Hotel Babylon

Producer
THE
Hotel Babylon
The future of British TV drama
Richard Woolfe
Sky One controller
Working with HDV,
XDCAM HD, HDCAM
and HDCAM SR
the digital production magazine autumn 2006 £5
TM
News >
Editor Chris Dickinson
Contributors Louise Bishop,
Maggie Brown, Pippa
Considine, Douglas Kitson,
Abigail Pears, Adrian
Pennington
Art Editor Karen Painter
Executive Editor Carl Pring
Circulation Development
Manager Steve Klapiscak
26 Carnarvon Road,
Bristol BS6 7DU
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Published by Small World
Publishing Limited for Sony
United Kingdom Limited.
Contents copyright 2006
Sony Corporation.
Reproduction in whole or
part is strictly prohibited.
Permission may be granted
by application to Sony United
Kingdom Limited, Broadcast
Division. No responsibility
for loss occasioned to any
person acting or refraining
from action as a result of the
material in this publication
can be accepted by the
authors or publishers. Whilst
information given is
true at the time of printing,
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the course of our company’s
policy of improvement
through research and design
might not be indicated in any
specifications. Please check
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current specification and
features match your
requirements.
Digital Betacam, DVCAM,
Betacam SX, MPEG IMX,
XDCAM, XDCAM HD,
HDCAM, CineAlta and Sony
are all trademarks of the
Sony Corporation, Japan.
2 The Producer autumn 2006
Tomorrow’s world
With Casualty now 20 years old and The Bill still going
strong, in this issue we look at the future of British TV
drama (page 8). At the same time, Hotel Babylon,
hailed for pioneering a new American-style of British
drama series, has just finished shooting its second
series on HDCAM (page 9), while Mersey Television
continues to work with the latest production
techniques, using XDCAM HD Professional Disc on a
spectacular stunt (page 10) for Hollyoaks: in the City.
Veteran DoP Peter Eveson also reveals how he works
with HDCAM on new Capriol Films’ dramas (page 24).
Sky is also leading HD production, with its Ryder Cup
coverage utilising a record-breaking 73 HDC-1500 HD
cameras and for the first time taking advantage of the
new 3x SuperMotion HD slow motion system (pages 12
& 13). Sky One controller Richard Woolfe spells out how
he is redirecting his channel with new HD
programming (page 14) , one of which, Mission
Implausible, we look at in depth (page 17).
HDV is also in widespread use (page 21), XDCAM HD
is being used to capture spectacular footage (page 11)
and HDCAM SR was used to record top end Nike
promos (page 18). We also look at the benefits of using
Sony Specialist Dealers to purchase kit (pages 6 & 7),
with a full contact list on page 27.
Chris Dickinson
Sony United Kingdom offers an extensive range of
communications technology solutions, incorporating leading edge
technology, service and support packages for broadcast,
videoconferencing, surveillance, medical and digital imaging and
presentation applications.
More information on specific formats and solutions is available at:
HDCAM SR, HDCAM and HDV www.sonybiz.net/hd
DVCAM
www.sonybiz.net/dvcam
MPEG IMX
www.sonybiz.net/imx
Digital Betacam
www.sonybiz.net/digitalbetacam
Betacam SX
www.sonybiz.net/sx
Professional Audio
www.sonybiz.net/proaudio
XDCAM Professional Disc
www.sonybiz.net/xdcam
Xpri non-linear editor
www.sonybiz.net/xpri
Anycast Station
www.sonybiz.net/anycast
Comedy short shoots on HDV
The Horrors promo on DVCAM
King of Kommunication, a nine
minute short comedy, is a
window into the world of the
odd couple of Vince (Stew
Castledine) and Peggy
(Chantal Brown), two hopeless
romantic Elvis Presley fans.
Whilst arranging a love
tryst over web-cams the pair
experience an electric shock
that propels them on a surreal
journey of self discovery.
Director Perry Stevens,
who co-wrote the script with
Matteo Scumaci, says the
short was shot with an
HVR-Z1E HDV camcorder. His
production company is Imp
Film Co.
“The sets were very
important and although we
used close-ups greatly in this
shoot, there are lots of items
on the set (if you look hard
enough) that prove how much
the two central characters
love Elvis. The detail in the
background is astounding and
we found that HD gave it great
depth without unnecessary
lighting.
“We also experimented
with a wide angle lens on the
last shot of the film. Again,
this was fun to use and got a
great result. The hardest part
was using it just the once.”
The actors worked from
three scripts simultaneously,
English, foreign language and
phonetic. An interactive DVD
was also produced with all the
translations for the actors.
This included Spanish, Italian,
Japanese, Dutch, Swedish,
Hungarian, German, French
and Sign.
The two lead actors never
met on this project and were
filmed a month apart in Soho
and Brick Lane respectively.
White is the new black in Chris
Cunningham’s promo for
intrusive rock ‘n’ roll band The
Horrors. In it, Cunningham’s
female protagonist Samantha
Morton (Enduring Love, In
America, Code 46, The
Minority Report, etc), donned
in an innocent-looking slip
dress, begins to pulsate to the
guitar intro in a dark space.
As a fast drumbeat kicks
in, Morton shakes her head
violently from side to side and
explosions of light first shoot
out from underneath her dress
and then transform her
features with images of “the
parasite within”.
Producer James Wilson
says the promo was shot on
DVCAM, with Golden Square’s
Rachel Mills working on Flame
and Inferno to create the
transitions between the
woman and the parasite.
“A huge amount of post
was required to give the
effects the integrity Chris
seeks, but this was a ‘DIY’
production with tiny
resources. Golden Square
came to the rescue, we
couldn’t have done it without
them,” Wilson says.
for your free subscription to The Producer
register at www.sonybiz.net/producer
Volvo Ocean Race captured on
DVCAM
The 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean
Race involved seven boats
racing round the world over
nine months and was captured
with over 70 DVCAM
camcorders.
The 10 DVCAM camcorders
installed on each boat
recorded life on board every
day with the footage
transmitted back to Volvo HQ
via satellite. “We made 32
weekly shows,” explains Giles
Bracher of Volvo. DVCAM was
chosen because of its size.
“Weight on board the boats
was an absolute premium,”
says Bracher, “At one point we
were literally cutting
toothbrushes in half to reduce
the weight.”
In the UK, the shows were
aired on ITV4 and Eurosport.
>
Handbags and gladrags
The Long road to success
Contents
The Queen’s handbag has been
stolen and it’s up to characters
from all over children’s
literature to get it back. This
live event from the grounds of
Buckingham Palace, aired on
BBC1 in HD, marked the climax
of the Queen’s 80th Birthday
celebrations.
VT inserts of Harry Potter,
Postman Pat, Cruella de Ville,
and many other elements
impossible to replicate on
stage, were pre-filmed by
London-based Creation
Company, using two
HDW-750P camcorders
shooting at 25P.
Creation’s Panther Pixie
crane was used to shoot the
BFG in the Buckingham Palace
ballroom, where Ronnie
Corbett and Meera Syal played
the queen’s butler and maid,
alongside a 14 foot robot, and
again in the studio for the
Mary Poppins flying sequence,
where the star of the West End
stage musical was matted
against HDCAM aerial views
of London.
The Harry Potter sequence
where Harry and friends are
asked for help by the Prime
Minister, was shot during a
short break in filming on the
Warner Bros set. Director Ben
Warwick wanted a film look, so
DoP Pete James lit for f2.8 on
the Canon lenses, and
Steadicam was used
throughout, enabling the
scenes to be shot in four hours.
BBC executive producer
was Lorna Dickinson.
Dragon Songs – Lang Lang in
China is a high definition
documentary produced jointly
by Loft Music and Germanbased company Nightfrog. It
follows acclaimed pianist Lang
Lang on his tour of China,
where he performs in eight
major cities, including Beijing,
Shezen and Shanghai.
The shoot consists of 2 x
50-minute programmes – one
that documents Lang Lang’s
work and the other his life
away from the press and
concert stages.
page 4
Artists access HD kit
page 5
Green Green Grass shoots HD
page 6
Benefits of Specialist Dealers
page 7
Ideal Shopping Channel
page 8
Future of big UK drama series
page 9 cover story
Hotel Babylon shoots HD
page 10
Hollyoaks spin-off on XDCAM
page 11
Shooting with XDCAM HD
page 12
Ryder Cup breaks HD records
page 14
Richard Woolfe, Sky One
page 17
Sky series Mission Implausible
page 18
Nike promos on HDCAM SR
page 19
Channel TV mixes on Anycast
Both documentaries were
shot using four HDW-F900
HDCAM camcorders shooting
in 59.94 interlaced. “These
cameras were pretty perfect
for us. At times a little heavy,
for instance after the LCD
screens were fitted on the
front, but the picture quality
was tremendous,” explains
Benedict Mirow, producer and
director of Nightfrog.
“We’re looking to invest in
HDW-750P camcorders in the
future.”
page 21
Shooting with HDV
page 23
Red Arrows footage on HD
page 24
DoP Peter Eveson
page 26
Digital production directory
page 27
Sony Specialist Dealers
Arts
Liverpool arts foundation
FACT is making HD
available to artists. Pippa
Considine reports
Face facts
Artist Matthew
Buckingham’s Obscure
Moorings shot in HD
New pieces of video art by internationally acclaimed
artists are amongst the first pieces of work to be shot
using the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology’s
new HD equipment. Obscure Moorings and A Day in the
Office are featuring in the Liverpool Biennial, being held
at FACT’s buildings in the centre of the city until the end
of November.
Matthew Buckingham’s 25 minute video installation,
Obscure Moorings, is a modern day version of Herman
Melville’s short story, Daniel Orme, written in 1891. Orme
is an old sailor retiring to dry land at a time of great
economic and geopolitical change. American artist
Buckingham’s work is shot entirely in Liverpool and
focuses on local characters whose working lives have
revolved around the sea.
