Draft:WMAQ News

Credits

Compiled by
MitchellShepherd06

1st Intro (1949-1959)

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Visuals: There is text reading

NBC

News Room

Chicago

which is placed on a board. After a few seconds, the camera pans downward towards the right, revealing the name "Clinton Utley". The camera then zooms out and the board is moved offscreen to the left.

Technique: Live action.

Audio: A sound reminiscent to that of a moving train with faint bells ringing in the background.

2nd Intro (1959-1970)

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Visuals: A count-up from 1 to 10 in Roman numerals is seen. During the countdown, "III" transitions to "IV" by the two final I's merging diagonally at the bottom. Once the count-up reaches X, a close-up of a Roman numeral clock fades in around the setting, then the screen zooms out and turns to reveal the clock in full view. The hands, which initially point to read 10 O'clock, turn to form a horizontal line as the rest of the clock fades out. The line turns into text reading "NBC NEWS NIGHT REPORT", which subsequently zooms in.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The sound of a clock ticking, followed by a bell toll and a male voice saying "This is the NBC News Night Report".

3rd Intro (1970?-1975)

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Visuals: A skyline of Chicago at night is displayed in the background. In the foreground is stacked white text reading "NEWS CHICAGO Night Report", with a large "5" right of the text.

Technique: A still, computerized image.

Audio: A male voiceover saying "This is the News 5 Chicago Night Report, with [names of each news reporter]".

4th Intro (1975-1978)

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Visuals: On a black background, there are two overlaying words in light blue sliding horizontally in opposite directions (News sliding to the left and Center5 sliding to the right). After nearly five seconds, the background cuts to WMAQ's newsroom and the text zooms out as it continues sliding, fading to white in the process. The text places itself in the center after completely crossing over, presenting itself as "NewsCenter5".

Technique: Live action and scanimate.

Audio: A series of morse code beeps, followed with the NBC generic jingle played on a synthesizer. A male voiceover is also heard saying "This is News Center 5, with [names of the news reporters]".

5th Intro (1978-1980)

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Visuals: Over a black background is "NewsCenter5" in white falls from the top of the screen. With it are six copies of the text, written in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo from bottom to top. The sequence then transitions to portraits of the station's reporters via a sliding pixel effect.

Technique: Scanimate and analog computer effects.

Audio: Unknown.

6th Intro (1980-1982)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: Analog computer animation.

Audio: Unknown.

7th Intro (1982-1985)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Variants: Unknown.

Technique: Unknown.

Audio: Unknown.

8th Intro (1985-1989)

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Visuals: The sequence is set over the Chicago skyline. Three pieces of the logo's 5 zoom out individually, forming itself at an upside-down position. "CHANNEL" in gold slides in from the left atop the number, followed with both the NBC logo and "NEWS" in gold from the right, all of which are positioned upside-down. The logos and text turn right-side up and zoom out onto the bottom left corner, then a blue bar draws itself in from behind as the background changes to the station's newsroom. The broadcast's given time appears alongside the bar on the right

Technique: CGI and chyron computer effects overlaying live action.

Audio: Unknown.

9th Intro (1989-1992)

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Visuals: The sequence starts with displaying the top of Chicago's NBC Tower. The NBC logo zooms in from the tower before a zooming landscape image of the Chicago River fades in. In the foreground, violet letters reading "WMAQ-TV" zoom in, accompanied with a series of light red rectangles below the W and seven stacked yellow semicircles rapidly rising on the right side of the screen. Eight gold horizontal bars zoom in, accompanied with "CHICAGO" on top. After the text passes through, a purple frame zooms out, changing the background to a different, purple-tinted image of the Chicago skyline. A yellow 5 zooms in before the frame fully closes, then three sets of the number's outlined pieces zoom in individually. Unknown.

Technique: CGI and live action.

Audio: Unknown.

10th Intro (1992-1994)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: Unknown.

Audio: Unknown.

11th Intro (1994-1995)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: CGI and live action.

Audio: Unknown.

12th Intro (1995-1997)

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Visuals: The background shown is an indigo backdrop with an enlarged, monochromatic NBC logo and yellow lens flare in the middle. A blue 5 and the NBC logo are placed side-by-side on the foregroud, and below them is stacked text reading

NEWS

WMAQ-TV CHICAGO.

The NBC logo and 5 zoom in simultaneously, transitioning the sequence to the news program as a blue-purple gradient rectangle draws itself in on the bottom left corner. Over the rectangle is a chrome box with the station's news logo (the WMAQ logo with "NEWS" underneath) and on the right of it is a black rectangle with "AT [broadcast time]" in white.

Variant: Some broadcasts omit the black rectangle and instead show the time on the bottom part of the rectangle's extension.

Technique: CGI and chyron effects.

Audio: Unknown.

13th Intro (1997-1999)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: CGI, occasionally overlaid onto live-action.

Audio: Unknown.

14th Intro (2000-2005)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Variant: Unknown.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: Unknown.

15th Intro (2005-2012)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Variants:

• The intro exists in both fullscreen and widescreen.
• For HD broadcasts, the HD logo would appear below the NBC logo.
• The background may vary for each intro:
  • Unknown.

Technique: CGI animation, occasionally overlaying live action.

Audio: Unknown.

16th Intro (2012-2016)

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Visuals: The sequence opens via a horizontal crop transition, showing the Chicago skyline and a white horizontal bar running across the center. Unknown.

Technique: CGI overlaid onto live-action.

Audio: Unknown.

17th Intro (2016-2021)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: CGI overlayed onto a live-action photograph.

Audio: Unknown.

18th Intro (2021-)

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Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: Computer animation overlaying live-action video footage.

Audio: Unknown.