Following our work for ABC News regional capitals, this project for the ABC News 24’s dedicated, round-the-clock news channel built on our previous successes.

Challenge

Having had a new studio equipped with two large plasma screens, ABC News 24 required an animated digital backdrop to provide depth and visual interest to enliven the newsroom and gallery spaces, particularly the main guest and presenter shots. It had to shout ‘TV News!’

Action

We began by blocking out the space in 3D and providing mock-up shots of how the proposed space might work with the proposed shots. After minimal refinement and adjustment, we developed a complete design and added materials, colours and lighting.

Because the two screens were relatively small, this limited the scope of what we could achieve in terms of scale, and forced us to modify our usual design approach to achieve a visually deep space. With Lightbox artwork featuring horizontal graphic bands in ABC News brand colours already installed, we expanded this motif in the fabric of the newsroom space, applying it to wall panels, desk dividers and glass treatments.

Result

Despite relatively small screen space and a tight schedule, we were able to deliver a newsroom scene that added depth and brand to the client’s camera shots. Treating the screens as windows into the newsroom is a result of our approach of treating screen space as real space. In all of the main shots, our backdrop creates the illusion of a large, well equipped space, despite being within a modest sized studio.