Televisual articles from February 2005

Televisual archives from February 2005

Five's Ford looks to stock up on fresh home-grown drama.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Five's new head of drama Jeff Ford has said the channel is "open for business" with drama indies and is actively searching out one-offs and serials that can migrate into long-running series. Ford, also head of acquisitions, was given the...

Canada's Cineflix sets up UK production company.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Canadian producer/distributor Cineflix has opened a UK production arm to go alongside its UK distribution outfit Cineflix International. The new London-based outfit, Cineflix Productions UK, will be headed up by Simon Lloyd, and will...

Twofour TV appointment.(appointment of Nick Price)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Twofour TV is to expand its advertiser-funded programming unit and has hired Nick Price as head of branded content. The indie believes the AFP market will grow by 10% to 15% by 2010. Price joins from Extreme Entertainment where he was head of...

British Animation Awards talks.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The British Animation Awards is running a series of screenings and talks at the NFT this month. Speakers include Virgil Widrich (Fast Film, Copy Shop), Chris Shepherd (Dad's Dead), Ruth Lingford (The Old Fools) and Larry Sider, director of the...

New channel.(UKTV Style Gardens)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... UKTV is launching a new channel next month dedicated to gardening. UKTV Style Gardens will run shows like Ground Force and Garden Invaders. The move allows UKTV Style to concentrate on makeover shows. Catherine Catton will head up both Style...

Target launches own DVD label.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Target Entertainment is launching its own home entertainment label in a joint-venture with independent DVD publisher Lace International. Target Home Entertainment will be headed by Target's Chris Rayson. The company has already picked up...

Hunt on for new dramatic talent.
February 7, 2005... Indie IWC Media is again on the lookout for new writing and directing talent for the fifth year of the Coming Up strand (Dishad Husain and Alex McDonald's Viva Liberty! from the 2004 scheme). Writers or directors without a primetime credit...

UK film production spending.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... UK film production spending exceeded #800m last year according to UK Film Council analysis. Though the figure is down on 2003's #1.15bn, it is still the second highest on record, with films like Harry Potter and Pride and Prejudice keeping...

Winstone to take on PI role in ITV1 Granada series.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Granada has cast Sexy Beast's Ray Winstone to star in its new four-part series for ITV1, which follows a team of private investigators. Vincent puts Winstone in the title role with Coronation Street's Suranne Jones as his sidekick. The...

Jump turns Ant and Dec into supermen for Takeaway.(Jump Design and Direction)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Ant and Dec are to be turned into superhuman daredevils in the title- sequence for the new series of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV1. Jump Design and Direction is putting together the sequence which has Ant and Dec scaling and leaping...

Titles stings and graphics for S4C show.(Byd Pws)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Griffilms has created titles, stings and graphics for new 6x30-minute S4C show Byd Pws. The series follows presenter Dewi Pws as he journeys through the Himalayas, Mongolia and Africa. Owain Roberts animated the 2D titles with Dylan Jones...

Embrace video.(Looking as You Are )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Embrace's Looking as You Are promo was shot by David Mould through Independent. The video has the band performing in a warehouse while singer Danny McNamara's real-life girlfriend spends her day being consistently ignored. Editing was by...

In-show graphics.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Big Squid has put together in-show graphics for the new Nigel Marven 60- minute special Venom Hunters. The programme looks at venom as both a killer and a life-saver in medical science. Chris Hawkes animated the cg sequences which show the...

Wright pulls in star pals for promo.(Edgar Wright)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright pulled in an all-star cast for Partisan's Bastardo promo for his girlfriend - Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley. The video, played out within the pages of an 80s teen mag, tells the story of the...

Latest promo.(The Kills )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Directing duo Rojo created the latest promo for The Kills through Exposure Films. The Good Ones has band members Alison and Jamie performing the song on top of a kitchen table before being attacked by guitar cables and pink paint. The video was...

Curtis and Abbott team for BBC.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Paul Abbot's new indie Tightrope Pictures has teamed up with Love Actually writer Richard Curtis on a new film for BBC1 - a mixture of a love-story and a discussion on world poverty. The 90-minute Girl in the Cafe stars Bill Nighy (Love...

