Televisual articles from January 2001

Televisual archives from January 2001

Metropolis DVD.(appoints Anthony Owen)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Metropolis DVD has appointed Anthony Owen as operations manager. Previously studio and production manager at Angel DVD Scandinavia, Owen will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the west London studio. These duties include overseeing...

CFC.(Computer Film Company provides animation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... CFC is producing "the lion's share" of animation for this year's eagerly awaited horror flick Resident Evil, financed by Constantin Films. Tasked with creating the living-dead, brought to life in the eponymous computer game (left), Sally...

Newtek.(LightWave 3DX)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... LightWave 3DX is the latest edition of Newtek's cg animation system, developed soley for the Mac's pending OSX operating system (on public beta). The preview software is available for download for registered Lightwave 6 or 6.5 users, and the...

Digital storage to make a kill.(outlook for personal video recorders)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... A report by technology investors Durlacher on the implications of the digital local storage device on television has concluded that it will attain 75% EU penetration by 2010, with associated revenues in the range of [pound]40bn to [pound]60bn....

Don't just sit on your assets...(managing assets)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... To kick off this new year, we can reveal what one of 2000's highest-profile corporate casualties in a casualty-strewn postproduction industry plans to do for an encore. Enter Peleton Media, a new way to help you brush down your digital assets...

The space station.(new post-production studio, The Station)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Returning to his roots in non-linear post-production, md Michael Peatfield shows Simon Meek around the new Soho facility, The Station, and explains how it plans to steal the giants' thunder In August, Michael Peatfield and five fellow Nats...

And now here is the news.(role of news gathering)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... A man who's seen doors revolve at YTTV, Central TV and Channel 5 has pitched up as ceo at APTN. Never mind how the news is distributed, he says, it's still who gathers it that matters most My first real TV job at Granada in 1980 was...

EMI moves into audio post.(EMI,Virgin Studios open own House Vision)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... EMI and Virgin Studios are taking their first steps into film and television sound with Town House Vision, opening later this month. Heading up the venture, Julian MacDonald is pitching not at big-budget work but instead at "the many...

The hit list.(broadcasting directory)(Directory)
January 1, 2001... This year saw the death of the ICG, United under new ownership, new digital opportunities and, as usual, restless commissioners on the move. So who do you have to proposition now? The big shock to the commissioning system for indies this...

Lab with no lines.(Pearson Television Ltd.)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2001... Pearson TV plans to boost its output of compelling content with a new creative team which, as is revealed to Anastasia Kershaw, will pitch to commissioners across all channels The phrase "go create" drifts down from Pearson's executive...

Image makers.(British television graphics designers)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... If the year 2000 had a different look about it, that's down to the video graphics houses feeding an ever-increasing hunger for branding from ever-multiplying media. Sam Espensen asks the designers for their own take on the media glut Last...

The time lords.
January 1, 2001... Cyber Men eventually turn digital, as does boxing heavyweight Joe Louis on a 1930s trip to Liverpool. Simon Meek discovers how new technologies are changing the ancient business of archiving Fluffy clouds bursting on jagged mountain peaks;...

A refined XSI hits the shelf.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Softimage XSI 1.5 non-linear animation software package has begun shipping after six months' beta-testing in and around Soho's postproduction circuit. This version, although visually identical to its predecessor, is capable of real-time final...

Is the battle lost for HDTV?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... HDTV was born in a pre-internet era when companies, for strategic reasons, routinely announced new products with great fanfare, leaving developers, R&D departments and the public to sort out the consequences; that's according to John Mayer...

SVC.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... SVC has appointed Annika Ahl as postproduction producer and, as senior Infinity artist, David Rose. Ahl joins the post outfit after two years at MPC. Rose comes to SVC's four-strong Infinity team after seven years at Complete. Both positions...

Del does Dickens.
January 1, 2001... Writer John Sullivan is now working at ITV on Micawber, worlds away from his aborted stint on the BBC's David Copperfield. Anastasia Kershaw asks him the secret of modern period drama In the 1890s dramas came out weekly, penned by a man...