The artist used the new high definition equipment
recently acquired by the Moving Image Touring Exhibition
Service (MITES) – a service offered by FACT and funded by
Arts Council England to support artists, filmmakers and
professionals across the creative industries. “This is the
best video image I’ve ever seen,” says Buckingham.
MITES can now offer artists the chance to produce in
HD right through from shoot to post production, making
it the first dedicated place in the UK where artists have
access to HD technology. Simon Bradshaw, the head of
“We’re offering one of the
highest specification HD
camcorders available”
Simon Bradshaw, FACT
structural programme at FACT, is convinced that its
investment in cutting-edge technology is an important
move for FACT and the artists that it supports: “We’re
offering one of the highest specification HD camcorders
available – the Sony HDW-750P,” Bradshaw says.
MITES’ HD kit includes the HDW-750P, together with an
additional tripod, wide angle lens, glidecam camera
stabiliser system, field monitor and backup batteries.
There are also a number of HVR-Z1E and HVR-A1E
cameras, together with the HDW-M2000P HDCAM
recorder and the HVR-M10E HDV recorder.
“The project has been very successful”
Andrew Murray, Presteigne
Life is greener
This summer, Presteigne Broadcast Hire was
commissioned by The Pinewood Studios Group to provide
a full HD solution at Teddington Studios for BBC sitcom
Green Green Grass. Presteigne’s HD De-rig systems allow
Teddington to upgrade their existing facilities to HD for
specific productions.
The series, produced by Shazam Productions for the
BBC, runs for 12 weeks, making six shows, including a
Christmas special. The full solution provided by
Presteigne includes five HDC-1500 camera channels, a
two ME Sony MVS-8000 mixer, 16 x 16 multi format
matrix, down converters, all infrastructures, fibres and
monitors. The project was managed by Mark Tomlin,
Presteigne’s head of systems.
Green Green Grass is a spin-off of one of Britain’s
favourite sitcoms, Only Fools and Horses, and gives Only
Fools writer John Sullivan the chance to explore one of the
shows favourite secondary couples, Marleen and Boycie,
in more depth. It follows the characters as they flee from
Peckham to escape the Driscoll brothers and start a new
life in the country, attempting to become landed gentry in
a rambling country manor.
HD studio
Presteigne supplied a
complete HD rig to
Teddington for Green
Green Grass
Andrew Murray at Presteigne says “the project has been
very successful for all involved, with the HD pictures
impressing Teddington and the Pinewood Studios Group”.
Presteigne have now been appointed to provide solutions
for two further BBC sitcoms being shot at Teddington, Not
Going Out, written by Bafta Award winning comic Lee
Mack and Sony Award winning Andrew Collins, and After
You’ve Gone, starring another one of Britain’s favourite
faces from Only Fools and Horses, Nicholas Lyndhurst,
written by My Family writer Fred Barron.
Green Green Grass was
recorded on HDCAM
Dealers
Sony Specialist Dealers
make it easier for
programme makers to
choose the right HD kit
for their job. Chris
Dickinson and Douglas
Kitson report
BHP’s crews from the
Land Rover G4 Challenge
came to Dublin for the
dealer event
Gearbox purchases more HD
Equipment hire company
GearBox (Sound and Vision)
has bought a large amount of
HDCAM and HDCAM SR
equipment.
“HDCAM and HDCAM
SR are very good formats,
and I believe them to be a
natural progression from
what has come before,”
explains managing director
Richard Eastwood. “While
OB footage used to involve a
lot of Digital Betacam, the
HDCAM side of the market is
growing fast and we have a
commitment to keep up.”
Eastwood says the
purchase is client based. “We
are market led, although we
still stock other products,
Sony is a market leader and
we must give people what
they wants.”
With three offices, two in
London, including one
focusing on an express
service, and another in Leeds
supplying Northern England
and Scotland, and all keeping
these products immediately
available, this is a good time
for stock increases. “We are
currently handling footage
for Casino Royale, the new
Bond film. We also work with
music production on promos,
but it’s on OBs for companies
like the BBC, CTV and
Telegenic.
6 The Producer autumn 2006
Plain dealing
Sony has recently reorganised its dealer network to make
it easier for the production community to get hold of the
right high definition solutions for the jobs they are doing.
Adam Fry, director of European Channel at Sony Europe,
says the Sony Specialist Dealers are able to offer key
advice to end users about all the HD products and
systems in the market and supply full back-up for anything
they supply.
“There are a number of manufacturers with different
HD propositions and it can be confusing for the end user,”
Fry says. “The Specialist Dealer needs to understand the
technology and products to be able to give advice to the
end user, The general point is we want people to move to
Sony HD, but rather than just looking at the cost benefits
of different formats, we want to deliver the right solution
for a particular job at the right cost. It is important that the
Specialist Dealers know why different HD technology is
needed for different shooting environments.”
To this end, Specialist Dealers from 18 countries around
Europe recently gathered for a two day hands-on
production workshop in Dublin, where the sales staff who
are working day-to-day with end users were able to go
through the basics of creating content using HDV,
XDCAM HD, HDCAM and HDCAM SR equipment.
Supporting manufacturers, including Apple and Avid,
were also on hand, allowing those present to shoot and
edit short productions.
The event was put together with the help of BHP
Productions, which earlier this year shot the Land Rover
G4 Challenge with a mix of HDCAM, HDV and XDCAM
HD. A G4 Land Rover was in Dublin and crew from the G4
Challenge advised on the productions.
Fry says the Specialist Dealers came away with a better
understanding of the different HD formats and the sort of
work they are best suited for. For the Specialist Dealers,
the results of integrating more closely with Sony is good
for them and their customers.
“Being a Sony Specialist Dealer lends credibility to the
operation,” says Derek Morgan, managing director of PEC
in London. “Although the customer could have access to
Sony products anywhere, as a Specialist Dealer we have
more direct support available and the associate branding
means the customer can be confident in this support.”
PEC serves a broad spectrum of customers, from
videographers through to commissioned programme
makers. “Buying from a specialist gives the customer
confidence in the service they will receive and this
confidence is very important,” Morgan says.
Ben Murphy, sales manager at Gearhouse Broadcast,
comments: “As a Sony Specialist Dealer, we get direct
communication with Sony, we find out about new models
and promotions much sooner, and this is a definite
advantage. There’s also the technical support and training
sessions, which mean our salesmen are better prepared
than non specialists to help.
“When our customers deal with us as Sony Specialist
Dealers, they can know that we have the latest
information to hand, and that as official UK dealers we
have 100 percent backup from Sony UK.”
WTS, based in London, is one of the latest companies to
join the network. Sales manager, Mike Lippert, says the
benefits are clear.
“It gives us access to a greater depth of Sony, more
contacts within the Sony organisation. We get more
“When you deal with a
Specialist Dealer you can
be confident of the
backup from the dealer
and from Sony”
John Preston, Prestons
information on new products and have much easier access
to information, things we would only eventually find out
about are presented to us straight away.
“Obviously, the more we know, the more we can pass on
to our customers. Being in better contact with Sony is
something we can pass onto our customers, keeping them
in contact as well.”
John Preston, manager of Preston Media in Malvern,
Worcestershire, says key benefits are the two year
warranties and backup from Sony.
“The customers benefit from the backup, the warranty,
also the service,” Preston says. “There’s more trust,
obviously. With the internet around there are a lot more
unauthorised dealers about, but when you deal with a
Specialist Dealer you can be confident of the backup from
the dealer and from Sony.”
Specialist Dealer Visual Impact, meanwhile, has just
placed a huge order for 50 Sony HDW-750P HDCAM
camcorders to add to its already substantial hire fleet.
“This investment is a direct result of the increased
demand for our HDCAM camcorders on productions such
as Hotel Babylon, New Street Law and Judge John Deed,”
comments Tim Sparrock, UK director of Visual Impact.
“It’s our belief that Sony’s recent introduction of the
HDCAM HDW-1800 Series VTRs and the CineAlta
HDW-F900R further cements the HDW-750Ps position as
the workhorse camcorder for the European production
market.”
This is one of the largest single orders for Sony HDCAM
camcorders to date and reflects Visual Impact’s expanding
portfolio, which now includes 20 branches across the UK,
Europe and Southern Africa.
Broadcast
Ideal world
Ideal Shopping Direct, Britain’s leading independent
TV shopping business, has upgraded its studio
equipment, choosing to install state-of-the art LMD
displays supplied by Sony Specialist Dealer Top-Teks.
The company’s 24-hour digital Ideal World channel
puts its studio one through the mill. It is used to shoot
live footage, demonstrating and presenting
merchandise, for broadcast 16 hours a day – from nine
in the morning until one am. Then it’s also used to
create additional programming to air on this core
channel and two of the company’s sister channels.
Ideal Shopping Direct, based in Peterborough,
broadcasts its shopping channel across all the UK’s
digital platforms. As well as 14 presenters fronting
such slots as Glitzy Fashion and The Oriental
Collection, there are 60 production staff.
Ideal World has two sister channels, Create and
Craft, a specialist craft and hobby channel, and Ideal
Vitality, a health, beauty and fitness channel. Both run
largely pre-recorded shows, with a small amount of
live programming.
Ideal Shopping Direct’s technical director, Alan
Wells, explains that with such continuous use, the
studio equipment has to be entirely reliable. Although
the previous kit had been robust, the team did their
research to ensure that they had the right solution.
“We looked at all the other options in the LCD ranges
and came to the conclusion that for value for money,
resolution and reliability, Sony was the best.”
The upgrade of studio one has seen the installation
of 24 x 14-inch Sony monitors, the LMD-1410s and two
of the Sony 20-inch LCD monitors, the LMD-2020s,
together with Sony’s BKM-320D SDI boards.
