Televisual articles from June 2000

Televisual archives from June 2000

VoD deals for personal TV.(Future TV licensing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Personal TV outfit Future TV has acquired a range of VoD rights, for which the first taker is Eircom's DSL network. Over 200 hours have been licensed to the FTV-owned e-media.com - from Granada, Carlton, Landmark Travel, Network Ireland TV...

Wimbledon goes interative.(British Broadcasting Corporation Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... BBC Interactive is to extend its digital text service to the BBC's Wimbledon coverage later this month. Limited to On Digital's 700k subscribers, the service will allow access to tennis news, results and stats, alongside BBC Sport's usual...

Chocolat swaps France for UK.(Miramax Films)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Production has begun at Shepperton and in the west country on Miramax blockbuster Chocolat, starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench. Directed by Lasse Hallstr[ddot{o}]m (The Cider House Rules), it is produced by David Brown...

Sci-fi debut from Caribou and friends.(Caribou Films)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Caribou Films plans to complete its debut feature LVJ by the end of the year after securing free services from an array of creatives. LVJ is "a cross between Starsky and Hutch and Independence Day," says producer Mark Shields - except shot...

Silver Fox Films.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Silver Fox Films is moving into ads less than a year after md Graham Ralph split from partner Jerry Hibbert to focus on broadcast. New head of commercials Helen Cohen says ads will "keep things flowing" while the company is biding time between...

TV4C.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Chatsworth TV's md Malcolm Heyworth, Flicks Films' md Terry Ward and VTR's md John Banks have formed a new children's animation company, TV4C. With three series already in production, the company hopes to finance and distribute its shows...

BBC Worldwide.(deal with TVnewsweb.com)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... BBC Worldwide has signed a deal with TVnewsweb.com that allows the web outfit to market BBC news packages to channels around the world via its website. Using a dedicated PC and VSAT, customers can download broadcast-quality video from the site,...

Icon Productions.(And Bombo Sports and Entertainment)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Mel Gibson's Icon Productions is teaming up with Bombo Sports & Entertainment to produce a feature film about the world's biggest football team, Manchester United. To be financed and distributed by Icon and directed by Bob Potter, the film will...

NHU delves the deep with Discovery Channel.(BBC's Natural History Channel works with Discovery channel to produce new series)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The BBC's Natural History Unit is in post on Blue Planet, a new 8x50-minute factual series that has been almost three years in the making. A co-production between the BBC and Discovery, the series aims to present a complete natural history...

GMTV's.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Cg house-turned-producer Optical Image is in post with its latest foray into children's TV, Cubeez. Originally devised by Geoff Cook, the series was pitched to GMTV's Gillian Carr, who put Cook together with Optical Image, which also makes...

Film Works teams up with Baraka for Yukon ad.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Baraka has post-produced a 45-second ad for General Motors by Middle East-based company, Film Works. Pride was commissioned by Leo Burnett's creative director Marc Chaloub to market General Motors' latest sports utility vehicle (SUV), the...

KT Films goes off big time.(company finishes first film)(Going Off Big Time)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... New film outfit KT Films has completed its first feature, Going off Big Time. The 90-minute film, produced by Ian Brady and directed by Jim Doyle, follows Liverpool's "low-life white-trash criminals," says Doyle. It was shot over two...

Lost in Space.(Alexander Rutterford directs video)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Alexander Rutterford, creative director of cg studio Lost in Space, has made his directorial debut with 3-Space, a three-minute music video for Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. An abstract architectural environment was created in Lightwave and...

4:2:2 Manchester.
June 1, 2000... 4:2:2 Manchester added sfx to Kronfli Duliba Productions' 30-second ad for Newscastle-upon-Tyne's millennium project, The International Centre of Life. 3D sequences of dinosaurs and human evolution were created in Maya by 4:2:2's Chris Birks,...

Unity Pictures.(produces ad)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Unity Pictures has created a 30-second ad for CNNI's Ignite Asia Challenge, aimed at internet start-ups. The spot, combining 2D and 3D work, was produced by CNNI's Christina Fotinelli and Unity's Alon Ziv and Hylton Tannenbaum. 3D work was done...

