The Newsroom

ITV News

General day to day goings-ons (August 2004)

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IT
I T V 1
ohwhatanight posted:
fanoftv posted:
Londoner posted:
Another unusual lineup today, with Leyla Daybelge making a Sunday appearance. Lauren Taylor has also been presenting.

Yesterday Jonathan Wills did a couple of hours on the News Channel between the London bulletins (like he used to do last year). And Jasmine Lowson appeared for an hour at 5pm, with Carrie Frais doing a very long shift.


Jasmine Lowson? Nice to know that she's back at ITN. Didn't see move onto do the 60 seconds bulletins on BBC Three and some reports for Liquid News and the 7 O Clock News after the Big Breakfast finished?

I still don't understand why the News Channel can't have fixed presenters, they even have trailers saying that they have, when in reality it's only Andrew & Lucy, Alastair and Angela that are on at their advertised times (and of course the Lunchtime, Evening and Late bulletins).

The other's seem as though they're all popped into a hat and picked out for a different hour, when they will most probably appear for the first hour, be solo for the second and turn up 5 hours later with somebody different.

As for tonights ITV News at 11 with Andrea Catherwood, it was only billed as a 5 minute bulletin (yet was extended to a 15), and so it was Andrea sitting down, but with the usually graphics (the flying squares and globes that appear when they cut to the studio before the headlines) behind her, looked very nice indeed, if only they could do away with the squares, or at least try something different.

The sound levels on Andrea's mic were either wrong or something was affecting the mic, as it seemed to go strange, I don't really know what to call it, echoey I suppose. A bit like if you put your TV speakers to their highest, on certain sounds you get echoing and booming, it sounded like that.

And no my TV wasn't too loud, and the speakers are fine with everything else.

As for the end shot tonight, I didn't know what they'd do in the second studio, but it ended quite normally using the wide high shot, and I couldn't tell the difference.

So I'm not sure whether they were from the normal studio but kept the angles closed for some reason, whether they swapped at some point in the programme, or whether it was clever CSOing, that they never seem to use on the News Channel, but if it was, they can and should.

I'm inclined to think the last one as they just used to wide shot with no sweep over the studio or pan around the desk.


I was going to post a similar post last night with the majority of the same points but we too tired to turn the pc on!

ANYWAY - I agree that the 11:05 ITV News bulletin on ITV1 was from the second studio as they did use the tight shot throughout the whole programme. The opening shot was a static shot from above but could have easily been pre-recorded from the earlier bulletins which Im sure were from the 'theatre of news' studio.
The other give away was that NO cameras moved throughout the whole bulletin there was only the over-head shot looking down on the desk, the close shot of Andrea and one sideways shot for when she was talking to correspondants 'on the wall'.
All this led me to believe that this bulletin was from the second studio. BUT - the reflection on the glass was indeed 'reflecting' the cso background image aswell!
ALSO at 11:00pm on the ITV News Channel the presenter also had the overhead static shot on the opening intro but didnt finish on the same shot. The presenter on ITV News Channel had a much wider shot showing more studio than on ITV1 bulletin.
I was trying to see which bulletin was cso'd but it was impossible to tell and im glad someone else has got confused which studio was used for each bulletin!

Has anyone else got any suggestions on which studio was used?


Compare the brightness of the blue squares behind, usually brighter on the faker set, although it depends if they were using the semi transparent squares ontop of the normal background squares, which would have been harder to tell. Also notice the colour of the presenter. The colour is much warmer in the fake set, with the TON a much cooler colour.
LO
Londoner
ohwhatanight posted:
ALSO at 11:00pm on the ITV News Channel the presenter also had the overhead static shot on the opening intro but didnt finish on the same shot. The presenter on ITV News Channel had a much wider shot showing more studio than on ITV1 bulletin.

I'm sure that there was no overhead shot at 11pm on the News Channel.

And if you say that the newswall was reflected in the desk on the ITV1 bulletin, then I think it's fairly safe to say that it was from the main theatre of news.
LO
Londoner
Okay, I've been meaning to ask about this for ages, but a) it's rather tragic to have even noticed and b) I don't really know what I am talking about. But here goes anyway:

I think they can do an overhead shot of the second studio, but they don't use it for some reason.

