The Newsroom

Fake newsroom backdrops

Tacky or no? (April 2012)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
DS
Dan S
BBC WORLD posted:
Actually, and I can only barely remember this, but didn't the BBC Nine o'Clock News have a very early newsroom backdrop, which was rather more like having the newsreaders actually sat at their own desks inside the newsroom? Early green screen technology.

The era I'm referring to was mid seventies, I guess, when the pool of presenters was Kenneth Kendall, Peter Woods, Richards Baker and Whitmore.

I am sure there are images somewhere on the net. This wasn't a fake newsroom as such, but rather a fake backdrop using a working newsroom, probably played on a loop. Cutting edge for the time.


I'm guessing this is what you're referring to:

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/news/bbcnews/late.html

At the top of the page, from when the Nine O' Clock News first launched.
RW
Robert Williams Founding member
Dan S posted:
BBC WORLD posted:
Actually, and I can only barely remember this, but didn't the BBC Nine o'Clock News have a very early newsroom backdrop, which was rather more like having the newsreaders actually sat at their own desks inside the newsroom? Early green screen technology.

The era I'm referring to was mid seventies, I guess, when the pool of presenters was Kenneth Kendall, Peter Woods, Richards Baker and Whitmore.

I am sure there are images somewhere on the net. This wasn't a fake newsroom as such, but rather a fake backdrop using a working newsroom, probably played on a loop. Cutting edge for the time.


I'm guessing this is what you're referring to:

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/news/bbcnews/late.html

At the top of the page, from when the Nine O' Clock News first launched.

I think that was the second Nine O'Clock News 'look', introduced in November 1972, the programme having launched in 1970. I have a Radio Times from 1974 which includes a review column about the Nine O'Clock News which indicates that the newsroom backdrop had not gone down very well with viewers, and indeed it does look rather cluttered, and also rather odd when the camera shot changes but the background remains exactly the same!
AM
amosc100
Steve in Pudsey posted:
What I think looks tacky is going from N6 or TC7 to a regional studio that has the same fake newsroom behind it.


No it doesn't. The backdrop that is shown on NWT is of Salford Quays (mainly Imperial War Museum), whilst Breakfast is a "neutral" skyline via an "office" window. Neutral as in it's a not a specifc town or city.
SO
Solarbear
Steve in Pudsey posted:
What I think looks tacky is going from N6 or TC7 to a regional studio that has the same fake newsroom behind it.


Yeah! PW used to use a background of Bristol, but now they use the national one. It's bland, looks the same, and-as you said-tacky. Whether they use a regional one must vary between regions.

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