The Newsroom

ITV News

Widescreen - Sat 1st Dec (December 2005)

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JR
jrothwell97
itsrobert posted:
jrothwell97 posted:
I don't often post in this thread as I normally avoid ITV News like the plague, but I think that the format does need a desparate revamp.

I think what's hapenned to the bulletins in the last few years can be summed up by these two videos.

The first minute and a half of the News at Nine on the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. By this time the rot had definitely started to set in, but it still had an air of authority around it, and actually gave us the news in a decent format without over-sensationalising it.

The Evening News , recorded in June. This time, everything is black and white, there's no real authority around the news, and it's just tabloidy and rubbish.

I hope these 'tweaks' that are due will bring about a better ITV News in time. (I'd really like to see the Early Evening News reinstated at 5:30 or 5:45, followed up to 7 by regional programming, but that's wishful thinking.)


In terms of the music, those two clips highlight how crap the current stuff is. That music from 2001 makes me get goosebumps, especially when it is combined with those dramatic images of September 11th. The current music is so uninspiring - it doesn't have any authority whatsoever. I don't want them to ditch the signature tune or the bongs (I think they'd be very foolish to do that, as it is arguably the most recognised news theme in history) but I would like a re-mix to be done to bring back some of its former charm.


Agreed - the present music is very weak. The only good point is that the bongs have a kind of drumbeat with them that makes them more dramatic - apart fom that the tune is quite rubbish. Also, the bongs aren't in time - they're just treated like the thunderclaps on BBC News. It only sounds right if it's got a rhythm to it.

I still want to know why the bongs are played at 10:30, 6:30 and 5:30 though.
:-(
A former member
You can have the best news theme in the world, still doesnt exuse the poor news coverage, or the type of news.

That said, i watch more itv news the BBC News. I don't think its that bad, i think its more to do with that saying, mud sticks.
NG
noggin Founding member
josh205 posted:
Geraint must have been bored, you can see on the back of his papers "NEWS" with some shapes and scribbles around it.
Also, lets hope we don't see his Elvis impression, we've already had George's Laughing


Some presenters do a bit of fake scribbling on their scripts during the show - usually on wide shots. They are just scribbling - they aren't actually doing anything meaningful... They have to scribble something!
ML
m.littlechild
1.30 Regional News
1.40 ITV News
2.05 60 Minute Makeover
3.05 Dickinson's Real Deal
4.05 Heartbeat
5.10 Regional News
5.40 ITV Evening News
6.00 That Antony Cotton Show
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Tonight
8.30 Coronation Street
9.00 Little Angel
10.00 ITV News at Ten
GM
GMc
If the studio was to be tweaked, I would love to see something like Lee's mocks back in November 2005:

Lee posted:


http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_01.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_02.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_03.jpg

Again these are probably too much like the Sky News set (or more of a regional set, if Sky had regions), but this is the kind of thing I'd do to make the ITV studio seem less empty. Desks or a newsroom area wouldn't work in the ITV News studio because its too small. They'd only be able to fit about 4-8 desks in there, and it would look daft.

As ITV News have virtual reality capabilities, it wouldn't be too difficult to put a mini news wall on the front of the desk. I'd much prefer something real, or maybe at least two big screens at either end of the big news wall, so that when talking to someone away from the studio they can at least see who they're talking to, instead of trying to fool the viewers.

Currently, at the start of the programme the presenters walk down the catwalk - Mary to the desk, Mark only half way. In this set, they would do the headlines from the same place (the middle of the news wall), but after the logo forms or the titles there would be a wide shot like below. Mark would walk to the left to do the first story, Mary to right and round to the desk (which does not spin!).

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_04.jpg
PA
pad
m.littlechild posted:
1.30 Regional News
1.40 ITV News
2.05 60 Minute Makeover
3.05 Dickinson's Real Deal
4.05 Heartbeat
5.10 Regional News
5.40 ITV Evening News
6.00 That Antony Cotton Show
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Tonight
8.30 Coronation Street
9.00 Little Angel
10.00 ITV News at Ten


Another one of your fantasies Rolling Eyes

Main points for the tweaks, I would suggest:

Arrow Switch to widescreen
Arrow Unify the colours: blue OR teal
Arrow Remove the 'people' from the clockface in the titles
Arrow More sitting down
Arrow No more 'headline' straps for each story
Arrow No more sensationalism or scary language

That would be a start.
JO
Jonathan
GMc posted:
If the studio was to be tweaked, I would love to see something like Lee's mocks back in November 2005:

Lee posted:


http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_01.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_02.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_03.jpg

Again these are probably too much like the Sky News set (or more of a regional set, if Sky had regions), but this is the kind of thing I'd do to make the ITV studio seem less empty. Desks or a newsroom area wouldn't work in the ITV News studio because its too small. They'd only be able to fit about 4-8 desks in there, and it would look daft.

