KDVR Debuts New Set

[C Block 1566]

As predicted, KDVR has debuted a new set. It looks to be a FX Group job, just like the KWGN set.

 

I'll have caps in a few minutes, and I'll have video of the 9pm news. There's also the live stream at KDVR.com if you're dying to see it now. (Though from what I've seen so far, there's no rush.)

[trev57 46]

Pretty meh from what I've seen. What's up with that main anchor backdrop?

[C Block 1566]

I hate to be that one guy who complains online about something pointless, but these KDVR and KWGN sets really were letdowns. KDVR has stunning on-air presentation, with a great in-house graphics package and beautiful city photography along with a custom theme, so I presumed the set would match in quality. It doesn't. It looks like Local TV's cheapness must've creeped in at some point in the process, because I was really hoping that they would spring for a decent set design firm.

 

The old sets weren't great. They looked cheap, but an FX Group set can always look cheaper. The previous blue newsroom set looked somewhat dark and didn't have very many shots, but the anchors were well-lit, the control room backdrop was interesting, and while it wasn't big in person, it looked spacious on air. This set looks even smaller, has dark, boring duratrans behind the anchors, and uses that dreadful tone of wood that fell out of style when KDVR first started producing news. This makes KMGH's ten year old set and KCNC's unimaginative grotto look good. FX Group sets can make anything look beautiful in comparison. They make the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve look good. They make the charred countryside of the High Park Fire look gorgeous. I hate to be pissy, but I'm really having trouble finding something I actually like about this set.

 

 

This duratran just looks dark. I'm not sure whether it's a picture taken from Sloan's Lake or City Park, but it's not a great anchor backdrop. (I also covered up the creepy photo of the gunman because I'm so tired of seeing it.)

 

 

I'm not sure what the technical term for this is, but the lighting on the male anchor position looks a little hot.

 

 

[C Block 1566]

Some more pictures:

 

 

Old logo:

 

 

This was the only "wide" shot, so I'm not sure where the two plasma standup positions are in relation to the rest of the set.

 

 

Seriously, where was that shot taken?

 

[Action Newsroom 1283]

I think it looks nice. Dark, but nice. Anne thank you for blocking the picture of the Aurora DKR shooting gunman. Dude creepy as shit.

[LoadStar 364]

I think the set looks OK. Not FX's best design, but still not nearly as bad as it is made out to be here. I do have three issues:

1) I don't mind the dark duratrans. In fact, I think the center duratrans is actually too bright and too busy - your eyes keep getting drawn to it, instead of the anchor. IMO, the background *should* be a bit dark so that the anchor "pops" a bit.

2) The weather center is cavernous and empty. Miles of blah wood, a tiny little display (that is a parallelogram, for no explicable reason I can tell) and an empty table in the background.

3) Is it just me, or is the concave duratrans inset into the anchor desk offset to stage right? If so - why?

[ABC 7 Denver 1717]

In term of shape and structure, this set looks almost identical to the new KWGN set. The parallelogram weather screen behind the Pinpoint Weather desk and the faux stone is identical. The wood style looks outdated, the news desk is of mediocre design and the back drop looks eh. I don't want to see a graphics picture. I want to see a good (live?) picture of downtown from Speer Blvd.In term of shape and structure, this set looks almost identical to the new KWGN set. The parallelogram weather screen behind the Pinpoint Weather desk and the faux stone is identical. The wood style looks outdated, the news desk is of mediocre design and the back drop looks eh. I don't want to see a graphics picture. I want to see a good (live?) picture of downtown from Speer Blvd.

[KRAP-TV 146]

What Charles said. Sorry I don't have more to add other than that...

[C Block 1566]

1) I don't mind the dark duratrans. In fact, I think the center duratrans is actually too bright and too busy - your eyes keep getting drawn to it, instead of the anchor. IMO, the background *should* be a bit dark so that the anchor "pops" a bit.

 

I suppose my problem is that I think news sets work best when the center duratran is a city backdrop and the side ones are plain graphic backdrops. I also just think that the city backdrop they chose (for the nighttime, at least) isn't the best picture they could have chosen. The other thing I don't like is that they don't change out the center one in the morning to match the morning graphics, which are orange and yellow rather than gold and blue.

 

Here's video:

 

 

Here's a promo for their shooting coverage, which was filmed in front of the set:

 

[trev57 46]

I suppose my problem is that I think news sets work best when the center duratran is a city backdrop and the side ones are plain graphic backdrops. I also just think that the city backdrop they chose (for the nighttime, at least) isn't the best picture they could have chosen.

