Televisual articles from October 2000

Televisual archives from October 2000

Ottawa pays off for de Wit.(Dudok de Wit)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Dudok de Wit's new animation, Father and Daughter, has walked away with the Independent Film prize and Peoples' Choice at this year's Ottawa animation festival. The eight-minute film by the makers of the Oscar nominated The Monk and the...

Visage corners B2B on Sky.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... BTV specialist Visage plans to follow up this month's launch of Sky's business-to-business Automotive Channel, and re-launch of its Pub Channel, with further specialist channels. Founder Bob Clarke says he's developing a cross-media...

Two Way tackles new game.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Two-Way Television's newest tie-up for interactive games is with this autumn's Rugby League World Cup. The deal links the 24-hour channel, which goes out on NTL's CWC's network and Telewest's Active Digital, to the 30 matches that kick off...

On Digital on the interactive nursery slopes.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The first interactive DTT show is to be hosted by new mother Melinda Messenger, as Carlton Active's Baby Baby goes out this month on On Digital to London viewers. The 10-week series will contain parenting advice and interviews with...

Speakeasy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Broadcast and corporate producer Speakeasy, whose founder Jim Adamson recently moved it to Perthshire, had a live audience of 40,000 at Celtic football club's home-stadium for its satellite link to the club's Helsinki game, with 30,000 watching...

Just Group and Hasbro.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Just Group and Hasbro have agreed a merchandise deal for Butt-Ugly Martians. Just's futuristic series going out on CITV early next year is about three aliens bent on world-domination. Just's ceo Will Shorrocks expresses similar plans for the cg...

Flashback.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Flashback has begun re-versioning over 100 hours of programmes for the new Biography Channel, which launches this month on Sky. They include the likes of Biography of Clint Eastwood and Biography of Satan, as shown on the US Biography Channel...

Aardman set to change the face of Nike.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Aardman has delivered the latest Nike ad for the Geppetto Group in New York. Screening solely in America, it features a character getting ready for a basketball game by trying on different faces, settling finally for his "game face" before...

CORPORATE.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Cheerful Scout has designed the graphic content for Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2000. Audio-visual CVs of the nominees are to be screened at this month's awards, alongside 3D animated graphics. Created in-house by Peter Litten...

Sanctuary enlists serial killers for Channel 5.
October 1, 2000... Sanctuary Films' new Channel 5 commission is a black comedy drama, Headless. Airing weekly from 30 November, it's a murder story set in an appartment-block called Janis Towers filled with upwardly mobile people. The first two episodes of...

Horizon revisits air crash.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Skaramoosh has created graphic content for Horizon: Vanished, which re-enacts the last minutes of a Lancastrian airliner (a converted Lancaster bomber) before it crashed in the Andes in 1947. The wreck was discovered in 1997. Animator...

Academy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... MPC has posted Academy's Neneh and Eagle Eye Cherry promo, Long Way Round. Green-screen of the artists was keyed into a void in Inferno, to be bombarded with consumer products. MPG's Simon Gosling says it has "hi-fi effects with lo-fi results,"...

Wild Dream Films.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... If you buy Wild Dream Films Space Tourist at Mipcom, you'll get a free plot on the moon. The soft science doc about space tourism, shot in Russia and the Mojave Desert, features Dennis Hope as the real estate man who "owns the moon." Director...

Attaboy TV.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In Attaboy TV's first drama commission, Road Movies, five new directors will showcase weekly on C4's Later from October. Part-drama, part-documentary about making the drama, the half-hour shows were directed by Orlando Stuart, Siobahn Foggarty,...

Bull packs tutu for Paladin.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Paladin is in post with a 4x30-minute BBC2 series Travels with My Tutu, fronted by the Royal Ballet's Deborah Bull. The series was spawned by Paladin's Dance Ballerina Dance, which featured in BBC's Dance Night last Christmas, also starring...

Playboy seeks love goddesses.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Playboy UK is looking to follow up Ashford Entertainment's six-part series Love Goddesses of Hollywood, about US B-movie actresses, with a European version. Shot on DV in the US, Goddesses airs on Playboy UK/Benelux from 7 October,...

Clinic does a three-way split for Daewoo.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Clinic's new Daewoo commercial Match of the Day uses motion-control on the move to film Daewoo's Tacuma model in Barcelona. Airing early next year in the UK, the 40-second ad tells three stories simultaneously: mum going shopping, dad...

