WMAR 6pm Newscast to be Relaunched as "ABC 2 In Focus"

[NewsMaster 226]

[24994J 5276]

[yt]XFcqGGMPc3k[/yt]

[rkolsen 1679]

They certainly have stepped up investigative reporting but I can't tell you a single story that they've covered. The only thing I got from the promo is maybe a new set.

[ABC 7 Denver 1554]

 

 

Those graphics are... I have no words. It made me throw up a little. That's the best I can describe it.

[rkolsen 1679]

It premiered and the graphics are simple but much more improved compared to their use of the standardized Scripps package (boxes not properly aligned, wrong sized Logos.

 

I'd say this package is similar to Gannetts current look a logo in a box with a descriptor band that's 25% of the height of the logo and the main text is 75%. I'll post caps when done.

 

They are using a new set with a 3x3 monitor wall with red back grounded behind it and also uses what appears to be a chroma key screen with three stacked virtual monitors and a control room monitor wall (which isn't even a photo of their own as their control room are two 40" monitors).

[ns8401 846]

It premiered and the graphics are simple but much more improved compared to their use of the standardized Scripps package (boxes not properly aligned, wrong sized Logos.

 

I'd say this package is similar to Gannetts current look a logo in a box with a descriptor band that's 25% of the height of the logo and the main text is 75%. I'll post caps when done.

 

They are using a new set with a 3x3 monitor wall with red back grounded behind it and also uses what appears to be a chroma key screen with three stacked virtual monitors and a control room monitor wall (which isn't even a photo of their own as their control room are two 40" monitors).

It shows Scripps will loosen up on the requirement for standardized graphics when necessary, maybe they are figuring out that standardized isn't always best. I had posted that thread about odd graphics at wxyz, I figured out the one I asked about is from the Scripps 1 package and this large circle 7 transition flash on promos is from the 2008 Giant Octopus package they used before the burned orange junk. I am very interested in what these graphics look like and wonder now if their largest stations will be allowed to shift away and make their own packages sometime soon, maybe even a two tiered standardization where the big stations and little stations have different packages.

 

It looks better than the standardized package, the CNN look is wearing thin on me. Especially with orange and blue backgrounds and that flying box. Ours is still burned orange like WMAR, one of the last to not be blue or red. I think in the next year or so the visual look will change at the larger stations in some way.

[TennTV1983 743]

 

They are using a new set with a 3x3 monitor wall with red back grounded behind it and also uses what appears to be a chroma key screen with three stacked virtual monitors and a control room monitor wall (which isn't even a photo of their own as their control room are two 40" monitors).

 

Not exactly. According to this picture on Facebook, they redid part of the main set for In Focus, which makes you wonder why they didn't just go ahead and rebuild the entire set instead of just replacing one or two walls.

[Geoffrey 779]

What's the over-under on this newscast's survival? Five months?

 

How many investigation-worthy stories are there really? Can they really sustain it for a half hour five days a week? Will the viewers get bored?

 

I'm going with the under. They'll have a regular newscast by Labor Day.

[ABC 7 Denver 1554]

 

What's the over-under on this newscast's survival? Five months?

 

How many investigation-worthy stories are there really? Can they really sustain it for a half hour five days a week? Will the viewers get bored?

 

I'm going with the under. They'll have a regular newscast by Labor Day.

 

"In-Focus. A local show about events in Maryland and the east coast. Always with sports and weather together at the top of the broadcast."

 

- So basically a reverse newscast? Yep.

[ns8401 846]

 

What's the over-under on this newscast's survival? Five months?

 

How many investigation-worthy stories are there really? Can they really sustain it for a half hour five days a week? Will the viewers get bored?

 

I'm going with the under. They'll have a regular newscast by Labor Day.

 

I'll go 6 months.

[rkolsen 1679]

I'll give it to the end of the year just to be nice and like some of you I don't know how they can do so many investigative stories with out the well running dry. Today it seemed like they were going for a stretch in their stories one was about people who do not properly dispose of trash (that was the A block), the B block was on Boston Marathon security which every station led with, and the very last segment was on police overtime for special events like Orioles/Ravens games, music festivals and how some corporations do not pay back the city for overtime then weather.

