Televisual articles from February 2003

Televisual archives from February 2003

Murphy looks for more arts and music pitches for BBC3. (Broadcast).(Stuart Murphy)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Controller of BBC3 Stuart Murphy is calling on producers to pitch him more arts and music ideas, and says he would be prepared to commission with BBC4. "I want intelligent, imaginative ideas from music and arts producers. We have...

CHX bags film cash and coaching from a Swinger. (Film).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Comedy indie CHX has secured funding for three of its scripts from the Film Council's development fund, and is bringing in the renowned US indie producer/director Doug Liman to coach its writers. The three films will be written by...

E! to grow UK production partners. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Last month's launch of US celeb news channel E! onto Sky Digital could herald further UK production for the network. E! Network's coo Ken Bettsteller sees the UK as an "interesting market to us. There are some very talented producers and...

Film Red to make its first feature. (Film).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Film Red, the development and production arm of Manchester-based graphics house Red Vision, plans to start production on its first feature film later this year. G2, a science-fiction story set in late-Victorian London, has a second-draft script...

Director Ashley King has re-joined Harry Nash from Thomas Thomas. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Director Ashley King has re-joined Harry Nash from Thomas Thomas. King first joined Harry Nash in 1988, where he directed spots for Guinness, Bodyform and Nike and two short films selected for the British Short Film Festival. Prior to...

Onedotzero. (In Brief).(seeking submissions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Now in its seventh year, the world's largest independent digital film festival Onedotzero is calling for entries for its five strands covering promos, graphics, full-motion video and new media Onedotzero has an open, free submissions policy;...

Sony Pictures Entertainment has entered into a first-look feature production deal with World Productions. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Sony Pictures Entertainment has entered into a first-look feature production deal with World Productions, whose credits include This Life, Ballykissangel and Buried. World was set up by Tony Garnett and John Heyman in 1990. Garnett's feature...

Bafta and Two Four TV. (In Brief).(seminar on advertiser funded programming)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Bafta and Two Four TV will co-host an evening seminar on advertiser funded programming on 27 February. The discussion will cover topics like how to get an AFP project off the ground and how to square editorial and commercial needs within such...

Method Films spearheads Big Issue charity drive. (Commercial).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Method Films' Richard Anthony has directed a new cinema campaign for The Big Issue Foundation. Titled How to Rip Off the British Public, the two-minute commercial was shot with a raw feel, jumpy editing and a deliberately nasty grade to...

Paladin and Pearson to rewrite history for PBS. (Film).(documentary to challenge Columbus discovery theory)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Paladin Invision is in pre-production with 1421: When China Discovered the World, a 2x1-hour documentary that will premiere in 2004 on US channel, PBS. The film is co-produced by Pearson Broadband, a division of Pearson Education with a...

Stink directors Milk are behind the on-screen packaging for the MTV Asia 2003 Awards. (Corporate).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Stink directors Milk are behind the on-screen packaging for the MTV Asia 2003 Awards. The 20 spots and bumpers were shot in India, Thailand, China and Japan over 10 days at the end of 2002. Based on the concept that the show's logo had...

BBC3 can't resist Zeal and Exit. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Launch night for BBC3 will include a new extreme challenge show courtesy of Zeal Television. Resistance is a 15x30-minute late-night series that picks pairs of people from the street and offers them increasing amounts of cash before they...

Endemol UK subsidiary Intial has partnered with 3DD Entertainment. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Endemol UK subsidiary Intial has partnered with 3DD Entertainment to co-produce a television special featuring the Spanish flamenco dancer, Joaquin Cortes 3DD Entertainment will act as worldwide television distributor; global DVD rights to the...

Griffilms. (In Brief).(completing short films for S4C)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Griffilms is in the process of completing a series of cgi short films featuring office stationery gone bad. Created in 3D, the 2x2D-second shorts, entitled Chase and Jack the Rubber, were commissioned for S4C, with a further 8x30-second shorts...

