Daybreak

Tsk! I do have to go out and scrape a living sometime

This Morning has always had windows, even when in Liverpool. IIRC, even in London they look onto something fairly non-descript. Isn't it just the north bank of the Thames?

How do the two sets of This Morning windows differ out of interest? I remember the Albert Dock having a distinct dark patch where the studio was and shots from outside the studio at LWT give the impression that they are metal panels from the outside. How do these compare to the technologies being suggested for Daybreak?


btw, that press pack Square Eyes posted a few pages back. Page 18, anyone else note they've nabbed the image from the Daily Mail website? (look at the copyright tag design)

The traditional way to darken down windows is by using either a neutral density filter or a scrim.

Neutral density is like any other type of colour filter (usually used over lighting), but as the "neutral" suggests it is without colour - or rather, it filters the whole spectrum evenly, so that it reduces the overall light levels, without altering the colour - so blue sky still looks blue, green leaves remain green and so on. ND filter (as its commonly known), works on an "additive colour" basis, meaning you can add many layers of light tint to result in a deep tint. This is useful for variable light conditions, so you can adjust accordingly, and often they are mounted on rollers (much like a roller blind), so you can add and remove at will.

A scrim is usually made from a black vinyl material perforated with thousands of tiny holes. Similarly this will reduce the light levels - but if seen on camera, can cause a stroboscopic effect. Therefore it is primarily used where it is not in shot.

The This Morning windows would have likely had the former treatment on them.

Polarising filter is more expensive, and utilises both an acrylic or flexible material over the window, as well as an optical glass filter on the camera lenses. It will reduce the light in the studio by around one stop - but from the camera perspective you can make the window appear (almost) black, if required, and anywhere on the scale in between.

Here's a video showing the application of both polarising filter and the neutral density solutions by Rosco - an American manufacturer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrTlOosJRrI

Another photo

http://twitpic.com/2k7edl

Well remembered, dosxuk. It was sometime between 1993 and 1996 when Grandstand adopted the 'three globes' look. The walls behind the anchor and to the anchor's left were LCD glass. If my memory serves me correctly, they introduced a soft area to the studio; if you picture the traditional image of Des Lynam or Steve Rider sat at the desk, the soft area was behind the camera and to the left (as you look at it). They used LCD glass as a barrier in between the sports desk and the soft area and would do a traditional link between the two presenters and throw a switch to change the background. Something in the back of my mind tells me it was introduced to when Sue Barker moved to BBC Sport; Steve Rider would anchor the show but she would do interviews.

Double page spread in The Sun with Adrian and Christine. Final paragraph reads

Oops

Interview with Christine & Adrian :

http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/drama/tv-news/interviews/adrian-ill-host-daybreak-in-my-pyjamas/10080

Christine going for the Penny Smith 'sleep plan'. Wonder how long she'll last in the mornings.

I'm aware of that, Joe, it just felt a little out of place to me.

*

Re: State of the art studio

Surely "state of the art" can't simply mean "new" or "latest", but rather something fairly different to has been done before, often in an expensive, specialist and non-standard kind of way. We all know if Daybreak had kept the same set as GMTV, but refurbished the gallery and equipment, they would not be referring to a "state of the art studio".

They're using this phrase in the PR hype-hope someone sees some wood floor and a view of London and thinks "wow that is impressive", forgetting the dozens of similar sets and studios there's been.

In regards to the windows, does anyone know if they're using an automatic sensor function for tinting out the sun, or will it be a manual change?

I suppose I was trying to say that to me they look nice, just a part of the set - like the One Show's big pillar things - rather than being there for any other reason.

Wiki says 'the state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field, achieved at a particular time' - going on this definition, it is accurate. Daybreak is using the latest technology, but not something new to the industry. As in, it is at the edge of the envelope, but not pushing that envelope.

Fair enough on both points.

The slight difference at the Albert Dock is that the pathway on the immediate outside of the studio was covered over by the offices/old warehouses above (as opposed to having nothing above as in the current studio), so there was less chance of sunlight reaching the windows. The red pillars that supported the overhang were painted grey though, presumably to avoid showing up on camera as much. They're still painted grey today if you ever visit - it's easy to spot where the studio was by looking for the 2/3 grey pillars amongst all the red ones!

One of the very small twitter pics yesterday showed those frosted panels (for want of a better term) lit up in the same colour as the 'pumpkin' coffee table:

http://i53.tinypic.com/dvliro.jpg

Perhaps they just add some colour to the set, other than purple and brown.