Televisual articles from December 2002

Televisual archives from December 2002

Soho loosens hold on Hollywood with the demise of Mill Film. (Film).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Md Robin Shenfield cites the "volatile, lumpy" film fx business and US rate-competition as his reasons for closing Mill Film, the only UK facility to win an Oscar, affecting 35 jobs. "The complexity and volume of work means it's normal to...

Strange but true: five launches new factual strand. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Channel 5 is adding to its roster of factual strands with a new science showcase Unexplained/Strange but True (working-titles). Deputy controller of factual Justine Kershaw is adding the hour-long strand to her remit from next year. Already...

Glassworks gets to go it alone. (Facilities).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Commercials post-house Glassworks is looking to buy out Das Werk's 85% stake after the German media group's holding company filed for insolvency. Says md Hector Macleod, "it's a chance to go back to our indie roots." In 2000, Das Werk paid...

Spiderman gets a makeover. (Broadcast).(Buena Vista International Television to remaster original series)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... After the massive success of the recent big-budget Sam Raimi Spiderman movie, Spidey's 1967 52x30-minute TV series is getting a face-lift from the Walt Disney Corporation's distribution arm Buena Vista International Television. The original...

Cartoon Network. (In Brief).(partners with Mattel for interactive game and advertising)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Cartoon Network has teamed up with Mattel fl for a "first-of-its-kind" interactive ad and game. Sky viewers will be able to access the Cartoon Network game channel when they press the red button during the Hot Wheels ad. The game, Monster Truck...

The Cruet Company. (In Brief).(invests in equipment)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Hire outfit The Cruet Company has invested in [pounds sterling]200k of HD kit, including two Sony HDW-750p HDCams with Canon HD film-style and EFP lenses, Sony HD monitors and Arri matteboxes. Cruet's Bill Morrey comments that "it's to fulfill...

BBC. (In Brief).(purchases world-record program)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... A programme about a world-record attempt to cross the Baring Straits has been bought by the BBC as part of its Extreme Lives strand. Partly funded by Outside magazine, Ice Challenger was aired by OLN in the States. US producer is Celia Carey...

On the move this month are Chrysalis TV's Tony Moss, who is now head of ITN's factual arm, Visual Voodoo. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... On the move this month are Chrysalis TV's Tony Moss, who is now head of ITN's factual arm, Visual Voodoo. Maverick Media has signed up two new producers: Tanya Hempenstall from Big TV and Benjamin Johns from Tomboy. And Bermuda's promo division...

Che Guevara makes last stand for Film Four. (Film).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The last-ever project from the now-defunct Film Four has begun shooting in Argentina. The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the account by Che Guevara and Alberto Granado of their epic journey across Latin America in 1952, when still young...

BT and Badly Drawn Boy get Nexus treatment. (Animation).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... There's a new ad and a new promo from Nexus Productions this month, with a spot for BT Broadband and a music video for Badly Drawn Boy. The Vehicle-directed BT ad has the two huge Street-fighter-type games characters from the recent BT...

Classic toons satirise on Choice. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Animation outfit Elephant Egg is creating six sketches for the satirical news show The State we're In for BBC Choice. Designer Andy Wyatt will parody classic cartoon series with a spin on news events. Already slated are Roobarb and Custard,...

Corporate. (News in Production).(video to promote sport for problem children)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... HRA has completed the opening titles for a video to promote sport for problem children. Fronted by Terry Wogan, The Leaders Awards Scheme video for the British Sports Trust shows how the scheme works and the disaffected kids it helps. The...

Nick Mackie. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Aardman commercials animator Nick Mackie gets a showing of his cg short, Hobbies, at Bristol's Brief Encounters festival this month. The film surrounds the life of eggnog lover Hans and his friends at the Croydon Model Bus Collectors Club....

Broadcast Television. (In Brief).(Channel 5 to air documentary, Limo Nights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Manchester indie Broadcast Television takes a look through the tinted windows with Limo Nights, a 50-minute doc for Channel 5. The programme looks at the wild behaviour of limo passengers. Producer director Robert Foster shot the film using...

Devilfish. (In Brief).(re-branded Toon Disney's Bigger Friday strand)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Fresh from winning two Promax Awards, creative services agency Devilfish has re-branded Toon Disney's Bigger Friday strand. Creative director Richard Holman explains that the look is based on "a single thought: everything's bigger on Friday."...