 

+1

 

I have also been of the mindset that the main anchor duratran should be larger than the side ones, which isn't the case here.

[Weeters 1917]

 

I just...

 

uh...

 

I... um...

 

At least there's no "black wall".

[Jess 1115]

I suppose my problem is that I think news sets work best when the center duratran is a city backdrop and the side ones are plain graphic backdrops. I also just think that the city backdrop they chose (for the nighttime, at least) isn't the best picture they could have chosen. The other thing I don't like is that they don't change out the center one in the morning to match the morning graphics, which are orange and yellow rather than gold and blue.

 

Completely. Agree.

 

The problem that backdrop has - aside from being horrible - is that it's a bold, saturated graphical background. It looks nice at first glance, but when they use it in certain shots, there's a depth problem, and it takes away from the anchors. When you're tight on one of your news anchors, the set should fade into the backdrop, not dominate the picture.

 

I think the best example of this can be seen in WCAU's 1996 set. They had three backdrops. The first two were big, colorful things, like the second one:

 

 

They changed it to this one in the fall of 1997:

 

 

Backdrop #2 (or, well, technically #3), the fake newsroom, looks much better. It's less saturated, it's darker, and when they do tight shots there is much more depth to it.

 

However, while you think skyline backgrounds work best on news sets, there are exceptions. WPVI has used a blue backdrop since the dawn of time, and while it was originally because they chroma-keyed like crazy, it's long become part of their identity. The current one they use is blue but with some subtle graphical highlights. And skyline sets don't always look good. KYW used an orange sky background with their 1998 set and changed it within a month.

 

Actually, in general, I kind of find the "shot across the river" stuff a lot of stations use to be pretty boring. If you create the illusion that it's in the city or play with the size a bit, that goes miles. My favorite skyline set - ever - was WCAU's from the mid to late 1980s. That blew it up so you got the illusion they were in a high-rise building amidst the city, and not located in the suburbs. I also like WNBC's "Rockefeller Center Cam" screens for much the same reason (that and the set, I think, is gorgeous).

 

But yeah, KDVR set - badly done and a letdown considering how awesome their imaging has become.

[MidwestTV 1232]

That weather center is absolutely God-awful horrifc and should be scraped asap. On an overall rating, i give it a 7 ot of 10, honestly. However that weather center honestly looks as if it came out of the early 2000's and has never been replaced.

 

I don't know WHAT KDVR was trying to go with, but it didn't turn out too well. They could have at least incorprated some stone elements into it, seeing as they live amidst the mountains.

 

The main duratan too also sticks out FAR too much and seems vastly out of place compared to the other duratans on the set. It would have made a better anchor desk graphic...which is another thing. Why is that graphic box off centered to "stage right" as someone put it? So when the camera aims in that direction, it'll look more direct to the camera? If so it failed, and is much like WABC's set then where the entire set behind the anchor desk is actually at an angle (as evident by the Eyewitness News wording above it) and is only centered when the camera shows the ENTIRE anchor team...at an angle...

[ABC 7 Denver 1717]

I hate to be that one guy who complains online about something pointless, but these KDVR and KWGN sets really were letdowns. KDVR has stunning on-air presentation, with a great in-house graphics package and beautiful city photography along with a custom theme, so I presumed the set would match in quality. It doesn't. It looks like Local TV's cheapness must've creeped in at some point in the process, because I was really hoping that they would spring for a decent set design firm.

 

The old sets weren't great. They looked cheap, but an FX Group set can always look cheaper. The previous blue newsroom set looked somewhat dark and didn't have very many shots, but the anchors were well-lit, the control room backdrop was interesting, and while it wasn't big in person, it looked spacious on air. This set looks even smaller, has dark, boring duratrans behind the anchors, and uses that dreadful tone of wood that fell out of style when KDVR first started producing news. This makes KMGH's ten year old set and KCNC's unimaginative grotto look good. FX Group sets can make anything look beautiful in comparison. They make the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve look good. They make the charred countryside of the High Park Fire look gorgeous. I hate to be pissy, but I'm really having trouble finding something I actually like about this set.

 

 

This duratran just looks dark. I'm not sure whether it's a picture taken from Sloan's Lake or City Park, but it's not a great anchor backdrop. (I also covered up the creepy photo of the gunman because I'm so tired of seeing it.)

 

 

I'm not sure what the technical term for this is, but the lighting on the male anchor position looks a little hot.

