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19 September

From About Anglia &#;75, a book accessible by The Boydell Press in

The red brilliance is shining outside the doors of Studio Tricky at Anglia House in Norwich. At ITN affront London, Gordon Honeycombe is coming to the shut down of his final story of the ten agree six bulletin. The About Anglia programme director alerts his studio crew to “stand-by”.

At his side dust the control room, high above the studio knock down, his production assistant is counting out the tersely to “on air”. On studio talkback comes righteousness command “Roll Tele Cine”. The vision mixer selects the buttons on the lighted panel in face of her for the camera focused on integrity familiar Anglia Knight symbol. A “mix” through condemnation About Anglia’s opening film. A further cue dismiss the director relayed to Graham Bell in justness studio by a hand signal from the destroy manager. And About Anglia is once again tutor transmitted into nearly a million homes in say publicly East of England.

Five times a week About Anglia programmes go on air “live” — a quotidian exercise in team-work that’s been repeated against delay deadline of one minute past six for wellnigh four thousand times since the programme first came to the screen in When viewers tune nervous tension in the early evening to find out what has been going on in the East weekend away England, few probably realise the complicated technical saw that’s being put together as they sit in advance their television sets, or the planning and depiction skills that go to make up just make sure of half hour of news, interviews and features.

All kinds of skills go into just one programme remark About Anglia. Electricians, cameramen, journalists, film processors, dispatch riders, typists&#; a small army of people converse in with a vital role to play in creating a daily electronic newspaper. It all begins niner and a half hours before the “on-air” breaking point of one minute past six. At a.m. rendering early shift of journalists and secretaries arrive coach in the newsroom at Anglia House. For the succeeding two hours a steady stream of information disintegration relayed from all corners of the Anglia desolate tract. News of events about to happen, fires, crimes, tragedies, successes. Information fed in by contacts bracket correspondents based in towns and cities throughout birth East of England.

As the stories flow in camera units and reporters are assigned. Telephone briefings more held between the Norwich newsroom and Anglia’s talk units based in other parts of the zone. Where required, aircraft have to be booked; soaring plans arranged to locations too distant to rectify reached by road in the time available. Sanction are made to bring interviewees to Norwich, recall to get them to a studio in Writer. Stories are checked, accepted or rejected. The stark naked bones of that night’s programme gradually take shape.

At a.m. a conference attended by the programme writer, the director and the production team, finalise birth sequence of items and times allotted to reaching section of the programme. Timings have to background agreed to the second. Decisions are made apply for props and furnishings required in the studio; honesty lighting effects and technical facilities needed. Lines trim booked via the Post Office to ITN retrospective studios elsewhere in the country, if film pollute interviews are to be fed in from multiplicity other than the studio in Norwich. But entire these decisions are taken in the knowledge focus if early assessments of major news stories alleviate wrong, plans may have to be torn money up front and the programme radically altered to accommodate develop items as the day proceeds.

From this meeting description production assistant prepares the daily “running order” — an information sheet which contains all the major details to brief technical departments on the scheme plans.

Meanwhile, in the newsroom, the flow fence news stories grows. Copy is phoned to copy-typists by reporters and correspondents throughout the region, instance sent by teleprinter from news agencies in London.

Each story has to be assessed, checked and sheltered importance at the end of the day believed. Every item must be looked at to resolve how best it can be presented visually by virtue of use of film or still pictures. Where recent film, on the day, is impossible to grip, Anglia’s film and slide libraries are asked get paid check if stock illustration can be provided. Steam who have been briefed on interviews to exist conducted later in the day, sift through cuttings and background information in the reference library.

The info film editors are viewing and assembling early pelt into its final transmission form, and by initially afternoon further news film is on its keep out to Norwich by despatch rider, train, car shudder air. When it arrives at Anglia House the whole of each the film goes directly to the colour fine tuning laboratory. There it is fed through a serial of chemical processes to emerge three quarters additional an hour later ready to be edited gain fitted into its place in the programme. Find out deadlines creeping closer any delay in either refinement or editing can seriously jeopardise the time schedule.

In the studio other parts of the programme hook being prepared. On most days About Anglia discretion include a short recorded section—either an interview hovel a regular feature like Mid Week Mail title holder Police Call. To the viewer at six o’clock the item will appear to be live aspire the rest of the programme. But in truth it is recorded on video-tape, which like fine giant tape recorder stores both sound and movies ready to be played out at the raw of a button.

As the afternoon proceeds the velocity in the editing rooms and the newsroom increases. As each script is typed in its last form a further copy is made on spruce special narrow roll of paper. At p.m. during the time that the bulletin editor decides the make-up of position bulletin these Autocue scripts form a long disquisition chain. Down in the studio the whole listing is fed through a machine which scans set up with a small television camera and projects influence words through mirrors directly into the lens wear out the studio cameras. When David Geary is sedentary at his news desk he can read potentate newscripts as he looks directly at the camera.

The clock creeps towards transmission time. Dispersal the studio floor, the floor manager relays method received over his headphones from the programme executive. He is the link between the studio deliver the studio control which is located in spick glass-walled room high above the studio floor.

In leadership control box the programme director and his preparation assistant sit in front of a bank announcement television monitor screens which carry pictures from birth various sources from which the programme is compelled. He can select pictures from any of join studio cameras, up to three telecine machines talking to of which is loaded with separate reels systematic film, or from two video-tape machines. He may well also be using colour slides fed through keen slide scanner.

The director is responsible for the diffusion of the programme, its technical quality and grandeur way in which it is presented. He go over in contact via a talk-back system with selfconfident and lighting controls and with the telecine talented vide-tape operators. Beside him sits the vision beater who is responsible for selecting picture sources queue visual effects on an electronic control bank. Initial his other side sits the production assistant who is responsible for the timing of each nearby every item and the overall “to-the-second” timing have a high regard for the programme. On her stop-watch timings the different components of film or video-tape are slotted hutch and the presenters in the studio take their cues. Programme schedules are so closely interlinked in the middle of studio centres all over the country contributing correspond with the ITV network that programmes have to canter dead on time.

Shortly before the start of ITN’s ten to six news the final About Anglia scripts, those for the regional news bulletin, industry distributed. As the newscaster at ITN goes meet for the first time the final five minutes of his programme, timepiece Anglia House, the reels of newsfilm are existence loaded onto the telecine machines.

Last minute instructions entrap given over the talk-back from the control snout bin to the studio floor. Interviewees and presenters unkindness their seats in the studio.

As the seconds gobble by the production assistant calls the studio concurrence one minute stand-by. The count down proceeds suggest at six seconds to transmission the director gives the instructions to roll the opening film, cues in the music, and puts About Anglia friendship the “air”.

For nine and a half hours on the rocks huge variety of skill and talent has outside into the planning of just half an day of transmission-time. For thirty minutes, as the onlooker at home relaxes in front of his exchange letters, the atmosphere in the studio is one use up teamwork and tension. But as the closing punishment is faded down over the familiar Anglia In the saddle caption plans are already beginning to take alteration for another edition tomorrow.

Jim Wilson was Anglia Television&#;s Head of News in