Televisual articles from July 2002

Televisual archives from July 2002

Nickelodeon's new toon channel makes grab for the four-to-nines. (Broadcast). (Nick Toons).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Nickelodeon's new channel Nick Toons will plug the 4-to-9-year-old age-gap that Nick and Nick Junior currently miss, according to programme director Howard Litton. It will also commission original UK content eventually "if it starts...

BBC scheduler to beef up Lion's lateral thinking. (Broadcast).(Adam McDonald, Lion TV)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Lion TV has poached BBC head of scheduling Adam MacDonald for a new post of programme development director. Md Jeremy Mills describes the move as a "step change" for the independent. Jo O'Mahony will continue as development head and run...

London hit by competition fever. (Festivals).
July 1, 2002... As the festival season gets under way, TCM has secured Hugh Grant on the judging panel of its Classic Shorts competition alongside Stephen Frears and Iain Softly. The Dali Universe Film Festival kicks off this month, with a week-long...

Cosgrove's future for the net. (Animation).(Cosgrove Hall)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Cosgrove Hall's Code Warriors is getting "unprecedented positive feedback" from potential broadcasters and co producers, according to creator Owen Ballhatchet and producer Chris Bowden. The pair are currently in development with Granada Kids'...

Indie Kids. (In Brief).
July 1, 2002... Indie Kids, the company set up by ex-Granada Dan Maddicott, has signed up Harold's Planet for development as a 52x11-minute TV property. Harold's Planet, created by Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar, is already a range of books, cards and...

BDP Media. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Broadcast and corporate indie BDP Media has appointed ex-Arthur Andersen senior partner and media specialist Richard Simmons (CBE) to be its first chairman. Simmons will also make a "substantial" investment in BDP Media, part of which will be...

Extreme Sports Channel. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Extreme Sports Channel has sponsored four more athletes: two wake-boarding brothers and two female suffers including Reuben Ash, who (at 14) is tipped as a future star. Extreme's UK head of marketing Julie Hicks declares the athletes...

Garretts. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Commercials producer Garretts has signed two new directors, Ben Sedley and Gillean Proctor. Sedley's first work at Garretts is a series for Yellow Pages and Yell.com for Abbott Mead Vickers; Sedley was formerly at The Artists Company. Ex-Ridley...

Twofour TV. (In Brief).(Two Four Productions Ltd. program for The British Heart Foundation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Twofour TV has made the first advertiser-funded programming on Channel Health for The British Heart Foundation. The 12-part series is fronted by Maggie Philbin and gives the basics on caring for your heart. It will go out on Sky Digital to 1600...

Exit Studios. (In Brief).(on BBC3's talkshow Closure)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Exit Studios has produced titles for Zeal's Davina McCall-fronted talkshow Closure for BBC3. Andy Cole used Photoshop and Freehand to create the original elements and After Effects for layering and animations. 3D elements were also created in...

Igloo. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Commercials production company Igloo has completed its first job with an ad for Nurofen Plus/McCann Erickson. Christophe Williams directed the spot, which was shot in South Africa; Igloo won the job after McCann's put out a tender in Australia...

ITV orders dead gorgeous drama from Carlton. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Carlton has gone into production with Dead Gorgeous, a new drama starring Cold Feet's Fay Ripley and Helen McCrory (Anna Karenina). The two-hour film, commissioned by Nick Elliott for ITV1, tells the story of two friends who meet up again...

Sherbet's naked advertising for Persil Aloe Vera. (Commercials).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The newest in a string of ads that Sherbet has been producing for Persil and J Walter Thomson for the last two years gets a change of direction with a new illustrator. New Yorker Sophie Blackall's hand-painted images are combined with...

Intro. (Graphics).
July 1, 2002... Ooh, I say. Intro has served up the title-sequence, stings and graphic guidelines for the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. The brief was to reflect both Wimbledon's heritage and the BBC's technical innovations for 2002. Commissioned by Richard Gort,...

Jetfighter gets on a good footing. (Corporate).
July 1, 2002... Manchester-based Jetfighter is currently in post with Growing Feet in Safe Hands, a 12-minute film for Clarks. The film follows the development of feet from when children are a few months old right up to five years and beyond, using...

Finney scanned in 2k by Pepper. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Pepper follows up recent work on the BBC adaptation of Tony Parsons' Man and Boy with picture post work on BBC2's The Gathering Storm, which goes out this month starring Albert Finney as Winston Churchill. It depicts Churchill in the...

