ITV News

Well, having viewed both the 5.30 and 1.30 bulletins, here's my view. It's so refreshing to see such a radical change, and in my opinion this revamp encompasses everything good from before - I've been pleasantly surprised by this revamp.

Here are my few criticisms. I think the name astons are a bit on the large side - they also don't appear to be aligned properly with the "ITV News" logo. I think it's great to have the voiceover back, but this particular one sounds slightly too "movie-ish" (my brother was with me when the News at 1.30 started and chuckled a bit when the voiceover was played). Also, the opening title animation seems a bit jerky and violent, swinging from left to right.

Now, the good things. I really like the new music. I know I'm going to miss the old News at Ten music (especially the post-headline sting music) but I'm glad they've retained the two famous elements. How could you not love the very prominent 'duh-duh-duh-duh-duh' toward the end of the theme?! It's a nice mixture between modern and traditional, in my opinion. Bongs are good enough but don't match the chimes used for News at Ten over the years (1992 and 2008 in particular) I'm also glad to see the back of the 2006 music which became very stale very quickly. Although I thought I wouldn't, I do like the studio design. The wide shots are fine in my opinion, and I love the new desk. Which parts of it are real and fake? The top of it looks quite real to me. It's very reminiscent of the 1995 - 1999 desk in a way:

http://i38.tinypic.com/63w01j.png
http://i36.tinypic.com/sotqvn.png

I love the reintroduction of the "newscaster" term - so uniquely ITN and ITV. We had years of no voiceover, no aston and no credit at the end of bulletins to indicate who was reading the news so I'm glad we now have two name checks!

All in all, a nice revamp. There are some parts that need adjusting - the astons in particular - and of course it's a shame to lose the NaT look so very soon, but I think this new look is nice enough. Let's hope that it looks better for the News at 6.30 and even better for News at Ten.

(Question - why did the continuity announcer and voiceover both refer to the 1.30 news as simply "The ITV News"? I thought it was the "The ITV News at 1.30".)

Our continuity announcer here in STV-land is still calling it The Lunchtime News!!

The ONLY thing that is not real about the desk and platform is the yellow squares on the front of the desk.

The Desk and Platform are real.

James Faulkner.

Having watched the 1.30 bulletin I have to say I'm quite under-whelmed.

The whole thing looks so obviously fake to me - it also has a slight fuzzy-ness to it which doesn't help.

Why do the regions still have the old branding and colour scheme too? Doesn't seem to re-align the brand at all to me.

I really want to find out how the new music was made. It sounds like it was done on something like Cubase, Nexus or Pro Logic. Just because of the way the theme sounds along with the cymbals and hi-hats.

LOL this is hilariously crap.

The opening sequence is sort of what I imagine an old woman with cataracts experiences when she flips through a copy of the Mail on Sunday.

Truly dreadful stuff. Tinny old music and a set that looks like a cross between Tron and Dungeon Master.

Thank god they've god such fantastic highbrow journalism to fall back on.

Oh...

Couldn't agree more!

yay!

He talks like I think.

Watched the ITV News at 1:30 and I think it wasn't too bad - this could have gone a lot worse.

The astons need sorting. Not only are they too big but I think they're poorly designed. The titles are a bit too jerky and would probably suit a dramatic gameshow rather than the news. The voiceover does sound too movie-ish and the set in the wide shots looks too big.

That said, if the cameras move closer to the desk it will look better and I really like the headline bed music. Not sold on the titles music but I think it will grow on me (or not seen as I watch BBC News).

Starting to grow on me as I watch the clips I feel that a bad thing is ITV killing oof News at Tens individualality.

While ITN has indeed used the term "newscaster" for many years, both "newscaster"* and "anchor" are originally American terms. The concept of a journalist anchoring the news, instead of an announcer just reading it, came from the US.

* In fact, the term "newscast" is still far more common in the US than in the UK, where "news bulletin" or "news programme" is preferred.


BTW, I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone for the clips and caps of ITV News' new look! This is especially appreciated by those of us outside the UK.