Just out of interest, will News 24 use TC10 this weekend or will they use N9 to give the impression the new set was built over the weekend?
It really wouldn't be worth the effort of moving to N9 just for one weekend, so I wouldn't expect them to...
I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was another weekend of News 24 coming from the World set... The amount of re-configuration required to get the News 24 studio/gallery back into circuit to replace TC10 is likely to be non-trivial...
I wouldn't be surprised if they'd decided to take the opportunity of the whole process to upgrade all of the gallery equipment which would mean that they could go 'live' on Monday with very little effort. Also, it would be very difficult to run any test broadcasts without the tech equipment already being in place.
Looking at the set design, not too bad at all, except that the designer has not allowed space to fit desktop computers in, necessitating the use of laptops. I hate laptops on a permanent news set, they look so tacky and unprofessional (especially if they are going to have external mice plugged in as in the national news). A set which can't conceal a desktop computer is a bad set.
That said, I still don't see why the presenters have to use a computer. OK, it provides them with information which they will need during the course of their job, but surely they will not want to access anything which can't be anticipated by the crew (or shouted for during reports). Why can they not have the computer's display up on a projection screen off set for them to look at, with someone else operating it? Why, if they must use one on set, can they not have cordless keyboards and mice with a computer off set with the display on a projection screen? Having any type of computer visible on set imo looks bad. Keyboards can be got away with, but having laptops (especially when they'll get some sleek modern black/silver job and then connect a bog standard cream mouse to it for the presenter to use) looks downright awful.
Installing computer screens in a desk like the one in the new News 24 set (and the One/Six/Ten set) would require putting transparent panels into the frosted tops... (Which they have done on The Daily Politics set..) This would ruin the clean lines of the desk, and laptops often look neater and more "real" than disembodied keyboards.
Hopefully wireless mice (as now used on the One, Six and Ten) will not be too obtrusive.
I disagree that laptops look tacky - I think viewers are intelligent enough to realise that modern presenters need access to the latest wires via their PCs. Your suggestion of projection sounds clever - but is totally impractical. There is little space between the cameras (remember they have to be able to pan) - and you'd need something like a 42" plasma per PC - and they'd be really uncomfortable to read as you stared into the lights.
Your suggestion that presenters don't really require computers is very wide of the mark. When you are presenting for long periods of time you need to be able to read the scripts you will be reading on-air, before you read them on-air, so that you can re-write them so they sound natural as you read them on-air. They let you read information on guests booked after you go on-air, as well as, most importantly, giving you instant access to agency news reports of breaking news. Presenters are often collating and reading the latest agency reports, both as background information for interviews, but also to break it to the viewers...
That said, I still don't see why the presenters have to use a computer. OK, it provides them with information which they will need during the course of their job, but surely they will not want to access anything which can't be anticipated by the crew (or shouted for during reports).
Your suggestion that presenters don't really require computers is very wide of the mark. When you are presenting for long periods of time you need to be able to read the scripts you will be reading on-air, before you read them on-air, so that you can re-write them so they sound natural as you read them on-air. They let you read information on guests booked after you go on-air, as well as, most importantly, giving you instant access to agency news reports of breaking news. Presenters are often collating and reading the latest agency reports, both as background information for interviews, but also to break it to the viewers...
You only need listen to the frantic tapping away at keyboards in the background that goes on to realise how much they use them!
Well, there will almost certainly have to be some sort of changes made to the World studio in the near future - even if it is just repainting the cream on the set white, and sticking in a new desk. Perhaps they could even replace the plasma screen on the right hand side with one of the flash new projection ones that's on the new N24 set.
Despite the minor changes made to both the N24 and World sets since the corporate look came in, there has continued to be a clear link between the two. You had the cream, the red, the black, and the similar looking desks (well, in terms of materials - not necessarily shape). But this new N24 set looks *
too
different*, with all the white everywhere, for it to work in conjunction with the World set. If overnights are done in the N24 studio, international viewers will get two very different looking sets, or if they're done in the World studio, then it's British viewers who get the mess.
Mind you, I'm hopeful that they do choose to use the new N24 set overnight, just so I can get a full screen look of the new set.
That white stage reminds me a bit of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire" set...!
Still, the set looks fantastic, and it's great to see a relaunch that's really happening from the ground up, rather than just a set and graphics tweak. Can't wait to see how it all fits together on Monday!