Lambie Nairn rebrands for French news network.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Design agency Lambie Nairn has devised a rebrand for France's dedicated 24-hour cable news channel LCI (La Chaine Info). Lambie Nairn used a split-screen device with the aim of holding on to LCI's core values of "authority and integrity"...

Mill starts fire.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Mill started a fire for a new spot for the US's PBS channel produced through Independent Media. In it, villagers save their library by scooping fire out of the building rather than throwing water in. The Mill's 3D artist Hitesh Patel...

New spot for Audi A6.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Blink's French directing duo Pleix teamed up with MPC to create a new 60-second spot for the Audi A6 through BBH London. A car breaks down into shapes that float through a cityscape while spelling the words Vorsprung, Durch and Technik. Jim...

Living orders docusoap.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Living has ordered a 20-part docusoap from Granada that follows the lives of the staff and passengers of Excel Airways. As well as the usual in-airport filming, Trolley Dollies will also follow staff and travellers (and, with any luck, baggage)...

Legal event show.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Talent TV is making a live legal event show for BBC1 called You be the Judge. The show will allow civil disputes to be argued out on live TV with the audience at home voting for the winner. The programme is based on a Hong Kong format repped...

New commissions for Tiger Aspect.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Three new commissions for Tiger Aspect this month: two factual series for Channel 4 and a reality show for Five. Rachel Hunter is fronting Five's model search Make Me a Supermodel, a talent-show/fly-on-the-wall hybrid that will see one...

New gaming show.(Prism Entertainment )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Prism Entertainment is making a new gaming show for Jetix (formerly Fox Kids). PXG is Jetix's first presenter-led show and will go out in four- minute segments Monday-to-Thursday with a half-hour show on Fridays. The programme showcases...

TWI commission.
February 7, 2005... TWI has picked up its first UK daytime commission with cooking show Chef v Britain for ITV1. Fronted by Claire Sweeney, the show pits members of the public against celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo in a cook- off. The 15x30-minute series was ordered...

New director finishes first short.(Sean Hayden)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Sean Hayden, the new director at Camden-based toon outfit Uli Meyer Animation, has just finished his first 30-second short for the company, Big Giant Rabbit, which will go out on the children's channel, Nick Toons. The animation's 2D characters...

Talkback boss quits.(Peter Fincham )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... TalkbackThames ceo Peter Fincham is quitting the indie in June after 20 years. In his role he looked after shows including The Bill, X-Factor, Green Wing and Grand Designs. Fincham is taking six months off before deciding on his next...

Root bags BBC staffer for UK role.(Jane Root)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Discovery Channel boss Jane Root has poached a BBC factual development exec to be her eyes and ears in the UK production sector. Peter Lovering has been named vp of production and development in Discovery's London office. He will look for...

Tinopolis gets an AIM listing.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Wales's biggest independent, Tinopolis (ranked 12th in the UK overall in Televisual's Production 100 survey in September) is to become listed on the London Stock Exchange and aims to buy a London indie. The Llanelli-based company has...

Indies go poaching.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... New hirings at Betty and Shine this month as Channel 4's deputy documentaries commissioner Sam Bickley has quit the broadcaster to join independent Betty. And Lis Murdoch's Shine has poached Granada factual's Sam Anthony to be its new...

Producers demand perfect delivery.
February 7, 2005... Target's head of programming Ian Moffitt says distributors now need to raise their game if they want to catch a producer's eye Oh to be born in uninteresting times, to misquote Confucius (and very nearly misspell him too). The...

BBC bags Hat Trick deal.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... BBC Worldwide has signed Hat Trick up to a new three-year output deal, picking up UK and Eire rights for its BBC-commissioned programming. The deal includes existing Hat Trick programming like Room 101, Have I Got News For You? and The...

Granada buys Red and sells Hell.(Dead Man Weds and Big Dippers)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Granada has notched up sales of Hell's Kitchen and acquired two comedy dramas from Red Productions. Endemol will make Hell's Kitchen in France and Spain, following the UK format in which celebrities learn to cook - though without the...

