The Newsroom

the great big BBC News studio shuffle

Studios now shuffled. (April 2006)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
AM
amosc100
NickyS posted:
BBriscoe posted:
amosc100 posted:
Congratulations must go to both ITV and SKY and dumbing down news presentation and making BBC follow their path.


I don't understand that making news presentation more visually interesting means that it's 'dumbing down'?! The 1 and 6 have been dumbed down for quite a few years now and there was no walking about before!

This latest style is just a way of making news presentation look fresher, and keeping viewers interest.

It is TELEvision after all, maybe you should just go back to your wireless.

This is a facinating debate - and probably one for another thread - but so many people - of all ages - seem to have it in built into them that unless the newsreader is a) slightly older b) sitting behind a desk c) if a man in a shirt and tie then it is being dummed down and not being taken seriously enough. I have been to focus groups where young-ish people have that view as well. They can't get away from that's how news should be and they can't look past that.


sat behind a desk - YES shows a more informative/diplomatic/impartial view

Shirt and tie - not really as I hate wearing ties myself - just as long as they look business (european style) smart

Older - not necessarily just as long as they can command their authority in reading the news. In fact my present line manager is actually younger than me by alomst 10 years and I respect him.
AM
amosc100
James Hall posted:
Since when was it Channel 5 who started the "standing up presenting" "gimmick" as you so call it?

IIRC it was Frank Bough in 1982, him and his hideous jumpers opened Breakfast time standing by the screen each day.

I'm not too fussed about the corners, I don't really care much about the corners, and I've got no time for the people who say it's VERY disappointing for the BBC... just what WERE you expecting? Sydney Opera House? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perhaps? Herds of wildebeasts sweeping majestically across the open plains?

Personally, I think they've done a fab job considering the space they've got to play with and all they really need to do is get rid of those flipping 'reflections'.


When Boughy did that on Breakfast Time he only did the headlines (and it was the same screen as the weather!) but the main points were done behind a desk or from the sofa. Presenting full news stories whilst stood up was initialised (nationally) by C5
JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
Square Eyes posted:
Juicy Joe posted:
As I have said in the Breakfast thread, the new look for BBC news is completely abysmal and embarrasing really. The backdrop looks like it has been made out of Lego bricks (with the joints showing) and looks aesthetically revolting. Those marks on the floor look as though they couldn't even be bothered to keep the floor clean even for their first big day. The Box look looks sickly and the overall feel of the programme has bombed.

The BBC should bow their heads in shame. This, followed by an equally poor-looking weather forecast after each news bulletin, willl surely lose the BBC loyal viewers in the long run.

I have said my piece! I feel better now! Laughing


I don't get this. Can you explain how a "box look looks sickly" ?


It just does - trust me, by the end of the week, you will agree! Very Happy

Just look at this picture for an example of sickness, which was posted by josh205 earlier on:-

Quote:


Again, another quote from Telefis which again makes you want to puke:-
Quote:

On the downside - and I really don’t think this has been emphasised enough - the joins in the screen walls as previously highlighted, the corner in particular, are nothing short of shocking. Shocking because very simply this is the set – a set in its most basic and important form being the provision of a backdrop to the principal shots of presenters. If anything, you design this first and work everything else around it, especially for news-type programmes where the MS/MCU is so hugely critical. I couldn’t believe the BBC messed up so spectacularly on this front – the joins behind the principal two-shot, around which the entire production revolves, is frankly hideous. How this was passed off as acceptable I simply do not know.



Good points there! Well said!

Another batch of sickly comments by Dunedin:-

Quote:

could only grab about 5 minutes viewing of Breafast this morning and honestly thought they were sitting in front of cardboard.

The background looks TERRIBLE on the close-up shot, and somebody has monumentally f*cked up their measurements to get a join just inches away from the corner.

If that was my bathroom tiles, I'd expect the workmen to take them down and start again- it's an amateurish and frankly embarassing mistake.


