The Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Thread

No it wouldn't, it would provide a "window" in the middle of the set, the national set doesn't look like that at all. This new design provides that window all the way around the set, which is just like the national set. Yeah, it's a bit short, but it'd look better on camera.



Oh come on, there's millions of places in the UK which look good in panoramic pictures.



If viewers didn't appreciate consistency we wouldn't have regular presenters, or logos, or brands.



Projectors in studios are a pain. The lamps are expensive, they cause untold issues with lighting, they're require constant adjustment and they don't look as good as a TV screen. If the current crop of large screen TVs were available when the current sets were built I'm confident they wouldn't have put in the projectors. The only reason to keep them now would be because you can't afford to do the job properly.



I can't think of a single way, integrated into this set design, where that would look better than what they've chosen. Besides, they're not going for a single, middle of the room window like the current design, they're going for a wide panoramic view - a big advantage of which is it gives you a lot more flexibility with camera positioning without worrying about framing the "window" so it doesn't look stupid.


Anyway, the new set design looks to be much more flexible than the old design. I think this looks really nice:
http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/618103/stream_img.jpg

Well, you' either have designed this set yourself, and are trying to justify the bad design, or deluding yourself, because if you think that the result they have is the best solution, then there's something wrong.

P.s. If you know what the national set looks like, it's a wide angled window with a white border top and bottom, not three screens with black letterboxes. So the projection might not be ideal, but it would match the national set design more than this.

Thanks for that, that's just the point I was just trying to get across. It doesn't have to be black bars. Very easily not.

No I haven't designed this set, but I have designed sets in the past, and I've had plenty of experience of dealing with the constraints of the real world, marketing departments, finance departments and physical spaces. I've said above I think there's many different things that would look better, but that there will be reasons they haven't gone with those options - it won't be, as you appear to be assuming, that they couldn't think of anything better and are unaware of any potential issues.

The only way you could make a projection look like the national set is by having a much larger projection, which then requires a new screen, new projector and new studio (for the space needed). The existing screens are too small, and carry all the issues of using a projection. Your three screens idea has more legs (it could end up looking like the Salford studio), but you need a more than three screens to do it properly.

There's also the issue of cost. The 103" screens are in the range of £80,000 each, aren't they? The ones they've gone for are bound to be significantly cheaper.

Well, it's pretty sad, when a brand new set design which looks to be rolling out to numerous regions have settled on a window design with big black bars.

Maybe we can be grateful that there isn't a fake newsroom in the set design... yet.

We'll have to see how the Calendar set turns out on screen but the glossy black panels really aren't as bad as they seem on ITV Wales - most shots on news programmes are close-ups of presenters or interviewees, and the upper black panels are almost always out of shot as a result. The lower ones are fine. The panoramic backdrop works pretty well in the Cardiff set too - you see several different views of the bay depending on the camera shot - it's not comparable to the old 'window' projections, and is certainly more aesthetically appealing than some of the dire fake newsroom backdrops used by the BBC.

This is one of my concerns, if they stick with double heading in those chairs, I will be interested in how they frame it. I just hope they don't end up with the Wales desk, it looks out of proportion.

Anyhow, I think they're quite drab sets anyway, and doesn't match the friendly approach style setthey have now. These new sets are too hard and soulless looking.

Seems to be a similar set up to BBC Millbank and BBC Midlands in terms of screen position. I'm sure it will be fine.

I seem to remember that in May 2003, Calendar re-launched with a new set, titles and music, this was when Duncan joined Christine as co-presenter. Then in February 2004, there was a nationwide revamp of ITV Regional News, when all regions had the same corporate look. I just hope that there isn't an ITV News re-launch next year, I doubt there will be

It really looks daft, especially considering the fact that the vertical spaces seem to be 16:9 as well. If they were going to do small panoramic screens, they should have done it like BBC Midlands have, without the ridiculous reflective black backing:

http://www.theidentgallery.com/misc/misc/BBC1MT-2012-PIC-18.jpg

I understand that it might be a budgetary issue, since it looks as if they designed the set for vertical screens and then realized they couldn't afford it. It's a shame, because the vertical monitor look can be very effective:

http://www.jerecho.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/tryuuh5y.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qeTgkDsmQAo/VCEVIt2v5PI/AAAAAAAA9YA/qqHUFYgjEi8/s1600/ShibaRussell922142.jpg