Apologizes for the month's bump but I wanted to document some observations. News Central, when debuted, was taking advantage of 19Z's massive space and video walls, a technique I really like and feel is a slow way to introduce more European way of presenting a newscast. However, at least over the past month and a half, maybe (likely ) more, I've watched, and ALL THREE HOURS both Morning and Afternoon were the exact same.
John, Sara, Kate at a standing desk in the back of studio 19Z and they would be stationed there the entire show, with just four shots (one for each presenter and the background behind them and one to see everyone standing at the desk). For the afternoon, Brianna and Boris are sitting at a desk (I'm not sure which studio) and that's it, with the long video wall behind displaying a repeated image of the logo plastered on fake screens. If I just turned on the afternoon edition and seen the desk shot and didn't see any other shot (used only when there is a guest), I would be thinking that was a temporary set! In addition, all headlines, instead of the way both editions debuted, are now simply the topic image or video and the presenter's voice.
I know this will only get "New management is the reason" comments but still, it's almost comical to me how a network can invest so heavily in a new brand, and publicize how much it would be innovative and visually presenting and then within months go back to exactly how "Newsroom". In addition might I add that it's so sad to see the entirety of CNN be summed up with a head in front of a backdrop with the camera just being an inch away from being too close for comfort, it's just so common of a shot for the network, especially primetime and now News Central. How hard would it be to just zoom that camera out a bit, and actually use those million dollar sets then just face+background and zoom out before commercials? And hey if not, with the way the network is wanting to cut costs, why not just forego those sets and they just do what we do for some shots for "Magnet Newsroom", print out a background, anchor stands in front of it, same effect