Five News from ITN

Catherine Jones joined Emma on the 5 News at 5, sitting at the left side of the desk as opposed to the right side which one would presume would be used as it has the largest space and is where guests sit on NewsTalk Live. I'm guessing that they used the left for camera angles.

Agreed - can't stand it.

It's not the best, and I really think that round desks in a square studio just don't work in a VR element (and vice versa).

Agreed, Cross Channel.

C5 News' VR studio isn't showing anything that wouldn't be possible with a conventional studio: so I'm missing the point of why they didn't just build one in the first place.

Perhaps there are some Barco screens going cheap in London at the moment which they could aquire?

Other than that, just have a versitile set that can be changed with lighting (as used to very good effect in NBH Studio B) and a few well placed large plasma screens.

Using VR without any real visual need just makes C5 News look like a low-budget cable channel of the early 90s.

Presumably it's cheaper to build and maintain? To be honest, I prefer it Barco era BBC News and any era except for maybe the first Sky News era 5 News, as most people won't realise it's VR except for us in the know, it's fine.

Not a fan of the desk away from the News Talk Live, though.

I think that's the point isn't it? ITV's set could easily be made using real elements, but the VR aspect means there is minimal expense on maintenance and potential rebrands. Since 2004, barely anything has changed physically yet the design completely changed in 2006, 2008/9, 2009 again and 2013.

I mean most VR Sets would be able to be built in real life Channel 5 News and the Current ITV News Set would be examples of that - its just some elements such as Rear Projection Screens fade over time and other things are cheaper to do in VR. Some VR Sets such as the BBC's Studio A are VR because it is easy for programmes to use particularly for the BBC where they need tonnes of programmes to have a different feel but in a limited number of studios but as has been said the Channel 5 News Set could be achieved with NBH Studio B Style lighting.

I have to say if you are going for VR you should do something impressive such as ITV News Feb 2009 set, presumably it doesn't matter the size or impressiveness of the Set you create with VR as there aren't any budget constraints in what you can do. But then there is the whole The Day Today thing where just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Tonight, a 5 News exclusive. A handwritten letter from Ian Brady.

Not a major point or anything but it's a little depressing for them that 11 minutes into the programme and they've had a single tweet using #newstalklive despite it being shown on screen at numerous points and Emma claiming that lots of people are sending in tweets.

I'm watching it for the first time and it's certainly not bad. 4 guests so far and none of them from Northern and Shell. Could really do with being advertised a little though.

Four contributors using the #Newstalklive hashtag so far between 1830 and 1848.

Sorry if this is incorrect , but if I remember correctly the budget for 5 news isn't that big. And they have had quite a few new sets in the past few years , so surely it's more cost effective to have a VR set. I also think the studio isn't that big either.

In my opinion 5 news has got a lot better since ITN took over again.

IMO.

I don't think that is true for the ITV News set - in real life it wouldn't extend as high as it does, and the galleries would have to be screens.