The coming up sequences are very Sky News!
DF
DrewF
Well the 8pm summary is looking very much the same - just in shiny HD now!
WI
william Founding member
Various thoughts:

Little notices on these desks saying "Access only please. You are on camera".


If you have a look at the overhead shots, there are some red lines taped on the carpet marking off a kind of 'exclusion' zone around the studio.

These big blocks with monitors mounted on them. These seem to have magically appeared as the solution to get rid of all the grey doors showing up on early shots of the newsroom from the studio. Likely serving no actual useful purpose to those in the newsroom at all, but make the backdrop look a lot better.


There are a few places where they've put a 3x3 display (or two) at the end of a row of desks, again for no obvious benefit to anyone in the room (hiding cabling?) Looks like the feeds you can select from your desk as a journalist have improved a bit - most people seem to get three mini displays stacked vertically on the left or right of their monitor. Nice to be rid of CRTs everywhere.

Can someone confirm that the galleries are switchable - presumably they can route any studio to any gallery if need be? The News Channel can be operated on the same staffing levels as before but from a full size gallery, i.e. it doesn't need it's own, correct?

Are all those globe-shaped red lamps purely decorational, or do they double up as subtle on air lights?

I wondered if all the old TVC kit was going to go up for public auction like they did at Bush House?
WO
Worzel
What's the official presenter opener at the TOTH supposed to be?

Sometimes they say o'clock and sometimes not.

I suppose it's supposed to be the number only now.
KA
karthics2
There is exclusion zone in which staff should not stand in back of the news channel studio. The BBC should have moved the news channel and BBC world galleries under the sane roof a long time ago
JO
Joshua
Shame that the 8pm 90 second bulletin is much the same, they could've used that shot from the BBC News at 5 of the newsroom and circular screen as a background or something.
BB
BBC TV Centre
The continued presence of a big printer built into the set behind the desk suggests paper is still the best alternative as a backup. I always thought the Sky News tablets flashed around when standing in front of the newswall seemed gimmicky.

A couple of things I noticed from Nick's walkabout:

*

Little notices on these desks saying "Access only please. You are on camera".

*

These big blocks with monitors mounted on them. These seem to have magically appeared as the solution to get rid of all the grey doors showing up on early shots of the newsroom from the studio. Likely serving no actual useful purpose to those in the newsroom at all, but make the backdrop look a lot better.


The access only stuff is described below in the following MG article leaked diagram:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/15/bbc-newsroom-etiquette-broadcasting-house

http://dl1.isnd.co.uk/tvf/w1_access_mg.jpg

It's basically so that people don't walk in front of the windows of the studio and loiter in shot. I can probably forsee the windows getting some frosting over sometime in the future. Laughing

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