Oscar Grillo and Ted Rockley Animations. (In Brief).(Bonduelle TV ad)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Oscar Grillo and Ted Rockley Animations has a selection of Mexicon vegetables dancing in a fiesta for a new 30-second TV ad for Bonduelle. Cologne-based agency CSN created the spot, while Grillo and Rockley handled character development,...

D-Day debut for Dangerous Films. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Among the BBC's plans to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June 2004 is the first commission for Dangerous Films, the independent recently set up by former BEG Science producers Richard Dale, Peter Georgi and Tim...

The Pavement pulls off an interactive first. (New Media).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Momentum Pictures' DVD of Marc Evans's UK horror My Little Eye is the first DVD to feature interactive menus that run parallel to the main film. The Big Brother satire follows six contestants who must remain in a country house to win...

The green light. (In Production News).(networks order programming)
February 1, 2003... ITV1 has ordered Think Murder, an 8x1-hour police drama for a TX this spring. The Thames TV show centres on the Met's Murder Investigation Team and the two women in charge whose personalities are (would you believe?) like chalk and cheese. It...

Blue Past-Production has designed the full package graphics for Granada documentary Facelift Diaries. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Blue Past-Production has designed the full package graphics for Granada documentary Facelift Diaries. The six-part series focuses on the day-to-day journals of 12 women who have undergone plastic surgery. Comprising titles, bumpers,...

Loose Moose has produced a 30-second ad for Oscar Mayer Lunchables. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Loose Moose has produced a 30-second ad for Oscar Mayer Lunchables. Directed by Ken Lidster for JWT Chicago, Refuel Matrix uses stop-motion animation and cgi to tell the story of Dillon, a young inventor sucked into an alternative reality....

Channel 5 daily soap Family Affairs features new sponsorship idents for Airwick. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Channel 5 daily soap Family Affairs features new sponsorship idents for Airwick. The idents were a coproduction between Slinky Pictures and Lambie Productions. Directed by Slinky Pictures' Emily Skinner, the spots are based around a family of...

Discovery and C4 sign factual deal. (Broadcast).(Discovery Networks Europe, Channel 4)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Discovery Networks Europe and Channel 4 have signed a deal that gives DNE first-look rights on the UK broadcaster's factual output. A two-year contract that kicks off in April gives Discovery first refusal for the non-terrestrial rights to...

Airey raids BBC for Turner Laing. (Broadcast).(Sky Networks poaches talent)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Dawn Airey, new head of Sky Networks and ex - chief executive of Channel 5, has poached BBC acquisitions controller Sophie Turner Laing. She now heads up Sky's film and acquisitions business. Turner Laing has been at the corporation since...

TVC reshuffles top brass. (Independents).(The TV Corp)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The TV Corporation, parent company of Mentorn and Sunset and Vine, has restructured its management, giving Mentorn managers responsibility across the group. The move comes at the end of the Mentorn earn-out period after its acquisition by TVC....

Talback loses drama execs. (Independents).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Talkback has seen the departure of two major players from its drama department as its latest production, The Lost Prince, airs on BBC1. Veteran producer John Chapman has quit to launch 152 Productions, and head of drama Jo Wright is also to...

Keep an eye on the bottom line. (The Business News). TV companies need financial experts, as well as creatives, in the driving seat, says MTV Europe Broadcast Services' vp Peter Wright.(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... In TV the person at the top is traditionally a "creative" ideas person, with experience of research, production and as a producer. However, we're starting to see - and indeed need to see - a shift away from this. In many successful...

Disproving the idea that 20p doesn't go as far as it did. (News Storyboard).(VW spot)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Disproving the idea that 20p doesn't go as far as it did, Blink's VW spot by Rob Leggatt and Leigh Marling features the long-distance car-riding exploits of a young boy outside a supermarket.

Howard Greenhalgh's promo for new Underworld track Dinosaur Adventure 3D. (News Storyboard).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Howard Greenhalgh's promo for new Underworld track Dinosaur Adventure 3D follows a swarm's journey of destruction from its hive to the city and back again. Greenhalgh filmed the carnage using helicopters which were removed in post by Rushes and...

