Have I Got News For You (or HIGNFY) is a BBC comedy panel show based on politics and current affairs. Aside from a few new rounds, updating the set every season to match with current events and the change to guest hosts after a scandal involving host Angus Deayton, the format of the show has remained largely the same since it inception in 1990, as we can see from this clip from the pilot episode:
I feel that the format has survived for over fifty seasons due to the topical nature of the show, which has worked because the show has been able to take current affairs and point the satirical finger at the these events almost as they happen. This is made ever more watchable due to the chemistry between the panelists such as Ian Hislop and Paul Merton who have appeared together on and off since the pilot. The show has also often sailed close to the wind with how it approaches some topics which have sometimes bordered on slander so there is an appeal in the risque nature of some of the humour.
On a technical level, HIGNFY relies on VTs and graphics throughout as panelists answer questions relating to the different segments, as well as a number of sound clips played through the studio.
Editing and vision mixing:
The opening titles to HIGNFY have changed throughout the years to reflect the current political climate, and more recently it has switched from cartoon style animation to incorporating more 3D elements yet still in keeping with the satirical tone.
Every shot in HIGNFY is a cut, rather than a mix or wipe which gives the show an edge and allows the director and vision mixer to cut immediately to reaction shots and graphics as soon as they are needed. We do however see elements of keying after the opening titles are finished and also during the end credits which are played over a shot of the audience applauding. This is something that the vision mixer and graphics operator would need to work together in order to add to the show. The vision mixer can set a colour key to the graphics (usually chroma green) which is then removed and added as a layer in the mixing desk so that it runs over the top of the camera channel. This is something that we would need to use in the show as we are using astons / lower third graphics to introduce guests, therefore I will need to liaise with Simon and Danny on graphics to ensure that they use the correct key colour and I will need to key it into the desk.
The VTs featured in HIGNFY are usually short video clips without sound to allow for the panelists the discuss them in the studio. There also usually have little to no editing other than clipping clips down to fit into a time frame. Our VTs will be self-contained and will not require any voiceover in the studio as it will all be SOT (sound on tape) however I will need to discuss with the directors how they would like them to transition in the studio. We will however be using similar sorts of graphics in the sense that they are still images that are punched to full frame which is something I will need to do on the mixing desk. It would also be nice if we used a consistent background, as HIGNFY does to show the graphics to give a sense of consistency, but that is something for the graphics department to work with.
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