Zero 88 on TV
Zero 88 Lighting is not a brand you usually associate with TV. Well known for providing reliable and affordable lighting control equipment Zero 88 products are found within education, theatre and live production environments. Look a little deeper however, and you will find that they are used extensively within the UK TV production segment.
Zero 88 distributor Flashlight continues to supply a range of Zero 88 control products to numerous production companies nationwide. The largest is 3 Sixty Media, the company formed through the merge of BBC, Yorkshire Television and Granada Television.
Granada’s main facility features 4 studios which have been used for high profile productions such as Stars in Their Eyes; and 3 further studios for the long running soap Coronation Street. The current filming schedule includes the remake of hit wartime sitcom ‘Allo Allo’ in Studio 12 which is controlled by an Illusion 500, and Soap Star Superchef in Studio 8.
Provision is the TV and Camera rental division of Granada providing all OB facilities for 3 Sixty Media. Based in Leeds at Yorkshire TV studio’s, current shows being serviced include Heartbeat and The Chase, which are both controlled on their own Illusion 500 with dimming being provided by Betapacks. Future productions will include Cold Blood, Blue Murder and The Street.
Stewart Grant, operations manager of the newly opened Manchester branch of Provision explains why Zero 88 control equipment features so highly in is rental inventory. “One of the key requirements for products used in OB work is their durability and reliability. We have numerous 18 way Betapack 1 racks in our stock which are over 20 years old and still going strong.”
Provision recently acquired 16A Betpack 3’s for use on ITV Play and Glitterball.
Located at the heart of Manchester, is Urbis, an exhibition centre focusing on city life. Urbis is home to Channel M, a TV channel dedicated to Manchester. Featuring news, sport and entertainment programmes such as the Franck Sidebottom’s Proper Telly Show.
The channel produces a schedule of over 20 programmes, many of these going out live with minimal pre-production time. Dimming is once again handled by the solid Betapack 3 range. Richard Goodaire, lighting and camera technician at Channel M is testing a Fat Frog to run the newly acquired moving lights used on their music and late night shows.
Ragdoll Productions, based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, are makers of high quality programmes for children, such as Teletubbies and Rosie & Jim. Ragdoll has made use of its 37 Betapacks to provide dimming for programmes such as ‘Boohbah’, shot in their studios in Timothy’s Bridge Road and their first HD children’s production ‘In the Night Garden’. The latter, a co production with the BBC, was filmed in a real woodland setting using live characters and CG animation to create a compelling and fully immersive experience for young viewers aged 1-4.
Peter Trevena (Gaffa) bought the Betapacks based on their “reliability, great value and detailed recommendation from Flashlight.”
Elsewhere around the country Flashlight supplied the two Illusion 500 consoles that are being used for Dr Who and Torchwood at the BBC studios in Cardiff (with Lee Lighting) and in Kendle Avenue, Acton on Waking the Dead (Webb Lighting). They have also supplied Betapacks into Channel 4’s Horseferry Road Studios, London.
In Scotland, Scottish TV has two Illusion 500 consoles. Recommended by Phil Haldane from blacklight, these units were purchased and are run by Joe Malcolm. One console runs their nightly News Roundup and another controls the studio lighting for the Setanta Football Channel.