BBC starts filming The Sins.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... BBC1's autumn drama The Sins has begun shooting in Ladbroke Grove with Pete Postlethwaite in the lead. The Superl6 shoot is produced by first-timer Liza Marshall, who was brought on board in January by executive producer Jane Tranter,...

Idents compete in Euro 2000.(companies awarded commissions to provide title sequences)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Independent Sports Network's Rick Waumsley has commissioned Red Pepper to create the title sequences for ITV's coverage of this month's Euro 2000 football clash (right). Red Pepper, which also supplied titles for ITV's Euro 96 and World Cup 98...

Oil Factory's Shynola directs for Grooverider.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The release of Oil Factory's promo On the Double has been held back to spearhead Grooverider's second album. Directors' consortium Shynola - aka Gideon Baws, Jason Groves, Chris Harding and Richard Kenworthy - finished the Grooverider vs...

Sherbet.(direction for Dannon)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Bafta-winner Jonathan Hodgson and fellow Sherbet director Sue Young have directed a 30-second spot for Dannon via Young & Rubicam. The spot follows bubbles through various cityscapes, and features watercolour artwork composited by Simon Holden...

ISO.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Producer Tim Neil commissioned design house ISO to supply titles for BBC Scotland's new series, Designing our Lives, for BBC2. Six cg models of designer objects were built in 3D Studio Max and rendered out into resin kits, which were then shot...

Channel 4.(Awards)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Winners of Channel 4's Student Sting competition are: Rocio Cangas-Martinez's Circles and Squares; David McCue's Watery Lights; Cameron Duguid's Curly Photos; David Webb's Digital Retro; David Hall's Cow Juice; and Simon Clark's Spinning TVs...

Friday night's up for a fight.(Channel Four Television Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Has Channel 4 lost its touch of a Friday night? Parachuting in TFI's original commissioner, Planet 24 producer Seamus Cassidy, heaps yet more doubt on the mileage left in its Friday flagship. TFI's late repeat is now relegated from 23.00 to...

ITV.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... No surprise that the five candidates shortlisted to pitch for ITV's new daily Home and Away replacement include three ITV production arms (all three south of the border, that is, that don't already make Coronation Street). And...

Sky Networks.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... With broadcasters now queuing up to offer protection to indies, some high-profile ones don't know which way to turn; not so that highest-profile recruit, former Sky Networks md Lis Murdach, whose family ties are already spoken for. Once her...

BSkyB and Guardian Media Group.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... And Europe's biggest sat-caster got a bit bigger last month. BSkyB not only told of 3.4m digital subs, but also a couple of new niche channels. Those mourning the demise of UK Arena (both of you) can rejoice at the launch of Artsworld, co-owned...

D&AD.
June 1, 2000... This year, out of a record 17,823 D&AD entries, only 28 yellow pencils (equivalent to silver) went to TV and cinema, and only three black (equivalent to gold): two to Jonathan Glazer for Guinness's Surfer ad, one to Chris Cunningham for...

OPINIONS.(letters to the editor)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2000... PROMOS A director's lot happier on MTV I read with interest The Director's Lot (Televisual May). Though I agree with a number of the points in the piece, I'd challenge the assumption that no European music TV supports video directors....

The hush before the storm.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... An ominous quiet falls over broadcasting as the summer solstice approaches. At the BBC, heads are kept down as Greg Dyke's protracted review promises the chop for many. And silly season stories abound: how he'll turn the Corporation into...

It's TV, but is it art?(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The series producer and director of the award-winning Channel 4 series, This is Modern Art. says there's only one show that keeps him glued to his television set, and it's not about art. He reflects how arts programming has changed since the...

Rebel Heart.(Review)
June 1, 2000... BBC1's autumn drama Rebel Heart is set in Ireland at the start of the century - and the start of a stuggle for independence that still dominates news headlines Belinda Hanks went on location to watch Picture Palace reconstruct those momentous...

New media come of age.(multimedia producers)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
June 1, 2000... Multimedia top 30 THE METHOD Companies involved in multimedia production are ranked in five categories and given scores from 100 down. The categories are number of staff; turnover in multimedia work; number of multimedia commissions;...

