End of the News

That's Newsnight Scotland...

Oh. They did used to have a circular desk though, didn't they?

I think it must be modified because it's still round and the top of it is still identical - imagine they would have gone for an oval shaped desk if they were getting a new one

Does anyone else miss the days when the lights went down at the end of the news? Here's a great example from ITN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxBGKTZ43vk&t=5m37s

I do actually!

Glad I'm not the only one It just seemed to be a natural end to the programme. As I recall it used to happen quite a lot, although never - to my knowledge - on daytime broadcasts. I remember it happening most on the early evening and late bulletins, especially on the ITN 540 News and BBC Nine O'Clock News. That particular clip I linked to before shows Martyn Lewis practically left in the dark!

I guess its tricky to fade the lights on virtual sets (be it CSO or screens with a recorded or animated newsroom) without ruining the illusion.

You mean like the BBC virtual-era sets?

I know what you mean though, and I don't think a fade down would look right in the current BBC sets, as they're designed to look like they're in the newsroom, and it would look odd, part of the room being darkened. Imagine N8 in the dark while all the office space behind is lit up with people carrying on as normal, just wouldn't work visually.

ITV on the other hand, could do anything they like lighting wise!

Also they tend to flicker up in N8 as seen about 3 mins 17 secs into this video

Studio fluorescent softlights are/were difficult to dim smoothly. In fact, some would "snap out" at about 15% of power, and make incremental jumps in their dim state as you slid a fader from 0-100%.

But there's been significant advances in dimmable fluo's, and as technology improves, designers like to utilise these aspects into their schemes.

So, you might start to see more creative use of lighting - depending on what they've kitted out BH with.

ah but the backdrop behind the newsreader was real in the blue virtual era!

North West Tonight still used to do that right up until the move to Salford, but as mentioned, as the set now is supposed to be windows looking out into Salford, it would look a little silly.