Picasso Pictures'. (News Storyboard).(So creates spots for Guinness)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * Picasso Pictures' live-action department So has created five ten-second idents for Guinness. Taking key events from recent footballing history, all the spots end on a close-up framed to resemble a pint of Guinness.

Mill is responsible for taming a herd of bison in this spot for Levi's. (News Storyboard).(The Mill)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * The Mill is responsible for taming a herd of bison in this spot for Levi's. Shot by Jorn Haagen and produced by Academy, the commercial was created to air during the Superbowl in the US.

Fresh from a furious performance video for The Beatings. (News Storyboard).(new film from Barnaby Roper)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * Fresh from a furious performance video for The Beatings, Barnaby Roper's second film for Flynn Productions is Ed Harcourt's All of your Days will be Blessed, an altogether gentler story woven around an exhausted Harcourt rescued from a...

XTV has designed the title-sequence for Maggie. (News Storyboard).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * XTV has designed the title-sequence for Maggie: the First Lady, a four-part personal history of Margaret Thatcher. Produced by Brook Lapping for ITV, the series is slated to air this spring.

TV offers more of the same. (Regulation).(television broadcasters rely on successful formulas)
February 1, 2003... The measure of ITV's intended rebrand and turnaround was underlined at last month's Oxford media convention when David Bergg presented the findings of the broadcaster's research into commissioning. The ITV director of strategy made clear that,...

Plans for the BBC's follow-up to its Christmas ratings-puller The Fight began to crumble last month. (Month in Review).
February 1, 2003... Plans for the BBC's follow-up to its Christmas ratings-puller The Fight began to crumble last month. Despite his black belt in kick-boxing, I'm a Celebrity's Panto-man Darren Day decided that Donal Maclntyre was too sizeable an opponent,...

BBC3 launches this month with "must do better" written all over it. (Month in Review).(poor performance in 2002)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... BBC3 launches this month with "must do better" written all over it Last month, Barb figures for the performance of its digital siblings in 2002 were hard to stomach: a derisory 170,000 for BBC4's best-rated show The Falklands Play, an average...

Broadcasters were understandably upset last month. (Month in Review).(new fees to regulator ITC)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Broadcasters were understandably upset last month at the news that they would be paying another 10% ([pounds sterling]1.9m) this year for the [pounds sterling]20m privilege of being regulated by the ITC. And they're not much mollified by the...

Powell and the art of PoV. (Broadcast).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... It will be interesting to see if the new sitcom PoV (January issue, For your Eyes Only) is any more than a televisual theory that fails to come off, but I doubt it. You compare the technique of filming from the protagonist's point of view...

If you're tired of London. (Graphics).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... I wholeheartedly go along with the comments by Nick Brooks in Bristol (Sauce Digital Effects, Televisual January) when he advocates the advantages of working anywhere but London. Anyone who is sensible enough to have escaped it has a...

TV pay nothing to shout about. (Salaries).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... I'm a 30-something freelance male working in TV production, and according to your salary survey (Televisual, January) I should be earning well over [pounds sterling]40k. Come off it, I'm very lucky if I clear [pounds sterling]30k. Are all...

In a mess? Could be a job for metadata. (Opinions).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... Take a look at some nearby desktops -- real or virtual. There are the very messy ones: they tend to belong to colleagues with total recall, who can retrieve the nastiest scrap of scribble in an instant. Then there are the tidy ones: they're...

Three at last. (Interview Stuart Murphy).(discusses introduction of BBC3)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... It's been a long time since BBC3 was first a twinkle in Stuart Murphy's eye, and this month the proud dad gets to see his TV progeny take it's first steps into the world. As office furniture goes, a six-foot fish tank coffee-table,...

Meet the ancestors. (Walking with Cavemen in Production).(BBC program depicts prehistoric humans)
February 1, 2003... BBC Science takes another walk this time with prehistoric humans. And this time it's not computer graphics that take centre-stage in BBC1 primetime, but real actors. I fa third Walking with... risks evolutionary overkill in primetime, this...