Harry Nash shoots back-to-back for a making-of. (Corporate).
July 1, 2002... Stuart Watson has just finished a second EPK for Rimmel and Coty through Harry Nash. As Andy Meyer, who has now left the company, was shooting the Endless Lash mascara ad, Watson was directing and cutting Arthouse, a five-minute making-of to go...

BBC head of acquisitions and coproductions. (The Green Light).
July 1, 2002... BBC head of acquisitions and coproductions Theresa Plummer-Andrews has ordered The Koala Brothers from Spellbound Entertainment, the company recently set up by ex-Hit Entertainment Peter Curtis. The 26x10-minute stop-frame series follows the...

Vic Reeves and Bob Martimer are to make their first sketch-show. (The Green Light).
July 1, 2002... Vic Reeves and Bob Martimer are to make their first sketch-show since Smell of... in 97. The 6x30-minute Vic and Bob's Secret Garden will be produced by CHX Productions in the autumn as soon as the new series of Shooting Stars finishes The show...

Canton has been given the greenlight for a further 240 episodes. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Canton has been given the greenlight for a further 240 episodes of Midlands-hotel-based soap Crossroads. ITV daytime commissioner Liam Hamilton commissioned another run of the show despite disappointing ratings; Crossroads has recently only...

Posh St Tropez. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Posh St Tropez, a show following the exploits of rich young Brits abroad, has been ordered by E4's factual entertainment commissioner Katie Brosnan from Ricochet Digital. The 6x30-minute programme will begin shooting this month. Charlotte Wyatt...

TLC. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... TLC in the States has ordered a US version of Faking It, RDF's life-swap doc. The 5x60-minute show will be remade through RDF's LA office. Sam Anthony is series producer and Stephen Lambert is executive producer. The programme will air early...

Kudos has bagged a recommission for its MI5 drama Spooks. (The Green Light).
July 1, 2002... Kudos has bagged a recommission for its MI5 drama Spooks from BBC drama boss Jane Tranter. The original writing team of David Wolstencroft, Howard Brenton and Simon Mirren will be joined by new writers on the second series. The series producer...

Unity Pictures. (In Brief).(designed ads for release of Disney titles on DVD)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Unity Pictures has been commissioned by Fox Kids to make a series of animated ads for the upcoming DVD release of Disney favourites like Monsters Inc and Peter Pan. The spots incorporate the films on a magic canvas in an artists studio. Alon...

Bruce Dunlop. (In Brief).(Paramount Comedy Channel revamped)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Bruce Dunlop has revamped the Paramount Comedy Channel's on-air look. A blue-and-white box becomes the new logo, modelled in Maya With elements composited together in After Effects and Editbox. The work was produced by Honor Bartlett, directed...

Red Past. (In Brief).(title-sequences contract on British Broadcasting Corporation Ltd.'s Correspondent)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Red Past is behind six title-sequences for the BBC's current affairs series Correspondent, which is presented by a variety of journalists. Working with BBC series producer Simon Finch, Red's Henry Cummings designed a generic sequence with a...

Brits win out at Annecy. (Awards).(Annecy Animation Festival)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... British producers picked up a clutch of awards at the 26th Annecy Animation Festival in France, where 1500 films were entered from 33 countries. The best TV animation prize went to Harvest's Hamilton Mattress, and Illuminated picked up the...

Just Group back from the dead. (Deals).(set to merge with Target Distribution)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Just Group, the kids' entertainment company that went into administration early this year, is on the brink of a comeback and a merger with Target Distribution. Shareholders who stood to lose their entire investment have managed to raise a...

HIT rethinks Gullane buyout. (Deals).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The possible acquisition of Thomas the Tank Engine owner Gullane by HIT Entertainment has yet again gone back to the drawing-board. HIT, the owner of Bob the Builder and Barney the Dinosaur, first went back for a rethink after Gullane...

UK TV sales soar in the US. (Distribution).(television program sales increase)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Sales of British TV shows to the USA leapt by nearly 20% last year according to the British Television Distributors Association (BTDA). A large proportion of the rise was down to the BBC's Weakest Link and Hit's Bob the Builder. For total...

In the jungle, the mighty jungle. (The Business News).(Oxford Scientific Films)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The uneasy mix of commerce and art is an increasingly vital one for wildlife producers, says Southern Star's Simon Willock Wildlife production is a business that thrives on ideas and passion but, as my own metamorphosis from distributor to...

