The current N6 set is indeed utterly execrable. I really can't understand why the BBC, of all broadcasting institutions, hardly the most cash-strapped, chose to settle for a set which is so wholly inadequate. It beggars belief that they chose a desk which can only comfortably sit two people, when the Six is already dual-headed, meaning that they cannot fit any guests or correspondents onto the set - so they often have to go in the newsroom!
Also, the set is just too rectangular, and the harsh corners make it look extremely ugly, in my opinion. The background looks silly (like an airport terminal), the mirrors are fraudulent and the screens are extremely unsatisfactory because the camera can never face them straight on; it's always at a slight angle, which is especially noticeable during the Six's weather forecast.
I do hope the change which is to come is one which will overhaul the set completely, and give us something that is of an appropriate standard for a national news service.
Having watched Huw's at Five earlier on I've come to the following conclusion...
BBC News should have three studios.
Studio 1 - Main News Studio - Breakfast part 1*, News 24 and the 1/5/6/10*** would come from here
Studio 2 - Breakfast part 2*/Newsnight/Hardtalk etc would come from here
Studio 3 - Breaking News studio**
*Breakfast would come from Studio 1 until they decide to go 'fluffy' (currently 8.30) . There's no reason why the part after this (which is usually interviews & 'consumer' type stuff) couldn't be recorded in Studio 2 and played out with live local news, weather and business segments. If breaking news happening they'd cut to News 24 in Studio 1. Perhaps they could brand this second part 'Breakfast extra' in the same way as Newsnight Review.
**If anything happened during the 1/6/10, News 24 could opt out to this studio
***Some may ask about the rehearsal time for the 1/6/10. Well Huw's now doing what is in effect an hour long version of the 1/6/10 and he doesn't get access to his desk until 3 minutes before he sits down. He manages.
The current N6 set is just too rectangular, and the harsh corners make it look extremely ugly, in my opinion. .... and the screens are extremely unsatisfactory because the camera can never face them straight on; it's always at a slight angle, which is especially noticeable during the Six's weather forecast.
**If anything happened during the 1/6/10, News 24 could opt out to this studio
So you'd have a gallery/floor crew hanging around to operate this third studio just in case?
Not as bad as now when they have gallery/floor crew brought in for the 1/6/10 and the News 24 crew on standby. I'd just make sure there was cover for the simulcasts.
Can't agree about light timber flooring being better than dark. If anything I think that's the very very worst aspect of the current set - just how
light
the floor is! It looks like cheap laminate from Homebase - otherwise textbook Ikea.
Dark timbers generate an air of sophistication - beech/maple tends to look wishy washy, cheap and rather naff, especially on television.
The other major problem with the set is simply its lack of identity. It's nothing in a wide shot, nothing. Not the slightest bit distinctive, nothing that shouts coherence or suggests any sort of grand scheme - rather it's just a bland mish mash of reds, chromes and glowing light sources, with the rear-projection an appalling major backdrop and focal point, being as blurred and deliberately obscure as it is; as a result the entire set is made obscure.
Also the use of a glowing plastic desk is equally vague and ill-defined - it lacks distinctiveness and solidity (though works better with ITV obviously). Combined with the sidelined rear wall and equally bland flooring and side walls, it makes for a thoroughly unmemorable and bland set.
Admittedly it is a difficult juggling act mixing the distinctiveness and clear-cut identity that traditional set design and materials offered with more contemporary ideas, but is is acheiveable.
Whatever is going to be built over the next couple of weeks, above all it
must
be instantly recognisable on a wide, with a design that is distinctive, coherent and fully integrated - not merely made up of all the elements that are needed for a bulletin chucked together into a square room as is currently the case. It is the former type of set that is so fondly remembered by everyone from times past, not ones composed simply to paste over the backgrounds of MCUs.
So what's the likelihood of picture windows making a return?
Maybe... but there were only a handful of the persenters who knew how to work it, there would be quite a range of potential candidates to use it on N24 I'd have thought.
**If anything happened during the 1/6/10, News 24 could opt out to this studio
So you'd have a gallery/floor crew hanging around to operate this third studio just in case?
Could it not be like the old self-opt at Leeds?
Self-op studios are fine for totally scripted short bulletins if you accept their limitations.
They are never going to be suitable for busy breaking news situations - which is exactly the time they would be used. You need at the very least a director, sound supervisor and ideally a comms co-ordinator to line up outside sources, as well as a graphics production system of some sort.
The concept of two studios for Breakfast - one for up to 8.30 and one for post 8.30 is an impractical one - you'd only really be able to have one studio with two sets in it. You couldn't justify crewing two studios for one programme.
Doing the 5 and 6pm shows in the same studio would not be a good idea - the Six would want to rehearse and record items, whilst the 5 was on-air. The only way this would really work is if they were produced as a single two hour programme - which they aren't (nor should they be)
Maybe... but there were only a handful of the persenters who knew how to work it, there would be quite a range of potential candidates to use it on N24 I'd have thought.
I very much like the idea of Peter Levy sitting in a special Breaking News self-op studio, 24 hours a day, just in case. I'd hazard a guess that he'd do it if you asked as well.
Your forgetting the 1/6/10 rarely rehearse anymore, the presenters will get into the studio around 10 minutes before and record any items that may need to be recorded, there is VERY LITTLE rehearsing.
And if you don't believe me there is a BBC News DVD out which tkes you through Huws day, OK?
Your forgetting the 1/6/10 rarely rehearse anymore, the presenters will get into the studio around 10 minutes before and record any items that may need to be recorded, there is VERY LITTLE rehearsing.
And if you don't believe me there is a BBC News DVD out which tkes you through Huws day, OK?
Of course they rehearse, fool. They rehearse the headlines, run through the items, check their interviews and do sound checks, etc. They're in the studio pretty much from 5.30 onwards. So no, there is far more rehearsing than your odd post seems to tell.
And if you don't believe me there's an e-mail from Sophie Raworth in my inbox which takes you through her day, OK?