“We looked at all the other
options in the LCD ranges
… Sony was the best.”
Alan Wells, Ideal
Shopping Direct
Studio equipment
upgrades for Ideal
Shopping Direct. Pippa
Considine reports
Drama
Casualty and The Bill are
both looking to the
future. Abigail Pears
reports
Casualty (right) and The
Bill (below) have both had
to adapt to survive
“HD is the way that the BBC has to go, will go”
Jane Dauncey, Casualty
Future drama
HDW-F900R HDCAM
camcorder
Sony has replaced the
extremely successful
HDW-F900 HDCAM
camcorder with the HDWF900R. This new camcorder
represents the flagship
model within the HDCAM
line-up and has been
designed for productions
such as drama, commercials
and feature films where a
prestige 24P look is required.
The HDW-F900R
combines the imaging
performance of the original
HDW-F900 in a smaller,
lighter chassis. Power
consumption has been
reduced, new features have
been added.
The HDW-F900R features
12-bit A/D conversion, can
record four channels of
digital audio and provides
HD-SDI output as standard.
•••
www.sonybiz.net/hd
for more news and information
about how you can benefit
from HD production
8 The Producer autumn 2006
Long-running drama series such as Casualty and The Bill
are no strangers to our television sets. In September,
Casualty celebrated its 20th anniversary; but in an ever
more competitive market, what does the future hold for
such programmes?
“We’re always looking for fresh challenges”, says Alison
Davies, series producer for The Bill. “Nobody ever took
their audiences for granted, but now more than ever we
are conscious of the need to come up with exciting
storylines to keep our audience captive.” She continues,
“the biggest challenge we face today is multi-channel TV,
rather than international competitors – it’s just a different
world [now]. With any show you have to keep it fresh –
we’ve just finished shooting a two-part special in
Romania”. The story follows two members of the force
who travel to Bucharest in search of a missing woman
and, in doing so, uncover a people trafficking scheme.
“Romania was exciting for us because the police out
there are armed, so that gave us the opportunity to play
about with gun fights and so on.”
The location was chosen because of the topicality of the
issues that are addressed. “We are always trying to push
the boundaries of controversy and topicality,” says Davies.
“We’re looking to do another two part special in the near
future – the episode will be set in London and will look at
life following 7/7.”
In making it to 20, Bristol-based drama series Casualty
has shown a dogged determination to hold onto the
Saturday evening audience. Series producer, Jane
Dauncey, says the show’s format is the key to its success.
“I think that Casualty owes its continuing success to its
brilliant basic formula. You’re in an A & E room, so the
characters face genuine life or death situations every day,”
Dauncey says. “In soaps, they have to contrive divorce,
drama, abortion, etc, but this is different – the bad, mad,
peculiar world comes through the doors every day,
bleeding to death!”
Casualty, like The Bill, is perpetually challenged to come
up with topical and controversial storylines. “It’s funny,”
says Dauncey, “the truth is often stranger than fiction.”
The special 20th anniversary two-part special, called
Different Worlds, was shot partly in Cambodia. “Going on
location is always exciting – some stories fall apart when
you take them outside their usual environment, but I think
this works.”
And what of the future?” What we’re constantly looking
to do is keep reflecting the real modern world. I’ve made it
my personal mission to make the storylines more
plausible and true to life, and I think that Casualty
occupies a reality ground – its not better or worse than its
competitors, just something different. We have shabby
sets, and ‘normal’ people that wouldn’t look out of place in
an aisle of Asda. It makes it a fantastic real show.”
Both Casualty and The Bill are looking to upgrade to
high definition in the future. “It’s definitely something
we’re looking at,” says Davies. “We’ve done screen tests,
but right now HD is such a changing process – when it
becomes standard, we’ll want to be there too.”
“It looks fantastic”, says Dauncey, “HD is the way that
the BBC has to go, will go – quite exciting really. The only
challenge we’ll face here at Casualty is in regard to the
medical prosthetics, because the cameras will pick up
detail so much more.”
In an increasingly competitive industry, UK drama series
all face the same challenges in order to maintain their
places on the screen. “The fight is on,” concludes Dauncey.
Drama
“HDW-750P is perfect for
the job” Sean Van Hales,
Director of Photography
Carnival Films has now
shot two series of Hotel
Babylon on HDCAM.
Chris Dickinson reports
DoP Sean Van Hales (left)
is responsible for creating
the look of Hotel Babylon
Hotel sweet
The second series of BBC One’s glossy drama Hotel
Babylon completed shooting in the summer, repeating the
American style production values that made it so popular
with the 16-24 market as much as older audiences. It is
due to air in January 2007.
Production company Carnival Films has again
assembled a strong crew and cast and has created all
eight episodes of the new series in high definition.
HDW-750P camcorders have been supplied by drama
specialist outfit, 24/7, part of the Visual Impact group.
Hotel Babylon is shot on a set in a former supermarket
warehouse in Buckinghamshire, which was specially built
to allow Carnival to shoot scenes quickly and cost
effectively. “The look is fast, simple and sexy,” says
producer, Christopher Aird. “We treat HD almost
identically to film. The only significant difference is that
we have rushes immediately. The assistant editor does
overnight dailies on Avid and it is there for the editor
when he comes in in the morning.”
The first series of Hotel Babylon was hailed for bringing
American style story-telling to British drama. The second
series builds on that. “Hotel Babylon was received very
well,” Aird says. “It was incredibly successful and once the
audience worked out it was American style comedy
entertainment, they loved it.
“I think Hotel Babylon is a new breed of shows that are
unashamedly entertaining. The Americans have been
doing this for years, but in the UK there’s a legacy of
social realism: if it isn’t good for you, it isn’t good. Actually,
there’s quite a lot of social comment in Hotel Babylon, but
it’s also funny, entertaining and enjoyable. It’s also got a
huge youth audience.”
Aird says the move to go to HDCAM was first and
foremost an aesthetic decision by him and executive
producer, Gareth Neame, managing director of Carnival
and former head of drama commissioning at the BBC.
Financial considerations also played a part, as creating the
same look with film would have been prohibitive.
“It was a no-brainer in the end,” Aird says. “As soon as
we were thinking HD, if we’d gone back to film, we would
have had to go to 35mm.”
Aird and Neame also choose their director of
photography carefully; Sean Van Hales is one of the
leading experts on shooting with HD in the country,
having pioneered the BBC’s first outing with HDCAM in
Rockface, and being responsible for several features and
TV projects shot with the format.
“I’m trying to go for a really clean, glossy look,” Van
Hales says. “Hotel Babylon is not naturalistic lighting, we
wanted sexy pictures. In terms of TV drama and
Steadicam, an HDW-750P is perfect for the job.”
Van Hales says he does not use an HD monitor on set. “I
light through the viewfinder and that’s good enough for
me. I think with HD, stand by the camera and look with
your eye and if it looks bad with the eye, it will look bad
with HD.” He also praises the support provided by 24/7.
“24/7 is a fantastic service. Claire Wiles and Graham
Hawkins are old film people. Graham can take an HD
camera to bits and put it back together. And, because they
are film trained, they know what film crews are used to.”
Aird sums up: “From the producer’s point of view, the
good thing about using these cameras is they allow us to
do the job quickly and shoot on schedule, as well as
getting great looking results. It’s been a great eye opener
and the one thing everyone said about this show is how
good it looks.”
BBC Resources upgrades
Studio One to HD
BBC Resources has
completed of the upgrade to
high definition of Studio
One, its 10,000 square foot
studio in West London.
Studio One is now open for
business in both standard
and high definition with the
latest vision technology to
support full HD production,
as well as 5.1 surround sound
production.
The new Studio One is
cabled to support up to 16
HDC-1500 high definition
cameras, with 4 HD fibre
optic feeds from the gallery
to the studio floor. It is also
equipped with a fully digital
sound desk and 5.1 sound
monitoring. Incoming
standard definition sources
will be up-converted to HD
and output can be converted
to standard definition if
required.
9 The Producer autumn 2006
XDCAM HD
Hollyoaks: In the City was
shot with XDCAM HD.
David Collins reports
“Now using a disc based system, which is a file
based system, it’s easy just to transfer files”
Graham Deaves, Mersey TV
FX in the city
XDCAM HD works with
Apple and Avid
With its growing list of
interoperability partners and
continuing product evolution
and development, XDCAM is
the fastest growing discbased format with over
14,000 combined worldwide
sales to-date.
Key to the success of
XDCAM and XDCAM HD has
been the support of over 30
different interoperability
partners, including Apple,
Avid, Omneon and Canopus.
The new Sony XDCAM
HD Transfer Tool for Apple
Final Cut Pro brings XDCAM
HD interoperability to an
editing platform that already
boasts more than 500,000
users and a prominent
position in the market.
XDCAM HD also supports
full interoperability with a
range of Avid products
including Xpress Pro, Liquid,
Media Composer and News
Cutter.
XDCAM HD was used on
Hollyoaks: in the City
When it came to shooting a dramatic fire for Hollyoaks: In
the City – a new 20 x 60-minutes spin-off series on E4 –
Mersey TV technical director Graham Deaves
recommended that the production use the
PDW-F350 XDCAM HD camcorder.
Part of the camcorder’s appeal was its ability to record
to disc, rather than tape. “We’ve followed the
development of XDCAM,” says Deaves. “It offers a real
alternative to tape recording. Obviously, a tape out in the
field is something that can cause problems in terms of
damaging the media, especially when working in adverse
environments. So the disc-based camera has the
advantage there.”
Director of photography, Chris Royle, agrees. But he
was also pleased with the choice of camcorder because
the XDCAM HD is high definition and the same [1080lines] resolution as HDCAM, which is what the series is
being shot on. “It sits in beautifully with the rest of the
stuff that we’ve got with the other cameras,” he says. “To
get the best shots from stunts or explosions you often
tend to get a smaller and cheaper camera that you can put
as close as is possible to the action. Obviously you don’t
want to end up putting a £40,000 camera in a place where
you can put a smaller camera.”