 

 

The set looks like an RV. That's the best way I can put it. All the trim and wall coverings are cheap sheets of 'wood' and other materials. And it looks like the floor is even covered with linoleum. Yuck!

If they took the OTS/1 Shot duratrans and made it the 2 shot duratran, and had designed the backdrop for 16:9 instead of 4:3 (it looks a touch less gaudy in 4:3), it would look better. Then if they changed the backdrop (evening graphics/cityscape) out with the morning backdrop (morning graphics/cityscape), it would look a little more classy.

 

I would prefer a widescreen live shot of the city from the top of the KDVR building.

 

One good thing to note: As you can tell by the photos above, the OTS graphics meld well into the duratrans. It's smooth.

 

Finally, lets take a look a back at the old set that used to be here (Designed by Condit Exhibits based out of Denver)

 

 

2 The Deuce Set.

 

 

From right to left you can see the old 'Storm Force' Weather center, the former 2 the Deuce set, and the internet cafe.

 

 

This set eventually became Nightside set. This set is better than the Pinpoint Weather center from the new set!

 

 

The Storm Force weather center, now the home of the KWGN set.

[MidwestTV 1232]

^ Man I absolutely HATE IT when old sets and graphics look better than new ones. It makes me wish I had stopped or never even complained in the first place about their "old, outdated" look that neeed to be replaced. But I agree with you about the duratans and OTS graphics; they really do look nice streamlining into one another.

[C Block 1566]

 

And skyline sets don't always look good. KYW used an orange sky background with their 1998 set and changed it within a month.

 

Actually, in general, I kind of find the "shot across the river" stuff a lot of stations use to be pretty boring. If you create the illusion that it's in the city or play with the size a bit, that goes miles. My favorite skyline set - ever - was WCAU's from the mid to late 1980s. That blew it up so you got the illusion they were in a high-rise building amidst the city, and not located in the suburbs. I also like WNBC's "Rockefeller Center Cam" screens for much the same reason (that and the set, I think, is gorgeous).

 

You're right; there are exceptions. Still, there's a reason why city backdrops are used so often in TV news— in general, they're nice, soothing patterns with nice colors, good depth of field, and they tie in with the location. Though I agree they can be overdone, and that's why I appreciate it when stations try to use different backdrops. It's often very hard to do, but I've always been a fan of newsroom backdrops, like the old KDVR set. Sure, the side shots weren't great, but the center one-anchor shot was nice:

 

 

Anyway, here's what I was talking about in the morning. They don't swap out the center duratran so that it matches the morning graphics:

 

 

Finally, lets take a look a back at the old set that used to be here (Designed by Condit Exhibits based out of Denver)

 

They did not design or build that set. Jack Morton/PDG did in 2005. Condit Exhibits refreshed it in 2009 to make it look 'Deuce'-like and claimed Jack Morton's work as their own on their Facebook page.

[ABC 7 Denver 1717]

They did not design or build that set. Jack Morton/PDG did in 2005. Condit Exhibits refreshed it in 2009 to make it look 'Deuce'-like and claimed Jack Morton's work as their own on their Facebook page.

 

My apologies for not crediting the correct person/company. Apparently they not only took credit on their Facebook page, but on their website too. http://www.condit.co...nts/tv-studios/.

 

You can see the changes from the original set designed by Jack Morton/PDG which was moved to the KDVR Headquarters from it's studio's at 6160 S Wabash Way, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111 in 2009 (Is this building going to be sold or does tribune expect the LMA to end?).

 

 

 

WB2 News weather set -> Storm Force Weather set -> Night Side set

 

You can see the whole building process by Black Walnut (www.blackwalnut.tv/) at this link:http://www.blackwaln...kwgn denver.pdf. The duratrans remind me of the KDVR morning graphics

 

You can see the old set in use from this 2006 talent:

 

 

KWGN looked better and sounded better in 2006. I know that Erik Candiani did a great job rebranding KDVR. Its classy and looks sleek. I am not so convinced the KWGN rebranding was successful. While it has at least somewhat nice coloring, the logo is a little goofy, and I am none too happy with the Alan Koshiyama theme. I would like In-Sink back!

 

The swoosh threw the 2 and dovetail at the end of the 2 doesn't make any sense to me. But, this is just complaining without suggesting an alternative. So, here is my interpretation:

 

[ATTACH]1126.IPB[/ATTACH]

 

 

I know this is a KDVR thread. Sorry, I'm on a rant.

 

 

Still, in terms of quality of design (and meeting current branding standards), the quality of the old News2/Storm Force set was a lot nicer (in materials too) to the new Pinpoint Weather set.