[Transmission]

Newsnight still on air at 23:07!

It's still Newsnight, then! I remember in the dim and distant past them getting yelled at to come off air following a breaking story earlier in the evening (I'm sure this time they had permission, though!).

[House]

Of course news programmes often have their plans ripped up at the last minute - that’s the business they’re in - but they don’t then get the guests who were booked for another story to talk at length about something else.

My point is if they could have got other guests at such short notice, there’s no reason they wouldn’t have done last night. Nothing about the format required them to use their booked panel, it was just the best option they had available to them.

The night before Victoria Derbyshire interviewed a (not-selected) Labour candidate in the studio as part of a breaking story, and interviewed a former Trump aide/spin doctor DTL. It’s not as though this format is wedded to a panel like Question Time is, on a night like last night it will come down to who/what they can get.

[Ash101]

I quite enjoyed tonight’s Newnight, as it featured some good discussion of the days events. But it does feel a bit like the televised Newscast, so maybe they’d just be better combining the two!

The panel does seem to be extending out a little bit, Lewis Goodall was back on last week & they’ve teased Piers Morgan tomorrow to give opinions on the first debate (which Victoria gave a nice pull to as being “over on ITV1 at 9pm, and then we’ll debrief at 10:30pm on BBC Two”)

[interestednovice]

Is Newsnight’s “new” sofa actually the old grey sofa from the set of the Victoria Derbyshire programme back in Studio B?

It certainly looks very much like it, and it surprisingly works quite well having two sofas (as everyone can sit down for most of the programme, so the low ceiling is less of an issue).

Even in the new format, I’d like to see Newsnight extended to approx. 45 minutes for the election, as it does feel a bit rushed currently.

[South]

Is Newsnight’s “new” sofa actually the old grey sofa from the set of the Victoria Derbyshire programme back in Studio B?

It certainly looks very much like it, and it surprisingly works quite well having two sofas (as everyone can sit down for most of the programme, so the low ceiling is less of an issue).

I don't think so as the old VD sofa was two tone and had a dark grey backing where as this sofa does not.

[Stuart]

I don't think so as the old VD sofa was two tone and had a dark grey backing where as this sofa does not.

I think it is actually the same sofa. All they have changed is the black area in these pictures which forms part of the frame for the cushions.

It looks as though they also re-purposed the table top!

           

[TIGHazard]

Kirsty's skirt was a bit strobe-y on tonight's edition. Noticed a couple of others online pointing it out as well. Seemed to have very fine stripes which I suspect caused it.

[Stuart]

Kirsty's skirt was a bit strobe-y on tonight's edition. Noticed a couple of others online pointing it out as well. Seemed to have very fine stripes which I suspect caused it.

They seem to rather enjoy allowing the moiré effect unnecessarily. They've even stuck with 'wobble-cam' to show the front pages, which looks dreadful when they move to the lower set of three, as they are too close and at an angle to the screen. It's not how those screens are designed to be displayed for broadcast.

What was wrong with the previous OTS graphics? They were clear enough for the few seconds they were on screen, and would animate on/off quite nicely.

[scottishtv]

They need to ditch using the wobbly Steadicam when chatting to guests in front of the windows. The movement results in so many distracting reflections in the windows.

Then when they change shot to one of the fixed ped cameras, you see the reflections of the Steadicam operator darting around repositioning himself. Looks really amateur, especially when it's been like this for 20 mins or so.

[Stuart]

They need to ditch using the wobbly Steadicam when chatting to guests in front of the windows. The movement results in so many distracting reflections in the windows.

Then when they change shot to one of the fixed ped cameras, you see the reflections of the Steadicam operator darting around repositioning himself. Looks really amateur, especially when it's been like this for 20 mins or so.

At one time BBC Persia used to have fine black mesh blinds on the windows in 54D when it was dark outside. The lights from All Souls Church, other lit buildings and the headlights of the moving traffic were still visible. You still got the perspective changing when cameras moved, but there was no reflection of the staff operating behind the camera.

Perhaps they could try that again for Newsnight. I don't want to lose the view out of the windows, but they seem to have the same issue that the Daybreak v.1 newsreader's desk suffered from in TLS Studio 7 many years ago.