The stunt was required for a storyline that sees two
characters set fire to a warehouse, but it’s just one of the
memorable scenes in a new drama created, written and
produced by Coronation Street writer Daran Little.
Given the popularity of Hollyoaks and the expectation
that the spin-off will draw a similar audience, it was
imperative that In the City had high production values.
“It’s shot on HD on HDCAM,” says Deaves, “but at the
moment it’s being post produced in SD because the
delivery requirement is SD.”
Within this context, the production team decided that
the explosion should be shot in slow motion, a special
effect that XDCAM HD is ideal at capturing. “What we
often do is record explosions or stunts with a high speed
film or video camera – in order to slow them down in post
production,” says Deaves. “Because it makes them look a
bit more spectacular.”
On location, Royle found that the camcorder offered a
number of practical benefits. “I was pleased with the
sensitivity of it,” he says. “One of my concerns was that I
would be lighting to a certain stop with the other cameras
and then I’d have to boost all the levels for this camera.
But I didn’t have to do that. I was also pleasantly surprised
by the size of it, because it’s quite small. And it’s lighter
than a usual camcorder.” The camera also gave him more
time for shooting. “You get an hour on the disc, whereas
on the cassettes on a camcorder you get 40 minutes.
And he likes the advantages of its non-linear disc. “You
can select a scene file on this side of the camera on the
LCD monitor, find out which one you want and then click
on it, and it’s instantly there, which I found very useful.
Plus there was a safety feature. There was no way it would
let you over-record anything unless you deliberately went
and deleted a file.”
Although the camcorder was only used to film the fire in
this production, Deaves thinks it will be a useful tool for
the future of Mersey TV.
“Our post production system here is basically tapeless.
So we’re looking to a future where we don’t use tape. On
site, we record wherever possible straight into a server, so
there’s no tape involved at that point. On location, we
have to use tape and then we have to ingest the tape.
“Now using a disc based system, which is a file based
system, it’s easy just to transfer files. So we would be
directly taking the files off the XDCAM HD into our post
production system.”
Apart from it’s good quality footage, Deaves thinks the
size of the camcorder will also be a major selling point.
“With Hollyoaks we’re often shooting things on boats,
cars, trains, planes and goodness knows what, so there’s
always the need for a neat and compact camcorder. The
XDCAM HD certainly fits very well into that mould.”
XDCAM HD
Alister Chapman took
the new XDCAM HD
camcorder inside a
tornado
Capturing dramatic
footage on XDCAM HD
“Few people will get to see a storm up close, but the
images from the XDCAM HD system are as close to
reality as you can imagine” Alister Chapman
Stormchaser
A crew and camera risked life and lens to capture extreme
documentary footage this summer and selected the latest
high definition XDCAM HD Professional Disc-based
system for quality, resilience and cost.
Alister Chapman‘s business is acquiring real-time and
time-lapse footage of tornados and intense storms as they
churn and brew. There is currently enormous demand for
HD pictures of extreme weather, as Alister explains: “HD
storm images are attracting a high premium because they
not only demonstrate what’s possible, there are also very
few crews in the business of storm acquisition that can
capture in HD.”
While the rewards are high, chasing storms puts
Chapman’s equipment at the business end of some
incredibly dangerous working conditions. He relies on his
camcorder’s resilience and its ability to cope with extreme
environmental conditions. “Even though I was jumping in
and out of air conditioned cars and vans into almost 100
per cent humidity and blowing dust, the XDCAM HD
camcorder performed flawlessly,” he explains. “The
camcorder’s low light performance and balance is
excellent and allowed me to get remarkably steady shots
in extremely windy conditions.”
XDCAM HD’s time-lapse function has proved
particularly valuable to Chapman’s work. “Being able to
capture the second-by-second evolution of a tumultuous
storm as the skies darken, the atmosphere shifts and the
clouds billow upwards is remarkable, but when you watch
the images played back in HD, they enter a different
realm. Few people will get to see a storm up close, but the
images from the XDCAM HD system are as close to reality
as you can imagine.”
Chapman also benefits from XDCAM HD’s support for a
file-based workflow. Instead of transferring in real-time as
was the case with tape, material can be moved off his
camcorder and into his editor much faster, while still
having the security of physical media should the process
be interrupted or electronic copies of his images be
corrupted.
As well as speeding-up ingestion, using XDCAM HD has
also changed his way of working. To maximise sales of
footage to global broadcasters – including National
Geographic, the Discovery Channel and the Weather
Channel – the ability to send images to different outlets
for review is of paramount importance.
XDCAM records two sets of video clips – the main HD
or SD video file, plus a small MPEG4 proxy file that can be
downloaded via computer. Using Avid Media Composer
software, the proxies can be ingested, edited and then
finally replaced with the matching high-resolution clips.
“Editing the proxies, in the field, on my laptop, is both
convenient and greatly speeds up the ingest and
production cycle.”
The file-based workflow also enables Chapman to
catalogue footage more efficiently. As a freelance
cameraman, half of his revenues come from stock footage,
so it is vital that he can quickly access clips. With XDCAM
HD, he can mark key scenes and review them by selecting
thumbnail images on the colour fold-out screen.
“The ability to review rushes and instantly switch to
record without worrying about cueing tape or recording
over a crucial shot is incredibly valuable. The time-lapse
function is superb and the ability to over crank makes this
system incredibly versatile. I’ve owned many cameras in
my 20 years as a cameraman, but the XDCAM HD
camcorder has to be my favourite.”
New pre-school drama on
DVCAM
Following the worldwide
success of Balamory (for
CBeebies), new Glasgow
based independent
production company
Tattiemoon has created a
brand new 150 episode drama
series for pre-school children
entitled Me Too! shot on
DVCAM.
Helen Doherty, producer
of Me Too! says: “This is an
incredibly exciting project to
bring to the world of preschool children. Me Too!
presents a city to our preschool audience that is
friendly, accessible and full
of adventure. A place where
anything can happen and
often does! The characters
are recognisable across many
cultures as the backbone to
the workings of any modern
day society.”
11 The Producer autumn 2006
Ryder Cup
A record breaking 73
HDC-1500 cameras and
the new HDC-3300 HD
SuperMotion recorded
the Ryder Cup in HD.
Adrian Pennington
reports
HDC-3300 HD Supermotion
camera
Cutting-edge technology
enables the HDC-3300
SuperMotion slow-motion
camera system to capture
full-resolution 1920 x 1080
high definition images at
three times the normal frame
rate. The CCU connects to
the camera via optical fibre
with digital data for perfect
HD images over runs of up to
2500 metres.
The HDC-3300 camera is
based on the HDC-1500 HD
multi-format camera, and
therefore offers the same
functionality, including
outstanding reliability, as
well as its slow-motion
capability.
In addition to its highquality, slow-motion images,
the HDC-3300 camera also
provides real-time, normalspeed images.
The European win at the
Ryder Cup was captured in
full HD
12 The Producer autumn 2006
“A 3x full HD camera looks so much better than an
up-converted one” Darren Long, Sky Sports
Fairway to heaven
A billion viewers watched the transatlantic battle for golf’s
Ryder Cup between US and European teams on
September 22-24 at the K Club, 20km outside Dublin. A
lucky few, including some 100,000 Sky subscribers, had
the opportunity to view the event for the first time in high
definition largely thanks to a decision by the broadcaster,
which owns live UK rights, to produce coverage entirely in
HD 1080i.
Although the US Masters has been produced in HD for
the last couple of years and NBC, joint holder of the US
PGA broadcast rights (with CBS), begun HD production of
tournaments in May, the Ryder Cup dwarfs all other golf
championships – as well as most other events on the
sporting calendar – in sheer scale of public interest. Even
HBS’ groundbreaking production for the FIFA World Cup
only featured 25 HD cameras per game, whereas the 2006
Ryder Cup can claim to be the biggest single-event HD
production yet, featuring 73 HDC-1500 camera channels
trained on the course at any one time.
The responsibility for making it happen lay with outside
broadcast supplier CTV, which has over 15 years
experience televising the European PGA tour for
European Tour Productions, including two previous Ryder
Cups at Valderrama and The Belfry. A typical golf
tournament for CTV requires 15 cameras and 20 trucks,
but at the K Club its host broadcast operation involved
over 35 vehicles to produce a world feed for dozens of
multilateral broadcasters.
“When we got the HD nod from Sky we were
determined that we would stage our coverage with Sony,”
said CTV managing director Barry Johnstone. “We felt that
if we were going to have matching coverage and a quality
broadcast we needed to get hold of as many HDC-1500s as
we could.”
CTV began with 16 of their own and rented 40 more
from Presteigne, Cork’s Television Mobiles and Finepoint.
Underlining the fact that the HDC-1500 has become the
de facto technology for live events, Telegenic brought 14
units for its bespoke Sky presentation and Dublin’s
Observe supplied a similar service with six cameras for
RTÉ in what was the Irish broadcaster’s first live HD
production (transmitted in standard definition). Observe
recently invested £1 million in a switchable SD/HD truck
with 25-channel capability and found this the perfect
opportunity to showcase its ability to produce at the
highest level.
“This is the first fully integrated HD truck in Ireland,
designed to be as good as anything in the UK,” reports
Observe managing director, Alan Burns. “All our trucks
house Sony cameras so it was easy for us to migrate from
SD. It was also easier for RTÉ to plug into the HD world
feed and down convert than add SD cameras to the mix.”
All 56 CTV channels were routed to a technical outside
source signal area and on to six EVS XT2 servers for both
HD and SD transmissions.