Better by design: as edit facilities continue to muscle in on the graphics market, James Hamilton still finds reason to be cheerful among on-screen specialists. (Graphics).(Directory)
February 1, 2003... Given the all-pervading sense of doom that has gripped the TV industry the last 18 months, the graphics sector seems to have fared none-too-badly. True, budgets are fractionally down on 2002, and there are fewer big-money jobs. Promos and...

E4 just grew up. (Murray Boland the Commissioner).(Interview)
February 1, 2003... From network 7 via the word and MTV, Murray Boland's an old hand at serving up telly for a young audience. Jon Creamer asks about his plans for the two-year-old E4 now that it's one year since he joined. It's two years now since Channel 4...

Access all areas. (Archives).(demand for historical footage)
February 1, 2003... Rumours of war are fuelling TV's fixation with history sending more producers to the archive for more fresh footage. Brant Drewery finds out what they want, and Richard Dean looks at new technology to aid the quest. "I've heard it said...

DV gets serious: with DV now at the heart of programme making, and HD making inroads into long-format productions, film and MPEG are having to fight to find their niche. (VideoForum Advertisement).
February 1, 2003... A combination of fast processors and powerful software, 'prosumer' DV camcorders and stable desktop authoring tools are making a dramatic impact on professional producers. At the same time, new and affordable HD kit is making serious in-roads...

Love in a cold climate. (Second Generation in Production).(Oxford Film and TV produces drama series)
February 1, 2003... Om Puri stars in "jewel" for C4's schedules later this year: a mini-series about the loves and lives of Asian families in the UK. Christina Pishiris on Oxford Film and TV's first venture into television drama. Mark Bentley and Nick Kent...

Monopolies and mergers: Rebranded Ascent, the outfit that owns a big chunk of UK post sees the makeover as the culmination of a two-year masterplan. (Ascent Media Post-Production).
February 1, 2003... Few in TV production can fail to recall the seismic event that was Four Media Company's descent on Soho in 1999. With seemingly indecent haste, it claimed a sizeable chunk of the post market; the reverberations are still being felt today. ...

Avid rejoins Apple fanclub. (Technology).(made its Symphony finishing system available on the Mac platform )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Avid has made its Symphony finishing system available on the Mac platform for the first time since the product's launch in 1999. The move is a boost to editors, who have long voiced their preference for the Macintosh operating system, as...

Yorkshire kits up with Snell. (Facilities).(Snell & Wilcox devices to help Yorkshire Television increase sales)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Yorkshire Television, part of the Granada Media Group, is beefing up its technical services division with a view to maximising archive sales. An Archangel film and video restoration device and an Alchemist Platinum standards converter,...

Lip Sync has purchased a second Arri Laser. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Lip Sync has purchased a second Arri Laser. "We've had a fantastic volume of film recording -- from high-res 2-4k trailers to bureau recording for other effects houses," explains the facility's Kevin Phelan. "There's also increased demand for...

Kodak breathes new life into film. (Technology).(a short film from Deva Palmier is shot using Kodak's Vision2 stock)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A short film written and directed by Deva Palmier is among the first projects to have been shot using Kodak's new Vision2 stock. The manufacturer hopes the stock will regain ground it lost to advances in digital acquisition. Fishy, the...

Producers targetted with new iTV software. (Technology).(Two Way TV and Emuse are working together on the Modelstream interactive television software)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Two Way TV has linked with Irish technology firm Emuse to distribute and develop its interactive TV authoring suite, Modelstream. The software is claimed to cut the time It takes to develop interactivity by converting a design idea into...

Bray moves in to manage DGP. (Facilities).(DGP names Rowan Bray as its general manager)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... DGP has appointed Rowan Bray as its general manager. She'll provide support and direction across the company on all internal matters. Bray was part of the team which founded Arena Digital, where she was facility manager for 11 years. "DGP...

Big Buoy plays Nintendo. (Facilities).
February 1, 2003... Be careful what you teach your baby: teach it anything so long as it doesn't turn into the mad scientist who unleashes Resident Evil. OWNP's 30-second spot for the latest release of Nintendo's cult game is produced by Capcom and shot and...

