Televisual articles from November 2002

Televisual archives from November 2002

Objective ups its staff numbers ahead of new commissions. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... A brace of new commissions and returning series has meant an expansion in staff numbers for Derren Brown producer, Objective. The company says it has two "massive" magic formats and two reality entertainment formats awaiting the final tick...

C4 features boss plans to work with fewer indies. (Broadcast).(Ben Frow)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Ben Frow, the head of the newly-created features group at Channel 4, plans to cut back on the number of independents he works with. Frow has told Televisual (p22) that he intends to "spend more time with fewer companies and really nurture...

TCM's shorts back at the LFF. (Film).(46th Regus London Film Festival)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The TCM shorts awards are back at the NFT on 12 November as part of the 46th Regus London Film Festival. The TCM shorts will be judged this year by Hugh Grant, Stephen Frears and Nell Jordan among others. Six shorts from new British talent,...

Passion signs up US shop Psyop. (Commercials).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Passion Pictures adds the US-based animation and design outfit Psyop to its UK roster this month. Psyop's past clients include Volkswagen, Merrell, AT&T and VH-1. Recently, the company has made a series of commercials for Lugz footwear (below)...

Flare DVD. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Flare DVD and media agency Mer Media have been appointed to consult with the Driving Standards Agency on developing DVDs. The first project, Roadsense, will be interactive, with multiple quizzes and different camera angles. Flare has just made...

Hyperactive. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Hire company Hyperactive is meeting an influx of work by adding to its 64 non-linear editing systems and six Avid Unitys by buying 20 Meridian upgrades for its Avid MCs from Tyrell. Hyperactive is currently contracted for Working Title's Love...

Promax UK. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Promax UK kicks off with Go On, Inspire Me, a session with Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly, Edgar Wright (Spaced) and MPC's Lars Holmgren. The session will look at how creative people get inspired, and has vox-pops from Passion's Pete Bishop,...

Jacaranda. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Jacaranda has marked its 15th year by launching a scheme to help students get genuine experience while still at college. "Were looking for students with free days in the week," says md Katy Eyre, "and will offer all-round experience of the...

Indigo. (In Brief).(signs deal with BBC Commercial Agency)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Indigo has cut a deal with the BBC Commercial Agency to distribute Talking with Animals. The BBC/Discovery co-pro on animal communication is fronted by Charlotte Uhlenbroek. Indigo will sell the TV rights outside North America and the UK....

Flame Group gets square eyes and joins the fight club. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Flame Group, the combination of Flame TV and Roger Bolton Productions, picked up two new orders this month. First up is the 2x60-minute Square Planet, ordered for Discovery UK by Louisa Bolch. Guardian journalist Stuart Jefferies fronts the...

Banc launches Living TV's Will and Grace campaign. (Commercials).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Living TV is to launch a multimedia campaign to reinforce its position as the owner of Will and Grace. The US show is shown on Channel 4, but Living TV has exclusive first runs of each series. Banc creative team Jez and Jim created the...

Hibbert Ralph deal with Octopus. (Animation).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... HRTV, part of the Hibbert Ralph group, is teaming up with publishing house Octopus to develop a kids series, Elton--Little Lost Elephant. The book, written by Alison Morris, sold out on its first print-run and has tested in the US and in...

The Machine Room. (Broadcast).(completes work on new program)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Machine Room has completed work on a programme about the intense rivalry between strip-clubs in Blackpool. Heading up Sky 1's autumn schedule, Naked in Blackpool is a 6x60-minute series produced by Pacific Television. The Machine Room...

Unity Pictures. (In Brief).(creates six ads for Spitfire Kentish Ale)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Unity Pictures has created six spots for Spitfire Kentish Ale through agency RPM3. The ads were put together using both traditional hand-drawn animation and Flash. The characters were then composited into a 3D environment and camera moves were...

Pci:Live. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Pci:Live's docu-drama-style recruiting video for the army is the first to use real soldiers talking about their experiences in the forces. The six-week, two-crew shoot took in re-enacted battle scenes on Salisbury Plain and in the mountains of...

Digitalia. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... UK 3D animation and effects studio Digitalia has provided post and created the staggered frame-by-frame effect used in a short film by the fashion designer Hussein Chalayan. Ainbimorphuos, playing at The Antwerp Fashion Museum, features a...