“Golf is rare in that 60 per cent of coverage is recorded,
so we have to ensure every shot, anywhere, is recorded,
logged and made available,” says Hamish Greig, CTV’s
High jinks
technical director. Footage is backed-up to two HDCAM
SR decks, “to ensure maximum flexibility,” he adds.
Until recently, RF camera technology could not support
wireless HD transmission without unworkable delays or
picture loss, but Greig felt he could deploy seven
HDC-1500s rigged with Link HD transmitters with
confidence. “The RFs worked exceptionally well,” he
reports. “I’m thrilled. The delay is literally 1.5 frames, the
same as SD.”
The other significant hole in the HD OB arsenal up until
recently has been the lack of a slow-motion camera
capable of equalling the three times speed of existing SD
devices. The new HDC-3300 HD SuperMotion does just
that and received its first practical outing (a model was
used by CTV and Telegenic) at the Ryder Cup, ahead of its
official launch in October.
“I’m really intrigued to see the ‘money’ shots from this
camera,” says Sky Sports head of operations Darren Long.
“SD and HD super slo-mos are totally different beasts
visually. A 3x full HD camera looks so much better than an
up-converted one.”
The Cup’s matchplay format is unusual in that, instead
of being certain to finish on the 18th green, matches could
end at a number of earlier holes. To cover the possible
outcomes, a SuperMotion was placed along the 15th, 16th
and 17th holes and tested successfully at its optimum
range of 2.5km. “We’re not looking at swing analysis or
bunker shots. It’s purely for close-ups and reaction shots
of the crowd and players,” says Long.
According to Johnstone, “There’s not a lot of slow
motion used in golf currently but it will be intriguing to
see how we use this and what future uses it can have. This
event will show how good golf can look in HD and it will
set a benchmark for everything that follows.”
“The bad weather is a real test for these cameras,”
concludes Long. “We’re positive that if we can produce an
event like this in HD it will look impressive. From a
logistical point of view, if we can do this successfully, we
can do most things.”
Among the many high definition cameras covering the
famous event at County Kildare’s K Club, there was
one attached to the O2 sponsored blimp 500 ft in the
air. Known as the tethered blimp system, it has been
developed by Aerial Camera Systems.
“We own and operate the tethered blimp system,”
says sales and marketing manager Matt Coyde. “It
provides very stable imagery from the blimp itself.”
The camera system is made up of a Cineflex V14
stabilised camera mount, which is built round the Sony
HDW-T950 camera and a Fujinon 42x lens.
“The first time we developed the blimp with an HD
camera on it was at Torino in February this year for the
2006 winter games,” says Coyde. But before the
introduction of the HD camera, the blimp system had
been used to cover many sporting events, after
making its debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
“The tethered blimp looks like an airship, but you
have a cable that runs from the airship to the ground
to a base trailer. That’s what holds it in position. So
there’s no engine and no noise, which is an important
factor for golf. With a traditional airship you can hear
the engines – which can be distracting to golfers.
“It’s paid for by a sponsor and a broadcaster can
effectively use those shots for free provided they give
shots of the brand on air. The stabilised camera cradle
means that you get absolutely steady images, you can
show fantastic wide shots of the golf course, but you
can also zoom in very tight to cover players.”
Ryder Cup
Aerial Camera Systems
supplied the HD blimp at
the Ryder Cup. David
Collins reports
Aerial Camera System’s
Cineflex V14 camera
mount captured HD
pictures of the Ryder Cup
Richard Woolfe
Richard Woolfe,
controller of Sky One,
talks to Maggie Brown
about where he’s taking
the channel
“We are planning our own high profile reality show, it
is in development, and it will be very exciting. It will
also be in HD” Richard Woolfe, Sky One
Richard Woolfe (above)
Back to reality
Sony builds HD trucks for
Arqiva
Sony has built two new HD
OB vehicle for Arqiva
Outside Broadcasts. The
main vehicle features 20
HDC-1500 HD cameras, two
HDC-3300 HD Super-Motion
cameras, four HDCAM HDWD2000/20 VTRs, one
HDCAM SR SRW-5500 VTR,
one MVS-8000A multiformat switcher and a range
of LMD and BVM
A-series displays. Both trucks
are being used by Arqiva to
cover the Coca Cola
Championship football
matches in the UK from
August 2006.
“From the moment the
design team created its
vision for the trucks to the
time when the last cable and
screw were fitted, we
couldn’t have hoped for a
smoother execution in what
is inherently a technical and
complex project,” says Mick
Bass, managing director of
Arqiva Outside Broadcasts.
14 The Producer autumn 2006
Sky One Controller, Richard Woolfe is the nearest to a
showman the British television industry has, and that’s
exactly what Sky One needs. “My job in this first year is
about getting people to rethink what they think about Sky
One,” he trumpets, seconds into the interview.
“One of the things that struck me about Sky One before
I joined is that it has The Simpsons, 24, Nip Tuck, Bones,
Cold Case, Brainiac, great shows – but it was not very
good at shouting about it. That’s part of the appeal of
having me about.”
The extrovert former BBC underling on That’s Life, now
aged 44, was hired by Dawn Airey earlier this year, in
recognition of his skill in driving up ratings for Living TV
for Flextech, which has now become the fourteenth most
watched digital channel.
He did this on a tiny budget with defining shows aimed
at women and teenagers, ranging from Extreme Makeover
and Most Haunted, to America’s (and Britain’s) Next Top
Model.
His understanding of PR and the multi channel
environment appealed to the equally brash Airey: “In her
four years heading Sky Networks, despite changing
controllers three times, she’s not managed to find the
right person to crack Sky One,” he says.
Woolfe heads a dedicated team of seven
commissioning editors and an acquisitions team of four,
handling a boosted annual budget of around £120 million.
One of his first acts was to move his desk into the main
office. He’s totally hands on.
“You have to shout in multi channel, there’s too much
choice, hundreds and hundreds of channels. In order to
pull my fifteen year old son, you must shout and shout
and shout, if you don’t you can bet your bottom dollar
your competitor will.”
But the real strategy, after better cross promotion and
smoother scheduling to keep people watching longer, is to
boost Sky One’s entertainment, led by reality shows.
Woolfe wrote a gushing defence of Big Brother 7 in The
Independent in August and that’s where his heart is. He
has also written a mission statement about the channel’s
intention to have entertainment at its heart.
“2007 is reality year for Sky One, stripped shows,
broadcast in high definition. I want to build returnable
brands,” he says, and so bring stability to the schedule,
and mix up the American imported drama.
The problem is this, three years ago, Sky One’s share in
digital homes was 2.6 per cent. Now its around 1.5 per cent.
It has been hit by E4 moving to Freeview and by ITV2,
which has overtaken it in the pecking order.
Within the Sky segment of viewing, its position has
fallen since 2001, from 29 per cent of Sky channel viewing
to 19 per cent. Yet, on the plus side, it has a first page
position in the EPG (electronic program guide)
entertainment segment, as the oldest established satellite
Richard Woolfe
Sky One shows range from
The Match (opposite page)
to Cirque de Celebrite,
Robbie Williams Live and
Project Catwalk
entertainment brand (compared with Living, which is on
the second page). And it has access to BSkyB’s advanced
application, and understanding of, new media. Woolfe
says: “We are planning our own high profile reality show,
it is in development, and it will be very exciting. We are
working with a production company, not Endemol. It’s a
massive project and it will use all of Sky’s technology,
mobisodes, web site, all the power behind the Sky brand
to make it a truly 24/7 event. It will also be in HD.” This will
involve celebrities.
“Timing wise, it will be next year, but we’ll not go head to
head with Big Brother (as ITV with Love Island tried). Bi g
B rother is pa rt of life at the moment. But there are always
h o l es in the schedules, ro om for a great reality event.”
Big Brother appeals more to women than men.
“Sky One has been a around for a long time. It is a
somewhat male skewed channel, it has a male sensibility,
52 per cent male, to 48 per cent female. My aim is to
create a wonderful schedule appealing to a broad section
of viewers. But the big reality show will have a male
flavour. From the moment I walked in, we were developing
this. I said to the team, ‘give the audience what they want,
don’t beat yourself up here, it’s not rocket science’.
“Kevin Lygo [Channel 4 programme director], when he
extends Big Brother from eight, to ten, to 12, to 13 weeks,
he’s thinking, there’s a huge appetite for these shows, and
there is nothing wrong with that.”
This autumn sees another new strand, The Race,
stripped across the week, in which David Coulthard and
Eddie Irvine oversee five girls and five boys, over a week at
Silverstone.
Sky is also developing another reality show for non
celebrities. “It doesn’t really matter, the point of a reality
show is it’s a journey putting ordinary people through an
experience, putting a number of people in a closed
environment and watching what happens.” The key he
says, is “the ‘do you care’ moment”, which in his opinion
Love Island lacked. “There’s a lot to be learnt from it.”
This October also saw the start of a ten week live
Sunday night strand, Cirque de Celebrite, presented by
Ruby Wax, in which celebrities train for circus tricks. It is
scheduled to run directly after The Simpsons and appeal
to a family audience.
“Your favourite celebrity, in lycra, in glorious HD is on a
tight rope and could fall. If you know it is recorded, half
the excitement goes. You need to know when they do the
trapeze or get thrown around on a rope a hundred feet
above the ring, it’s now. When Ruby Wax says who do you
want to stay, you make decision on what you have seen.”
He hopes it will be another returning strand, as is The
Match, which for the third year running pits celebrities
against veteran soccer stars.
The problem for Woolfe is that ITV ran an imitation,
Celebrity Soccer Aid, last summer. It was even made by
the same company, Endemol. He was not amused.
“ITV copied it very badly, rubbish, it was shocking, so
blatant, done by the same people, Endemol. Endemol
know The Match is a very big show for Sky One, there is
pressure on them to perform. I have very high
expectations, I hope they will deliver, if they don’t
deliver... well, we have been inundated with ideas from
savvy producers.”