BROADCAST.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Frontier Post designed the channel idents and on-air graphics for Flextech's Screenshop, the first widescreen shopping channel in the UK which goes countrywide this month. Editor Paul Ingvarsson used Digital Studio to create a backdrop...

The Reel Editing Company.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Short, White, Pleated, Georgina Lock's unsuccessful entry into the BFI new directors' scheme, is currently being cut courtesy of The Reel Editing Company. Other support for the short about obsessive squash players came from BAFTA-winning...

First Circle Films.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Two documentaries from First Circle Films probing a crisis among aid agencies open C4's Africa season in November. Working title Emergency Aid, the 2x50-minute shows were series produced by Daniel Wolf and directed by Peter Minns. Editing was...

Daniel Kleinman.(Ad for FCB)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Spectre director Daniel Kleinman used San Fancisco's Golden Gate bridge for FCB's new Chrysler ad, even though filming on it is forbidden. Shots of the bridge from helicopters and boats were taken into Inferno at Framestore, to be combined with...

BBC's EU challenge to US film.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Last month, BBG Films forged an alliance with Lola Films and Kinowelt, hoping to stem the flow of talent to the US from Europe. It's yet another attempt to turn around the fortunes of film, witha$4m development budget between the three aimed at...

Peter Salmon.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... News that Peter Salmon had stood down as BBC1 controller made barely a ripple (sorry) after a summer of speculation about his future. He himself was chipper: he'd swapped the poisoned chalice for the dream job of running BBC sport, a spot...

Lorraine Heggessey.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Meanwhile, with former joint head of factual Lorraine Heggessey taking on the BBC1 job, with Jane Root ensconced at BBC2 and with Liz Cleaver at BBC Knowledge, BBC Choice's Stuart Murphy is looking increasingly isolated as the BBC's token male...

Pact.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Powers evidenced at Pact last month, as Shed md Eileen Gallagher stepped uncontested into Alex Graham's shoes as vice-chair (television) to the re-elected and also uncontested - Beryl Vertue. Rumours of Gallagher forsaking independent status by...

Facilities 50 reality check.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... I read with interest September's Facilities 50. As one of the smaller outfits, I did not really expect to get a mention, but it is always good to see who's gone up, down, or come in or out. However I do find it frustrating that, among some...

Who created the cosmos?
October 1, 2000... Having spent six months authoring the most ambitious DVD ever produced in this country, we were stunned to read in your magazine that Metcom had received no credit for the monumental effort put into the creation of the Cosmos DVD. Gary...

Big Brother is watching himself.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... One evening last month, over half the UK population installed in front of the telly was watching Channel 4's Big Brother, with over 7m people picking up the phone for the final vote and more logging on via the web. And an inordinate share...

History in the making.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... As The History Channel branches out and presents The Biography Channel to its UK audience, viewers prepare to take on one more font of information. History's md Geoff Metzger tells how a love of sport, history and a healthy dose of The Simpsons...

NTL's fighting fund.
October 1, 2000... NTL has a lot of money to give away, and its head of digital content is keen to spend it on the right ideas. He tells Ed Waller what he wants for his money He's "not a commissioning editor," begins John Hondros, despite presiding over a...

The Mayor of Casterbridge.(Directed by Sally Head)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Four years on from making Tess of the D'Urbervilles as LWT controller of drama, Sally Head is back in Hardy country for the same firm -- but now as an independent. Christina Pishiris follows her west Hardy country is beautiful, but it's not...

The soap wars.
October 1, 2000... ITV's new soaps are a very big deal: [pound]20m so far. But, asks Anastasia Kershaw, are they enough to deliver the goods in ITV's schedules? The process was more polished than usual, and the price was non-negotiable from the start. ITV...

PRODUCTION 100.(Independent Television)
October 1, 2000... Independent broadcast producers are this year working harder than last on more hours of programming and for bigger budgets - but with somewhat diminishing returns. That's the report from all those who responded to this year's Televisual's top...

On the way to Hollywood UK?(Shepperton Studios and Pinewood Studios talk of merger)
October 1, 2000... With talk of a merger between Shepperton and Pinewood, could the holy grail of a Hollywood UK finally be in sight? Rob Buckley talks to major studios to find out what they see in their crystal balls Studios are hot right now. When Michael...

Gentlemen's Relish.(A Christmas collaboration of Principal Pictures and BBC1)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Principal Pictures and BBC1 join forces for a Christmas schedule special with Billy Connolly. Sam Espensen finds palm trees and porn parlours at Hampton Court As Gentlemen's Relish goes into the second week of shooting, there's a question...

