The Newsroom

BBC National News: Presentation

(April 2008)

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CH
chris
Revitt posted:
Well, can you believe it's ten years ago today that we said goodbye to those fantastic orchestral BBC news themes of the virtual era and David Lowe's themes first hit the air. Although it may have been a breath of fresh air at the time, Lowe's music was simply nothing compared to its predecessor. However, it's come a long way over a decade and I have to say, I've quite taken to the current BBC news theme.


I think the orchestral themes were a bit too ponsy. Lowe's themes were (and still are) fresh and modern.
NI
Nicky
chris posted:
Revitt posted:
Well, can you believe it's ten years ago today that we said goodbye to those fantastic orchestral BBC news themes of the virtual era and David Lowe's themes first hit the air. Although it may have been a breath of fresh air at the time, Lowe's music was simply nothing compared to its predecessor. However, it's come a long way over a decade and I have to say, I've quite taken to the current BBC news theme.


I think the orchestral themes were a bit too ponsy. Lowe's themes were (and still are) fresh and modern.


The orchestral themes certainly were rather dramatic, maybe even a bit too theatrical - but I still liked them all the same (and still do), they didn't seem "out of date" or "unfresh" at the time they were in use. I don't know whether anyone else feels the same, but I think David Lowe's original 1999 theme package for BBC News is by far his best. The subsequent remixes and "beef ups" are getting a bit boring, IMO - its almost dance music! Would be nice to see him try something different next time round, maybe combining the old orchestral rhythms with the beeps or something like that.
NA
nat210790
BBCNicky posted:
Would be nice to see him try something different next time round, maybe combining the old orchestral rhythms with the beeps or something like that.



I think someone on here mocked that a few years ago - mixing the orchestral themes with elements from the 1999 package. Sounded pretty good IIRC. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think the news should be more "dramatic" and punchy. The current themes just don't have the authority that the themes from the late 80s and 90s had.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
nat210790 posted:
BBCNicky posted:
Would be nice to see him try something different next time round, maybe combining the old orchestral rhythms with the beeps or something like that.



I think someone on here mocked that a few years ago - mixing the orchestral themes with elements from the 1999 package. Sounded pretty good IIRC. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think the news should be more "dramatic" and punchy. The current themes just don't have the authority that the themes from the late 80s and 90s had.


I completely agree. The old 1980s and 1990s themes were by far the best. I recently downloaded a TV Ark video of the Nine O'Clock News in 1992, in which the lead story was the Windsor Castle fire. While watching it, the pictures in conjunction with the headline bed and dramatic titles made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I can honestly say that has never happened during the past 10 years while David Lowe's music has been used. Yes, it is modern, fresh and was quite radical when it was introduced. However, it completely lacks authority.
TV
archiveTV
Some interesting behind the scenes stuff here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqhEpjOf__A
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
archiveTV posted:
Some interesting behind the scenes stuff here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqhEpjOf__A


Wow.

I wouldn't want to be in the chair for that one.
MO
Moz
Gavin Scott posted:
archiveTV posted:
Some interesting behind the scenes stuff here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqhEpjOf__A


Wow.

I wouldn't want to be in the chair for that one.


What *would* be interesting would be to here the talkback from the gallery of a rolling news channel when news is breaking.

These films are of fixed 30 minute broadcasts, planned hours in advance. All the have to do is fill half an hour. If that causes such a kerfuffle, what would happen on a service that is continuously on air with no end in sight!!?
DE
derek500
Moz posted:


What *would* be interesting would be to here the talkback from the gallery of a rolling news channel when news is breaking.


Sky News did their 'gallery' on Active for a while a few years back, but not always with sound.

They did have sound for the General Election before last though. Luckily it was after the watershed!!
RO
rob Founding member
Question Time is moved to 9pm tonight because of the expenses row...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/21/bbc1-question-time-earlier-9pm-mps-expenses
SP
Spencer
A shame it's not given more prominence in the schedule every week.
GE
Gareth E
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/05_may/22/election.shtml

BBC Local and European election coverage details. Notably no 'Election Night' programme for the local elections this year, because the majority of results will not be announced until the day after.
JV
James Vertigan Founding member
Apologies if this has already been discussed, but despite the main evening news being shown at 7pm tonight, it is still being billed as the BBC News at Six (at least on Sky's EPG).

I should also think that it feels strange for Scottish viewers, not only to have the news at 7pm, but to also have shorter bulletins, as it is not a public holiday in Scotland, but then I don't suppose a lot can be done about that (although they could go to the News Channel for an hour and then have their regional news for half an hour as usual before joining back up with network at 7:30.

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