The tour of the BBC newsroom provided some surprises for the writer. The newsroom was much smaller than expected due to camera angles that make it seem larger. While the writer thought presenters just read scripts, they actually write much of their own material, including weather reports. The tour also showed how tight production schedules are to avoid delays that could lose viewers. The most interesting part was the soundproof room used to mimic sounds of characters moving closer or farther during recordings of The Archers radio program.

1. BBC Tour evaluation
By Megan Molyneux

2. In the first part of the tour, we ventured into the BBC news room. To my surprise it
was incredibly small! I found it very interesting the way the camera's were specifically
angled to pursue the maximum size of the room, by doing this it deceives the viewers
at home into thinking that the set is bigger than it seems.

3. As the BBC house colours are white and red this showed great correlation here in
the news room and in fact, with the whole of the tour. Every piece of equipment was
marked with the BBC logo it was hard to forget where you were! I thought that the
news room was quite disappointing in my own views, this is because as I am a
frequent news watcher I imagined the room to be more spectacular and larger when
in fact, the computer room outside was much bigger. Also, I expected that the
presenters or some kind of presenters were always presenting some kind of news.
However to my understanding now this is not the case and they only present live. I
think that is admirable though, as the leader of the tour informed me and my
classmates that the presenters actually write 80% of their script and the weather
reporters write all of their script and have to adapt it to the time of the programme
they have left which is a window of 1-3 minutes! Pretty difficult if you memorised a
3 minute script and now you only have time for 60 seconds! I think it was a great
experience as it showed me that the presenters aren’t just presenters they do much
of the work that goes into the news rather than just reading off a screen.

4. We entered the News room. Again, I was very surprised as I thought the BBC were going
to be high tech. But to me, there were lots and lots of old televisions on a stand, all of
which with different or the same news stories and in this room we learnt about how the
actual programme was made not just how it looked. The leader informed us of the
extremely tight schedule that the cast were on, if they went over they could lose lots of
money and potential viewers which account for their budget and their favoured time
slots, meaning it is extremely important! From the BBC studio, they have to sign over the
controls to London for 19:00 for the One show. This is the threshold for the News show
and when it should end. As this is live, this is one of the most important parts, if this
starts late it makes every programme late and confuses viewers which may be potentially
lost.

5. After the TV room, we entered the Archers room. By far my favourite part of the tour as
they really went into detail into how it is made, how they have tried to keep it original as
possible and I have learnt that even with the best sound effects in the world it is nowhere
near the same as the real thing which is why they have so many props and such a big
room. The paper they use to read a script off is a special material to ensure it doesnt
rustle. I found this interesting as I thought they would have used some kind of digital
technology but the tour leader said they wanted to be as authentic as possible. Another
category I loved about the Archers part of the tour was the fact that they used real life
props to make the sound effects, for instance they had a whole kitchen and sink to make
kitchen and sink sounds like making tea they would actually boil the kettle and put in the
sugar etc. When I asked why, the leader announced that even the best sound effect would
never sound as real and also that the programme has been using this whole set since the
first day so to use anything different would spoil the experience for the listeners. Finally,
my all time favourite part was the sound proof room. This was at the back of the Archers
set and it was a long alley covered in tightly packed foam in a pointing direction in order
to cut off sound waves travelling. It was hard to scream or shout as the noise would be
absorbed very very quickly. They use this to mimick the sound of walking closer and
further away from people and when me and my class mates tested this, it worked!

6. The last part of the tour, was the entertainment part. This is where many famous doctor
who monsters were kept from very famous episodes, which as a big fan of Doctor who, I
got very excited about as you can see in my slideshow! There was also the famous CBBC
game of Splatalot, but as the crowd for this tour were mostly our class and elderly fans of
the BBC the team leader picked out people from the groups and allowed them to make a
mini archers set. It was very funny to watch as there were both speakers and people
using props to make the noises of what the actors were saying. It was a very good
experience and taught me how hard it was to actually be in sync and to make the sounds
of real things sound natural.

7. Overall, I really enjoyed the day at the BBC at the mailbox. It really helped me to start to
make my script for my news story as I knew the 'tricks of the trade'. I knew that I could
use different angles to make the studio I will make look bigger, and I don't have to learn a
whole weather forecast as it looks better and more natural when it is roughly drafted and
out together on the spot. The day really put me in the shoes of a news presenter which is
what I need for my project. I know what kind of environment they work in and what they
act like so now I have to take the skills I have acquired from the BBC news tour and adapt
it into my own news story.