Tsunami docs sell worldwide.(The Killer Waves)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Electric Sky has sold The Killer Waves to six countries just two days after acquiring it. Co-produced by BBC/Discovery Times/In Focus Asia, the 52-minute documentary made in the wake of the south-Asian tsunami won 4.3 million viewers at...

Pukka pre-sales for Jamie's Dinners.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Jamie Oliver will be promoting healthy eating to kids worldwide as Fremantle racks up sales of his 4x60-minute series Jamie's School Dinners. It's sold to Thailand's UBC, Singapore's Mediacorp, TVB in Hong Kong, Australia's Network Ten...

The big issues in Hamburg.
February 7, 2005... Spare NDR's controller of factual and children the human touch - Thomas Schreiber's looking for the hard stuff How much do you co-produce with UK broadcasters? On average we co-produce between five to seven documentaries per year...

Can Grade save the governors?
February 7, 2005... It's been a busy slate of public speaking for Michael Grade. The BBC chairman spent last month making a number of key statements designed to sell his vision of the future of BBC governance to a government still undecided on which way to...

MONTH IN REVIEW.
February 7, 2005... The Big Brother household proved more impenetrable than Fort Knox last month, as the campaign group Fathers for Justice did its utmost to infiltrate the celebrity-crammed house to no avail. The group's founder Matt O'Connor said security was...

Letter: Picasso signs Tokyoplastic.(Letter to the Editor)
February 7, 2005... I am writing to inform you of a rather unfortunate misprint in the news pages of January's issue of Televisual. It is actually Picasso Pictures (not Passion Pictures) who are thrilled to have signed directing duo, TokyoPlastic. I wanted...

Letter: Wall to Wall scores genealogy hit.(Letter to the Editor)
February 7, 2005... The "Twenty Twenty genealogy feast Who do you Think You Are?" (Winners and Losers, back page, January issue) is in fact Wall To Wall's genealogy feast. Having gained BBC2's highest rating of the year in 2004 (5.8 million), and an...

OPINION: This bulldog has your name on it.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... I'd like to introduce you to Televisual's Bulldogs. And, if you can forgive the unashamedly gung-ho title we've given our new awards, I venture to think you're going to like them. "No, not more awards..." No, not more awards after the...

INTERVIEW - JEFF FORD: Five's dramatic move.
February 7, 2005... Five's got an extra #20m in its coffers this year - and part of that cash has been earmarked to kick-start home-grown drama for the channel. Jon Creamer talks to the man tasked with finding the hits Five has had plenty of success for its...

MEET THE MAGOONS: Carry-out comedy.
February 7, 2005... Channel 4's new comedy from IWC has a local flavour: haggis Madras, neeps aloo sag and oatmeal chapatis. Rachel Murrell gets a taste for world cuisine, Glasgow-style As self-censorship in US TV hardens, and the BBC reels from the...

AUDIO EFFECTS: Let's make some noise.
February 7, 2005... Out of sight, out of mind. But these unseen effects can often be responsible for turning flat images into a 3D world. Simon Meek explores the growing number of audio-effects that make this possible Take the sound of a kitten, drop the pitch...

ARCHIVE: Making history.
February 7, 2005... History producers often face difficult questions when it comes to using archive footage and reconstruction. So how to make visually exciting programming without rewriting history in the process? Jon Creamer reports Is reconstruction...

MARIAN WILLIAMS: Air traffic control.
February 7, 2005... Discovery Europe is looking for imaginative ways of presenting contemporary history and science in territorially-tailored formats - as well as snapping up the latest fare from new programming talent It's hard to grasp quite how Marian...

Virtual music quest for IMI.(Intelligent Media Institute)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Royal College of Music is championing a virtual music project as part of Intelligent Media Institute's research into new technologies for the creative industries. The proposal, titled "peak performance and enhanced experience," aims...

One mix to suit all audio formats.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Audio Suite has been working closely with Dolby to explore ways of using the 5.1 format as the default mix for all TV clients. The Bristol sound-house has been experimenting with Dolby's off-the- shelf multi-channel decoders and...

