BBC News Studios

Are they for lighting/camera angles?

I was much clearer. Thanks, by the way very good panoramic photo TC7

I believe the reason they have the 'baking trays' is that they are where the cables go for the Computers in the Desk. If you look to the back of the baking trays in images there is a black box that goes to the edge of the Studio.

Always wondered what that was for....

They're there for camera angles. Look at the photos of N6/TC7 and you'll notice [all] cameras are as low on the peds as they can go. Without the rostra (proper name for the baking trays), the cameras would be looking down on the presenters, which doesn't look right (and can make backgrounds look messy). The other alternatives are to get rid of the remote pan/tilt heads and therefore lower the cameras on the peds (but then you need ops in the studio) or to put the presenters on stools sat at a bench (again, looks odd).

North West Tonight had this issue in their last look. They should have installed some sort of baking tray because the camera was always looking down towards the desk. The desk also looked a little lost without something to sit on.

Is that the reason they always use tall bar stool (style chairs) when they are off the baking trays (such as for Film 24)?

I still can't believe how small TC7 actually is, if you consider how big it looked when it was the studio for Going Live and Live and Kicking

I think of you took the Barco screens out this would free up a bit more space as they don't sit right back tight against the studio wall. I remember seeing a video timelapse of the screens being installed in TC7 somewhere, there was certainly enough space to easily walk behind them.

I think that's for fire safety regulations.

I think its more for ease of servicing.

The 'baking tray' (dais) is not only used to create a distinctive area of the studio (some regional studios just have grey rectangles painted on the studio floor), but also to conveniently lift the height of the presenters and make it easier for the cameras to align to their eye level.

I'm sure either 'noggin' or one of the other technically knowledgable people explained that this was the reason for using a dais some time ago.

AIUI, the camera peds have quite a lot of equipment to make them remote controlled from the gallery, and this lifts the actual camera lens up by quite a few inches.