I spy...(reality television)(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2000... Webcams, video streaming and broadband mean that reality LE shows are even more intrusive than ever. And the contestants don't mind a bit, as long as they're on TV. Hell is other people, reckoned Sartre, and reality entertainment - the...

Gold digger.(Flextech/BBC joint-venture channels)(Company Business and Marketing)(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2000... With five channels to fill, UKTV's head of programming has always had to play tug-of-war for BBC archive material with the BBC's own digital channels. Now that the new VoD operators are joining in, Ed Waller finds out if it means she'll be...

Hear no evil.(digital audio broadcasting sound standards)(Industry Overview)(Technical)
June 1, 2000... Now that audiences hear with a keener digital ear, will producers have to clean up their and act? Mike Collins talks to people at the sharp end of recording and post about digital sound. The move to digital technology that's bringing change...

Graphics and fx in the Loop.(Loop begins operation)(Company Profile)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Soho has a new graphics and effects house with the founding of Loop by former Digital Arts animators, Michael Gibbons and Steve Popplewell. The company will focus on broadcast and corporate work. "Between us, we've the best part of 30 years...

Creativity to save the regions?(government push to have "creative" industries explain themselves)(Government Activity)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2000... As government continues in its pitch to make "creative" industries, including broadcasting and post, the saviour of the regions, so far there's little real support - just suggestions. Last year, the creative industries accounted for about...

SVC'.(Da Vinci 2K colour-corrector bought by SVC)(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... SVC's post-buyout kit expansion continues with the purchase of a C-Reality with a Da Vinci 2K colour-corrector - the first in London. Senior colourist George K felt the Da Vinci system was the only one that could properly manage the C-Reality...

Unique's niche audio house.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Audio house Unique Facilities has launched a new company Qtwo, based in Charing Cross Road. Offering both recording and post-production, the studio also has internet streaming facilities, a consultancy service and an in-house production unit....

SDI and The Picture Canning Co join forces.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... OB firm SDI Broadcast has left its former home with Visual Impact to join up with The Picture Canning Company. SDI director Martin Brown will head up the new department at PCC. "It was a good environment," says Brown of Visual Impact, "but...

Machine Room.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... VTR's The Machine Room is expanding its DVD authoring facilities from one to three suites. Facility director Danny Whybrow says he expects this to be a big year for DVD, as corporate producers latch on to its benefits. First casualty of the...

4:2:2 Studios.(signs big contract)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... 4:2:2 Studios, formerly Vector Television, has started work on its first big contract since its acquisition by 4:2:2 after it went into administration earlier this year. It is playing host to Action Time's latest series of programmes for the...

Pinewood's plans for TV.(Pinewood Studios )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Latest tenant at Pinewood Studios is Virage, now offering a "full-service" internet video facility, the first in Europe, it claims. It will allow customers to stream their video from websites by encoding footage into a private database from...

MPEG2 planned for QuickTime.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Among the highlights of this year's Apple developer conference, along with the announcement that Maya Complete was coming to the Mac at the start of next year, was a sneak preview of QuickTime 5.0, scheduled for release this summer. And...

Rushes and West One.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Rushes and West One, which Liberty Media bought last month from Virgin for [pounds]25m, are to retain their separate identities rather than join TVP-Postbox and Tvi under the umbrella of Liberty-owned 4MC. Meanwhile, at Film House, the...

TV's paperless office.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Due to open the box on the mysterious genie at this month's Content Management conference, consultant Chris Daubney offers a glimpse of the strange newcomer to TV: metadata. What is it? And is it something that producers really need to take...

Pinewood pioneers.(movie editing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Just as Michael Grade announces brave new broadcast plans for Pinewood, the people behind Dog Eat Dog and Manic Films unveil the studio's first Avid house. Rob Buckley looks in on them Imagine how all those happy storekeepers felt when the...

The return of the prodigal.(Lightworks Editing Systems Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... After months of speculation and worries that the promised new Lightworks system might be "vapourware," the Canadian company has finally unveiled Vox Populi. A keen user of the old system explains why the film editor's favourite is still worth...

The ICG: a requiem.(independent commissioning group)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... World's current drama series Black Cab owes its existence to the BBC's independent commissioning group. With that ICG now being dismantled, the show's producer peers into the yawning gap... I enjoyed a very supportive, positive, creative...