ITV abandons the South Bank

This might me of interest (apologies if its already been seen):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUk8OlBn6-4

A very close recreation of the clock.

I think that they should’ve stayed in studio 7. If they had put in high techc windows that dim and go lighter, it would’ve been fine. However, that would’ve cost a bit

I prefer it to when Daybreak were in that studio. I think the simplicity of GMTV's presentation (sets, graphics etc) always gave it more warmth and connection with the audience than anything that's come since.

Even the GMTV-fied version of Daybreak didn't cut the mustard. Had they gone for something more modest and beige, it might have worked.

They did add the ability to dim the glass, and was demonstrated a couple of times on the programme. The problem was the darkness outside, not the light.

Err - they DID do that. The windows were dimmable - Daybreak spent a lot of money on them. That only solves the bright sunshine problem. (Which This Morning have solved more cheaply with their polarising filter solution)

The bigger problem is in the hours of darkness when you need the backdrop outside the windows to be reasonably bright (and your windows to pass as much light as possible), otherwise you end up - at best - with a black wall, at worst a mirror...

The secret of windows at night is that you need your backdrop outside to be lit brightly enough to balance with your studio lighting. You can reduce studio lighting to relatively low levels (and modern cameras have helped hugely) - however you still need something lit outside. Daybreak didn't have that - and they initially reduced their lighting levels so low at times it was incredibly unflattering.

During the late evening some of the buildings in the back of Studio 7's shots (like St Pauls) are illuminated and help solve the problem (and LNN did well to make London Tonight look so good by ensuring their shots only included 'lit' backdrop areas) - but they were largely shooting link shots rather than doing lots of chat. Also AIUI most of the buildings that might have helped Daybreak had their lights switched off in the mornings...

The One Show cope well with their windows at night because at both White City and Broadcasting House they have a backdrop that they were able to light themselves (as the backdrop was largely BBC owned and the BBC could light it). Daybreak's backdrop was far further away, and thus a LOT bigger...

They famously paid St Pauls to light up especially.

Eventually - and it didn't help them much...

If all you have to worry about is a killer mid-shot or MCU - then you can design your studio around your backdrop. If you need a versatile and multipurpose studio you can shoot a variety of ways, you need a set (and backdrop outside if you have windows) that is shootable in lots of ways. Daybreak simply didn't have that.

I wonder what it would have looked like to have used a set like this:

http://www.thisisfive.co.uk/gmtv/gmtv6.jpg

But have the real view behind the windows.

The tenth floor studio in the tower block was the first instance of using a lit St Paul’s as the backdrop rather than Studio 7. St Paul’s lights used to turn off quite early (maybe they still do?). The studio manager had the personal telephone number of the chap at St Paul’s that used to be In charge of the lights and he would ring him if they went off too early for LWT’s purposes.

The studio 7 dimmable window filters were actually reasonably see through in their most transparent mode, but there you go. They were supplied by an irish company who had to have two goes at it as there were lots on ripples in some windows originally. Gmtv/daybreak paid for it rather than tls even though it was a tls studio.

As an aside the large studio clock on the wall was supplied by a firm that usually supplied clocks to architectural firms that wanted unusual clocks on unusual buildings - think of municipal clock towers and that sort of thing. Bit of a b****r to change if need be.

The 10th floor studio had the other advantage of giving views of the buildings upstream of LWT, such as the Oxo Tower and Sea Containers House, the latter had a large gold ball which appeared in shot behind the presenters. Everything behind studio 7 was much further away

My friend was at the Graham Norton recording last night and said that Graham was incredibly emotional towards the end and cried after the cameras had stopped rolling.