I'm not really too sure if this should be here or not, but I am just thinking what happened to the election studios (more interested the BBC's), do they get used for other productions in the BBC or do they just get rented out for the election?
I'm not really too sure if this should be here or not, but I am just thinking what happened to the election studios (more interested the BBC's), do they get used for other productions in the BBC or do they just get rented out for the election?
thanks
You are confusing "studio" with "set". The BBC General Election coverage came from the same studio as Strictly Come Dancing - Studio 1. The SET was built in this studio for the election programme, and dismantled after the programme.
ITV anchored their election from their VR set - and Sky may have used a production studio at the Sky Centre, otherwised used for other productions.
Most BBC studios don't have permanent sets in them - the sets are rigged and struck as required, and the studios normally left empty of any set when not in use. It would not be unusual for two or three shows (more in busy periods) to come from the same studio in a week, all from different sets.
(The studio that does BBC Sport and the studio that does XChange are the exceptions in the main studio operation, with the BBC One, BBC Three (ish) BBC News 24 and BBC World sets having permanent sets in their news studios, which are separate operations)
Or are you asking what happens to the bits of wood and metal that are used to make the Election set. Given that the BBC set was designed are designed specifically for the studio space - and Studio 1 is pretty much unique in size in the UK, there wouldn't be much scope for re-use. I suspect the storage costs may even outweigh construction costs over 4-5 years, and each election normally gets a new set?
ITV anchored their election from their VR set - and Sky may have used a production studio at the Sky Centre, otherwised used for other productions.
AIUI Sky used the general election as the first use of their new studio in the new Sky News centre that comes on-air in October
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Or are you asking what happens to the bits of wood and metal that are used to make the Election set. Given that the BBC set was designed are designed specifically for the studio space - and Studio 1 is pretty much unique in size in the UK, there wouldn't be much scope for re-use. I suspect the storage costs may even outweigh construction costs over 4-5 years, and each election normally gets a new set?
I'd have thought that it might be kept tucked away in the remote chance that there's another election before the next scheduled one.
When they have finished with it they can re-use some of the parts for other sets that are constructed.
I'd have thought that it might be kept tucked away in the remote chance that there's another election before the next scheduled one.
When they have finished with it they can re-use some of the parts for other sets that are constructed.
They may well keep it in storage for use in a "snap election" scenario - not sure. However I don't think much of the actual set would be re-used for other projects. With a set that large, the components don't often break down into bits that could be used for other programmes.
Other sets HAVE been used for this though - the second Liquid News set (the one with loads of projectors) was re-invented for use on a number of Panoramas I think, and the first BBC Three News set was bought by Points West...
It seems to be a new set for each election. Just been reading the reviews of the 2 election programmes (repeated via BBC Parliement) from 1974, on the tv website Off The Telly.
The two elections in this year were 6 months apart, in March and October but the two election night shows had differing sets.
The only real 'same set' election night show I can think off was a couple of years ago for the local council elections and then the Euro elections. That I think was the same, but then I would have made sense too as both shows were only 3 days apart.
Do we know if the Election Bus has finally met its demise? I saw the top deck in use for some war-related coverage from Hyde Park a month or so back, wondered if they were planning to keep it for anything else....
Yeah it was used for the thing a month or 2 ago, when the Royal Family all came out on the balconey and there was a fly-pass, I really can't think of what it was.
Do we know if the Election Bus has finally met its demise? I saw the top deck in use for some war-related coverage from Hyde Park a month or so back, wondered if they were planning to keep it for anything else....
I spotted it on a CBBC thing a week or two ago. Access All Areas, or something like that?
ITV anchored their election from their VR set - and Sky may have used a production studio at the Sky Centre, otherwised used for other productions.
AIUI Sky used the general election as the first use of their new studio in the new Sky News centre that comes on-air in October
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The main election studio was Studio 7, which has been in use for many years at Sky. Sky News usually comes from Studio 2. Sky News came from Studio 7 during the Studio 2 revamp in 2001, and they've been in there on and off for a few shows over the years.
The only things on election night that were *rumoured* to have come from the new studios were the VR stuff that Martin Stanford was doing, and the election night graphics processing, but i'm really not sure about that. The only thing that would suggest the VR studio came from there was just the sheer scale of it - it was about five times the size of the BBC or ITV ones (in reality, not just in the way it appeared on screen, as Stanford walked quite far into the distance at some points), so it may have been the new Studio B. Still not 100% convinced though, but the main set definitely was not in the new building.
I always think such large 'real' election sets, as wonderful as they are are an incredible waste of resources (material-wise not financial).
Same for Eurovision sets and other major set-ups that are only used once.
I presume the BBC have an extensive environmental policy which includes the disposal and recycling of sets?
By all accounts 'real' sets are fantastic and nothing can beat sheer size and quality construction in studio production I think - VR just doesn't live up to it - but only as long as all materials are recycled afterwards.