ITV News

Yay! That's the one! Thanks to TG and CBBC.

I hunted everywhere for a pic. I thought I had one on my 'puter, then I googled and tried TV Live etc!

Tsk at me for not finding one!

EDIT
I know the ITN Channel looks rather dated now, but that is the sort of studio that news broadcasters need, not very much more.

I know that someone can have a two-way conversation and for them to see each other, after all, we can do it ourselves these days. I only need to really see a split screen so that both are in view.

For the moment I think C4 have got it right. They have their nice big screen which is used for interviews and reports which require graphics; they also have the non-descript real atrium behind them and the newsroom with enough purple and green blurring to make sure you can't see someone is actually asleep or eating a Mars Bar!

Just enough realism and not too much distraction!

When you look back over the various sets that ITN/ITV News has had, one thing that strikes me is how simple and straight forward they are, even after the move from Television House to Grays Inn Road. Even now, really all that set is a desk and two chairs. There's very little else. Everything really fancy is in the virtual backdrop. Even the theatre of news set which basically redefined the ITV News style, even to this day, was quite simple. It was a virtual screen, a walkway, a desk, two chairs and two sofa-like seats for the guests.

The first studio Sky did for Five News was much more complex. Two levels, stairs, a big sofa, clever glass, lots of screens, and it was all packed into a tiny area really.

I always thought the one prior to the theatre of news was quite fussy with its strangely shaped platform, awkward angles and fake balcony...

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/news/itvnews/images/late/itv_newsatten_2002b.jpg

What a horrible set that was!

That was more complex and more garish than what preceeded it and even went alongside it for a while, as the ITV Morning News didn't move into that studio until September 2002, when the ITN News Channel became the ITV News Channel.

But to be honest, all it really was was a desk, a couple of chairs and a big screen. There were six more smaller screens in the backdrop. The main angle was straight facing the anchor with an OTS/window graphic on the right. In that sense, very simple.

The problem with that set though is that it was made for appoint-to-view bulletins; it didn't really work well in the ITV News Channel's Iraq War coverage, and I think that was the reasoning behind the new VR set in 2004 along with the new standing up policy that was ditched earlier this year.

That's not quite right. The Morning News did stay in the 1995-1999 studio for a while after the March 1999 relaunch, but it wasn't until September 2002. The ITN News Channel moved into the area that was the 1995-1999 studio (now ITV London) in August 2000. I also have a clip of the Morning News that I downloaded from The TV Room several years ago which shows the Morning News in that studio in 2001. At that point, the programme used to start with an aerial shot of the studio accompanied by the postcom music. It adopted proper titles in September 2002 when the ITN NC became the ITV NC.

I always thought it was odd that the Morning News continued with the old ITN look, studio and music for many months after the big ITV News rebranding, although the ITN logo was replaced by the ITV one. Can anyone remember whether or not they continued to use the clockface opening titles for the Morning News after March 1999?

I have been told that ITV Wales Tonight will adopt the new yellow look from toworrow.

Its already been confirmed on air tonight.

They also appear to be dropping ITV from the title of the programme names too. Just throwing in the ITV News logo in the titles, which is strange as a lot of these programmes only contain about 10 minutes of news.

I'm pretty sure they did. I think when they moved to the ITV News studio in 2000 they just had a wide shot at the opening, not getting their own titles sequence until the ITV News Channel replaced ITN.

I don't understand why all the regions aren't changing at once and why they're choosing random days to change certain ones (e.g. Thursday and not Monday). I'm also surprised Granada hasn't changed yet as their set is more than capable, it has changed in the past, most notably the Rhys Jones case (a very dark blue) and Man Utd in Moscow last year (red). They also went red one Christmas.

I also think that slapping the ITV News logo on the horrific regional titles will cheapen ITV News.

I think they are rebranding out from the centre. For example Central first, then West & Westcountry, Wales tomorrow and then Granada follows.