Europe's take on the election.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Video Europe is set to unveil details of Westminster Live, a news studio based on the banks of The Thames at Westminster. It aims to rival the likes of Millbank Studios for supplying news coverage facilities for this year's election. ...

The Mill moves into the interactive domain.(launches Mill Interactive Lab to move towards interactivity)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The Mill is launching a new division to facilitate the industry's move towards interactivity. Headed by Andy Barmer - formerly the post outfit's facilities director - Mill Interactive Lab (MIL) "breaks from the hierarchical structure of the...

Sunny Delight.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... It seems the Sunny Delight audience he favoured targetting has left a bitter after-taste in the mouth of Sky One's super-scheduler David Bergg. After less than 12 months in the job, and following internal ratingswrangles between the exBBC,...

Shaun Williams.(John McVay to take over from the departing Shaun Williams at Pact)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Last month Pact finally appointed a new chief executive to take over from the departing Shaun Williams. So the new man to lead Pact's response to the recent communications white paper, to the new BBC commissioning structure and the man who'll...

Harry Nash and VTR makeover Guinness.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Guinness's new ads from Harry Nash showcase a new typeface for the company, which was created with the ad's tagline at VTR. Ringan Ledwidge directed all four spots (Rain, Fire, Laughter and Shout), with telecine operated by his regular partner,...

HP:ICM does it for the Revenue.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... A video from leading live-event producer HP:ICM accompanies an IR pack sent out from this month to small business start-ups that want to know how to pay their taxes. Produced by Helen Per-sigetti and directed by Steve Bookbinder, it's like...

Production takes to the north with Coastal.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Newcastle's Coastal Productions has taken five years to put together a production which it hopes will spur more production in the north-east. The six-part drama, Take Me, to air on ITV this spring, is the company's first production to be...

Northerners unite under new film banner.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... A new film body, the Northern Film and Media Office, is currently under construction in Newcastle upon Tyne's Central Square. It will bring three separate film agencies under a single roof - the Northern Screen Commission, the Northern...

Communications revolution?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Independent production obligations have helped to maintain the diversity of British television, have supported the development of creative and technical skills, and have created a thriving and innovative production industry, "which is an...

GRAPHICS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Adams Trainor has created about 30 minutes of graphics content for World Physical, a Flying Pictures' series for BBC Education to air on BBC2. Examining the physical geography of the earth, it called for cg landscapes as well as visual effects,...

Walsh Brothers.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Independent Walsh Brothers is currently editing TREX, a 13x30-minute reality TV show for Channel 5. The series follows a group of teenagers as they work in four different countries. TREX will air from 27 January in the 5pm Saturday slot, and...

BBC MediaArc.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... BBC MediaArc has produced the graphic styling for United and CITV's Petswap, Created by designer Annie Jenkins, and composited in Hal by Gary Vollans, it emphasises the "eccentric characteristics of popular pets." Commissioned by Ewan Keil and...

Red Productions.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Real TV from UK Horizons is Ticket to Ride, a new 13-part series following a group of people who cross the Americas on a bus over eight months. It is voiced by Neil Morrissey, and produced by London-based Red Productions. Four shows go out...

Horroaks as Little Big Mouth.(Jane Horrocks)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The TX date for Pagoda's Little Big Mouth, a kids' series that integrates live action with motion-capture animation, has been delayed as CITV's new controller Janie Grace settles in. The 7x20-minute series, which was due to go out this...

Aardman sings for Dr Pepper.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Aardman has a new 3D ad out in the US this month for Young & Rubicam client, Dr Pepper. I wish I had lips was developed by cartoonist/illustrator Gary Boiler; "they came to me for Jackie Wilson/Supremes Motown-type characters - an era I...

Nexus splats the Yummies on SMTV and the web.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Nexus Film has just finished five TV spots and animation for a web-based Flash game featuring the Yummies for the Ambrosia Splat SMTV sponsorship. The TV spots follow the adventures of Billy, Chucky, Susie, Vinny and Tammy. The five cute...