As ITV News have virtual reality capabilities, it wouldn't be too difficult to put a mini news wall on the front of the desk. I'd much prefer something real, or maybe at least two big screens at either end of the big news wall, so that when talking to someone away from the studio they can at least see who they're talking to, instead of trying to fool the viewers.

Currently, at the start of the programme the presenters walk down the catwalk - Mary to the desk, Mark only half way. In this set, they would do the headlines from the same place (the middle of the news wall), but after the logo forms or the titles there would be a wide shot like below. Mark would walk to the left to do the first story, Mary to right and round to the desk (which does not spin!).

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_04.jpg
PA
pad
Do any ITV insiders have any clues as to when we can expect these changes to be enforced or rolled out?

I ask because Mary Nightingale opened the Evening News tonight with words to the effect of: "Trapped, scared and helpless... the hurricane batters and leaves a trail of untold terror in its wake as Jamaica is gripped with senseless fear. And the hurricane has only just begun." Rolling Eyes

Plus there was still plenty of walking around.
RE
reggieB
Sadly I'm not an ITV insider, but I did have the bulletin recorded on my PVR. This is what Mary Nightingale actually said:

Headline:

"Force of nature - the moment 150 mile an hour winds battered Jamaica.
Path of destruction - homes wrecked, lives ruined. And still the hurricane grows in strength.
Tonight: as the EYE OF THE STORM moves on, millions brace for worse to come.
Hurricane Dean has already caused havoc in the Carribbean. Now, it is bearing down on its next target. We'll have the latest from Jamaica and from Mexico".

Intoduction:

"Good evening.
With winds of up to 150 miles an hour, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and power lines, Hurricane Dean has tonight left Jamaica truly battered.
The eye of the storm passed just south of the island, where a month-long state of emergency has been declared, but still it caused devastating damage.
And it is tonight a hurricane growing in intensity and ferocity.
So far, Dean has worked its way steadily across the open Atlantic before skirting Jamaica overnight.
In a moment, how Cancun in Mexico, is preparing for Hurricane Dean and the latest from Jamaica...but first from there, John Irvine reports on what it's like to spend a long and sleepless night being battered by aforce of nature".


Given that it was the most powerful storm to hit that part of the world in several years, it seemed reasonably in proportion to me. Perhaps ITV aren't the only ones capable of over-writing and exaggeration?
JR
jrothwell97
reggieB posted:
Sadly I'm not an ITV insider, but I did have the bulletin recorded on my PVR. This is what Mary Nightingale actually said:

Headline:

"Force of nature - the moment 150 mile an hour winds battered Jamaica.
Path of destruction - homes wrecked, lives ruined. And still the hurricane grows in strength.
Tonight: as the EYE OF THE STORM moves on, millions brace for worse to come.
Hurricane Dean has already caused havoc in the Carribbean. Now, it is bearing down on its next target. We'll have the latest from Jamaica and from Mexico".

Intoduction:

"Good evening.
With winds of up to 150 miles an hour, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and power lines, Hurricane Dean has tonight left Jamaica truly battered.
The eye of the storm passed just south of the island, where a month-long state of emergency has been declared, but still it caused devastating damage.
And it is tonight a hurricane growing in intensity and ferocity.
So far, Dean has worked its way steadily across the open Atlantic before skirting Jamaica overnight.
In a moment, how Cancun in Mexico, is preparing for Hurricane Dean and the latest from Jamaica...but first from there, John Irvine reports on what it's like to spend a long and sleepless night being battered by aforce of nature".


Given that it was the most powerful storm to hit that part of the world in several years, it seemed reasonably in proportion to me. Perhaps ITV aren't the only ones capable of over-writing and exaggeration?


But she turned it into some kind of sensationalist tabloid story. And it's been happenning for a while - when reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre, one of the correspondents described Cho Seung-hui as 'demonic'.
RM
Roger Mellie
jrothwell97 posted:


But she turned it into some kind of sensationalist tabloid story. And it's been happenning for a while - when reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre, one of the correspondents described Cho Seung-hui as 'demonic'.


I do agree with that. I notice that political correspondents (Tom Bradby is bad at this) have started giving their opinions on goings on in Westminster, that's been happening for a while too.

In my mind it is the correspondents role to give the facts and what has happened, not give his/hers views on things. That should be left to the correspondent's interviewees (politicians, representives of public-sector workers etc) in my opinion.
RH
richard h
Did anyone see the end of last nights news at 10:30. They could not have made it more obvious that it was pre recorded. 1 second it showed a wide shot of the studio with no cameras 1 second later the cameras are in view.

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