Shot from both sides.(international deals for documentaries hard to negotiate)
October 1, 2000... Just in time for Mipcom, the viability of the internationally co-produced documentary has been cast into some doubt as factual specialists fall by the wayside. Ed Waller reports For many specialist documentary-makers, the narrowing tastes...

Arts head skyward.(Richard Melman discusses direction of Artsworld)(Interview)
October 1, 2000... Come December, subscriber screens will bring on the new channel, Artsworld. Anastasia Kershaw chats with channel director Richard Melman about Korean films and glove puppets While new niche channels are shrouded in words like ghetto,...

Camera crews.(effect of digital video on camera crews)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... Rates are rising and so are discounts. DV's here to stay and film's all but gone. These are some the results of this year's camera crew survey. Rob Buckley reports on the companies who are finding a way to survive, even when producers are doing...

4MC UK expands in audio.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 4MC UK is opening a newly-kitted audio mastering room for sound restoration, manned by fellow Liberty workers Dominic Shanks and Dominic Thomas of West One West. Based in 4MC UK's Wardour Street HQ the facility - still awaiting THX and...

Who will control the set-top?(FCC to rule on standards)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Consumer electronics firms, the US cable industry, consumer groups and Microsoft are all struggling with the FCC in America to decide to what standards set-top boxes will have to use. At stake is the group which will control the interfaces that...

Electric Image.(buys itself from Play Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Electric Image's management team has bought the subsidiary from its owners, Play Inc. The company makes the eponymous 3D animation software used for Star Wars (episodes two and four) and the latest Star Trek movies, and is close to releasing a...

Lipsync unveils [pound]1.6m suites.(Lipsync Post)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Lipsync Post is setting up two cinema sound suites and relocating to Wardour Street as part of a [pound]1.6 million redevelopment. Taking over the ground floor and basement of the Marshall Cavendish building next to MPC, the facility is...

Cinesite is top for transfers.(Cinesite Digital Imaging video to film)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In a worldwide survey of companies that transfer video to film, Cinesite (Europe)'s Fido service has been ranked top by all the members of the voting panel. The survey was judged by Emmy-nominated director Robert Goodman, consultant...

Golden Square Post enters Matrix beta test.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Golden Square Post is to be the West End beta site for Snell and Wilcox's Flomo "Matrix effects kit" and is evaluating the system on two commercials. The image interpolation software was developed for The Matrix so stills could be morphed...

Adding the new dimension.(Lipsync says use sound)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... "Sound is the new sex. 60% of perception is created by sound, producers are discovering," says Lipsync Post's md Jon Diamond. "In my 25 years in London, I haven't seen so much activity in cinema sound." And, with 4MC having bought Magmasters...

CFC.(seeks post production contract for Samuel Beckett films)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... CFC is in the running to do the post on all 20 films in Blue Angel's Beckett Film Project, having just finished the video-to-film transfer for the first of the series, Play. The film reunites the Truly, Madly, Deeply team of Anthony Minghella,...

Mertropolis.(Sets up in London)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Mertropolis is to unveil its first UK DVD production studio, following the success of its New York venture. The facility, housed in its west London recording and mastering facility (Chiswick High Road) will include 5.1 Surround-sound mixing,...

Imagine.(Promo for John Lennon song)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Newcastle's Imagine post house has completed a promo for the John Lennon song, Working Class Hero. The commemorative video - produced on an Avid Media Composer with intraframe editing and Animatte - features archive footage of Lennon's...

DTI backs Hollywood fx pitch.(Dept of Trade and Industry seeks relationship between UK and US film industries)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... It was in 1997 that the Department of Trade and Industry first got wind that there was growth in the UK's visual effects industry - and, notably, opportunities in the USA. The first move was to test the water. The second, to appoint an LA...

HD comes home.(high definition television production)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Vikki Dunn and Nicky Sargent have a new facility in their Soho stable. After The Farm, Shed and Squash, they join Sam Espensen leaning on the gate to watch the cows come Home "High-definition is the way forward," according to md Vikki...

TV people bite back at ITV.(Independent Television)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... After Granada's pounce on United, the former ceo of HTV Wales who recently paid [pound]16m for Channel TV has a bid in for his old station. Now back on the ITV's ruling council, he tells of a new breed of ITV man When, after a gap of...