 

By clicking on the link it goes to my very short blog post where these images are posted if you want to see the full size images click on the image in the post, which I wouldn't recommend viewing high resolution of each picture because the graphics almost look as if they were designed to be used in a 16:9 standard definition broadcast.

 

 

 

 

It shows Scripps will loosen up on the requirement for standardized graphics when necessary, maybe they are figuring out that standardized isn't always best. I had posted that thread about odd graphics at wxyz, I figured out the one I asked about is from the Scripps 1 package and this large circle 7 transition flash on promos is from the 2008 Giant Octopus package they used before the burned orange junk. I am very interested in what these graphics look like and wonder now if their largest stations will be allowed to shift away and make their own packages sometime soon, maybe even a two tiered standardization where the big stations and little stations have different packages.

 

It looks better than the standardized package, the CNN look is wearing thin on me. Especially with orange and blue backgrounds and that flying box. Ours is still burned orange like WMAR, one of the last to not be blue or red. I think in the next year or so the visual look will change at the larger stations in some way.

One of the things that I find ridiculous is that some of the boxes are not the same size as the box above it or they are a few pixels above the element next to it.

 

It is very interesting that they only added this wall to their set and have not updated it considering its about 10 years old and many of the monitors on set are still 4:3 and their graphics are very often cut off. Then again they could be updating their set piece by piece.

[Breaking News 802]

Here another youtube clip

 

[ns8401 846]

 

I'll give it to the end of the year just to be nice and like some of you I don't know how they can do so many investigative stories with out the well running dry. Today it seemed like they were going for a stretch in their stories one was about people who do not properly dispose of trash (that was the A block), the B block was on Boston Marathon security which every station led with, and the very last segment was on police overtime for special events like Orioles/Ravens games, music festivals and how some corporations do not pay back the city for overtime then weather.

 

By clicking on the link it goes to my very short blog post where these images are posted if you want to see the full size images click on the image in the post, which I wouldn't recommend viewing high resolution of each picture because the graphics almost look as if they were designed to be used in a 16:9 standard definition broadcast.

 

 

 

 

One of the things that I find ridiculous is that some of the boxes are not the same size as the box above it or they are a few pixels above the element next to it.

 

It is very interesting that they only added this wall to their set and have not updated it considering its about 10 years old and many of the monitors on set are still 4:3 and their graphics are very often cut off. Then again they could be updating their set piece by piece.

 

It always seemed to me that the boxes always matched except for the news large BREAKING NEWS tab which is definitely bigger. Ours all seem to line up cleanly. But the bug is the circle 7 so nobody tried to attach it to the lower thirds, that looked kind of silly because it ends up placed in the middle, I don't really see any other mismatched stuff.

[Jess 1110]

Yes, this is going to get the image you all know it's going to get. But first, I need to get something off my chest. The very beginning of the promo, what they referred to the broadcast as, gets my scowl and the scowl of the Greatest Anchor Team Ever:

 

 

This bugs me to no end. News isn't a show. A show is something you perform in front of an audience, or for an audience, for their entertainment. News is designed to inform and educate. Entertainment should be the side bonus. Of course, yeah, too many stations go for the entertainment first.

 

I try to catch myself saying the s-word. The news that runs on WPVI after the 10pm drama is the 11pm newscast. or the 11pm news. or the 11pm broadcast. I know "show" is used internally but I try to exclude it from my vocabulary.

 

Okay, done that. So, Facepalm Jim? Yup, Facepalm Jim.

 

[rkolsen 1679]

For what its worth here is a video I posted to YouTube (it's still processing) of the opening of the show showing the preview and the weather cast done from the monitor wall, I didn't include any of the stories.

 

[yt]hlgmLn0G3wo[/yt]

 

It's processed but wont let me embed it. Figured it out, for some reason I keep thinking of vBulletin codes.

[rkolsen 1679]

Here are just a few notes from the scripps graphics that they needed to fix

 

[Big Country News 435]

Maybe this is a coincidence, or the logo designers are Portal fans.

 

[rkolsen 1679]

Maybe this is a coincidence, or the logo designers are Portal fans.

 

It looks like a blatant copy of it, like they couldn't even bother rotating it 90° so it doesn't line up. Then again it could be a coincidence since triangles seem to be en vogue.