Xmas outing for C5's mummy. (Broadcast).(Channel 5's 'The True Curse of The Mummy')(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Channel 5's Dan Chambers has promoted Stone City Films' The True Curse of The Mummy to a stand-alone slot over Christmas after originally commissioning it as part of the...Revealed strand. The show, produced and directed by Bryn Higgins...

Sports stars take a break with BBC broadcast. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award returns this month and to get the public voting and watching is a new campaign from BBC Broadcast Creative Services. Ordered by the sports marketing team, the six seperate promos take a...

The green light. (In Production News).(includes several articles about movies in production)
December 1, 2002... Tiger Aspect gets it's first live-action kids commission with Star, a new show for CITV and MTV Networks. The 13x30-minute series goes into production in May and follows the fortunes of 12-year-old Bradley Fisher, who just happens to be the...

Addiction. (In Brief).(September Films' factual series about weddings)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Addiction has added the titles for September Films' factual series Bridezillas eight one-hour shows about New York brides due to be aired in the US next year on Metro and WE. The series follows the tantrums and the tears of some high-profile...

Flawless Films. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Best Short Film at the London Film Festival, Thespian X, is directed by Flawless Films' Gerald McMorrow. The film is set in a benefits office of the future, with an out-of-work actor finding it hard to sign on. All the post-work was done at VTR...

Gideon Southwell. (In Brief).(new commercial by director Gideon Southwell)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Director Gideon Southwell's ad for the new London Metropolitan Uni was shot through The Oil Factory and ordered by agency BDS Beechwood. Filmed on Super 16 using Steadicam and Minima, the superfast shots were achieved by dropping cameras off...

Ten Alps buys Brook Lapping. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Bob Geldof's Ten Alps media group has bought out the company behind award-winning factual programme The Death of Yugoslavia. Brook Lapping Holdings, the parent company of Brook Lapping Productions and Brian Lapping Associates, was acquired...

Viacom: no plans for ITV just yet. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Although Viacom has indicated that it has no plans to buy a merged ITV "at the moment," chairman Sumner Redstone claims the company will "continue to monitor developments very closely. So, as we say in our business, 'stay tuned."' ...

Endemol beefs up interactive. (New Media).(Edemol Entertainment UK)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Endemol UK has hired Peter Cowley as director of interactive media, a newly-created board-level role. Cowley was previously marketing director at Freeserve. Head of interactive Chris Short now becomes creative director of interactive ...

Redmond sells Mersey morsel. (Broadcast).(Phil Redmond sells off part of Mersey Television Co.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Phil Redmond has sold off part of his indie Mersey TV and is stepping back from the day-to-day running of some of its biggest shows. Redmond sold the stake to venture capitalists LDC to "put the business on a very strong financial footing...

From operators to consultants. (The Business News).(movie production)
December 1, 2002... Post-production is evolving all the time. With the incredible advances in 3D computer graphics and 2D compositing over the last few years, there is scope for a greater and more creative role for post-production. And there is an opportunity for...

News storyboard.(television broadcasting program development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... To celebrate the launch of C4's rebranding of the Momi scheme to Air (Animator in Residence), November's Storyboard highlights the pick of the finished films, those in development and this year's winners. Stephen Loveridge's film No...

Programme suppliers tell all. (ITC Review).(Independent Television Commission)
December 1, 2002... If the ITC gives points for volume in its review of programme supply, the BBC wins: 57 pages, plus 41 from Worldwide; ITV sent 9, Granada/Carlton a further 27; and C4 sent 28. Independents too have their say; many add to Pact's proposals,...

What the Butler Saw. (Month in Review).(television program development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Nice to know it's not only "schtumm, schtumm" butler Paul Burrell and Mirror boss Piers Morgan making a few quid from the latest royal scandal. TV's finest also get in on the act Ex-Action Time, now Ludus, Stephen Leahy is in talks with the US...

Central Perk. (Month in Review).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Ross, Rachael, Phoebe and the gang shuffle along to Central Perk on their zimmers to banter about incontinence pants and steradent; SJP and the gins have switched from sipping cocktails in designer gear to cocoa in comfortable sweatpants; and...

ITC. (Month in Review).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... And how many TV execs had a sneaky urge to look at the programme supply question the other way up when asked to put together their broadcaster's pitch to the ITC? "There but for the grace of God go I" is the syndrome, with Granada fallout to...

Stuck in the middle with you. (Facilities).(movie production facilities)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... I was very interested in the Ben Nemes article (Televisual November) regarding "middle-ground" facilities. While I would agree that the current perils of the postproduction industry affect high-, mid- and low-end post houses alike, he...

