Archive for the ‘Election 2008’ Category

Election night brings changes to cable news

CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all debuted updated or tweaked graphics for Tuesday’s election.

Continue reading to see our take on each networks look and see screen grabs from the night. (more…)

Clickspring awarded Emmy for CNN election set

Clickspring Design’s work for the CNN 2008 U.S. Presidential Election coverage was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in scenic design. The News & Documentary Emmy Awards recognize outstanding achievement in news and documentary programming by conferring annual awards of merit.

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‘Today’ debuts new graphics

NBC’s “Today Show” has a new graphical look that has ties to the earlier MSNBC redesign but also has some strange design choices.

The new, cleaner look, gets rid of the sharp “ribbons” and somewhat choppy animation of the old package in exchange for white boxes accented with color, similar to the look at MSNBC.

More images, a video clip and commentary after the jump.

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‘Hologram’ technology headed to ESPN?

Broadcasting and Cable reports about the hologram technology soon to hit ESPN’s air waves. The technology, slated for a spring 2010 debut, will likely be used for ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup.

Ley’s virtual appearance onscreen was remarkably realistic, without the significant image blurring seen in hologram technology used by CNN on Election Night last fall.

Pagano says the hologram technique is an extension of the “EA Virtual Playbook” technology that ESPN already uses for NFL coverage, and Berman said it will allow them to bring the images of players directly into the studio for analysis or interviews.

It is unclear if this is the same technology developed by Vizrt and Stats, but ESPN is a big Vizrt customer. According to the B&C article, “ESPN has written some software for the virtual technology internally, and learned how to tweak the lighting and the seating of talent to create the most realistic effect.”

Giant Octopus “dives in” to new site

Giant Octopus, the Florida based motion graphics firm, has launched a non-flash site that includes a good number of videos and information. Previously, the GO site use to be rarely updated with little usable information. The company has now changed directions and has plans to continue to update the site. Another new site, version 6, is planned for August according to GO’s homepage.

Also featured on GO’s new site is a complete list of Syndicated packages available.

Visit Giant Octopus at giantoctopus.com

Updated: MSNBC goes HD with new look

MSNBC took the wraps off its new HD look Monday morning after testing them Sunday. The new look includes a clean looked similar to those seen at European networks.

Earlier this year, MSNBC updated its graphics to a red, yellow and blue theme but stuck with the same look and feel of angled polygons.

More images and commentary after the jump.

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Clickspring wins Gold BDA for CNN election set

During the recent Promax|BDA awards, Clickspring Design was honored for its CNN Election set design.

CNN charged Clickspring with realizing two primary objectives for election coverage. First: to communicate unassailable editorial expertise. The headline “CNN = Politics” established an equation for all design and production related to the election season.

The secondary objective was to create a branded alignment between multiple events — twelve debates, five primaries and election night. Developing live events with audiences ranging from 200 to 2,000 in size, and addressing the realities of live video production — two very different lenses — needed careful synchronization.

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CNN’s hologram technology ten years in the making

The idea for CNN’s hologram technology first hatched ten years ago in the head of David Bowman at CNN, says Shalom Nachshon of Vizrt, the company that, teamed with Stats, made the effect a reality a decade later.

“Back then, the technology didn’t exist,” said Nachshon. However, as CNN began prepping for the 2008 election coverage, the idea resurfaced and the research and development team at Vizrt believed they could successfully create the look Bowman envisioned.

Already familiar with Stats’ technical capabilities, Vizrt integrated technology from both companies to create the final CNN hologram effect. Though the hologram technology is available in full HD, CNN opted to add some noise to the picture in order to add a “Star Trek” look to it that also reinforced the fact that the reporter wasn’t physically in the New York stuido.

Behind the Storm: Bringing virtual environments to local news

This is the last of an exclusive three-part series on Brainstorm America, the company behind NBC News’ 3D election graphics. Part two, coming Friday, will focus on how Brainstorm’s team developed the NBC News look and feel. Part three, coming next Wednesday, will cover Brainstorm’s vision for using its technology in local news. Read the first installment here and second installment here.

For the most part, fully-immersive 3D environments with real-time camera tracking and data integration has been outside the reach of local television news. However, Brainstorm USA’s J. David Hoffman, thinks that may change soon.

More details and images after the jump.

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Behind the Storm: Getting ready for election night

This is the second part of an exclusive three-part series on Brainstorm America, the company behind NBC News’ 3D election graphics. Part two, coming Friday, will focus on how Brainstorm’s team developed the NBC News look and feel. Part three, coming next Wednesday, will cover Brainstorm’s vision for using its technology in local news. Read the previous installment here.

Brainstorm’s involvement with NBC’s Decision 2008 coverage began two years out and required the team to work closely with a wide variety of NBC staffers.

That team included Artworks, NBC’s in-house design agency, a process covered in NewscastStudio’s previous series “Artworks at Work.” NBC also designated key artists who were trained on the system and who were given access to the Brainstorm technical team’s know-how and assistance meeting the network’s specifications and quality benchmarks in the final graphics.

More details and photos after the jump.

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Behind the storm: Getting to know Brainstorm

This is the first of an exclusive three-part series on Brainstorm America, the company behind NBC News’ 3D election graphics. Part two, coming Friday, will focus on how Brainstorm’s team developed the NBC News look and feel. Part three, coming next Wednesday, will cover Brainstorm’s vision for using its technology in local news.

With one of the hottest election contests in recent memory taking center stage last November, television news outlets scrambled to outdo each other with the biggest and best technological enhancements to covering the news.

More photos and our exclusive interview after the jump.

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CNN’s ‘moment’ is actually ‘moments’

CNN’s much-hyped “The Moment” interactive Photosynth seems to have captured more than one moment.

Though users were supposed to capture the moment Barack Obama placed his hand on the Bible, CNN received and used photos from another moment, it seems. Check out the image above. You can see Barack and Michelle Obama on the left, with Barack about to take the oath of office. But look to the right. Oops. There’s Barack and Michelle again.

Sure this type of thing is inevitable when you’re mushing photos together but with all the hype around it being “The Moment” it’s a bit entertaining.

We’re wondering if this is the result of CNN getting desperate for usable photos from users…