Pinter specials from Lone Star. (Broadcast).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... A BBC season about the playwright Harold Pinter includes two films from arts strand Arena this month: The Room and Celebration, named after his first and last plays. The Room starts in the place where he writes today (the "superstudy" as...

Paul Weiland and SVC burn rubber for Playstation 2. (Commercials).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Paul Weiland, TBWA London and SVC have left the starting-grid with a spot for F1 2002, Playstation 2's new Formula 1 racing game. Shot in Spain, the ad shows images that reflect the excitement that comes when playing the game--a plummeting...

The Other Boleyn Girl, a BBC Films feature for BBC2. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Other Boleyn Girl, a BBC Films feature for BBC2, adapts Philippa Gregory's novel about Mary Boleyn (Natascha McElhone), sister to Anne (Jodhi May) and Henry VIII's mistress before he married Anne. Phillippa Lowthorpe directs and Ruth Caleb...

Carlton's two-hour film Margery and Gladys. (The Green Light).(to go out on ITV1)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Carlton's two-hour film Margery and Gladys stars Margot and Dot (aka Penelope Keith and June Brown). it was written by Andrew McCulloch and John Flanagan (Anybody's Nightmare) and will go out on ITV1. The executive producer is Sharon Bloom,...

My Heart is a Lion tells the story of Ugandan artist Frank Taga. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... My Heart is a Lion tells the story of Ugandan artist Frank Taga, whose paintings are sought after by the likes of Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton. Producer/director Mark Hawtin is making the film without a broadcaster and with assistance from...

Diverse has been commissioned to make Charles and Camilla. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Diverse has been commissioned to make Charles and Camilla for ITV1, a 50-minute documentary that examines how Charles's public image has been maintained since the death of Princess Diana in 1997. The executive producer is Diverse's Leonie...

Zeppetron's pilot for The People's Book of Records. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Zeppetron's pilot for The People's Book of Records has been commissioned by C4; the series, which features odd world-record attempts, will air in 2003. Possible posers are: how long can you hug a Yorkshire terrier made of ice while stripped to...

Nick UK has linked up with Seoul's Sunwoo Entertainment. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Nick UK has linked up with Seoul's Sunwoo Entertainment to make The Disgusting World of Horace Grossman. Six Flash-animated one-minute shows for the channel will also go out on Nick's website. Exec producer is Steve Shannon.

The CCTV Archive is making Xtreme as it Gets for Sky1. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The CCTV Archive is making Xtreme as it Gets for Sky1 for a December airing. The programme features CCTV footage of criminals, crowd-fighting, riots and other bad behaviour. It is being produced by Bill Rudgard with Andrew Lowrey executive...

The BBC is to launch an interactive soap, Thunder Road. (The Green Light).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The BBC is to launch an interactive soap, Thunder Road: 30 daily three-minute shows written by John Godber go out initially to viewers of Kingston Interactive in Hull, who will be able to access extra footage, play games and join chat-boards....

Pioneer Productions. (In Brief).(begins filming on Extreme Machines: Offshore Rigs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Pioneer Productions has begun filming on Extreme Machines: Offshore Rigs for The Learning Channel. The high-definition project will also air on Discovery HD Theater. The 50-minute documentary will "not only be filmed in hi-def, but finished,...

Clear has done all 155 visual fx shots on Danny Boyle's apocalyptic DV feature 28 Days Later. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Clear has done all 155 visual fx shots on Danny Boyle's apocalyptic DV feature 28 Days Later. Clear did pre-production tests with DV cameras, but the big task was to empty the streets of London for Boyle's virus victims--known as "the...

The Accidental Film Co. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Visitors to Battersea Dogs' Home will be greeted by a dedicated video channel for the home, care of The Accidental Film Co. John Simm plays the border collie Blue (left) in ft's a Battersea Dog's Life, while other programmes include information...

Regional TV under threat. (Report).(independent television production faces commercial pressure)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Independent TV production outside London is heading for a crisis because of continuing commercial pressures on broadcasters, according to an ITC report. The report, TV in the Nations and Regions, pointed to a bias towards London-based...