Feeling sick yet Square Eyes??? Wink
MO
Moz
Anyone else think News 24 should swap studios with the 1/6/10!!!!?

The new N6 would suit News 24 far more as it's more versatile.
SE
seamus
I quite like the set. I hope they do it for BBCW. I espessialy like the desk.
Also, does anybody have the captures of the 10?

Overall, 8.5/10
JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
Moz posted:
The 10 backdrop, and lighting generally, does look stunning.
Shocked Shocked

Are you having a laugh??? Shocked
TV
archiveTV
Moz posted:
Andrew posted:
Having a generic city backdrop, supposedly London but not that specific, its a bit GMTV

You can see the London Eye - defo London!

I used to be against a London backdrop, but I think they've got this right. It's not a Thames TV fake London, it's what you see from W12, so a sense of realism.

The 10 backdrop, and lighting generally, does look stunning.


I believe it is the view from Dulwich

And the reflections are odd. If you were presenting from a studio with a real window showing a wonderful view over London, you would do all you could to eliminate reflections.

So why, if you are faking it, do you add them?
HA
harshy Founding member
Moz posted:
Anyone else think News 24 should swap studios with the 1/6/10!!!!?

The new N6 would suit News 24 far more as it's more versatile.


Nope News 24 should stay where they are, BBC News 24 has the best BBC News look these days.

Haven't seen the national news, but the Breakfast set although in idea is a huge improvement, the execution has a lot to be desired I am afraid, I really don't like the fact that Dermot and Sian are there, and where the clouds join looks awful and shoddy IMHO, the Breakfast astons weren't impressive before but they look worser now!
:-(
A former member
I loved the darker backdrop on the ten......just like the good old days of the nine in the virtual era of the 90s. However a night time view of a city is much better than three virtual globes quarters in solar shadow, but I always liked the way the late news in the 90s used a darker scheme than the other bulletins, and I'm glad that this has be re-introduced.

If the backdrop is real (if it isn't and this has been mentioned above, my apologies) won't it get lighter on the ten towards June 21st and in winter on the ten and the six, get very dark?

Another thing the new look has in common to the virtual era is the closing shot. The BBC news text is aligned to the left of the screen - this was the case with the old logo from 1993 - 1996, until it went central and the year was dropped.

http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBCNews93.jpg
PT
Put The Telly On
All I can say is, I like the look, but why they have to tease at the "theatre of news" style I don't know. Its ok for ITV but tacky for Aunty Beeb.
NG
noggin Founding member
Bail posted:
CentralWest posted:
Durh me, but are all those panels rear-projection or vr?

National News looks good, very Central News 2001ish, which I like, but Breakfast yuck!

Er.. They're actual panels... lots of tiny LED's....


No they aren't LED panels - they wouldn't work in such a small space. (Even the smallest LED screens have pixels far too big to be convincing in a space that size)

The walls are an array of projector cubes - using something like Barco DLP technology. Very similar to the Channel Four News and London Stock Exchange screens.
DE
denton
I like the idea behind the new look, just not enamored with the implementation.

The glassy look to the globe in the opening titles is great, but the whole thing forms up too quickly (to allow for that horrible purple swirling wipe effect to the wide shot). In the previous titles the "1", "6" and "10" formed nicely out of the swirls reaching fruition simultaneously with the musical crescendo. Now the whole title sequence seems rushed, and the softening of the musical crescendo leaves the theme tune feeling rather feeble.

The joins/corners of the backdrop monitors are dreadful... but were they ever going to be perfect, given that they are using real monitors rather than portable projectors or CSO?

The overhead light boxes look quite nice, though I suspect they are there to serve a purpose (to prevent lots of nasty shadows on that block-colour grey floor). However, the rather flat lighting leaves you with no feeling of depth between the presenters and the backdrop. As one email read out on Breakfast put it... "…are Sian and Dermot projections, or are they real?"

Newer posts