KitPlus | Articles

Lighting the X Factor

It’s Friday morning at a television studio in the shadow of Wembley Stadium’s iconic arch and already there are fans and paparazzi outside waiting to catch a glimpse of their favourite contestants and judges arriving for rehearsals. Now three weeks into the live final shows, nine contestants have reached ‘Rock Week’, once again singing for their li...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 December 2009

Selling your business in a downturn

Those of you who live by satnav might smile at the heading. It’s one of the great lines the device keeps saying (perhaps followed by “turn round whenever possible”). And it is on that subject, negotiating your exit from your business, that this article is based. It comes by general request so it seems that, in these challenging times, business owne...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2009

Implications of a Tapeless workflow

The rise of ‘Tapeless Workflows’ is dramatically changing the way broadcasters and post-production facilities protect the content they are working on or own. The traditional workflow relies on tapes to record and protect information, usually stored on a shelf to be used again if necessary. However, due to changes in technology and the demands of an...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2009

Supporting the RED

James Cullen was working as a studio cameraman for the BBC when he was asked by television quiz show favourite CJ de Mooi to shoot a promo for him. The brief was to showcase CJ’s enthusiasm for the Porsche 911 Carrera, and Cullen knew that the production standards had to match the engineering excellence of the car. “I was using a RED One camera whi...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2009

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

This month, and largely because I am on holiday at the moment and haven’t looked at an English paper or seen a television – and as the Internet is currently not working (which makes posting this article on time an interesting task) – I thought it would be useful to look at elements of business strategy that will help you work out how to focus your...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 October 2009

Lighting series

So far in this series, I have stressed some of my own preferences for good portrait lighting; using Fresnel lamps for key lights to enable accurate barn dooring, minimum spill light and an even ‘field’ of light. Open faced lamps, whilst cheaper, do not give the same control of light, they give rise to double shadows and are also prone to bubble fai...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 October 2009

Diversify - the key to success

Most business could survive the recession if they adapt what they do, or how they do it, explains Peter SavageIn the current economic climate, with the market shrinking, every business has to look at ways of growing or developing – if they are to survive. And sometimes you have to think outside the box. There is, as they say, only so much blood you...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

Top Gear Test Drive Hovercam

Hovercam were contacted to work on some new ideas for Top Gear back in January 2009. The production team were keen on trying new ideas to put a different perspective on the cars that are tested for performance around their test track at Dunsfold, Surrey. Typically the program has featured two-dimensional imagery of super cars, so the idea was to br...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

How to choose a broadcast display

How to choose a broadcast display…10 years ago, buying a CRT monitor was simply a case of buying the latest version of your facilities favourite brand in either Grade I or II. The advent of the LCD, HD and the demise of the CRT means we have now to try and decipher all the marketing jargon to work out which display best fits our needs. To help de-m...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

Modern multiviewers

The monitoring of multiple video sources has been simplified and costs greatly reduced by the use of multiviewers. These make use of two principle technologies: large high-resolution video screens and the real-time resizing of video. The market is now well developed and provides a wide choice of specifications such as the number of inputs and their...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

Filming for the army on Salisbury Plain

The ApproachIt’s no secret. Soldiers are trained to feel invincible, They develop a whole persona around focussed “toughness” and the ability to take care of themselves. But nobody is tough enough to withstand being crushed between a 70 tonne Warrior and a Land Rover. The problem is how to explain this to men who as a day job, get shot at. That was...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

Why choose a broadcast or professional monitor

Just as it’s unlikely that anyone would purchase a family vehicle to set trailblazing records around a race track and a sports car is not going to be the best choice for off-road use, the same principle is true of monitors – the key is to match the product to the demands of the task. So what are the differences between the major monitor families?Co...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2009

Ask the Experts on the Topic of Distribution and Delivery

NAB 2009 was fascinating with respect to how many customers were looking for solutions and insisting that manufacturers work together to provide solutions, as opposed to just supplying products. File-based workflows were the talk of the town (well, at least the talk of NAB) and there certainly continues to be significant discussion and implementati...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 August 2009

The filming of Lands End to John OGroats

I’ve been here for several minutes now. Standing in the pouring rain with a camera pointing at the road sign for Somerset, the drops of rain tapping on the camera rain cover add a certain atmosphere to the wild track. I stood trying to work out who was the madder, the two cyclists I was waiting for, or me. Here they come, 10 seconds on the tape, ba...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 August 2009

Longevity of media archives

The role of the archive has evolved rapidly, delivering not only new revenue opportunities but crucial conservation possibilities for historical and cultural libraries that have lain dormant for many years. The economic downturn means that now more than ever cost saving is a huge issue; facilities need to create new revenue opportunities whilst red...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 August 2009