Axe falls on Brookside. (Broadcast).(Channel 4 revamps programs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... A major casualty of the root-and branch-revamp of Channel 4 by new controller Mark Thompson is one of its its longest-running programmes: Brookside has been dropped from its weekday slots, and will not be recommissioned after the contract with...

Green swaps BBC for 19TV. (Broadcast).(Conrad Green)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Simon Fuller's l9TV has poached Conrad Green from the BBC as executive producer for shows for the US networks. Green was hired by the BBC as its head of entertainment development a year ago, charged with developing new entertainment formats...

New indie for dinosaur-makers. (Digital TV).(former BBC executives develop independent firm)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The producers of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts have left the BBC to setup their own indie. Tim Haines and Jasper James have set up Impossible Pictures and have already been commissioned by Lorraine Heggessey to make two...

Branding the future of television. (The Business News).
November 1, 2002... People are consuming more media than ever before, but the choice can be overwhelming. And, in the battle for ratings, it is the marketing executives that hold the real power. Audiences are hungry for anything that can help them to make a...

ITV puts its money on dark horse. (Broadcast).(Nigel Packard to replace David Liddiment)
November 1, 2002... ITV began to pull itself together last month, in time for the crucial round of annual negotiations with advertisers. The turning-point was not the move to merge Carlton and Granada; the City welcomed the [pounds sterling]2.6bn behemoth,...

The Steve Coogan/Tim Searle/Peter Baynham animated concoction I am not an Animal has run into anti-vivisection trouble before it's more than a twinkle in BBC2's eye. (Month In Review).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Steve Coogan/Tim Searle/Peter Baynham animated concoction I am not an Animal has run into anti-vivisection trouble before it's more than a twinkle in BBC2's eye. In something of a humour bypass, the British Union for the Abolition of...

Meanwhile on BBC1, is Fame Academy going to last the course? (Month In Review).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Meanwhile on BBC1, is Fame Academy going to last the course? The 1m viewers who turned against the much-hyped talent show after just one outing say no. The BBC is confident (in any case, it's got to get its money back from converting that flash...

Rainbow Disco Roadshow. (Month In Review).(revival of Rainbow)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Oh God, the dayglo dungaree revival may soon be upon us. Producer Fremantie has decided it's time for the late-night "ironic" rebirth of 70s kids fave Rainbow to cater for the inebriated smirking-student crowd. The show, which always had a...

Shaky start for River City. (Broadcast).(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2002... It was good to see you covering TV outside London in September in your article on BBC Scotland's new soap River City. What was revealing was how keen BBC Scotland is to justify the money they are spending by saying it gives Scottish...

Damned lies and statistics? (Facilities 50).
November 1, 2002... Televisual's annual Facilities Top 50 survey (September) is a bit of an institution. Every year post-houses and producers alike eagerly await its results to see how they and their favourite post-houses have fared. But, like every...

Channel 4 goes back to basics? (Opinions).(sheds jobs and returns to core business)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... C4 celebrates its 20th birthday this month with its highest-ever peaktime ratings (almost 10% share) and highest-ever programme budget ([pounds sterling]430m). And by shedding 200 jobs. By 2003, Mark Thompson will have culled the staff at...

Lifestyle choices. (Interview Ben Frow).(interview with Channel 4's head of features)(Interview)
November 1, 2002... As Channel 4's head of features adds the daytime schedule to his brief, he tells Jon Creamer how his job is to bring in the numbers, so that the rest of Channel 4 can get back to its cutting-edge roots. For a man who's just been handed the...

Knight school. (Metalheads in Production).(TV Loonland develops cartoon about knights)
November 1, 2002... TV Loonland's latest toon takes a step back in time to when knights were bold and the peasants really were revolting. Jon Creamer asks the team how they plan to tell this knight's tale. In the middle ages, kids didn't grow up longing to be...

Should've been here yesterday; Dwindling production budgets and increasingly truculent clients: what happened to the golden age? Sam Espensen finds out of it ever existed. (Commercials Top 30).
November 1, 2002... Last year, all the talk in the ad world was of approaching recession and fear of the future. This time round, falling budgets are here to stay and client intervention is becoming commonplace. There's not enough work, not enough money and too...

