TE
Yes the titles are an embarrassment – well executed for what they are (whatever that is), but utterly pointless and wholly unsuited to news. It looks like the intro to a mid-90s Healthcheck programme or somesuch. Truly terrible.
The set most certainly does get darker for bulletins. However I still think it’s a simple cyclorama; just the rear lighting is altered for various bulletins, in particular intense lighting projected into certain spots to emit that potent orange colour. Comparing the wides of Nine and News on Two, the ‘airbrush’ pattern is still in all the same places, just lit at a different level. The fact that state-of-the-art ‘LED lighting’ was promoted, as ‘changing the mood of bulletins’, very much suggests complex lighting to the rear of a bog-standard cyclorama. And whilst not overly noticeable here, on television this raking shot tends to show up what looks like a canvas sheen just to the left of the CSO screen, from the glare of the overhead lighting:
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/ch045_0828_210735.jpg
Look a bit cheap unfortunately – the colours lose their potency in that area.
But agreed that News on Two looks great – almost purple in places. Lovely and sultry. The intro shot with Anthony and his laptop does look good – if nothing else he’s the only presenter who looks credible with a laptop! But the picture composition with the CSO to the right looks great as well – the screen doesn’t look nearly as cheap as on Nine or One.
Which is more than can be said for the stand-up monitor unit – sorry but it is absolutely ghastly! I’m surprised nobody has picked up on this except Phen mentioning its vast expanse of silver – it’s hideous! So unbelievably cheap and crude looking, it’s like an 8x4 of MDF spray-painted with a can of silver car paint.
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/pvr000_copy1.jpg
Horribly cheap and nasty, and the hard lines round the monitor, lack of framing, and almost flush positioning of the monitor crude and unfinished in appearance. My jaw hit the floor when I saw it – extraordinarily cheap and nasty when one considers the rest of the set. And the contrast with the sleek panel of walnut veneer to the left only serves highlight its shoddiness all the more!
What’s with the pockmark up to the top left too?! The monitor is also too small, too dark, distractingly off-angle, and the lighting of this area too dark. Only I imagine the lighting’s kept muted in an effort to reduce the hideousness and glare of that unit. What a shoddy piece of design – it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the scheme at all.
Obviously you can’t do anything with it now RTÉ, but do sneakily replace it in a year’s time for crying out loud. Talk about an afterthought…
Otherwise the lighting on News on Two is lovely, as is the dimming at the end – excellent stuff! Who said lights down was dead!
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/ch045_0828_232221.jpg
Only the blue is a bit too intense – the newscaster needs to be sinisterly silhouetted in such circumstances
Only why isn’t this used on Nine?! – it simply MUST be used on that bulletin too. No question. Easy to do, and it would look wonderful. An absolute MUST – especially for when Doyle returns. A distinguished convention for a distinguished newscaster.
One last thing, the final zoom out from Eileen at the end, even before she finishes speaking, is crass and overly obvious – ditch it.
By contrast, the lead-in zoom after breaks works very well indeed. We also badly need movement for the wide shot – have they dumped the robot camera?
All in all I think the set looks good for what it is, but is distinctly underwhelming for a national broadcaster, and is very very boring in terms of visual interest. It’d tired already in that respect. It’s the 2000-2003 scheme, minus the interest of the illuminated columns, which bizarrely would work perfectly in the corners of the new set!
The Astons are neat, but lifeless and boring. And the sitting on top of the DOG gets more and more clumsy the more you see it.
The brown set is an odd choice for television alright, and is clearly cashing in on the current brown fad in domestic interiors. It does look nice and elegant though, if the overwhelming nature of it surrounding the studio uninspiring and boring.
The set most certainly does get darker for bulletins. However I still think it’s a simple cyclorama; just the rear lighting is altered for various bulletins, in particular intense lighting projected into certain spots to emit that potent orange colour. Comparing the wides of Nine and News on Two, the ‘airbrush’ pattern is still in all the same places, just lit at a different level. The fact that state-of-the-art ‘LED lighting’ was promoted, as ‘changing the mood of bulletins’, very much suggests complex lighting to the rear of a bog-standard cyclorama. And whilst not overly noticeable here, on television this raking shot tends to show up what looks like a canvas sheen just to the left of the CSO screen, from the glare of the overhead lighting:
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/ch045_0828_210735.jpg
Look a bit cheap unfortunately – the colours lose their potency in that area.
But agreed that News on Two looks great – almost purple in places. Lovely and sultry. The intro shot with Anthony and his laptop does look good – if nothing else he’s the only presenter who looks credible with a laptop! But the picture composition with the CSO to the right looks great as well – the screen doesn’t look nearly as cheap as on Nine or One.
Which is more than can be said for the stand-up monitor unit – sorry but it is absolutely ghastly! I’m surprised nobody has picked up on this except Phen mentioning its vast expanse of silver – it’s hideous! So unbelievably cheap and crude looking, it’s like an 8x4 of MDF spray-painted with a can of silver car paint.
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/pvr000_copy1.jpg
Horribly cheap and nasty, and the hard lines round the monitor, lack of framing, and almost flush positioning of the monitor crude and unfinished in appearance. My jaw hit the floor when I saw it – extraordinarily cheap and nasty when one considers the rest of the set. And the contrast with the sleek panel of walnut veneer to the left only serves highlight its shoddiness all the more!
What’s with the pockmark up to the top left too?! The monitor is also too small, too dark, distractingly off-angle, and the lighting of this area too dark. Only I imagine the lighting’s kept muted in an effort to reduce the hideousness and glare of that unit. What a shoddy piece of design – it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the scheme at all.
Obviously you can’t do anything with it now RTÉ, but do sneakily replace it in a year’s time for crying out loud. Talk about an afterthought…
Otherwise the lighting on News on Two is lovely, as is the dimming at the end – excellent stuff! Who said lights down was dead!
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/ch045_0828_232221.jpg
Only the blue is a bit too intense – the newscaster needs to be sinisterly silhouetted in such circumstances
Only why isn’t this used on Nine?! – it simply MUST be used on that bulletin too. No question. Easy to do, and it would look wonderful. An absolute MUST – especially for when Doyle returns. A distinguished convention for a distinguished newscaster.
One last thing, the final zoom out from Eileen at the end, even before she finishes speaking, is crass and overly obvious – ditch it.
By contrast, the lead-in zoom after breaks works very well indeed. We also badly need movement for the wide shot – have they dumped the robot camera?
All in all I think the set looks good for what it is, but is distinctly underwhelming for a national broadcaster, and is very very boring in terms of visual interest. It’d tired already in that respect. It’s the 2000-2003 scheme, minus the interest of the illuminated columns, which bizarrely would work perfectly in the corners of the new set!
The Astons are neat, but lifeless and boring. And the sitting on top of the DOG gets more and more clumsy the more you see it.
The brown set is an odd choice for television alright, and is clearly cashing in on the current brown fad in domestic interiors. It does look nice and elegant though, if the overwhelming nature of it surrounding the studio uninspiring and boring.