Cine-Stream agreement.(Sample Digital )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Cine-Stream has entered into an agreement with America's Sample Digital to promote its online rushes application in Europe. It will provide sales, marketing and technical support for Digital Dailies. The system is currently being used for...

Facilities wanted for training pilot.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Skillset will this month invite facilities to apply for places on its post-production training initiative. The organisation will be publishing on its website the criteria for companies and individuals who want to apply for one of the 20 to...

BBC creates a virtual stadium for sports coverage.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... BBC Broadcast and Resources have collaborated on the creation of a simulated sports field, which allows viewers to see play from angles not possible with conventional cameras. The 3D graphics system, Piero - developed from a BBC R&D...

Global production of Through the Looking Glass.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Performers and engineers from five continents are to collaborate on a real-time, global production of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. The live production is part of this month's b.Tween festival - showcasing the possibilities of...

Post moves.(appointments)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Blue Post has lost its senior producer Alison Wendt and senior vfx artist Martin Goodwin to One Post; Smoke artist Dominic Thomson - ex- Blue and Soho 601 - has joined Technicolor Creative Services. Meanwhile, Blue takes on senior Smoke editor...

Corporate use of creative retiming.(Pixel Farm's Retime plugin)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Pixel Farm's Retime plugin - used to speed up or slow down a shot - has been put to creative use on a corporate promo for Greek conglomerate Germanos. Freelance film editor Mike Connolly used it to stretch "half a frame" of material over...

Management shuffle at Adstream.(Advertising agencies )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... A management shake-up at digital asset management specialist Adstream has seen Mike Hughes step down as md. The move comes as the firm's merger with Quickcut nears completion. Andy Hopkinson - ex Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO - becomes md...

One-stop-shop for DVD production.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... DVD authoring outfit Isonic has joined forces with audio-house Sphere Studios to form a one-stop-shop for DVD production in Battersea. Tom Astor, formerly of Orinoco Studios, and Ray Shulman set up Isonic over five years ago and have worked...

TSL in parliament refit.(broadcast equipment)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The new Scottish parliament building has undergone a massive installation of TV kit, capable of automated coverage of live debates. The design, integration and installation of broadcast equipment for the Edinburgh site was carried out by...

Pinnacle sells audio division for #20m.(Pinnacle Systems Inc)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Pinnacle Systems is selling its audio division, Steinberg Media Technologies, in a bid to focus on its core business of video- solutions. Yamaha Corporation has reached an agreement to buy Steinberg, known in the audio-post market for its...

Inscriber sold for #9.6m to Leitch.(Software industry)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Leitch Technology has bought video software company Inscriber for $18m (#9.6m). This includes the assumption of $1.5m debt. Inscriber is best-known for its character generators and real-time broadcast graphics platforms. Copyright:...

InMedia buys playout centre.(Inmedia Communications )(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Inmedia Communications has expanded its playout business by buying Cable and Satellite Transmissions (Cast) from Barnes Trust Television. The deal increases Inmedia's playout client-base to more than 60 channels, with a capability for over...

Youth is no substitute for experience.
February 7, 2005... Simon Frodsham, md of The Independent Post Company, says the industry must wise up to training and experience Finding policemen look younger these days? Then try production managers, producers and directors. Gone are the days of long...

DOMESTOS: It'll make you sick.
February 7, 2005... Sick and disgusting is what was required for the latest Domestos cinema commercials. Simon Meek finds out how Passion Pictures managed to create something truly vile The pitch was won for being the most repulsive. And Passion Pictures,...

Nick's TV picks.(interview)(Nick O'Dwyer)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 7, 2005... Landmark Films md Nick O'Dwyer's TV tastes range from the "gloriously incorrect and inappropriate" Little Britain to the "curiously addictive" MTV and "northern burlesque" of Coronation Street How much TV do you watch a week? Too...

Jumpers for goalposts as BBC2 history doc scores.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon, a BBC/British Film Institute production, has been a stealth hit, notching up 4.4m for BBC2 at 21.25. It features footage of everyday life in Edwardian times, with the first ever film of an...