UK-based Sky News marks the start of each hour’s live news broadcast with a 3D graphic opener called “Top of the Hour.” This opener quickly conveys what breaking news and top stories Sky News is currently following. The opener includes video clips and screen shots from all Sky News’ online platforms — Web, iPad and mobile — as 3D video windows within the intro package.
This feat is accomplished using Vizrt’s Viz Content Pilot, a template-based video and graphics management system, which grabs editorial content from each of the Sky News online services and inserts it into the pre-built 3D animated graphic in real-time, preserving their fonts and screen layouts.
Sky News, one of many BSkyB satellite television channels in the UK, is a dedicated 24-hour news channel. “Top of the Hour” runs on both the SD and HD channels, and Viz Content Pilot automatically feeds both versions. The animated opener allows Sky News to take viewers on a journey through its entire branded environment. The system is easy to set-up and use. The latest content from Sky New’s online platforms is automatically integrated with its 3D environment in an efficient workflow that benefits both the design and daily operational processes.
The resulting graphic is accessible to the vision mixer and producers in the gallery via Viz Content Pilot and iNews. This gives them the ability to override the automatic insertion of content from the servers and embed different imagery and headlines if last-minute changes are required.
In addition to Viz Content Pilot, Sky News is also making great use of Vizrt’s broadcast news-oriented products, Viz Artist and Viz Weather.