Televisual articles from March 2001

Televisual archives from March 2001

Henson post haste on Beanstalk.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... 600k feet of rushes for Jim Henson TV's Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story are in post at Todd-AO; after CBS scrapped its May TX target for the mini-series, the race is on for November. The modern take on the tale is directed by Brian...

Trouble at Mills for Big Brother.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... A last-minute ceasefire between Edwin Shirley Productions (ESP) and its landlord the Workspace Group has cleared the way for Endemol's Celebrity Big Brother this month. ESP, operator of Three Mills Island Studios, provides production...

Indies bid for C4 researchers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2001... 16 companies have won cash from the C4-funded research development programme, launching in April. The scheme, in its first year after pilot, aims to tackle weaknesses in independent TV and new media, particularly in the regions, by...

The School of Sound.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The School of Sound goes to Glasgow next month for its fourth annual symposium, at the invitation of such bodies as Scottish Screen and the Glasgow Film Office. Speakers will include director Nic Roeg, US film composer Carter Burwell, and Bob...

Monkey Kingdom starts off by snogging E4.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Monkey Kingdom, which has traded as Nutshell since June, launches this month as a convergent entertainment outfit. Already commissioned is a quest for the best teen-kisser, Snog, for E4, with plans for a website; and Make My Day with Ska...

Camilla Deakin.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Channel 4's Camilla Deakin plans to flag up the channel's committment to animation at the Animated Encounters network day in Bristol next month. Promising an extended animation season, the C4 editor for arts and animation says "the channel will...

BBC Resources/Granada Media.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Bristol could get its own joint BBC Resources/Granada Media facility to mirror Manchester's 3sixtymedia if talks work out. Whether it would be part of the 3sixtymedia brand is unclear, however: "the branding may not be suitable for Bristol......

VTR.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... VTR has been chosen to generate and post-produce Camelot's new weekly television ads. VTR md Anthony Frend comments, "WCRS was looking to put all the work into one facility, and we're one of the few that can meet all its requirements."...

422 beats off competition for new BBC show.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... 422 has won a commission to provide animation and effects for Inside Animals, three programmes for BBC Wildvision and Discovery set to air in the BBC's Natural World strand. Featuring the internal workings of animals, it uses animation and...

Morcheeba in miniature for World Looking In.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Morcheeba's latest promo World Looking In, from the album Fragments of Freedom, has finished post-production at The Moving Picture Co. Director for East West Records, Philippe Andr of Battlecruiser (part of commercials specialist Harry...

Discovery Wings.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Discovery Wings, the dedicated aviation channel, gets a new logo and on-air identity care of Hobbins Sides. The idents adopt the POV of an aircraft to begin the spot, which is then replaced by the word wings. With 3D animation from The Mill's...

Celtic follows rookies for BBC.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Celtic Broadcasting hopes that its Ex:S Worlds Apart, which goes on air on BBC1 Scotland this month, will grow into a series. The 30-minute programme produced by Garry Grant gives two journalism students a week's work-placement -- one at a...

The Pavement.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Alongside David Gray and Spaced DVDs, The Pavement has now authored a five-disc set with 39 episodes for Stingray. With commentary from Gerry Anderson, Pavement creative director Lloyd Schaer built 3D ship exteriors and interiors for menus and...

New Moon.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... New Moon has created four ads for Agilent Technologies as part of a European recruitment drive. Featuring Agilent's recent graduate employees and their personal and professional aspirations, the ads will form part of an interactive CD-Rom to...

ViT.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... ViT has produced TV News: Editing the Story, a training video for wannabe news editors. The video uses clips and rushes from the ITN news archive and interviews with senior television journalists; it is presented by Channel 4 news-anchor Samira...

Rogue gets energy boost.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Sam Cadman, the co-director and co-creator (with Dom Joly) of comedy show Trigger Happy TV, is in post with a new campaign for Lucozade Sport and Ogilvy, due to launch on 2 April. The campaign has been a well-kept secret because of its...

QD and SVC create promo for popstars Hearsay.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... QD Productions has completed the first promo for new group Hearsay, the teen band formed out of LWT's ratings winning music/reality series, Pop stars. Called Pure and Simple, it was shot on 35mm at a Ministry of Defence building in...