HR3D.(creates animation for Huggies commercial)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Forest is the new spot for Huggies created by computer animation specialist HR3D. The 30-second commercial will air in the US in the spring and features a baby (wearing animated fairy wings and Huggies nappies) that moves in a 3D forest...

Clearcut Pictures.
January 1, 2001... Langan behind the Lines is a BBC Community production for BBC2, aiming to look beyond the stereotypes of the world's less visited countries. Editing was at Clearcut Pictures by Lucy Capewell and Mike Curd, with TX for the series scheduled for...

Carlton.
January 1, 2001... Star Street is the new comedy from Carlton to launch the career of the band All Stars. It focuses on friends whose names - Sam, Thaila, Ashley, Rebecca and Sandi-spell out Stars. To air on CITV from late February, the 13x 15-minute series...

Channel X.
January 1, 2001... Channel X has completed Head to Toe, a 13x15-minute men's grooming series airing on BBC Choice this month. The show aims to be a style-guide for 21st-century man, and is fronted by All Back to Mine's Sean Rowley, directed by Mark Westcott and...

E for entertainment.(Kevin Lygo oversees launch of digital channel E4)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... As E4's controller of programmes Kevin Lygo gears up for the launch of the new youth-oriented digital channel, Jon Creamer asks him how he plans to create a "Friday night, every night" Kevin Lygo seems remarkably calm and unhurried...

Hands-free television.(interview with Tony Wood of Independent Television)(Brief Article)(Interview)
January 1, 2001... After a career in production, Tony Wood has opted for a more distant role taking over as the head of continuing series at ITV dealing with big-name dramas like Crossroads. He reveals what it's like to be less hands-on with all that extra...

Music is their radar.
January 1, 2001... I was interested to read your article on New Media Music (Televisual December) just as all the hype for the webcast of Madonna's Brixton concert was building up. I recall an attendance figure of 210 million being mentioned - predicted. I'm...

C4 does the business.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... That Tim Gardam felt the need to issue Channel 4's new "best-practice" guidelines for commissioning independents is less a criticism of the producers' business acumen than a give-away about the channel's own internal business dealings (Gardam...

Lorraine Heggessey.
January 1, 2001... And BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey announced a brand new series of comedy hit Absolutely Fabulous for 2001 despite Jennifer Saunders calling a halt to the series all of four years ago. In a tribute to the rebirth of Eddie and Pats,...

Who's who at the BBC?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... "Independent TV producers get apology from the BBC." Hold the front page... Well, not the front page, because Mark Thompson's letter to Pact members arrived at the end of November, just as we were embarking on this first Televisual of...

Flashback TV.(commissioned by A&E)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Flashback TV has been commissioned by A&E to produce another 10 one-hour episodes of Battle Stations following the US success of its series of four one-hours. The first four programmes, using footage from The Imperial War Museum and The...

Sam Brown.(work by director of Flynn on debut promo for band)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... For Fabricated Lunacy, the debut promo for band Terris, Flynn director Sam Brown devised how to mimic TV interference by playing rushes on an old TV set and jamming screwdrivers into the back. He then filmed the results off the screen on to...

Skaramoosh.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Skaramoosh has been commissioned to make 3D animation for Land of the Mammoth, due to air this year on Discovery, following on from its 3D animation for Cicada's Discovery programme, Raising the Mammoth. This time Discovery has commissioned a...

Paramount calls for shorts.(Paramount Comedy Channel to launch short film competition)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Paramount Comedy Channel is launching a comedy shorts competition in conjunction with the charity First Film Foundation. Contracts have yet to be signed, but Paramount's general manager Tony Orsten says "we expect it will be with First...

Agenda lays down the law.(legal education streaming)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Agenda e-Learning, part of the broadband specialist arm of Welsh independent Agenda, is teaming up with Central Law Training to stream its legal education around the world. Its first project is a series of CLT seminars, which will be filmed...

Einstein cranks up production.(Einstein.tv)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Two UK independents are providing programming for Einstein.tv, the niche science channel which launches later this month. Focusing on shortform programming for the first three months, XYTV and Co-Driver Media join other programme-suppliers...