Thanks for that, Tetchy Peep. I remember Watchdog got into trouble for filming some sections and slotting them in as though they were live. When things went wrong one day, Anne Robinson had to admit it. 'It's a small studio!!'
Techy Peep on 1:42 am on Dec. 24, 2001
That's coz they're chickens! Live life on the edge
Yeah!
In the 80's TTTV used to put out the headlines live, and I have to say it was very obvious. The music at the end didn't always match up properly, the screen would often go black half-way through the screen wipe from one clip to another and the wipes were just that -- standard square iris with a red border.
So to be honest it's probably better to record it. Looks more professional!!
It happens all the time in the regions. They'll make out that a DTL is live, except it's sometimes pre-recorded. They usually record the whole intro so you get the presenter turning to the monitor to ask the first question. The giveaway is the dropout on the tape
Apparently the Headlines on the ITN News channel are recorded as a bolted together sequence, including the logo flashes, to match the music. They are voiced live though - so the words can be changed.
Occasionally the headline order is changed without the pictures being re-edited...
Techy is dead right about most regions recording their entire headline sequence. This is because most regions only have 3 VTR machines for play-in of reports - which even with Laser or VERA providing titles - would not be enough to safely run three headlines and guarantee your lead story would be loaded.
Also - in the day before the common brand - many regions had complex opening sequences with timelined DVE moves & CSO titles slaved to a music bed, timed camera moves, some using every facility available on the vision mixer (and most regions have quite basic late 80s/early 90s vision mixers) meaning they couldn't be done live, even if you had wanted to. (The presenters also had to fit the words in the gaps!)
Until they were recently re-kitted out (and now hence have some of the most sophisticated equipment of any ITV region, which makes their continued use of 1970's chalkboard VT-clocks all the more bizarre!!), TTTV in Newcastle were using vision mixers installed in around 1981/2, and they did theirs live then and yet not now (although admittedly the opening sequences are a lot more complex now than then).
It is true about the limited number of VTRs but surely all the regions do in any case is have one (or possibly 2 in case the order needs to be changed) single VT playing throughout the programme with the reports, stings etc in sequence? Recording the entire opening intro from credits to just before the newsreader reads the first report, is a little bit lazy!