Storyboard news.(animation television productions)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... To mark animation guru Will Byles's move to head up Soho 601's cgi department, Storyboard looks at his Co-op spot. Then there are two lots of art, with Clive Whalley's "moving pictures" and Elizabeth Hobbs's ironic look at history, alongside...

BBC supermarket sweep. (Post-Production).(British Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. has post-production company shortlist)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... News that the BBC has a list of 25 preferred post-production partners comes as a surprise to some facilities and, it seems, to the corporation itself. But, though the BBC denies it has a shortlist of companies with preferential status for...

Endemol. (Month in Review).(contracted to create sewer system documentary, London, England)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Endemol chairman Baz is lined up to front Uden's C5 doc looking into the history of London's sewer system. At first glance, it's an inspired choice; the system was, after all, designed by Baz's great great-grandad Sir Joseph. But can he shed...

Don't Forget your Toothbrush and The Big Breakfast. (Month in Review).(Chris Evans may appear in new shows)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... And Chris Evans is on the comeback trail. The Daily Star says the man behind and in front of TFI, Don't Forget your Toothbrush and The Big Breakfast has been gabbing away to Lorraine Heggessey about some new slots on BBC1 including a talkshow...

MTV. (Month in Review).("The Osbournes" gets picked up worldwide)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The onward march of the TV phenomenon The Osbournes continues. MTV has confirmed deals to sell the family saga to terrestrial networks round the world. C4 picked up the show in the UK for autumn at what must be an enormous wedge, given the cash...

Call in the fire brigade. (New Media).
July 1, 2002... I'm slightly surprised we didn't make it into your new media listing this year (Televisual, June). Surely there is some mistake... For the record, last year we published SoilAssociation.org (the main UK portal about everything organic),...

Cinesite: now we are 10. (Birthday).
July 1, 2002... Please note that the Facilities 50 history lesson which appeared for your birthday in the June 2002 issue inaccurately listed Cinesite as opening in 1999. Cinesite Hollywood effectively opened in 1992 and Cinesite (Europe) opened up in...

Slinky Bermuda triangle. (Birthday).
July 1, 2002... I was a little concerned that the credit you gave me in your birthday supplement (June issue) was a bit misleading, as you credited me as founder Slinky Pictures and of Bermuda Shorts. The latter is incorrect. I did start Slinky Pictures...

The battle for muxes B, C and D. (Options).(ITV Digital, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... At [pounds sterling]25k a shot, bids to run multiplexes B, C and D have at last wrung some cash out of ITV Digital. With four bids each, that's [pounds sterling]250k straight into ITC coffers. It'll earn it, though, given its painfully tight...

Channel vision: UKTV's controller has been on quite a rollercoaster ride during his short tenure. Jon Creamer asks him how the plans to stand out from the crowd and why there's safety in numbers. (Interview: John Keeling).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... UKTV must have looked like a luxurious place to work on John Keeling's first morning as controller at the BBC/Flextech joint-venture. That first day in November last year coincided with the launch of the latest in UKTV's suite of channels, UK...

Primal screaming. (Primal Scream in Production).(Miss Lucifer)
July 1, 2002... Primal Scream has ridden out Brit pop, dance music and indie rock with its reputation and audience intact, and this month's single Miss Lucifer wins a major TV plug. Sam Espensen gets her rocks off with the animation gurus at MPC and learns the...

Corporate Top 50. (Corporate Communications).(Televisual rates television program production co.'s)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... Ten years of the Corporate Top 50 and where have we got to? This year's survey reports what companies that have won a place in this year's list (overleaf) tell us about budgets; about commissions; and about new ways to deliver familiar...

Boo! Toon time at Tell Tale. (Boo in Production).(animation at Tell-Tale Productions)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2002... After a run of success with its BBC live-action show The Tweenies, kids indie Tell Tale has decided to branch out into animation. Jon Creamer visits the emerging toon department to see the birth of a new pre-schooler, Boo. The contestants...

Dead men's shoes. (High-End Post Training).
July 1, 2002... Education, education, education is the new mantra sweeping Soho. The demand for new talent, especially in the fields of animation and compositing, is not being met by either graduate courses or the runner system. If creative talent wins...