Audio facility Side. (In Brief).(Side is moving to Great Titchfield Street)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Audio facility Side, formerly The Vocal Suite, has kitted out three new sound studios as part of its move to Great Titchfield Street. Company director Andy Emery asserts that, though "the market may be going through a tough time, for us client...

Jim Henson's Creature Shop is deploying shared storage system Sledgehammer to manage its content. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Jim Henson's Creature Shop is deploying shared storage system Sledgehammer to manage its content. Henson's technical manager Aurelio Campa says: "With a large variety of projects and a vast amount of accompanying data, we needed a system able...

Quantel has appointed Soho Editors. (In Brief).(as the training center for its generationQ edit systems)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Quantel has appointed Soho Editors as the accredited training centre for its generationQ edit systems (including eQ, iQ and QEdit Pro). Soho Editors' Dave Brady would like "anyone interested to get in touch as soon as possible; generationQ is...

Cheerful Scout makes room. (Facilities).(firm completes an expansion)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Communications outfit Cheerful Scout, which floated on the AIM stack market last year, has completed a [pounds sterling]500k expansion. Now occupying five floors of new premises in Riding House Street, the facility includes a TV development...

Discreet adds digital grader. (Technology).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Discreet is to launch a digital colour-grading solution at April's NAB tradeshow in conjunction with Hungarian developer, Colorfront. The product is likely to supercede Colossus, developed by Colorfont in conjunction with 5D. It will be...

Slender rise in UK film coffers. (Production).(in 2002, UK film production levels increase slightly)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... UK production levels from inward investment and local films limped to [pounds sterling]433m last year, only slightly upon 2001's tally of [pounds sterling]m, according to the Film Council's annual report. Inward investment from overseas...

Pace plunges to [pounds sterling]15m loss. (Business).(Pace Micro Technology reports a loss)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Pace Micro Technology, Europe's largest set-top-box maker has plunged into a [pounds sterling]15.9m loss after struggling with "disappointing" trading conditions. Pace reported a pre-tax loss of [pounds sterling]15.9m for the six months to...

Trainees lack the oomph factor. (The Business the Works).(the desire to be instantly famous without working for it is seen in many job applicants)(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... Blame it on the Big Brat Brother/Popstars lure of immediate fame and fortune, or the desire for instant achievement without hard work, but the fact is that the current crop of job interviewees often lack the basic "oomph" factor that would make...

Blood money. (Tenebrae).(Anchor Bay Entertainment and Stream release 'Tenebrae' on DVD)
February 1, 2003... Unleashed uncut for the first time in the UK, the schlock-horror masterpiece of Italian director Dana Argento gets a slick package, a spattering of gore and some heavy breathing from Stream Dario Argento has gathered a cult following for...

Conference.
February 1, 2003... Animated Exeter 17 February-1 March British Animation Awards director Jayne Filling programmes this event, launched in 2000, promising to show the world's top animation shorts -- from a special on Brittany's Folimage Animation Studio...

Event.
February 1, 2003... 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)
February 1, 2003... 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 IVAN SOPHER & CO Specialists in...

Good, bad and ugly. (In My View).(itnerview with Triangle Post Production's Tom Horton)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... Tom Horton's CV reads like an A-to-Z of broadcast production. In his native Australia, the Triangle Post Production md variously worked as a producer, a director, an editor and a vfx producer. He tells James Hamilton why "ugly" British drama...

The producer's guide to a month on the box. (February TX Guide).(a list of four television programs)
February 1, 2003... 20 Things to do before You're 30 Thursday 6 February, 20.30: C4 The new 8x30-minute drama from Tiger Aspect is created by Jane Fallon and Liz Lewin (Teachers), written by a team of young writers and produced by Sue Howells. Four friends...

BBC makes a big impression with onthisday. (Hair-in-the-Gate).(a new page on the BBC's Web site)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... It's not clear if the new retro www.bbc.co.uk/onthisday site is one of the things that prompted the government enquiry into the BBC's online ambitions, but it certainly hacked off a few hacks. Oh, the site works fine if you want to know that 20...