BBC National News: Presentation

I wouldn't say moving the camera up slightly during the opening shot was that bad...

According to next weeks RT, the Ten on Friday 27/7 will be on Bbc 2.

(Midlands Today have confirmed via Facebook, there is no 1025 either, suppose that means all regions too!)

Small matter of Olympic opening getting in the way!

In my own opinion, I think that this camera show is bad, my opinion

Sound's still a bit poor tonight. There's too much background noise and echoing. Backdrop looks great though, always nice to have something a bit different like a proper live shot.

Really? I'm not sure it's worth it to be honest. Fiona looks very orange and imo the colour temp is too hot, it sounds worse than a greenhouse with a lot of background noise and they go to great lengths to use the "side" shot when not covering Olympic stories, which seems rather pointless. I'd much rather they just put that shot on the barcos in the normal studio. If anything, and I know its all about "the view" but the globe mortif frosting might actually help add a little visual interest during the night too.

The BBC are host broadcaster sure, but does the news need to be there when BBC Sport is in abundance?

Its pretty much just the backdrop I like, there are certainly some issues with lighting/sound. I don't think it adds anything to the programme being there but then news have rarely needed an excuse to get out of the studio for a big story. Maybe waiting until Thu/Fri would have made more sense.

Beccy from The Scott Mills Show probably sums it up!

It would probably have been better if the studios had more to them, I.e a bit of a set rather than just Fiona in a glass box

I'm no expert on the physics of sound, but AIUI sound is reflected off hard surfaces, especially boxy glass studios such as these the BBC are using. I think it's a case in point that sometimes it's best to stick to a proper, purpose-built studio. It may well look good but it certainly doesn't sound good. It always seems in modern broadcasting that most attention is given to how programmes look, but very little is paid to how they sound. Even in music terms, broadcasters are more than happy to spend thousands on snazzy titles and graphics, but then use cheaply made computerised news themes rather than paying for a real orchestra with real instruments which would sound infinitely better (as in years gone by). Anyway, just a pet hate of mine

Anyway, I'm torn on the subject of the BBC having a News presence at the Olympics. I appreciate that it's the biggest sporting event in this country for generations and so it will be newsworthy at times. But I can't help but feel that once the initial excitement dies down and the Games get underway, there will be little to report on outside of the normal sports news, certainly not enough to warrant entire bulletins being presented on location. My fear is that the BBC will lead with the Olympics every day and night for 3 weeks merely to justify the expense they've gone to.

It's not normally the surfaces behind the presenter which is the issue, as opposed to what's on the other side of the studio where they're facing, after all, they're talking forwards. A normal trick to help with lighting and sound is to tilt the windows at an angle, normally so the top is further out than the bottom, so that sound and lights are bounced back into the ceiling (which can then have some cheap sound treatment applied) as opposed to back into the mic / cameras.

One of the best things to absorb sound is people, often surprisingly so. Sadly you can't rely on them being quiet, so adding a studio audience to the Ten isn't such a good idea

I have to say though that watching the bits with Tim earlier, it didn't seem half as much of a problem as Fiona was having. Maybe Tim's more used to working on location and talking just that bit much louder that his mic can be faded down a bit so we don't hear the background noise and reflections.

BBC World News and London don't have the sound problems, mainly because they have a sofa in the studio which absorbs a lot of the echo. They need to stick the old Breakfast sofa (or a sofa, doesnt have to be in-vision) in the News channel/Nationals studio. The old Brekkie sofa must be knocking around TVC somewhere.

Before I installed some proper soundproofing in some radio studios, we stuck an old sofa in the studio and it virtually wiped out any echo from the surrounding glass.

I'm sure it'd get a good audience from some members of here. Imagine the applause if Huw stood up!

Other way around. The top of any angled glass would be further into the studio, the bottom further out. Having it your way round runs the risk of seeing lights reflected in the glass. Either that, or you do what ITV, London Tonight and Channel 4 News have done, and remove the glass altogether.