An animated argument. (Commercials).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Your Top 30 ranking of commercials production houses (in November's Televisual) throws up an interesting question: should the animation specialists (the Passion Pictures, Hibbert Ralphs or Picassos) really be viewed as in competition with...

Granada shadows the Network. (Opinions).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 1, 2002... Is there a whiff of things to come about Granada's moves to mimic the genre-based commissioning of ITV's Network Centre in its own new commissioning set-up? Former LWT man Jim Allen has gone from Granada Content's factual controller to...

Drama queen: As the Emmy- and Bafta-winning writer Paula Milne gears up to bring Anne Robinson's life story to the small screen, Jon Creamer talks to her about a career spent on the battlefields of TV drama. (Interview Paula Milne).
December 1, 2002... Adapting "queen of mean" Anne Robinson's autobiography for the small screen could be a daunting prospect for some writers, but probably not for one with Paula Milne's pedigree. The Emmy- and Bafta-award-winner has recently taken on that task...

Size does matter. (Full Metal Challenge in Production).(television program)
December 1, 2002... Take 27 teams from five continents, dump them in a huge disused powerstation in ramsgate and let them battle it out in full-sized scrapheap vehicles. that's the recipe for full Metal Challenge. Jon Creamer finds out why RDF's latest mechanical...

Facts on Five: the fifth channel's factual controller is delighted with his history shows, while his formats are getting all-time ratings highs. Keely Winstone asks is there no dissent at C5? (Dan Chambers Commissioner).
December 1, 2002... Exactly a year into the job and Dan Chambers still speaks like a full-on Five neophyte. We've all heard the patter ("it's a great place to work; it's still so new and unbureaucratic; Kevin's wonderful...") and Chambers' own version doesn't...

The race to go live: the world rally championship plans to deploy the world's biggest live production setup to become world's premier motorsport. (World Rally Championship).
December 1, 2002... Three years ago rallying was regarded as wallpaper TV only fit for sporadic inclusion in sports magazine shows. It would still be there but for the ambitions of former World Champion (1981, as co-driver) turned entrepreneur Dave Richards, who...

Rapid Pictures boosts business. (Facilities).(movie production studio)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Rapid Pictures has added a new dubbing suite, voiceover area and two further Avid suites to its Shepherd's Bush facility. This follows the recent purchase of a second Avid Symphony. Md Jim Nichols claims 2002 has been the busiest in the...

Smoke and Mirrors gets TAGed. (Facilities).(The Adplates Group )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Digital content management specialists The Adplates Group (TAG) is on the verge of taking a 49% stake in boutique commercials house Smoke and Mirrors. The deal is understood to involve the sale of shares owned by co-founders Jon Hollis,...

Revolution. (In Brief).(new movie production business)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Rising like a phoenix from the flames, four members of defunct facility Moving Image Post (part of the NMI Group) have formed the new outfit, Revolution. The Primrose Hill-based venture, owned by dubbing mixers Peter and Torin Brown (no...

The Digital Hub opens doors in Dublin. (Technology).(business offices)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The first tenants of the [pounds sterling]160m Digital Hub project will move into its Dublin offices this month. Eight digital media companies will be chosen from 20 applicants to take up 8,000sq ft of office space wired to a [pounds...

Liberty Livewire to refocus on core business. (Facilities).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Liberty Livewire, the postproduction division of US-conglomerate Liberty Media which has spent over [pounds sterling]100m acquiring 10 Soho companies since 1999, is to get a rebrand. Effective from this month in the US and March in the UK,...

The Farm prepares The Salon. (Facilities).(hairdressing reality-show)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The Farm has landed the post contract for Endemol UK's hairdressing reality-show, The Salon. The Channel 4 show, which aims to capture all the behind-the-scenes gossip of a thriving hair and beauty clinic, will air five nights a week for...

Horror show for salvation. (Graphics).(Salvation Films creates new logo)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Salvation Films, the Soho-based distributor-turned-producer of Gothic horror-style movies, turned to Lip Sync to create its new logo. Animator Gareth Tansey used After Effects to help give the horror house a vampish art-deco image. The logo...

Sohonet. (In Brief).(Weta Digital sends images to Telecom New Zealand for editing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Director Peter Jackson sent images of The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers from Weta Digital to London where the score was mixed via a 10Mb/s connection between Sohonet and Telecom New Zealand. The collaboration is likely to lead to similar...