If you look carefully at the gallery shot when the second studio is in use, there seem to be three shots available to the director. However the overhead shot doesn't usually seem to have the full virtual treatment applied to it (apologies for the lack of technical terms)
http://www.dolben.demon.co.uk/newschannel/gallerysecondstudio.jpg
However a while ago I notice that the overhead shot seemed to be complete, and instead the sideways-on shot (used for two-ways) was 'powered down' instead:
http://www.dolben.demon.co.uk/newschannel/secondstudio%20gallery.jpg
You can see that to the right of the desk there seems to be a cable running along the (fake) platform, also visible in the shot below:
http://www.dolben.demon.co.uk/newschannel/secondstudio%20wideshot.jpg

So I guess there are three questions:

Is it the case that the system doesn't have enough power/capacity/whatever to fully render the virtual stuff for all three shots?

Or is there some other reason that the overhead shot isn't used? Like the cables that would be visible in shot?

And are there any plans to make whatever changes/upgrades are necessary to make the overhead shot of the second studio usable?
MS
msim
Ive read the article in full now, and, as seems per the norm, the itv news big wigs blame everyone but themselves for their problems, and continue to suggest they will beat Sky and News 24 soon. Its inevitible that in an interview you will want to try and promote your business as much as possible, but why cant anyone at itv news seem to understand and admit the major problems that face their service?

Quote:
Peer approval has already been won...thanks to the channel's acclaimed coverage of the Beslan massacre, its scoop on David Blunkett's resignation, its pictures of the flooding of Boscastle, its package on the night of the American election and the reporting of the tsunami"


Id agree that Beslan was a fantastic piece of journalism for itv, and it was brave of them to simulcast on ITV1 for such a long period of time. It does go to show when they can, they can pull out the stops and provide a top notch service. On the other hand, I dont think ITV were exclusive with Blunketts resignation, nor was their American Election coverage outstanding. And for a channel that claims to break news for britain, why didnt they cover the UK local elections? The fact that they placed on the strap 'ITV Exclusive: 100 dead' was extremely insensitive during the Beslan coverage.

Quote:
"Twenty-four-hour news channels are the most demanding of all in terms of presenting... It's not a place where people can learn and cut their teeth"


But Itv news is NOT a 24hr service, and if its so demanding, why do they seem to dump presenters from the regions on there during the weekends, and seemingly change presenters at random after a break?

Quote:
"For all its resources and brand strength, I have never completely understood what News 24 is seeking to do. It doesn't seem to complement or build upon the enormous strength of the BBC news brand."


As opposed to the massive well known brand that is 'ITV news'? Maybe it is the case that news 24 need to have a shake up of their output, and we've heard of some of their plans such as more in depth analysis in the evenings - what have ITV news got planned for the future that'll make it the must watch news service?

Quote:
ITN News Channel... provided a simple headline-based service known in the trade as a 15-minute wheel


And all ITV news does now is provide a half hourly news wheel except during the breakfast and Alistair Stewart programmes!

Quote:
the unified ITV saw the introduction of an immense video wall capable of transforming the studio into downtown Baghdad or the Oval Office.


A fantastic concept, but how often is that implemented? 99% of the time all we see is 3 small square windows static behind the presenter and floating blue sqauars behind that! They could do so much more with that facility, but they either havent got the imagination, or, more probably, got enough cash!

Quote:
"I can beat Sky daily on any domestic story,"


True, you have an advantage over your compeditors - now use it to the maximum rather than relying on short UK today updates to showcase the regional services

Quote:
ITV News Channel offers no red button interactive service.


Im sure more people would want the expense this feature would incur to be spent on providing a better newsgathering service rather than an ability to vote on trivial issues! It probably wont be available on freeview or cable, and the content of ITVi is abysmal so what would be the point of it?

They blame Sky for their poor positioning on the EPG, and are threatening to take action with OFcom over it. If the slot was so bad, why did they accept it in the first place. Indeed, when the channel was rebranded in 2002, why didnt they take the opportunity then to move slots? Also remember on cable the News Channel is far behind their rivals, yet I hear of no action against the cable companies.

Quote:
In Freeview homes it's a different story, with the ITV News Channel attracting a greater share of the audience than the Murdoch-backed channel


Yes... and? The fact is that point means nothing when at the moment no-one except viewers in London can watch the channel on that platform, and I believe its disappearance from Freeview will have massivley affected its audience when it returns. Apparently in some regions it will be as late as June before it is re-instated on Freeview. What make ITV think that the core 'news-a-holics' wont have migrated and begun to watch N24 or Sky in the time ITVNC has been gone. What can they do to attract these viewers back?