The focus on entertainment means Sky One will not be
doing one off documentaries unless they are of massive
appeal and make news. The interview with Kylie Minogue,
which attracted 615,000 viewers on first transmission, but
over one million with repeats, and was a news item, was
an exception that proved the rule. “I am more than happy
with that.”
Woolfe will also want to follow up Robbie Williams Live,
(broadcast this September) the first live HD concert to be
screened.
“He has also been tweaking the second outing of a Sky
One strand, Project Cat Walk, ready for the New Year.
Hosted by Kelly Osbourne, its been turned from a show
about fashion designers into a reality show with fashion
design - or at least, that’s the hope.
“People have got out of the habit of watching Sky One
and if I can create that habit again, people looking at Sky
One when wanting to be entertained, if I do that, I’ll have
done a great job. Because they will then be surprised at
the quality of what we offer.”
Archive footage converts
to HD
Rare 35mm footage of Pink
Floyd in the English
countryside had been
unearthed by ITN Source.
The footage is part of the
British Pathe collection
which ITN Source represents.
The company is transferring
the 35mm version onto
HDCAM later this year.
Previously it was only
available in 16mm film.
The footage features
shots of the original
members of Pink Floyd Nick Mason, Roger Waters,
Syd Barratt and Richard
Wright, wandering through
cornfields, looking at
scarecrows and swapping
hats with them to the
accompaniment of the Pink
Floyd song, The Scarecrow.
ITN Source, (formerly
ITN Archive) recently
purchased HDCAM
camcorders and editing
equipment for ITV News and
Channel 4 News crews to
capture footage in original
HDCAM.
15 The Producer autumn 2006
“I’m confident the results will look great”
Graham Maunder, Awfully Nice Video
Entertainment
Mission Implausible is a
reality programme in HD
for Sky. Louise Bishop
reports on its making
Mission implausible
As Sky One develops its HD schedule a nail biting new
programme is being shot in the UK. This is Mission
Implausible – a 10-part contest pitting Australian
stuntwoman Tania Zaetta against British racing driver
Jason Plato in a series of stunts, or as the programme
prefers to call them ‘missions’. The series is being made by
IWC Media, part of the RDF group.
The competitive element between the two leads, who
each have teams, is intended to be an important part of
the ongoing appeal of the show. Each one-hour
programme features three separate stunts and each takes
one day to shoot on location.
The vast majority of the show is shot in HDCAM and
HDV using two HDW-F900 HDCAM camcorders and
several HVR-Z1E HDV cameras. There are also five
minicams which take specialist shots, for instance placed
inside the variety of vehicles used by the show, or within
something about to be smashed - in one case a garden
shed due to be demolished by a car being dropped on it.
These minicams are all DVCAM quality.
“At any one time we can have eight cameras running,”
comments Tim Riding, production manager at IWC Media.
“The show is shot in HD because it is an original
production for Sky One and we have to deliver a minimum
percentage of footage in high definition – between 70-75
per cent. The producer and editor have to be mindful of
this and the result is that we make full use of the HD
cameras whenever we can. The titles are especially glossy
shots: the two presenters race towards a hangar on a
disused airfield, one in a Lamborghini and the other on a
Ducati motorbike. It is all very slick and sexy, lots of
polished black. “
HD means that the series can have the look of an action
film about it: “We made the decision to shoot interlace
because there is a lot of fast moving action in the show,
although a film effect will be added in post,” says Riding.
The show is currently mid way through shooting and will
contain 30 stunts in total. So far there have been waterbased missions involving power boats, a stunt where the
teams had to flip a car over in order to see how long they
could skid on the car roof and an underwater mission
where three layers of plastic in a pool, each separated with
a small hole, simulated the horrors of swimming under
thick ice. Another mission involved contestants lying on a
skateboard with a rocket attached.
A show based on danger and variables is a tricky one to
shoot. “We use one HD camera as a safety wide shot, to
make sure we capture everything we need and another for
the closer more varied shots of the event,” explains
Graham Maunder of London-based Awfully Nice Video,
which supplied the crews, cameras, sound and lighting for
Mission Implausible. “The smaller and more mobile
HVR-Z1Es tend to be with the team mates, doing
background filming and reaction shots, or being used to
film diary-style pieces to camera. The combination works
well for this kind of large outdoor shoot and gives security
as well as a variety of shots.”
Given that one stunt is shot six times a day, there is a lot
to do on each shoot, which begins with the teams being
given their mission, followed by expert training, practise
and then, after lunch, taking part in the mission
implausible itself. The crew shot at 17 locations over two
months with a unit of 40 people. One recent location was
a chalk quarry in the south of England during the hottest
July ever. “The chalk surrounded us like a furnace. Because
it was white every surface was hot and blinding,”
comments Riding. He adds that the saving grace of the
shoot is that however complicated the mission might be it
doesn’t take long time-wise – “riding a motorbike over a
cliff only takes a few seconds – even though you might not
want to do it in the first place,” he says.
The show is scheduled for Sky One at 8 pm in the
autumn schedule – a peak time family audience. “The
personalities of the team captains are very much
involved,” adds Riding,” it’s not only action. It is not just
the mission – there is also a lot of dialogue between
teams and rivals and the trainers.”
Maunder feels the two HD formats will cut together
well. “Although HDCAM is obviously a higher quality than
HDV, with our many years experience working on HD, the
fact that we have set the HVR-Z1E camcorders up very
carefully and the knowledge that the HDV shots will not
be cut directly with the HDCAM stunts, I’m confident the
results will look great.”
New HVR-V1E supports 25P
HDV recordings
Sony has expanded its
professional HDV line-up
with the launch of the
HVR-V1E camcorder,
featuring progressive scan
(25p) capability and full HDV
resolution.
The 25p progressive scan
feature is ideal for producers
that want a more film-like
quality to their work and
lends itself well to filmmakers on a smaller budget.
The HVR-V1E‘s
“3 ClearVid CMOS Sensor”
system natively captures
progressive scan images
while maintaining full HDV
resolution.
Moreover, footage shot
using the progressive scan
feature can be played back on
any Sony HDV professional
camcorder or VTR and can be
edited with major current
non-linear editing systems,
including Sony, Adobe,
Apple, Avid and Canopus.
17 The Producer autumn 2006
HDCAM SR
DoP Ruurd Fenega shot
Nike promos for
PostPanic
The Nike Power of 3
promos shot on the
HDW-F900 and recorded
onto HDCAM SR
•••
www.sonybiz.net/hd
for the full interview and
details of the Nike production
“We couldn’t shoot on film”
Ruurd Fenenga
Ultimate goal
Time is always tight on location, but that’s especially the
case when your stars are world-class footballers with
extremely busy schedules. So when it came to shooting
players including Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry and
Ronaldinho for three in-store Nike commercials, PostPanic
and director of photography Ruurd Fenenga realised that
they could maximise their ten to thirty minutes with each
player by using HDCAM and HDCAM SR equipment.
“We couldn’t shoot on film because most film rolls last
12 minutes,” says Fenenga, “and we wanted to make sure
that we didn’t have to reload – or have a jam with the
camera. That’s why we chose HD.”
“It enabled a really fast turnaround between scenes and
shots,” adds PostPanic producer, Ania Markham, “and fast
play back, which is really important. We were also
travelling around, and we didn’t need to have stuff
developed on location. And of course, it’s digital, so it
goes really easily into our system for post production.
Even more importantly, we wanted a very high quality
image for successful chromakeying and post production,
which can normally only be attained by formats such as
35mm. In this case, 35mm was not an option because of
time, but we knew that HDCAM would provide us with
the level of image we needed for perfect post.”
They were shooting three commercials, collectively
known as The Power of 3, and each lasting approximately
one and a half minutes. Made by the Amsterdam-based
creative team PostPanic, the ads promote new Nike
football boots, with Rooney wearing the Total 90 shoe;
Henry the Mercurial shoe; and Ronaldinho the Tiempo
shoe. PostPanic also captured footage of Ronaldo and
Cristiano Ronaldo for the ads, and both those players,
along with Ruud van Nistelrooy, feature in another instore promotion called Nike Federation Colours.
This was the first time PostPanic had shot on HD. So it
employed Fenenga, a well-regarded DoP (his website is
www.highdef.nl). Fenenga shot on the HDW-F900 and
recorded onto the SRW-1. “The main benefits of shooting
with the Sony HDW-F900 is the good processor it has,” he
says, “and we used the SRW-1 recorder in order to end up
with a 10-bit rate instead of 8-bit. That was necessary
because the director wanted to have the shots full of
contrasts and I did not want the post production people to
limit themselves to not zooming in on certain shots.”
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“This is everything in one box”
Graham Tidy, Channel TV
Anycast
The Jersey Live music
festival was covered by
Channel TV with the
AWS-G500 Anycast
Station. David Collins
reports
Jersey cream
Although it’s only three years old, Jersey Live has a
reputation for being a great indie music festival. At the
beginning of September, it featured an impressive line-up
that included Snow Patrol, The Zutons and The Editors.
Channel TV, the ITV regional broadcaster, was at the
event at the Royal Jersey Showground, and engineering
manager Graham Tidy says that the AWS-G500 Anycast
Station video and audio mixer played an essential role in
the coverage.
This piece of kit helped to capture footage that was
made into two local programmes, as well as a DVD
available in Jersey and two programmes for ITV2.
Anycast was also used to supply video feeds of the
bands to two big screens. “It was thought that adding in a
couple of big LCD screens at the side of the stage would
be an added bonus to the festival so we actually arranged
for that to happen,” says Tidy.
It’s a relatively new purchase for the channel, and Tidy
says this was the first time it was used for a major
broadcast. “It did very well,” he says. “It doesn’t pretend to
be a full blown studio mixer, but thanks to its portability
and built-in monitors, we had no problems.”
