ITN Nostalgia

[itsrobert]

I would like to know if people think the news presentation of ITN was better or worse when they were based at Wells Street from 1969-1991, or was it better/worse when they moved and based themselves in Grays Inn Road since 1991?

I've always liked ITN's presentation as it's consistently of a high standard. That being said, I'm probably out of step with most people in the sense that my favourite era of ITN branding was between about 1987/88 and 1992. They introduced more up-to-date branding in a rolling programme between 1987 and 1988 which was a vast improvement on the branding it replaced - essentially a hangover from the 1970s. It was introduced during the tail end of the Wells Street era and moved by and large with ITN into Grays Inn Road. I did also like the branding introduced in 1992 when the atrium started playing more of a role, although I think they hit top form again with the 1995-1999/2000 incarnation.

[JK1985]

I loved the use of the atrium in the 1992-1995 period of ITN. They understood the power of their new headquarters.

I remember the 1992 relaunch of News at Ten, a superb opening title sequence of Big Ben of course, but then a shot of the ITN HQ and then a glorious pan into the main newsroom, right up to the main News at Ten set.

They had various versions, the main one for Trevor McDonald, a version with no presenter in shot when Trevor was on holiday, and from around 1993-1994 a new pan shot across the newsroom to the set. Great work.

When News at Ten moved to the basement studios in 1994, it took something away from it, presentation wise.

[cityprod]

I am also very much in the camp that the 1987-1991 look in general was amongst the best, and that 1995-1999 was a pretty close second, mostly in terms of the graphics. The post-Leonard Parkin News at 1 look was very minimalist in a good way, the 545/540 look is great, and love the music too. When they introduced that computer generated fly-through London for News at Ten, that became iconic very quickly. The graphic look for 1995 was similarly minimalist and worked absolute wonders.

[itsrobert]

I am also very much in the camp that the 1987-1991 look in general was amongst the best, and that 1995-1999 was a pretty close second, mostly in terms of the graphics. The post-Leonard Parkin News at 1 look was very minimalist in a good way, the 545/540 look is great, and love the music too. When they introduced that computer generated fly-through London for News at Ten, that became iconic very quickly. The graphic look for 1995 was similarly minimalist and worked absolute wonders.

Wholeheartedly agree. ITN has always been at its best when using minimalist branding. The same can be said for the current 2013-present branding. One of the reasons I didn't quite like the 1992-95 versions as much is because it feels very American with all the swooping shots etc. The same applies to the 1999-2004 branding. For my taste, ITN has always been at its best when it's gone back to basics.

[Solari]

Maybe this is only loosely on topic, but I always found this Viz strip amusing:

[VMPhil]

Is it supposed to be funny?

[Solari]

Is it supposed to be funny?

I thought it was funny...

[VMPhil]

Is it supposed to be funny?

I thought it was funny...

Sorry, I genuinely couldn't tell!

[JK1985]

The 1988-1992 News at Ten opening titles was one of the first news title sequences I remember, as I was born in 1985.

The computer generated flyover London to Big Ben was excellent, very well produced for 1988, no wonder in the 2008 return of News at Ten they opted to chose a similar style.

Personally the 2008-2009 News at Ten was excellent, I really liked the virtual set design, with a truly lovely London backdrop in their "Theatre of News" set.

[soupie]

Is it supposed to be funny?

I thought it was funny...

Sorry, I genuinely couldn't tell!

It is more funny if you grew up reading the British comic strip tropes it parodies

[Brekkie]

Didn't realise the 1999 set had a greenscreen to the right from the very beginning. Don't really remember them making much use of it.

https://youtu.be/cJJbWawU3D8

[Newsroom]

A question probably [mention]itsrobert[/mention] could answer.. When the EEN and NAT shared the Newsroom studio. How on earth did they manage to set NAT and store the EEN set in such a small space? Anyone else have any ideas?

[MEDIA]https://youtu.be/WzxH2ROI6ow][/MEDIA]

[MEDIA]https://youtu.be/rgHKgmBBtr8[/MEDIA]

[JK1985]

Someone told me the Early Evening News and the News at Ten were on different floors of the building. They look similar, but in fact News at Ten was on the floor above where the Early Evening News was - if memory serves me right from the conversation.

Of course by 1994 News at Ten moved into one of the basement studios at ITN.

[itsrobert]

An interesting video has surfaced - quite a rare full edition of the ITN Morning News from 1989. It features both an edition of the ITN World News and some CNN output during the second half hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTe738d1S5o

I think they used the record a special closing of the World News specifically for the UK airing to lead into the commercial break. I'm sure the proper edition for Superchannel had a full closing theme and end credits; this one ends with a brief musical sting over a static slide of the logo.

[Roger Darthwell]

An interesting video has surfaced - quite a rare full edition of the ITN Morning News from 1989. It features both an edition of the ITN World News and some CNN output during the second half hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTe738d1S5o

I think they used the record a special closing of the World News specifically for the UK airing to lead into the commercial break. I'm sure the proper edition for Superchannel had a full closing theme and end credits; this one ends with a brief musical sting over a static slide of the logo.

It's a pity that a programme like ITN World News no longer exists.....