It may have seemed like this was a massive anti- ITV post, but I cant stand this sort of spin they put out. Rather than whinge about the problems of EPG position, and how good you THINK you are (i say think as clearly the ratings do not support this), maybe they should lobby Charles Allen etc for more money to boost the profile and invest in higher quality output during the afternoons and evenings! Finally, Id have liked to have heard this mans response to the survey out last week suggesting that ITV News is the least trusted tv news source in the country (bar five news that is)
AN
Andrew Founding member
Londoner posted:
ohwhatanight posted:
ALSO at 11:00pm on the ITV News Channel the presenter also had the overhead static shot on the opening intro but didnt finish on the same shot. The presenter on ITV News Channel had a much wider shot showing more studio than on ITV1 bulletin.

I'm sure that there was no overhead shot at 11pm on the News Channel.

And if you say that the newswall was reflected in the desk on the ITV1 bulletin, then I think it's fairly safe to say that it was from the main theatre of news.


I'd say it was the main studio, the reason for the lack of shots was probably because it wasn't supposed to be a longer bulletin, just a News Summary, so there was no time for anything fancy
OH
ohwhatanight Founding member
I wish I had recorded both bulletins now so I could post some grabs - as BOTH studios were VERY convincing and looked like the real 'theatre of news' - maybe that is a good thing that even us anoraks on here can't tell the difference anymore!?

The only other thing I can suggest is that either the 11:05 bulletin on ITV1 was pre-recorded or the 11:00 segment on the ITV News Channel was a replay from 10:00pm?

Also, from memory, I remember thinking that the opening of the 11:05 bulletin on ITV1 with the overhead shot did infact look pre-recorded as the action of Andrea moving didnt match up between shots - whereas I made a point of scrutinising the end shots and they did infact sync up brilliantly!

Cant wait until next Sunday now!
LO
Londoner
ohwhatanight posted:
The only other thing I can suggest is that either the 11:05 bulletin on ITV1 was pre-recorded or the 11:00 segment on the ITV News Channel was a replay from 10:00pm?

No - impossible. The ITV News Channel was like this:
2200 John Nicolson (main studio)
2230 John Nicolson (second studio)
2300 Nazanine Moshiri (second studio)

Although I didn't see it, I think it's fair to say that the main studio was used for the ITV1 bulletin...
GR
gregmc
Why do they use so many fake studios, i thought it was for the news channel , while rehearsals are being carried out ofr ITV1? What is the other reason, and also, I thought the fake studio just used the background shown on the wall, it didnt have a walk way or anything? Im confused, anyone shed some light?
IT
I T V 1
Look at this, from THE TV ROOM
http://thetvroom.com/images-itv-net-news/elections/election-2001/report-h.jpg

looks like the back of the theatre of news (where the cameras are). Also there appears to be no room for the old ITV News studio, so did they have two virtual studios at that time?
LO
Londoner
I T V 1 posted:
looks like the back of the theatre of news (where the cameras are). Also there appears to be no room for the old ITV News studio, so did they have two virtual studios at that time?

Yes - that's Studio 2, where the theatre of news is now.

Before the theatre of news was built, it was like this:

Studio 1: ITV News set
Studio 2: Virtual reality studio

Then they built the theatre of news in Studio 2 whilst Studio 1 was still in use for bulletins.

When the old set was decommissioned, that studio was turned into the VR studio (for The Briefing, election graphics, etc)
IT
I T V 1
Londoner posted:
I T V 1 posted:
looks like the back of the theatre of news (where the cameras are). Also there appears to be no room for the old ITV News studio, so did they have two virtual studios at that time?

Yes - that's Studio 2, where the theatre of news is now.

Before the theatre of news was built, it was like this:

Studio 1: ITV News set
Studio 2: Virtual reality studio

Then they built the theatre of news in Studio 2 whilst Studio 1 was still in use for bulletins.

When the old set was decommissioned, that studio was turned into the VR studio (for The Briefing, election graphics, etc)

right, but the old set was already a virtual studio wasnt it, because they did walk offs from the main ITV news set into the 'green area' for the war on the special Lunchtimes News a few years back.
MA
maximus
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