[pound]1 million for Einstein does.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Einstein Entertainment is teaming up with S4C International on co-productions worth "over [pound]1m," according to Jim Manson, Einstein's director of production. The first is a documentary about the nuclear industry, as terrorists...

COMMERCIAL.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Touch earth with a new style for Weetabix Weetos with the brand's first fully 3D-animated ad that airs from 5 March. Created by HR3D using Maya, Contact shows a flying-saucer landing in front of Professor Weetos' observatory as he busily eats...

The Connection.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The Connection is in eleventh-hour negotiations to produce MG Rover's corporate video for its new estate models. Shooting is planned to begin in Spain next month. The corporate communications company recently completed the video for the new MGs...

BBC2.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The BBC has a new TV comedy show this June, as the Scottish radio show Velvet Cabaret turns to television and is renamed Velvet Soup. Set to air nationally on BBC2 after The X-Files, the series promises to showcase the cream of Scotland's new...

Sandra Ensby.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Sherbet's Sandra Ensby, who animated Fast Spin Fling, is currently in production with The List for Channel 4, working to a delivery date of July this year. So far the animation, the story of a wedding list that comes to life, is still at the...

Gut costs, not corners.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Some things are sacrosanct, and the TV executive's right to a free lunch could be one of them. The BBC came under fire last month as it imposed new rules that restricted meal allowances and put a cap on hotel bills. The broadcaster's union...

Popworld.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... E4 launched well to thirty somethings breathless for the latest news of US soaps in primetime or for Japanese lunacy a little later on. In its teatime "teen zone," however, one slow afternoon the new pay-channel could register only 12-or-so...

Pinewood and Shepperton.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The [pound]100m or so that's going into creating a brave new union between Pinewood and Shepperton studios added a couple of volumes to the press clippings portfolio of Pinewood ceo Michael Grade last month. But, as he bangs the drum for the UK...

BBC.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Enough hot air was expressed to fill another 30 BBC balloons after BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey gave the multi-award-winning promotion her thumbs down. Lambie-Nairn's adaptation of the old BBC spinning globe that's made over 40k majestic...

OPINIONS.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... It's all down on tape I was pleased Televisual found sufficient merit in my views about the duplication market to include them in January's Get it Taped article. However, there are two comments which deserve clarification. First, you...

Create-your-own regulator.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Negotiating a new communications infrastructure was always going to be like tiptoeing through bedlam. But, in the run-up to an election, the inmates just got that much more restless - especially as it's how to regulate them that's at issue. ...

Touch the television.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2001... You win some, you lose some. You can become a millionaire or you can humiliate yourself on national TV... you are The Weakest Link, goodbye. Glenn Barden of Vashca, a company about to unveil its latest programming innovation Touch the Truck, is...

On the wild side.
March 1, 2001... TOM ARCHER INVERVIEW Survival's move to Bristol caused not a few furrowed brows in the production community. But Anastasia Kershaw finds out it's only the beginning of Granada's plans to dominate the natural world Towards the end of...

Origin of the series.
March 1, 2001... The future is bright, the future is... just plain weird. Jon Creamer finds the team behind the latest cg extravaganza playing God in Bristol In 200 million years' time, the earth will consist of one huge land mass, pitted with erupting...

Comedy basics.(LWT head of commedy Lisa Clark quits)
March 1, 2001... After a successful career in production, Lisa Clark resigned from her post as LWT's head of comedy barely a year into the job. Sam Espensen asks what prompted her departure, what her plans are now, and just why comedy is proving to be the final...

Regional 30.
March 1, 2001... If post-production is a lifestyle business, Simon Meek discovers a wide variety of them as he tours the key centres beyond London. And, in a devolved UK, it's local broadcast politics that often dictates the quality of that lifestyle Many...

The full 360.
March 1, 2001... The latest newcomer to the facilities sector is Manchester's 3sixtymedia. Simon Meek asks its md where the business is going and explores what affect the northern gaint could have on the area Image is everything, determining who you are,...

Funky plant hunters.
March 1, 2001... Channel 4's To the Ends of the Earth gets sketchy with Hugh Fearnley-WhittingStall's Keo Films. Sam Espensen discovers them in darkest Peru in search of strange plants, shamans and Nirvana A slightly twisted documentary for channel 4's To...

