GS
Gavin Scott
Founding member
on Reporting Scotland all the astons are dark blue on ligther blue. always have been.
KI
kingrikk
I lkie the old look east better - it fitted the show better.
SO
SittingOvation
Midlands Today:
Astons are (as far as I can tell) exactly the same as the ones currently used on the network Breakfast programme, EXCEPT for being slightly translucent - but they are more opaque tahn the purple astons used on all other BBC network news/BBC News 24.
The 'LIVE' aston is also like the network one (red, opaque, white text, stays within 4:3 area so doesn't go to edge of 14:9 or 16:9 picture).
When Midlands Today first went generic (20th March 2000), they had the cyan astons like everyone else, and the 'LIVE' aston was a slightly darker blue with ivory-ish text, and (as we only discovered when BBC regions went widescreen) went to the edge of the picture.
The cyan astons were dropped after not very long, in favour of orangy-red ones that were [a] thicker, [b] stretched across entire width of screen, [c] had BBC Midlands Today logo over to left (so positioning of info name/text was same as on cyan astons in relation to rest of TV screen) All name/info text was white.
They were only only very recently dropped for the current ivory astons as I descibed at the start.
(Edited by SittingOvation at 4:59 pm on July 17, 2001)
Astons are (as far as I can tell) exactly the same as the ones currently used on the network Breakfast programme, EXCEPT for being slightly translucent - but they are more opaque tahn the purple astons used on all other BBC network news/BBC News 24.
The 'LIVE' aston is also like the network one (red, opaque, white text, stays within 4:3 area so doesn't go to edge of 14:9 or 16:9 picture).
When Midlands Today first went generic (20th March 2000), they had the cyan astons like everyone else, and the 'LIVE' aston was a slightly darker blue with ivory-ish text, and (as we only discovered when BBC regions went widescreen) went to the edge of the picture.
The cyan astons were dropped after not very long, in favour of orangy-red ones that were [a] thicker, [b] stretched across entire width of screen, [c] had BBC Midlands Today logo over to left (so positioning of info name/text was same as on cyan astons in relation to rest of TV screen) All name/info text was white.
They were only only very recently dropped for the current ivory astons as I descibed at the start.
(Edited by SittingOvation at 4:59 pm on July 17, 2001)
NG
noggin
Founding member
Believe all English regions initially moved to cyan straps with red top line and black top line. Gill Sans typeface...
Nations - Scotland, Ireland and Wales were different. (Believe that Wales Today now use Nationals style - purple strap, yellow top line, white bottom line)
Other English regions - apart from Newsroom South East - seem to have ditched the cyan/red combination. Mainly cos it looks terrible with loads of colour bleed on most people's tellies...
LIVE 'bug/dog' is different in different regions. In many it is sourced from the same machine as the name supers - an ASTON. Some regions are more keen on following the network in it's various guises. (Nationals have gone from : Top Right 'BBC News LIVE', bottom left LIVE with long strap to edge of screen, then when News moved to 16:9 they went to the floating LIVE - which is within the digital 4:3 area)
Whether the live bug is on-screen at the same time as the strap is dependent on how the regions control their astons. Some use a device called BIGTED , others use ENPS directly...
I could go on - but I would bore everyone!!
Nations - Scotland, Ireland and Wales were different. (Believe that Wales Today now use Nationals style - purple strap, yellow top line, white bottom line)
Other English regions - apart from Newsroom South East - seem to have ditched the cyan/red combination. Mainly cos it looks terrible with loads of colour bleed on most people's tellies...
LIVE 'bug/dog' is different in different regions. In many it is sourced from the same machine as the name supers - an ASTON. Some regions are more keen on following the network in it's various guises. (Nationals have gone from : Top Right 'BBC News LIVE', bottom left LIVE with long strap to edge of screen, then when News moved to 16:9 they went to the floating LIVE - which is within the digital 4:3 area)
Whether the live bug is on-screen at the same time as the strap is dependent on how the regions control their astons. Some use a device called BIGTED , others use ENPS directly...
I could go on - but I would bore everyone!!
SN
Steve Naylor
I don't think I have ever seen Look North in Leeds using a LIVE bug on screen - am I wrong?!
NG
Sorry DAS - that is not correct. Most regions use Aston Motif character generators (apart from Cambridge, who use a Caption, which is much older and more limited)
Motifs can mix/fade in-vision between captions, and so can easily mix/fade between a LIVE bug and a LIVE bug+name strap. (It doesn't have to be a cut)
The cut in-vision is more likely to be caused by the ENPS-Aston interface not being set-up correctly, or a stylistic(!) choice being made to cut ratehr than mix. Many regions now use Bigted rather than the basic ENPS caption control system - and this certainly allows mixes in-vision - as this is used on News 24 and BBC World everyday, though the mix has partially been replaced by a zip.
noggin
Founding member
DAS posted:
You can tell about the LIVE BUGS generated as astons, because the name strap will disappear suddenly, instead of fading away. It gives me the impression that they are simply changing the aston from NAME + LIVE to LIVE on its own
Sorry DAS - that is not correct. Most regions use Aston Motif character generators (apart from Cambridge, who use a Caption, which is much older and more limited)
Motifs can mix/fade in-vision between captions, and so can easily mix/fade between a LIVE bug and a LIVE bug+name strap. (It doesn't have to be a cut)
The cut in-vision is more likely to be caused by the ENPS-Aston interface not being set-up correctly, or a stylistic(!) choice being made to cut ratehr than mix. Many regions now use Bigted rather than the basic ENPS caption control system - and this certainly allows mixes in-vision - as this is used on News 24 and BBC World everyday, though the mix has partially been replaced by a zip.
BB
BBC Choice
UKToday's astons are the same as the national news, N24 and World: semi-transparent purple, with gold and white text. I don't think they have a LIVE DOG
MD
mdta
here is an image i made to show the different astons...
http://mdta.energy-hosting.com/regional-straps.gif
I took the colours from screenshots i have of the astons.
http://mdta.energy-hosting.com/regional-straps.gif
I took the colours from screenshots i have of the astons.
MG
MikeG
How did you create that?