Considering that the mixer is small and weighs around
8kg, it’s not surprising that Tidy thinks that one of its main
benefits is its compactness.
“Because the location was quite small and tight, there
wasn’t a lot of room for moving in a big OB truck or
anything like that,” he says. “So we had to set up a
portable and temporary control room in one of the
portacabins at the back of the stage.”
Eight cameras were used, and six of them were
connected to the mixer. “Most of them were ENG
cameras, recording their own output as well,” he explains.
“So we had two on the front of the stage – with another
hand-held one on the stage. We hired a 30-metre jib with
an operator, and we had two other cameras: one by the
sound desk and another one on a hydraulic hoist, on a
lorry parked off the festival site.”
But Tidy says that the mixer could have provided the
production team with even more features on the day. “It’s
got six inputs and we had six cameras, but we didn’t use
the live streaming part or – in this particular instance – we
didn’t use the audio, although we could have done. But the
audio was mixed by the PA people on site.”
Due to its size, Anycast was remarkably easy to install at
the festival. “The set up was easy, there wasn’t much prewiring before we got there,” says Tidy.
Considering its time-saving advantages, Tidy believes it
could be used in the coverage of news reports. “We have a
couple of small ENG microwave links, so in the past news
reporters have gone out to a location to do a live report.
This would give an added look to those news reports.” And
he sums up its appeal – including its built-in monitors – by
saying, “This is everything in one box.”
ITV Local to launch
nationwide
ITV plc is about to launch a
series of regional internet
news and information sites
across the UK. Following the
success of a trial service in
the Meridian region, ITV
Local is rolling out across the
country.
Lindsay Charlton, former
managing director of
Meridian and now ITV Local
project director, says the
service will compete with
local newspapers, offering a
spectrum of services.
“As many people are
moving from local papers to
the internet, there is no
reason we can’t provide
another option,” Charlton
says.
“There are several very
important areas. Classified
business search, local sport
and local property. The other
area is to learn from the web
at the moment, where a lot of
content is provided by the
public. There are hundreds of
hours of programming from
community groups. We will
have user generated content
alongside professional
material.”
Charlton says the roll out
will take in Tyne Tees region
first, followed by London,
Central and the rest of the
country. ITV Local will sit
alongside ITV.com and ITV
Broadband as an important
part of ITV plc’s internet
strategy.
Channel TV’s coverage of
Jersey Live was mixed on
an AWS-G500 Anycast
Station
19 The Producer autumn 2006
HDV
HDV proves its worth in
tight corners. Douglas
Kitson reports
“I shot for the first time on an HVR-Z1E and the results
have been pretty remarkable” John Walsh
Don’t Make Me Angry
(left), Jarvis Cocker in The
Lion and Albert (above)
and Snaparazzi (bottom)
all shot with HDV
Tight spot
There are many advantages to the HVR-Z1E, it’s size makes
it useful for shooting in enclosed spaces, and for shooting
without the hassle of a large unit where this would be
distracting. Shooting in HDV mode allows the smaller unit
to record high definition footage and all of these features
are needed when your crew is filming Jarvis Cocker, angry
teens and the lions of Blackpool Zoo.
The HVR-Z1E has recently been used to shoot a short
film to promote a forthcoming album entitled Songs For
The Young at Heart. Both the film and the album feature
Jarvis Cocker, former front man with chart topping Pulp.
Cocker brings the Common People touch to The Lion and
Albert, the story of a family day out in Blackpool, which
doesn’t go quite as planned. And to add a touch of spice
to his rendition, Cocker relates his version from inside the
lion’s enclosure at Blackpool zoo.
“The HVR-Z1E was great,” says producer/director Martin
Wallace, “because we were shooting in a real lion’s cage
with less than a metre between the glass and the bars, a
large set up wouldn’t of worked.
“We filmed with a brand new HVR-Z1E supplied by Sony
Specialist Dealer, Mitcorp. Though we had access to other
HD equipment, I’m glad we chose the HVR-Z1E.”
The Channel 4 show, Don’t Make Me Angry, is TV’s first
anger management programme which gives on screen
clinical psychological help. It returned for a new series in
October and is tackling some of the UK ‘s angriest teens,
shot using the HVR-Z1E.
Series producer/director, John Walsh, says: “For this
series I shot for the first time on an HVR-Z1E and the
results have been pretty remarkable. The HVR-Z1E was
smaller and far more versatile than what I used previously.
We were shooting in people’s houses, not just for key
events but at times like lunch and breakfast and, with the
anger management nature of the show it was important
for the cameras not be intrusive.”
Chunkypunch Productions, meanwhile, used the HVRZ1E on Snaparazzi, recording in DVCAM mode.
Chunkypunch Productions’ joint managing directors
and executive producers on the project, Leigh McSwan
and Davide Scalenghe, explain more: “Snaparazzi is a TV
format we’ve developed for AXN, the global Sony Pictures
Television International channel. Snaparazzi is a
12-episode European reality series searching for the next
generation of TV producers and directors.”
Snaparazzi offers the winner the chance to become a
television producer and produce a full pilot episode of
their idea. Six hopefuls complete weekly challenges
sponsored by Sony Ericsson, Sony BMG, Sony PSP and
AXN to develop, shoot, produce, direct and edit music
videos, promos, commercials, short films and mobile
content, all of which are judged by industry veterans,
celebrities and well known personalities . The winner
receives an HVR-Z1E camera kit, the production and
transmission of their pilot show and the budget to
produce idents for AXN.
HDV on mountain project
Martin Danneels of Ireland’s
Red Pepper Production is
producing and directing a
documentary film about a
world record attempt on
climbing the seven summits.
The project is in its early
stages and charity fundraiser
and mountaineer Ian
McKeever undertook a
preliminary climb of Mont
Blanc in the summer. The
team took the HVR- Z1E HDV
camcorder to Mont Blanc and
have their eyes on the even
smaller HVR-A1E for further
climbs.
The seven peaks, each in
a separate continent, are:
Mount Everest in Asia;
Aconcagua in South America;
Mount McKinley in North
America; Mount Kilimanjaro
in Africa; Mount Elbrus in
Europe; Puncak Jaya in
Australia/Oceania and
Vinson Massif in Antarctica.
“We want to shoot in
HDV because of the picture
quality and the size of the
camera,” McKeever says.
“This is a genuine concern: at
7,000 feet you do not need
any extra ballast, anything
bigger than a Handicam is
going to be a disadvantage.
The HVR-Z1E has been
supplied by Dublin-based
Digirent Ireland, part of the
Visual Impact group of
companies.
21 The Producer autumn 2005
“The equipment experienced G forces of
2.5G to 8.5G with no problems whatsoever”
Bob Hayes, Impact Image
HDCAM
HDCAM kit was
subjected to huge
G forces on a shoot for
the Red Arrows
High flyers
The BBC has commissioned IWC Media to produce a
documentary following the selection process for new
pilots into the world’s premier aerobatic team, the
spectacular Red Arrows.
This selection process is unique within the RAF as the
new pilots are chosen by the team itself, unlike any
normal RAF posting.
The Red Arrows are famous for their colourful and
exciting aerial displays and during the documentary,
Impact Image will be providing high definition aerial
photography of the team. It was the Red Arrows
themselves who recommended that Impact Image
undertake the aerial sequences as they are acknowledged
leaders in filming military fast-jet action sequences, and
had worked with the company on previous projects.
Bob Hayes, production director at Impact Image
explains, “The decision to shoot in HD was taken early on,
using an ultra-compact camera with a Fujinon 4.8mm HD
prime lens to record onto an HDW-S280 portable HDCAM
recorder. Camera mounts were engineered to fit either in
the cockpit looking at the pilot or in a specially modified
pod positioned under the aircraft, which gave a
spectacular rear facing view of the formation.”
“We flew approximately 40 times in two weeks and the
equipment experienced G forces of 2.5G to 8.5G with no
problems whatsoever. We were really impressed with the
performance of the HDW-S280 deck which withstood
these unusually extreme conditions,” adds Hayes.
Set up and operation for each flight itself had to be
handled with military precision. Hayes and Steve Case,
technical operator for the BBC, worked with the team’s
engineers to prepare the camera before each flight. “They
closed up the panels and started the system just as the
pilot was getting into the aeroplane. “All exposures had to
The Little Dolly that’s
Impact Image shoots BMI
promo in HD
be made manually before take off and any camera
position change made between flights meant we had to
recalibrate the new cable from the CCU Unit. It all had to
run like clockwork as the turn around between flights is
very tight during training and the team can’t afford to
wait for you,” explains Hayes.
In spite of having no time to pre-test the installation,
Martin Williams, producer/director of the documentary,
says of the results “We were gobsmacked at the clarity of
the footage. In an HD wide shot you can see the pilot
turning his head and the ripples in the ocean hundreds of
feet below, at the same time. This technology meant we
could put the camera in positions where a film camera
would never have fit, so it’s truly ground-breaking. We set
up a monitor on location to review the rushes each day
and without fail a small mob would cluster around and
simply gawp. Stunning.”
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Impact Image was selected to
create a film to promote
bmi’s long haul routes.
bmi is the UK’s second
largest airline, it operates
around 1,700 flights a week
to destinations such as Las
Vegas, the Caribbean, India
and Saudi Arabia.
To capture the air-to-air
footage for the film, Impact
Image utilised a periscope
optics system containing a
Sony HDW-750P camcorder,
mounted in the belly of the
aircraft, affording 360
degree vision with over 45
degrees of tilt, with the
camera operator being able
to control everything from a
console at the back of the
aircraft.
“Successful and safe airto-air shooting is always the
product of good planning and
preparation” says Bob Hayes,
production director.
In order to future proof
this high cost resource bmi
were advised to shoot in high
definition format.