Mark Roberts Motion Control. (In Brief).(used in Hit Entertainment PLC studios)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Hit Entertainment is using a Mark Roberts Motion Control system on the Shepperton Studios' production of Thomas the Tank Engine. The rig, suspended 14ft high, carries a long snorkel lens right into the set. Flair controls allow it to operate...

Media 100. (In Brief).(Media 100 Inc. new editing product)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Media 100 has released a cut-down version of its flagship editing product. The 844/Xi costs [pounds sterling]32k and utilises the company's Genesis engine to offer dual streams of real-time editing. Media 100 currently faces the threat of...

Maidstone in new hands. (Production).(Maidstone Studios)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The new owners of Maidstone Studios are to expand hatching plans the site's production capabilities. Dovedale, the Kent-based consortium led by former BBC executive producer Geoff Miles, paid Flextech [pounds sterling]4.5m for the 20-year...

BT goes all out for broadband. (New Media).(British Telecommunications PLC markets broadband transmission)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... BT is considering launching a channel on Sky TV to educate viewers about broadband as part of its drive to sign up 5 million broadband customers by 2006. BT says it has no plans to turn itself into a broadcaster, and would not provide any...

Discreet move into 5D space. (Technology).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Discreet has indicated that customers can expect new products and upgrades for HD and digital cinema production -- the space occupied by defunct vendor 5D --from next year. The products form part of the company's next-generation Discreet...

Channel 4 enhances iTV. (New Media).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Channel 4 and E4 have added a commerce function to their interactive advertising service that for the first time enables advertisers to offer viewers the chance to make donations (for charity) and customers to buy off the screen directly...

High-definition mind-share. (The Business the Works).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The first time I saw high-definition I was blown away. The quality was unlike anything I had seen before from videotape. And the results were instant. It was at that point that I decided that our company must take part in this new revolution....

Nobody does it better: Die Another Day features more sfx than any previous Bond. But Cinesite found itself learning as much about the environment as about shaders and raytracers. (Die Another Day).
December 1, 2002... Aside from marking Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the suave spy, 1995's 007 thriller Goldeneye was notable for two reasons: it was the first Bond to feature digital sfx; and its triumphant box office success ([pounds sterling]350m worldwide)...

Diary.
December 1, 2002... DIARY DIARY IN BRIEF * Streaming Media Europe 3-5 December Earls Court, London, streamingmediaeurope.co.uk * Asia Film Market and Conference 3-5 December Singapore, huileng.yeow@reedexpo.com * RTS Dinner:...

Conference.
December 1, 2002... Streaming Media Europe 3-5 December Creative, technological and business issues in the streaming market are all on the agenda here. Those contributing include Tom Barnicoat, Endemol ceo, on what streaming added to Big Brother and...

Event.
December 1, 2002... Milia/Mip 24-28 March Originally billed to run in early February, the 10-year-old interactive content market Milia has now been rescheduled to run alongside the 40-year-old Mip TV distribution event. Says its director: "the future of...

Production directory.(Directory)
December 1, 2002... THE A-Z OF PRODUCTION SERVICES ACCOUNTANTS BRECKMAN & COMPANY For friendly advice on all of your accounts and tax matters call 0207 499 2292. or visit our website www.breckmanandcompany.co.uk CHARING & COMPANY Chartered...

Molinare's new boy. (The End).(Column)
December 1, 2002... OK, first of all, something you dislike. I haven't worked out why people find The Office funny. I find it totally cringeworthy. Have you worked anywhere like that? Maybe that's why. Probably. I've worked for a boss like that,...

December TX guide: a producer's guide to the month on the box.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The Man who Killed Suzy Lamplugh? 3 December 20.00: C5 Real Life Media checks out a theory about the estate agent's mysterious disappearance 16 years ago which is widely held in police circles and fingers a man currently serving three life...

Never mind the quality, clock the speed. (Hair-in-the-Gate).(actors are being coached to hike the pace of their dialogue)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Has UK drama something to learn from a theory currently espoused in the US, where actors are being coached to hike the pace of their dialogue? In continuing dramas like The West Wing and Scrubs, this acceleration is aimed to make characters...

Let the music play. (Music on Television).(Emap and MTV)
December 1, 2002... With the launch of two music channels on Freeview, Sam Espensen gets the lowdown from Emap and MTV on what the stations are offering, and then asks the promo industry what it thinks of music TV in 2002. What's good, what's bad, and is it just...