NBC Nightly News Graphics.

[WXmanTim 88]

This has probably been brought up before, maybe not, either way I don't feel like searching for it.

 

Why are the NBC Nightly News graphics so craptacular?

 

I'm not talking about their lower-thirds (which are very good) but their OTS and additional graphics. For such a supposed technologically advanced studio, their OTS' look like shite. Instead of using the video wall behind as a display for their graphics, they use a hybrid of CG'd OTS with an accompanying background on the wall. And it looks like shite. Every time.

 

They have been doing it that way for years, as I recall in the old studio the stand-up video wall having the same issue: the story slug CG'd over the video instead of residing on the wall.

 

ABC has a similar video-wall set-up, but (aside from World News Now, which uses traditional OTS') the graphics all fully reside on the wall. And it looks great (imo).

 

The other thing I noticed (and this is only on NN Weekend) is that it was the exact same shot of Lester Holt, no cross-shots or camera zooms but one static shot of him in front of the video wall with the badly cg'd ots. Do they do this during weekday nightly news, or only the weekends?

 

It looks cheap, all the way around.

[DMA 135]

I think they might use a part of the Today set on weekends.

[PTVNews 188]

Instead of using the video wall behind as a display for their graphics, they use a hybrid of CG'd OTS with an accompanying background on the wall. And it looks like shite. Every time.

 

ABC has a similar video-wall set-up, but (aside from World News Now, which uses traditional OTS') the graphics all fully reside on the wall. And it looks great (imo).

 

I don't know what your problem is. The way NBC does it makes it look fabulous. Nice and crisp. If you have everything on the video wall text can be a bit blurry such as on World News.

[alaskanews 108]

I don't know what your problem is. The way NBC does it makes it look fabulous. Nice and crisp. If you have everything on the video wall text can be a bit blurry such as on World News.

 

And they also have a problem with covering part of a word with someone's shoulder

[WXmanTim 88]

Based on watching weekends, I don't think it looks very good. The background animations come across very blurry and the foreground CG doesn't look crisp, either.

 

Perhaps its better during the weekday shows. DMA suggested they may use a different set on the weekends, can anyone confirm this?

 

I've pretty much always watched ABC, so I may be a bit biased there too.

[PTVNews 188]

Based on watching weekends, I don't think it looks very good. The background animations come across very blurry and the foreground CG doesn't look crisp, either.

 

You must have a bad signal. It looks great on standard def tvs and AWESOME on HD TVs.

[Jess 1110]

I believe the same set is used on weekends and weekdays.

 

You MAY be thinking of the setup they were using last fall. That was when they were reconstructing the entire news facilities at 30 Rock in order to house MSNBC. Nightly News was moved to the "Football Night in America" studios during the interim - but obviously, Sports needed the studio on Sunday nights. So Nightly News was done from the Today set on Sunday nights. When the new set was done, they could do everything from the news set now.

 

I think the new set is fantastic. It's a throwback to ABC's wonderful newsrooms of the 80s and 90s and it seems extremely versatile and large. Impressive looking but not too flashy/busy (ABC) or dark/dreary (CBS). The graphics are pretty nice too, not their best but better than the previous set.

 

I do agree, however, with the OTS complaints. It's superimposed text over the background and anchor and nine times out of ten it looks ugly as sin. This is something that has been used dating back to Brokaw - it looked bad then and it looks bad now.

[thenewsstation 0]

Nightly hasn't always used the superimposing technique over the RP. I think they started doing it to make the text and images clearer since these usually contain more important elements than the rather muted backgrounds.

 

I actually disagree with the fact the L3s look better than the other graphics. I don't think the L3s work at all with the new set or the rest of the graphics package (these actually seem to be leftover from when Nightly first went HD in the old studio). They're too green and blue; while the rest of the graphics are more reddish.

 

The one thing that does annoying me about NBC's graphics overall, however, is how they have that "choppy" look to them. I realize it's done on purpose, but I think it ends up looking cheap.

 

As for the weekend editions, I'm not sure where they are broadcasting from. There is still a large screen behind Lester, but I don't think it's in the Today show set because when they were using it during the renovations, they would often use the window shot. One possibility is that it is being shot from the "New York Nightly News" area of WNBC-TV's studio. Some of the wider shots I've seen look pretty close to that area.

[Bucc 4]

I Don't Know how you think Nightly's Graphics look bad they are great, now the Today Show's...OMG....The Lower 3rd's...could they be more in-your-face-distracting. What really is anoying is the bug...peacock...Today logo..peacock...today logo..keeps changing KEEP 1..then they change the colors for Decision 08, holdiays omg...pick 1.

 

Also what bugs me is, why are the graphics behind Ann blue, and the rest orange/gold/yellow...thats just me

 

But no, Nightly's are simple...like they all should be!