Bring me the head of TV: if the agency is your client, somewhere in there is a head of TV who has to answer to his client. Adrian Pennington meets the people who balance the budget. (Ad Agencies).
November 1, 2002... PAT MURPHY Head of broadcast, Leo Burnett Leo Burnett is an agency that sees the need to manage the future as well as the now. It has two heads of department. Graham Light exclusively manages TV ad production; Murphy, as well as...

So Thai, so Soho. (Butterfly Man in Production).(De Warrenne Pictures' new film)
November 1, 2002... This is a story of an exotic, indigenous culture swamped by tourism. But, as Sam Espensen talks to the producers, she uncovers a thriving ex-pat post-industry that's taken up residence for good. De Warrenne Pictures' first film was very...

V is for versatile. (DVD authoring).
November 1, 2002... Authoring DVD is a boom business: demand continues to rise as VHS is pushed off Blockbuster and HMV shelves, and disc deliverables are increasingly used for corporate presentation. The flipside, however, is that established players face serious...

Electric Switch turns Deluxe. (Facilities).(Electric Switch renamed Deluxe Digital Studios)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... One of the UK's best-known DVD authoring brands, Electric Switch, has adopted the name Deluxe Digital Studios three years after its acquisition by the US group. The move follows the formation in July of joint-venture company Deluxe Global...

Mac Million finishes HD Ride. (Facilities).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Mac Million has completed the online, titles and grade for HI) feature The Ride, the first 24P HD-Cam project in Europe to be graded on the Sony Xpri edit system. The film, shot on location in Luxembourg and London, stars Paul Nicholls as...

Cintel. (In Brief).(new grain-reduction tool)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Cintel has unveiled a grain-reduction tool, Grace, optimised for its C-Reality and DSX film scanners (a finished shot, left). Available in 2003, the tool is film-gauge, image-format and resolution independent. Cintel says 'since grain-reduction...

4MC shifts to high-def high-ground. (Facilities).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... 4MC is bidding to become the UK's premier HD facility as part of a wider restructure among the Liberty Livewire-owned group. 4MC St Anne's Court is the interim name for the revamped creative facilities house, with 4MC at Wardour Street...

Dublin's The Farm builds new home to roost. (Facilities).(Farm Media Group )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Dublin's The Farm Media Group is investing over [pounds sterling]4m to target business from Soho and the US. The move follows the August merger of audio specialist The Farm Digital Audio with edit outfit Blade to create what is claimed to be...

2+1 moves to The Other Side. (Facilities).(DVD introduced)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Broadcast edit facility 2+1 has launched DVD authoring wing, The Other Side. The Lower James Street-facility, which recently merged with corporate edit house Fairline, will house the division along with several additional Avid offline and...

Sisters pass the grade at DFL. (Facilities).(The Magdalene Sisters color-graded at Digital Film Lab)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Peter Mullan's debut feature film The Magdalene Sisters, a drama about life in a 1960s Irish convent, has completed extensive digital colour-grading at Digital Film Lab. Additional effects shots were added in Inferno. These included reflections...

DB Post. (In Brief).(post production company closes offices)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The economic downturn has claimed two more victims. Broadcast and film audio specialist DB Post shuttered its Berwick Street and Soho Square offices in the second week of October. Ironically, the facility had just been Emmy-nominated for its...

Warner Music Group. (In Brief).(new web site)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Warner Music UK, part of Warner Music Group, has launched www.songshop.com, an online music service for sourcing original artist recordings. Warner's online catalogue features 9000 artists and 140k tracks that can be used to enhance theme, mood...

Lightworks Touch. (In Brief).(Mersey Television utilizes Lightworks Touch edit systems )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Liverpool's Mersey Television has added four Lightworks Touch edit systems to cater for production of the extra weekly episode of Hollyoaks. Mersey already uses five Lightworks Turbos and two Heavyworks. "Lightworks is still the best machine...

TV accounts are in a mess. (Business).(accounting procedures need revisions)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The way financial performance is measured in the UK film and TV industry should be given a total overhaul, according to financial advisers Grant Thornton. Its report reviews the accounting policies of 177 UK film and TV companies and...

OpenTV halves its costs. (Technology).(lays off employees)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... OpenTV, the Liberty Media-owned firm whose software powers 35 million set-top boxes around the world including about 6.1m through SkyDigital, has shed half its 650 staff. The company is hoping to save [pounds sterling]38m annually. ...