Film & TV studios.
March 1, 2001... Top-end TV studios are currently riding high, with major LE work still the staple diet for the big guns. And the small studios are feeling fit, with an influx of low-budget work from the digital channels. Even the film industry's been smiling...

Peloton goes wild for kit.
March 1, 2001... Peloton Media, the brainchild of ex-Tele-Cine md Jeff Emerson, is set to make its first major kit investment in excess of [pound]250k. The move to purchase standards-conversion equipment based around Snell and Wilcox's Alchemist and a...

Technology gets the go ahead?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... A hectic month for the BBC ends in encouraging news from culture secretary Chris Smith, as he gives his approval for the BBC to set up a new limited liability company, BBC Technology. The commercial subsidiary is to be wholly independent of the...

Pinnacle.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Pinnacle is introducing new versions of its Thunder server and Lightning software, giving the ability to stay in DV through acquisition, production and playout. Thunder 2.3 has the capacity to import and export AVI and MPEG2 files. Lightning v4...

Bristol post-house fights back.(Pink House Post Production)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Pink House Post Production is fighting back after being criticised for withholding vital information and knowingly bringing to creditors severe financial losses. The facility, formed from a management buyout of BFV in Januray, is suffering...

Picardy Media quits its Edinburgh roots.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Picardy Media is phasing out its Edinburgh operation and consolidating in Glasgow in a bid to centralise management and facilities. A provisional date of June is set for the complete transfer of staff and kit, where all operations will be...

Vivid Post Production.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... London's Vivid Post Production is expanding its Wells Street operation with the purchase of two Media Composer 10s. Pre-booked for 2x1-hour episodes of Channel 4's Top Ten (left), the new equipment is to furnish Vivid's newly-constructed...

Cinesite brings in Kodak research.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Soho's Cinesite is capitalising on Kodak's development technology in an Intermediate service, launching this month. Housing both a Philips Datacine and Spectre Virtual Datacine, the facility is now capable of grading and mastering in real-time....

DGP invests in kit and staff.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Soho post-house DGP is putting the finishing touches to its complete upgrade and refurbishment programmme with the installation of a 72Gb FTP server. With eight Avid suites and new centralised machine room housing all storage, CPUs and...

David Mann.(promotion to 124 Facilities managing director)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... David Mann has been promoted to md of 124 Facilities. Replacing Catherine Houston, who has decided not to return to her post after maternity leave, Mann enters the post with eight-months' experience as acting md. Houston is looking for a new...

Editz.(taking over sister company, Scratch)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Manchester-based post-house Editz is taking over its sister operation Scratch. The move sees Editz quitting its Victorian gothic mansion in the south of the city for Astley House, in Manchester's city centre. The combined outfit will be...

Is HDTV in the picture?(high definition television)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... What are we to think? Is high-definition television, so long a buzzword, now losing its impact? Simon Meek asks whether the standard is alive or floating on its back In the cut and thrust of Soho post-production, being aware and being on...

It's the new way.(post production market in the UK)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... There's no denying that editing is changing, but in which direction? Ex-BFV ceo David Blackham looks at the post-production market to assess its strengths and weaknesses I have always believed technology must never get in the way of...

5D.(adds Mark Burton to marketing team)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... As 5D brings over 100 new image-processing effects to its Monster range, the company adds Mark Burton to its marketing team, Previously head of Avid's product marketing team for the special effects group, Burton's new role includes spearheading...

Red Post Production.(new employees at Red-i operations)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Red Post Production has appointed two further members to its a-media arm, Red-i. Zak Ezzati (left) will head up the three-strong team of designers and animators; the team is expected to reach a total of 10. John Cummings joins Red's OS team...

Pearson Television.(selects John Cooper as facilities manager)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Pearson Television has appointed On-Line Facilities ex-md John Cooper to the new role of facilities manager at its UK operations headquarters. Based in Stephen Street, W1, his target is to support Pearson's transmission business. He will also...

In the roaring 20s.(Gargoyle Club)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The former PMPP has a new lease of life, but with an old label borrowed from Soho in the 20s. We talk to the Smoke & Mirrors veterans who planned the transformation Ex-silversmiths have banded together to create a new post-house in the...

So what's on web TV?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Is TV on the internet dead before it has even come alive? IchooseTV's vp of programming and creative argues not. But if that's the case, who's going to make it, who's going to watch it, and what'll it be like? The big news these days is...