Power of the press. (People: Maggie O'Kane).(The Guardian newspaper creates documentary films, London, England)
July 1, 2002... Every time she gets to the end of a TV production, says Maggie O'Kane, "I think how simple life is in print. But then you see it go out, and you realise what a huge impact TV has. And that's very seductive." The launch of a television...

HotHouse flowers in Camden. (Audio).(film music service)
July 1, 2002... Feature film music service facility HotHouse, which has just opened in Camden, is providing all pre-recording and score supervision for New Line's Lord of the Rings sequel, The Two Towers. The facility's managers Karen Elliott and Becky Bentham...

Quicktime for Mpeg4. (New Media).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Apple has put its weight behind Mpeg4 making it increasingly likely that the compression format will be adopted as a worldwide successor to Mpeg2. The computer giant has agreed to licence Mpeg4 technology for the latest version of its...

Matrox. (In Brief).
July 1, 2002... Matrox has launched the RT.X100 DV editing board aimed at corporate productions and digital filmmakers. The [pounds sterling]765 + VAT package is a combined software and hardware PC solution and can handle up to 16 effects in real time, DV and...

Design Academy. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Reseller Design Academy is to target the academic and educational markets for 3D animation specialist Alias Wavefront. Former Alias technical manager Ken Swain, who fronts the initiative, hopes to promote Alias software (used in Spider-Man) in...

Viper. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Having shot Star Wars: Attack of the Clones entirely using Sony's 24p CineAlta camera, producer Rick McCallum is considering Thompson's new uncompressed Viper camcorder for sequel 3. "The great thing about that is that it will force Sony's and...

Rushes. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Rushes' 3D department is to have a hand in BBC2's autumn documentary, The Dancer's Body. For the 3x50-minute series the 3D team behind a recent spot for The Royal Mail (above) will build a skeleton, brain, muscles and internal organs. These are...

Wireless camera breakthrough. (Technology).(CJM2 digital video solutions)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... British engineering outfit CJM2 claims to have made a breakthrough in the way digital signals are transmitted and received from wireless cameras. Its prototype encoder modulator is designed to relay uninterrupted video images directly from...

Blue Egg skates in to save Bond on ice. (Studios).(Die Another Day stunt setting at Blue Egg Studios)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Die Another Day, the 20th Bond production, has landed at Gloucestershire's Blue Egg Studios to shoot stunts for the film's set-piece ice chase. The footage, featuring Bond being chased by villains across a frozen lake in his Aston Martin,...

CTV's [pounds sterling]17m Disney move. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... Post-production and studio facility Corinthian Television has invested [pounds sterling]17m in a major green site construction for the relocation of Walt Disney Company's European broadcast of the Disney Channel. The 85,000 sq ft building,...

Moose helps puppets escape. (Facilities).
July 1, 2002... Danny DeVito, Burgess Meredith and James Brown are the motley crew making a bid for freedom in a 30-second spot created by Loose Moose for US ice tea drink, Lipton Brisk. This is the company's seventh in a campaign devised by JWT New York which...

Video Networks cuts 300 staff. (New Media).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Pay-TV operator Video Networks, has been forced to shed half its 600-strong workforce in a bid to cut costs and attract up to [pounds sterling]60m in new investment. Chief executive Simon Hockhauser blamed BT, which supplies the broadband...

Das Werk posts good results. (Facilities).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... German media company Das Werk, owner of Glassworks, increased its turnover by 14.6% to [pounds sterling]17.3m for the first quarter of 2002 compared to the same period last year. This was largely due to business generated by its LA-based...

nCube wins patent suit. (Technology).(against SeaChange Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Imitation may be a form of flattery, but technology manufacturers are increasingly resorting to the law-courts when a rival's product gets too close for comfort. Middleware vendor OpenTV is taking Liberate to court; conditional access...

Kingston may pull plug on KIT. (New Media).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Hull's Kingston Communications has threatened to close its loss-making interactive unit. The move is another setback for the UK's stillborn iTV industry. KIT, which supplies broadband content to its 160,000 customers, was thought to have...

IP glue for post's deck of cards. (The Business The Works).(internet protocol)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Desktop-driven content systems connected over IP will become the post solution of choice, argues New Media Research md Harry Grinling Post used to be a straightforward business. You had a plush facility that you filled with the latest...

iTV virtuosity. (Timegate).
July 1, 2002... Televirtual's sophisticated VR production suite has been put to use on a revolutionary interactive adventure game set in a sword-and-sorcery world the size of a large English county and as unpredictable "as a Beirut street," says its chairman...

