That sounds really over-engineered to me - don't most broadcast desks have two outputs on them, and each channel can be fed to either of them, so the symbol output could be fed on channel B into the announcer's desk and the announcer's desk fed back into another channel on the director's desk.
Also on a sidenote has anybody seen the Windows or Moon idents on BBC1 recently?
From 24th August:
The Insider posted:
not sure if it's been mentioned here already, but three of the current BBC One idents are being rested
In case you're wondering, the third ident being rested is Kites.
So these idents are being rested and not withdrawn. Do you know why they decided to do this?
Well, the only time I saw 'Kites' was on its first outing and idents into the news, but now that 'Helicopter' has come in, I now see that I have not seen 'Kites' for some time.
That sounds really over-engineered to me - don't most broadcast desks have two outputs on them, and each channel can be fed to either of them, so the symbol output could be fed on channel B into the announcer's desk and the announcer's desk fed back into another channel on the director's desk.
It sounds more complicated, when written down, than it actually is.
Most presentation mixers are relatively basic, compared to full sized mixers in studio galleries.
I did wonder why BBC1 were running late tonight and padding it out with lots of trailers but then obviously the length of Little Britain USA is based on an American commercial half hour which would explain it
I did wonder why BBC1 were running late tonight and padding it out with lots of trailers but then obviously the length of Little Britain USA is based on an American commercial half hour which would explain it
It's an HBO production so there are no commercials. Infact the version just shown on BBC1 was cut so they cut fit all their crap around it.
While we're on the subject of Little Britain USA wasn't it awful? Not because it was American - it was just crap. Then again it has been for 4 years.
Little Britain hasn't been any good since it's first series.
The problem is when things are stripped from BBC3 where it's made for a targeted audience and moved to BBC1 where it's intended for a mainstream audience the programmes tend to lose their soul. I fear the same thing will happen with Gavin and Stacey - perfect for the couple of million watching on BBC3 - but what will be sacrificed to get a few million more viewers on BBC1?
I thought there were some funny moments such as Andy urinating in the Hotel pool and the Skizophrenic (sp?) dog walker, but it's not a patch on the 1st or 2nd series of the UK verison.
Although from watching the credits I couldn't believe how many people were involved in making LB USA, it was like the credits to a film.
That sounds really over-engineered to me - don't most broadcast desks have two outputs on them, and each channel can be fed to either of them, so the symbol output could be fed on channel B into the announcer's desk and the announcer's desk fed back into another channel on the director's desk.
It sounds more complicated, when written down, than it actually is.
Most presentation mixers are relatively basic, compared to full sized mixers in studio galleries.
From what I saw of a regional ITV pres gallery years ago this makes perfect sense.
They had a separate control for the announcer's mike which, although there was no associated second ident in the way you describe, meant that the announcer could speak over the general feed without being cut off when the vision switched from ident to programme, meaning that pres could do their thing in as clean a manner as possible without having to concern themselves with the exact timing of the announcer's spiel.
When the announcer appeared in-vis, this was obviously not available (there'd be an echo if both mike feeds were used at the same time), so if they went over, it was up to pres to do something about it. This was fine though because there was no background sound to deal with.
Idents at that point were deliberately designed to have the music stop completely at a certain point, so fading down the ident music was not an issue.
What you describe sounds like a more modern version of a similar principle, enabling them to deal with a more complex scenario.
Interesting the BBC kept the HBO frontcap and endboard on as well. Nice to hear the extended theme at the end anyways.
But isn't it a bit of a shame that LB gets away with breaking the credit guidelines when home grown BBC programmes have to fly them through a breakneck speed in 30secs. LB USA must have been about 3x the length!
