BBC News - General

Indeed I was surprised to see the pedestal cameras performing this on some of the ocassional "Behind the Scenes" reports they do on Breakfast. The effect is very similar to a crane shot, and I suppose given the confined space in N6 much easier to achieve.

Those shots certainly give the impression that N6 is far bigger than it actually is. It's also very rare in a live broadcast that you get a mis-framed shot that shows the edge of the screens, and thus the dimensions of the studio.

I remember criticising the decision not to have a crane or jib in N6 when this look was first unveiled as the ped shots were often shaky and poorly framed, but it seems the crew really have got it sussed now. Just goes to show you don't need to fanciest equipment if you know what you are doing.

Don't really agree with that. Whilst a crane can do most of the same moves that a ped can (depending on the lenses of course), a crane/jib can do moves that even the best ped operator would struggle to replicate. (Peds aren't good at moving over uneven floors, or over 6" high rostra, as in the Newsnight studio, or over people's heads etc.)

A ped does what a ped does, a crane does what a crane does. They are two different beasts.

The advantage of a ped is that it can be locked off, or remoted. Jibs are quite difficult to lock-off safely, and can't be safely remotely operated in most situations. That said - you can use jibs in smaller spaces than the BBC One studio if you are sensible.


Yep - the joys of wide angle lenses. The two manned cameras on the Six O'Clock News are the two outer cameras (they can both move on-shot and quickly between shots) - and these both obviously have wide angle lenses when compared to the middle three, which are remote controlled (and thus static on-shot and don't relocate between shots).

A crane won't always be steadier than a ped anyway... If you track a jib it is still mounted on a ped - and thus subject to the same issues with un-even floors etc., though most jib moves that news shows use are based on static peds with the movement achieved through swinging the jib (rather than crabbing or tracking it)

(In most studios crab/track movements on a jib required two people, whereas a static jib is usually safely operated with one person)

I don't think there would be much point in tracking a jib in a studio the size of N6! When the new look first launched though the peds were only used after stings and I thought a jib would have made things look a lot better. Now, after I guess a little practice, the peds are used all the time and are very smooth while ITV's jib causes more problems than it fixes.

Look North (NE & Cumbria) didn't get much of a bulletin tonight, we first opted to the London bulletin with sound, there was then a flicker between Look North and London, we finally got to our bulletin, but it was soundless. The rest of the bulletin continured like this, until the very end. All we heard from Sharon was "Theres updates throughout the weekend, now back to Ben"

Today's presenter schedule seemed odd - If Sophie came in to do the 6 it seems odd that they still got Louise Minichin to do Friday's 1. And also why was Nicholas Owen on when Ben Brown, whos been doing the 6 all week, is in to do the 10 anyway?

Yes, but the mix of the two theme tunes was brilliant!

and I dont get why louise was doing the one when jane was on news 24, surely she would be the first choice?

Jane Hill seems to have been side lined at the moment for some odd reason in favour of Louise, who I like very much also.

I think jane hill spending half the year in the algave has really damaged here career over here,because once she left they started using louse and when she returnd she seems to be back to beging a bog-standart N24 presenter-she dosent even do the saturday nights anymore.

yes.