The brand man's hits. (In my View).(Column)(Brief Article)(Interview)
July 1, 2002... As a creative/art director at Moving Brands, James Bull produces audio identities for clients such as Telewest. His other company, LiveTX, became famous on Tomorrow's World for demonstating the first portable satellite webcast. He talks to Sam...

July TX guide: a producers' guide to the month on the box.
July 1, 2002... Paradise Heights, from early July, 6x60, 21.00: BBC1 Part of "BBC1's push into contemporary post-watershed signature drama," according to Jane Tranter, this new drama series pulls together talent from Men Behaving Badly(Neil Morrisey),...

Shoot-and-protect: The BBC plays a safe game. (Hair-in-the-Gate).
July 1, 2002... Well done BBC for serving up the coolest football, but hasn't it missed a trick or two? First, why no widescreen? Because the host broadcaster is only providing 4:3, it says. Fair enough, but actually there is a 16:9 HDTV package which the BBC...

What's new at Mitcorp?
July 1, 2002... This catalogue for a start, which details new professional and broadcast products from Sony and the other leading players - all at the keenest prices. And thanks to our huge warehouse, we offer the quickest possible delivery on anything from a...

What people say about Mitcorp. (Introduction).(endorsements)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The prices are very competitive." Sam Goodwin of RDF Media "We find Mitcorp to be very competitive and our recent acquisitions of Sony Digital Betacam Camcorder and Canon lenses went very smoothly, with scheduled delivery as well as...

Who are we? (Introduction).(Mitcorp)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Mitcorp - your one-stop supplier We offer all these services because we're determined to be the best possible provider of professional and broadcast equipment. Contact us with any query, large or small, and you'll soon find out how...

More pixels for your money: the choice of camcorders available today is quite staggering. How do you decide which one you need? (Production: Cameras, Camcorders, Portable VTR's).
July 1, 2002... The first decision has to be the recording format and this will be based on a lot of factors, which we discuss in the VTR section of this brochure, so go there first if you need technical help. Probably the most important factor is the use...

That's the camera let's accessorise. (Production Accessories).
July 1, 2002... Just going through all the pleasure of selecting your new camera is only the tip of the iceberg. Now you've got to pop a lens on the front and find some legs to support it. If you are upgrading or it's a first time purchase - why not read on....

Format republic: another format - but this new one could be the one we've been waiting for - well Sony certainly thinks so. (Post Production: VTR's).(video tape recorders)(Buyers Guide)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... Compression is what sets formats apart and the different schemes have different uses. It works by throwing away bits of the signal that you don't realty need, thus saving media space. DigiBeta was the first compressed VTR and uses a mild 2:1...

The more bits the better. (Post Production: Edit Controllers, Vision Mixers, & DVE's).(television program production equipment, Sony Corp.)(Buyers Guide)
July 1, 2002... As regards choice, the increase of the non-linear editing suite is changing the face of the vision mixer and DVE markets. Stand-alone units these days are generally used only for live work, long form post, OBs and conference applications and...

Essential viewing. (Post Production: Monitors).(Statistical Data Included)(Evaluation)
July 1, 2002... Monitors are a crucial part of the production chain. A good monitor can act as a piece of test equipment alerting you to problems elsewhere in the system. Basically, they come in three flavours - grade 1 (or test grade), professional...

Wired for sound. (Post Production: Audio).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... As in most other parts of the industry, on-linear editing is replacing the traditional separate box, in favour of software that purports to do the same thing, only better. While this may be rue when it comes to picture manipulation, sound is...

All destinations. (Systems Architecture: Routers).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... All those little boxes with loads of wires going in and out of them may not be the most glamorous pieces of equipment in the industry. However, they do essential jobs such as making the reference signals, distributing the video, converting from...

Signal Conversion: Miranda. (Systems Architecture: Conversion & Measurement).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... ASD-171P COMPONENT ANALOGUE VIDEO TO 4:2:2 CONVERTER The picoLink ASD-171p video ADC is the world's smallest component video ADC, designed specifically to interface between analogue component video and serial 4:2:2 video signals. This...

Waveform and Vectorscopes: Electronic Visuals. (Systems Architecture: Conversion & Measurement).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Electronic Visuals have been serving the TV industry with cost effective monitoring solutions for more than 25 years. They have sold over 18,000 waveform and vector monitors to broadcast and production companies worldwide. EV-4171 The...