KitPlus | Articles

London to Capetown, by bike part 1

South Africans are known for being to the point, so when I was told that I had done the whole thing ‘Arse Backwards’ I wasn’t unduly upset, but I did feel a need to justify the way I had approached this project. I had just arrived in Cape Town and was rather pleased with myself, having just completed a year long journey through some of Africa’s mos...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 October 2008

Mixing with the wildlife on Springwatch

As the 5th series of ‘Springwatch’ draws to a close I’d like to share with you an insider view of one of my favourite vision mixing jobs. As a freelance vision mixer I work across the board on all sorts of programmes: quiz & chat shows, sports, drama, music & Light Entertainment, recorded & live, studio-based or Outside Broadcast. But for four week...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 October 2008

Fancy a trip from Beijing to Paris in our Landrover?

That’s more or less how it happened, not months of planning or deciding I needed adventure in my life, just “Fancy the trip”. Of course no money in it (when is their ever?) but who could pass up such an offer. Dave at Broadcast Services in Chertsey had been preparing a Landrover for the journey for some months having acquired a left hand drive mode...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2008

IPTV in 21st Century TV

The radio and television networks born and raised in the last century are a consequence of a medium in which broadcasting is the natural way of working. From one to a fickle many it has been a matter of finding material with mass appeal which has occupied generations of commissioners. Recently, I went to the exhibition of the IPTV World Forum 2008...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2008

Scriptwriting

“Is the pen mightier than the sword?”As a writer myself and having penned a few scripts in the past, mainly for TV commercials, corporate presentations and voice overs, it always amazes me 'when a film actor, whether it be a known or an up and coming potential' just seems to utter those mortal words “It was such a great script...I just had to do it...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2008

Insurance in a muddy field

There can be few subjects which provide a wider insight into life than Insurance. Don’t let anyone convince you that it is boring. Over the years I have been involved in covering risks as diverse as insuring a belly dancers belly against injury, whilst dancing at a top London Turkish restaurant, to covering the Polish Chamber Orchestra and the Pope...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 August 2008

CTV OB Truck

Responding to the growing demand for HD broadcasts and with a fleet of already overworked outside broadcast trucks, CTV Outside Broadcast’s newest addition to its fleet, OB 9, is a fully-equipped production facility with the latest in High Definition production, mixing and recording equipment. Targeted squarely at major entertainment and sporting e...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2008

Protect your boys toys

In a recent survey it was estimated that there were 70 million mobile phones, in the Uk. More than one phone for every member of the population. This figure is staggering in its self, but then consider the replacement value, which is in excess of £500 billion pounds. Makes your eyes water. We have dipped into our pockets, or swiped our cards, to fi...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2008

Royalty Free Music Can Save You A Fortune

How important is music to your production? Think of the two notes John Williams used in Jaws to signal danger and to sometimes mislead the audience into believing that a great white shark was lurking in the hidden depths. Music plays such a crucial and powerful role in the visual world to be overlooked at your peril. Notice how suddenly your edit c...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 June 2008

The Benefits of Lens Add-ons

Zoom lenses on broadcast and professional video camcorders are wonderful tools for the videographer, allowing quick and easy focal length change. But ultimately, a zoom lens is limited on both the wide and telephoto end of its zoom range. On higher-end camcorders there is generally a choice of lenses, and thus zoom range, when the camera is purchas...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 June 2008

The Reflecmedia Chromaflex portable chromakey system

The use of keying a foreground image over a background image to form a composite is an established and widely used technique in film and TV production. For most cameramen this will usually involve them in shooting a subject against a coloured background, typically green or blue. Sounds simple but reality can be far from it, anecdotes abound of nigh...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 May 2008

Setting up in business: Le Christmas Crunch

Well, I just fancied having a break as we have been slogging away for almost six months – planning, starting, measuring and then employing. So, phew, it’s the Christmas break. Well haven’t we done well to get here? You certainly have. And now for a little topical help: the credit crunch that is currently the focus of so many media reports. What doe...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 May 2008

Drive Carefully. Youre Tough, but youre not Invincible. T...

The Army has always suffered from a high number of off-duty Road Traffic Accidents. This is hardly surprising. We deliberately seek to attract young men and women who are seeking fun and adventure. It has always been a worry to the chain of command that high numbers of young soldiers have ended up being killed tragically on the roads in their own t...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 April 2008

Chromakey questions

What does a specialist paint give me that a DIY superstore (matt blue or green emulsion) doesn’t?VFX Bluescreen Solutions paints are pigment based, as opposed to DIY chains ‘stain’ based. Pigment based paints ensure consistency and intensity of colour, against the stain based paints because they are ‘pure’, instead of being made up of various other...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 April 2008

Chromakey tips and tricks.

Chromakey is one of those slightly magical effects that can still bring out the child in all of us. Also childlike are the frustrated tantrums you throw when you have been trying for hours to get a decent key, and realise you will have to pay some compositing wizard to rescue the shot. There are now 2 distinctly different ways to shoot chromakey fo...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 April 2008