The short broadcast
quality film will be used in
news and travel programmes
as well as key events
attended by bmi such as
travel fairs. For larger events,
it can be played from the
original HD files on to large
screens to an exhibition
audience.
Drama
Two new dramas have
been shot in HD by DoP
Peter Eveson
Peter Warlock (right) and
Falstaff (below)
“If the budget is tight then high-end HD is still
possible using these tried and tested techniques”
Tony Britton, Capriol Films
Technically correct
Last of the Summer Wine
One of Britain’s most famous
BBC television dramas, Last
of the Summer Wine 06 has
been recorded in high
definition on an SRW-1
HDCAM SR recorder as part
of an HD package provided
and executed by Rogue
Element Films.
“Portability is a big issue
for shooting on location for
dramas. That’s why we chose
the SRW-1. It records on the
superior HDCAM SR tape
format, which has such mild
compression as to be
virtually non-existent, and
the results were just
amazing,” explains director
of photography, Dan
Mulligan.
Two 90-minute dramas have been produced by Norfolkbased Capriol Films using the HDW-750P camcorder.
Falstaff, a contemporary version of Verdi’s opera set in a
modern golf club, was shot on location using the
HDW-750P with BBC 35mm film specifications in the
camcorder’s settings.
This project and the other Capriol drama, Peter Warlock
– Some Little Joy, a period drama set in the 1920’s about
the life and loves of the eponymous composer, were shot
with the same spec at 25P.
With a limited budget for both shoots, it was decided to
bring in TV cameraman Peter Eveson as director of
photography and camera operator.
“Without the TV camera mode of operation and the
complexity of the scenes, we would not have had such a
fast shooting rate. The two films were shot in six five-day
weeks,” Eveson says.
A veteran of BBC and ITV drama (Onedin Line,
Doomwatch, Lotus Eaters, Tales of the Unexpected and PD
James dramas), Eveson was hired because of the need for
an operator who could also pull focus and undertake
camera movement himself without additional crew.
“In an ideal world, it would have been great to have had
the benefit of grips and tracks, but if the budget is tight
then high-end HD is still possible using these tried and
tested techniques”, says Tony Britten, executive producer
of Capriol Films and director of both shoots.
“Many of the shots, considering how they were
achieved, were equal to shots obtained by heavily staffed
film-style crews operating HD, but at remarkable value,
with thousands of pounds saved”, states Britten.
Focal lengths were quickly set using a Canon zoom
demand, and only two lenses were hired for the shoots – a
Canon HJ 21x tele and a Canon HJ 11x wide, (both lenses in
TV mode with x2 extenders).
“Those lenses were chosen because of their range, size
and quality at wide apertures,” says Eveson. “In order to
give the projects a filmic quality, apart from the settings,
most shots were obtained with the lenses wide open to
get the maximum differential focus. There were long
telephoto shots with large focus pulls throughout.”
A back-end acrylic filter, developed at Anglia, was also
used on the period piece for all interior scenes.
“Peter Warlock’s main interests were women and beer,”
says Eveson, “so smoke-filled, gas and candle-lit pubs gave
an added visual flavour to the pictures which the filter
really picked up.
“I also used a softened camera-top light on everything,
to gently add in ‘eye-lights’, which I remember worked so
well on 70’s BBC dramas when every camera in the studio
had a set of ‘headlights’ that were controlled by the
lighting director.”
All camera movement and tracking shots were achieved
using a long, Vinten dolphin arm, which made one man
operation possible. Other shots were tripod or Steadicam,
again operated by Eveson.
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26 The Producer autumn 2006
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T 020 8742 1888
F 020 8742 8833
E info@hotcam.co.uk
www.hotcam.co.uk
Contact: Abigail or Vicky
Camera Equipment: High Def, 790
Dig i tal Be ta cam Be ta, Be ta SX, DSR
570’s, Mini Cams, Awa rd Winning Crews
Recent Productions include: The X
Factor, The Apprentice, Bad Lad’s
Army, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
South Bank Show
VMI Broadcast Hire
T +44 (0) 870 850 1444
F 020 8922 1114
E vmi@vmi.co.uk
VMI Crews
T +44 (0) 870 850 1444
F +44 (0) 870 850 1445
E crews@vmi.co.uk
VMI HQ
Unit 1 Granville Ind Est,
146 – 148 Granville Road,
Golders Green,
London NW2 2LD
VMI SOHO
19 D’arblay Street,
London W1F 8ED
VMI SOUTH
Mill Street, Benenden,
Kent TN17 4HH
Electra
Wharf House
Brentwaters Business Park
The Ham, Brentford, Middx TW8 8HQ
T 020 8232 8899
F 020 8232 8877
www.electra-tv.com
Contact: Crispin or Doug
mail@electra-tv.com
• All formats from HD to DV
• Drama and commercial packages
• Wet or dry hire
• Large selection of specialist
equipment
• Friendly and personal service
• Full set of Zeiss DigiPrimes available
If you would like to be
included in The Producer
digital production directory
email: ads@smallworldpublishing.co.uk
or call 0117 942 6977
Sony Specialist Dealers
Only buy Sony where you see the Sony Specialist Dealer logo
CVP
Web: www.creativevideo.co.uk
Studley, Warwickshire
T +44 (0)1527 854222
sales@creativevideo.co.uk
Eurotek
Unit E61 Heather Road,
Sandyford Industrial Estate,
Dublin 18
T +353 1 295 7811
F +353 1 295 7885
E info@eurotek.ie
Web : www.eurotek.ie
Gearhouse Broadcast Ltd
Unit 12 Imperial Park
Imperial Way
Watford, Hertfordshire WD24 4PP
T 020 8795 1866
F 01923 691 499
E uk@gearhousebroadcast.com
Web: www.gearhousebroadcast.com
GV Multi-media
Web: www.gvmm.co.uk
Head Office
Unit 1, Inwood Business Park,
Whitton Road, Hounslow TW3 2EB
T 020 8814 5950
F 020 8569 6616
E sales@gvmulti-media.com
South West Office
Brooklands Mill,
Nadderwater, Exeter EX4 2JG
T 01392 499399
F 01392 493108
E rwatts@gvmulti-media.com
Midlands Office
Ground Floor, 1 Cavendish,
Lichfield Rd Industrial Estate,
Tamworth B79 7XH
T 01827 311040
F 01827 311048
Ekliddle@gvmulti-media.com
North West Office
Unit 4, Bag Lane Enterprise Center,
Bag Lane, Atherton,
Manchester M46 0JX
T 01942 884433
F 01942 888520
E jmcgarty@gvmulti-media.com
North East and Scotland Office
Unit BT145/2B & C,
High Force Rd, Riverside Park Estate,
Middlesbrough TS2 1RH
T 01642 240770 fax: 01642 248690
E jstewart@gvmulti-media.com
Jigsaw Systems Ltd
The Old Mill
High Church Street
Nottingham NG7 7JA
T 0870 730 6969
F 0870 730 6850
E ab@jigsaw24.com
Web : www.jigsaw24.com
Mitcorp UK Ltd.
London Headquarters
23 Shield Drive
West Cross Industrial Estate
Brentford
TW8 9EX
T 44 (0) 20 8380 7400
F + 44 (0) 20 8380 7410
E info@mitcorp.co.uk
Leeds Office
Unit 4, Victoria Court
Bank Square, Morley
Leeds LS27 9SE
T + (0) 113 220 3380
F + (0) 113 220 3381
E chris.brumwell@mitcorp.co.uk
Glasgow Office
Unit 1 Millennium Court
Burns Street
Glasgow G4 9SA
T +44 (0) 141 564 2710
F +44 (0) 141 564 2719
E colin.mendham@mitcorp.co.uk
Web : www.mitcorp.co.uk
update
PEC Video Ltd,
65-66 Dean Street,
London W1D 4PL
T 020 7437 4633
F 020 7025 1320
E sales@pec.co.uk
Web: www.pec.co.uk
Total Audio Solutions Ltd
Smiths Way, Saxon Business Park
Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove
Worcestershire B60 4AD
T 01527 880051 (24 hours)
F 01527 880052
E sales@totalaudio.co.uk
www.totalaudio.co.uk
Prestons
H Preston,
103 Worcester Road,
Malvern, Worcestershire,
WR14 1EP
T 01684 575486
F 01684 575594
E sales@videokit.co.uk
Web: www.videokit.co.uk
Stylus
Web: www.stylustech.co.uk
South west
4 Lower Park Row,
Bristol BS1 5BJ
T 0117 929 2600
F 0117 929 9797
E mail@stylustech.co.uk
Wales
50, The Maltings,
East Tyndall Street,
Cardiff.
CF1 5EA
T 029 20 451811
F 029 20 457601
E mail@stylustech.co.uk
Top-Teks
Bridge House, Royal Quay, Park Lane,
Harefield, Middlesex UB9 6JA
T 01895 825619
F 01895 822232
E sales@top-teks.co.uk
www.top-teks.co.uk
Visual Impact
Email: sales@visuals.co.uk
Web: www.visuals.co.uk
London Office
Units 3&4, Teddington Business Park,
Station Road, Teddington,
Middlesex, TW11 9BQ
T +44 (0)20 8977 1222
F + 44 (0)20 8943 5307
South West
4 Charnwood House,
Marsh Road, Ashton,
Bristol, BS3 2NA.
T +44 (0)117 939 3333
F +44 (0)117 939 3339
North
7&8 Dalby Court, Gadbrook Park,
Northwich, Cheshire,
CW9 7TN.
T +44 (0)1606 42225
F +44 (0)1606 49161
WTS
Well Trade Services Ltd
Media Park
40b River Road, Barking
London IG11 0DW UK
T 0208 594 3336
F 0208 594 3338
E sales@wtsbroadcast.com
Web: www.wtsbroadcast.com
@
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