Indy station gets big video wall, graphics update

Indianapolis CW affiliate WISH has launched a significant on-air update that includes a new video wall and updated graphics.

The station, which dropped its CBS affiliation in 2015 and now features a news-heavy schedule, last debuted an entirely new set in 2018.

The basic layout and structural elements of that set remain, but the station has made some high profile upgrades to various parts of the space, but especially the anchor area.

Previously, this area was situated with a 90-degree corner of the set as its primary background and combined a low-resolution video wall with walls and backlit surfaces to create a non-symmetrical look behind talent.

Now, however, that corner has been all but covered by a large, 30-foot curved video wall from Neoti that is crowned by a separate LED ribbon. Below is a a white step-like structure.

LED ribbons, both at knee wall and header height, were introduced in the 2018 set but the former has been removed. 

The anchor desk has also been upgraded with a wider LED front, with the light gray framework elements no longer visible.

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Other updates include bringing the LED ribbon header above the weather center out from behind the freestanding frame element in favor of tucking it inside the top of it, making it significantly more prominent. 

The weather center has also been fitted with upgraded video panels, including one meant to replace a 2×2 array.

Throughout the set, textured walls have been removed and backlit monochromatic duratrans have become less prominent. The set also sheds the frosted panels with typographic collages with new lighting design throughout. 

In some cases, backlit horizontal bars divided into sections have been moved around.

Previously to the 2023 update, WISH removed the wall-mounted logo between the anchor two-shot in favor of a vertically-mounted video panel.

In addition to the set updates, the station also introduced new animated opens, stingers and bumps based on a RenderOn package originally created for WJAX in Jacksonville, Florida.  

The package has been recolored from its original red, white and blue color palette in favor of WISH’s red, gold, black and white shades.

RenderOn made its name with a signature look centered on heavy use of glassy and metallic effects and bold 3D elements, though it has evolved toward the flat design trend. 

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WISH’s new graphics hit somewhere in between — it’s decidedly 3D but surfaces are more muted. 

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Significant use of the signature RenderOn look appears at the top of the open and in select wipes when the station’s logo splashes across the screen with a string of extruded, deconstructed effects.

The new graphics also lean heavily on the station’s practice of imagining its “8” logo as a slowly rotating box that looks similar to a mic flag.

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Most on-air graphics include the rotating logo and that concept is blended with the use with the rectangular 3D elements used to create many of the animations’ backgrounds.

The station kept its previous lower third inserts along with ticker, bug and time and temp element largely the same, adding a red line atop and black line below.

Along with those graphic updates, WISH has also introduced updated on-set graphics, including the ability to create topical looks against the new curved video wall behind the anchors.

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Thanks to its width, the station can now insert two rectangular graphics on the far left and right of the video wall. Typically different imagery is used, with one featuring a text headline.

These are typically featured in both overhead shots and more traditional wide two-shots as anchors introduce a story before the camera pushes in so that talent is framed with the 3D rotating logo between them.

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WISH also takes advantage of its new video wall for a unique weather shot that involves the forecaster standing on one side of the anchor desk for cross-talk. 

The view then switches to the camera located off to one side of the set as the forecaster turns and walks a few feet into the shot, with the camera adjusting to capture roughly a third of one side of the video wall.

The weather graphics are then piped into a rectangular frame, positioned as an over-the-shoulder element behind the forecaster.

While the overall result is that weather graphics are smaller compared to a full video wall or chroma key shot, it also adds the element of interaction between talent.

Meanwhile, the LED ribbon used above the video wall is typically used to display, in ticker-style, the tagline “News 8: Focused on family and the community.”

This, along with the station’s declaration of itself as “Indiana’s only statewide TV news network,” gives the station two branding elements that are quite a mouthful.

The “news network” claim is so specific that it’s not surprising WISH is the “only” one that exists. The “Focused” tagline, on the other hand, has similarities to the name of a well-known faith-based organization. 

WISH is part of Circle City Broadcasting following the sale from Nexstar in 2019. The original set was designed in-house by Nexstar’s creative team.