KitPlus | Articles

Strays - Telling a dark tale

Independent filmmaker, Aaron Dunleavy, has used the backdrop of his hometown, Blackburn, to create a new short film as part of Channel 4 and Arts Council Englands Random Acts programme. The initiative - delivered by Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle), HOME (Manchester), and True North Productions (Leeds) - commissions bold, innovative expressions of creat...

Submitted by Aaron Dunleavy

Published 19 October 2017

IP Based Remote Production

i Over the last few years Suitcase TV has been getting involved in remote production at the software layer, and I want to talk about some of the ways we have been getting involved in remote production, including a specific trial that we did last year with BBC Sport for the Euro 2016 tournament in Paris. Before I get into the detail of remote produc...

Submitted by Ed Calverley

Published 07 September 2017

Dick Hobbs is counting heads

Now I am absolutely not going to get into politics in this column. But as I wrote last month, I am a bit concerned about truth and honesty. As I am sure we all are. The White House press secretary has an important and powerful role, and we all loved CJ Cregg for doing it (leading to my lifelong passion for Alison Janney). So when the incoming spoke...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 15 March 2017

Polecam user review

When it comes to filming from above, drones have dominated in recent years. But restrictions on where and when they can be used means there is still a demand for traditional style jibs. Polecam has been a major player in the crane market for nearly two decades and its rigs have captured everything from interesting perspectives of major sporting eve...

Submitted by Phil Vinter

Published 15 March 2017

Mr MXF thinks the future is made of components

The recent SMPTE IMF plugfest that was kindly hosted by Fox in Burbank gave the vendors, users and content owners a chance to discuss the fine details of the IMF standard and to get excited about where it will take the Post Production community. If you haven\'t heard of IMF then you have not been standing within 500ft of me for the past year. IMF i...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 15 February 2017

Outside the fixed curriculum

If you\'re wondering whether or not to do some extracurricular work outside of your timetabled course, the answer should always be yes. The more you further your experience and skills the brighter your future will look. As a third year student, studying Television and Broadcasting, I\'m lucky enough to have hands on experience with filming equipmen...

Submitted by Emma Benson

Published 15 February 2017

Challenges for MAM with varying production types

Many media asset management platforms are designed to handle the immense number of assets needed for today\'s fast-moving, content-heavy productions. Since every production is unique, each has its own set of asset management requirements and workflow needs. While the unique workflows vary, a common necessity for an easy-to-use interface with the ab...

Submitted by Jonathan Aroesty

Published 15 February 2017

Where university meets universe with Tim Peake

If you had told me last year that, going into my second year at the University of Portsmouth, I would have met and interviewed Tim Peake, then I would have probably laughed and said something along the lines of "I wish". Well, turns out I didn\'t have to wish, because I did just that. As a second year in Television and Broadcasting BSc I\'ve starte...

Submitted by Georgia Thirtle

Published 13 January 2017

The world is not flat

The world is all around us. We have a lot of cues that make us aware of how we fit into a 3D space. Many of these cues, senses and reactions are survival instincts. For example, the ability to hear someone walk up behind us, to see movement in our peripheral vision, a sense of how we are oriented when we move our bodies or swivel our head. All of t...

Submitted by David Schleifer

Published 13 January 2017

Shooting the WRC Rally

Mark bites the dust for his art and lives to tell the tale... A look at my website will confirm I don\'t just shoot cars, I cover a wide range of genres. But I have shot in and around cars through my career. Early on I joined a facilities company specialising in the design and build of onboard camera systems for F1 and Motorcycle GP live TV coverag...

Submitted by Mark Sallaway

Published 25 August 2016

Looking back at a typical day working on Top of the Pops

A few weeks ago I was watching television and caught a bit of 'Top of the Pops ' from 1984, and I thought, 'Was this one of the programmes I worked on? ' I was privileged enough to be a staff cameraman at the BBC for 20 years, during that time I was able to work on many great shows: Only Fools and Horses, Blue Peter and Two Ronnies to name but a fe...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 14 June 2016

TV Futures

by Gemma Frith Issue 113 - May 2016 I used to hate audio. Every time we recorded audio on a location shoot, something seemed to go wrong. It was a nightmare. And because I didn\'t understand it, I avoided it and would do anything to not be responsible for recording sound. However, eventually it got to a point where I hated how much I hated audio mo...

Submitted by Gemma Frith

Published 13 May 2016

Our Time At NAB 2016

by Beth Zarkosh Issue 113 - May 2016 We were lucky enough to visit this year\'s NAB Show in Las Vegas, and we must saythere were some real treats on show! Here\'s just a few things that stood out for us and worth keeping your eye on. Virtual Reality & 360 Degree VideosOne thing that really stood out for us was the virtual reality filmmaking devices...

Submitted by Beth Zarkosh

Published 13 May 2016

VR and 3D Audio - Ask The Experts

by Pieter Schillebeeckx Issue 113 - May 2016 What\'s the difference between 2D & 3D audio? There are two parts to this question when it comes to audio for VR. The key difference is that 2D is a single horizontal slice,so when we\'re thinking 5.1 or traditional surround sound in a cinema that would be looked at as 2D,whereas 3D adds height informati...

Submitted by Pieter Schillebeeckx

Published 13 May 2016

Camera Operations (part 2)

by Peter Leverick Issue 112 - April 2016 In Part 1 (issue 110) I addressed the practical skills required by Camera Operators aspiring to enter the Broadcast TV market. A good camera operator also needs to have good artistic senses and abilities. Like practical skills this is something that is acquired through training and practice. As with all trai...

Submitted by Peter Leverick

Published 25 April 2016