Another one bites the dust. (Technology).(post-production vendor 5D closes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The sudden demise of Sony's high-end software project Socratto has been followed by the shock termination of post-production vendor 5D. The immediate cause of 5D's closure was a failure to pay a capital gains tax bill incurred from its sale...

Thomson buys Canal+ arm. (Technology).(Thomson Multimedia, Canal+Technologies)
November 1, 2002... Thomson Multimedia has purchased Canal+Technologies, the loss-making subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, for [pounds sterling]119m. Thomson already held a 3.2% stake in the encryption and middleware developer, and had previously collaborated...

Stuck in the middle with you. (The Business the Works).
November 1, 2002... It's become increasingly common these days to say that the middle-ground post-house is under threat, with only the specialist high-end niche and the low-overhead approach set to ride out the storm. Yet most people I speak to on a daily basis...

Find the animal in you. (The Life of Mammals).(new television program)
November 1, 2002... This month's launch of BBC1's new flagship wildlife 10-parter (fronted, naturally, by Sir David Attenborough) also highlights a potentially powerful new production method for interactive TV Continuing the BBC's long tradition of natural...

Production Directory: The A - Z of production services.(Directory)
November 1, 2002... ACCOUNTANTS BRECKMAN & COMPANY For friendly advice on all of your accounts and tax matters call 0207 499 2292. or Visit our website www.breckmanandcompany.co.uk CHARING & COMPANY, Chartered Accountants. Providing comprehensive...

In my view. (The End).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Jason Smith directs commercials through Brave Films and promos through Flynn. Having just made The Appletons' new video, he's in a good position to tell Sam Espensen why MTV is playing it safe. And, having lived in Los Angeles, he also tells...

All but the kitchen sink. (The End).
November 1, 2002... What's up with UK TV? Good dramas are few and far between. We're falling behind when it comes to TV drama compared to the US, where there are things like 24 and The Sopranos. Either our story lines aren't very interesting, or the way...

November TX guide: A producer's guide to the month on the box. (The End).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Freeview, from Wednesday 30 October What you can see after installing your new o99 decoder or retuning your TV Digital box: if you're exploring digital for the first time, the BBC has the exciting Fame Academy Live on offer (20.30,...

Slot-snatch sets Freeview's musical battle lines. (Hair-in-the-Gate).
November 1, 2002... Even before it had cleared away the press-launch canapes, Freeview had had an SMS from MTV firming up its offer of The Music Factory to supplement Emap's The Hits--which had just been announced as the only music channel on the platform. This...

MPC's 2D and 3D teams have worked for two years on S4C. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... MPC's 2D and 3D teams have worked for two years on S4C's forthcoming feature, Otherworld. The film is based on Celtic tales going back to 500BC, and stars three kids taken into Otherworld by a guardian from the past.

Brief Encounters. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Brief Encounters runs in Bristol later this month, featuring a raft of shorts including Clutch, directed by Carol Stevens. Shane Meadows will also be giving a lecture on short films.

422 South has made an ad for the UK chairty Plan. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... 422 South has made an ad for the UK Charity Plan, which works in the world's poorest areas to give a better future for their kids. 422's Alex Edwards designed the main character and scenes.

The Dog Who was a Cat Inside is Passion's Siri Melchior's latest short, part of C4's Air scheme. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Dog Who was a Cat Inside is Passion's Siri Melchior's latest short; part of C4's Air scheme. The dog and cat live together in the same body, which leads to a bit of conflict between the species.

The Big Beach Boutique 2 is Eagle Vision's biggest DVD to date. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Big Beach Boutique 2 is Eagle Vision's biggest DVD to date. The Pavement's design includes two games that both reveal extras if won: Dolphin Derby and Weapon of Choice, which involves hitting Mr Cook with a hammer. It also has hidden...

Johhny Hardstaff's promo for Black Dog and FC Kahuna's Hayling was posted at The Mill. (Storyboard News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Johhny Hardstaff's promo for Black Dog and FC Kahuna's Hayling was posted at The Mill. Much cg was required, with an ambient light-shader created to ensure the creature feels part of the live action.