BBC World News: Presentation

it would be interesting to hear what the Americans think of this new look, as it is very European in its style.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned what must be the biggest problem with the new countdown - the pips keep going even after the numbers reach 00:00

This has never happened before, and for good reason - it doesnt' make sense. It feels like they've just edited it out of sync, as the higher octave pips start on 07:00 as opposed to 10:00 as they usually do, which also made sense as it counted down the last 10 seconds. Now the numbers reach 00:00 and the pips keep going into the ident.

It's one thing to return to the WORLD circa 2003 countdown where the numbers stopped at 03 in order to allow the WORLD logo to come up, or the outgoing WORLD countdown, where the numbers and pips stopped at 00:00, but the music continued without them for a couple of bars for the logo. But the way they've done it currently just doesn't make sense.

And as the for the ident, hopefully these countdowns are indeed just stopgaps, and truly new ones will be shown soon. They ident at the end is obviously tacked on - it just fades in without any kind of transition. At least they could have used the way the old ones ended - with the red data streams filling the frame before crashing into the logo.

IMO the outgoing News 24 countdown had the best ending of any since they started, with its exciting p - p - p - p - p - p - as the streams filled the frame.


But for the perfect comparison of the past countdowns, you can't do better than my compilation ***

http://www.factorfiles.com/BBC/BBCCountdownCompilation.flv

*** insert shameless plug

Sorry for double post: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hXp4K0T0UmI

here's the link.

Mesmerizing.
Thank you so much!, probably the best programme ever broadcast on BBC World!

I've noticed that the soundtrack of the latest countdowns lacks those awful whooshy sounds. Sounds so much better.

Even more amazing that it was never broadcast. It's a mock. It's my voice on the opening anno!!

Ok so i've tried to fix up what I think are a few problems with the countdown.

http://www.factorfiles.com/BBC/2008Countdown.flv

Basically I've changed the timing so as the pips are back to where they should be (going up the octave at 10:00 and stopping at 00:00).

I've also tinkerered with the music to fix up a few bits that I think fall a little flat (just after 30:00, and the end) adding in some stuff from the outgoing News 24 countdown. I've also created an end bed for the ident, after the pips stop, to lead into the TOTH.

I've also put the data stream back in at the end and made the ident come in with it - as best as i could. I was going to completely redo it, and change the size of the numbers too (because they're way too big) but I basically couldn't be bothered. Anyway you get the idea.

Sorry about the dodgy bit of footage at the start - I just needed a slightly longer countdown so as you could here my little bit of mixing before 30:00