DEFINITION June 2018

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BBC TELEVISION CENTRE FEATURE

make up the majority of those lenses. In each studio we’ll have one or two of what are called ‘stadium’ lenses, so anything from an 80X box lens upwards, and they’re really good because what you can do is have a long shot and crash zoom in to get a close-up on the same lens. There is a lot of range in those lenses. The average production will have at least one of those, and the bigger shows, like Strictly Come Dancing , will have two and sometimes three of them. I think The Voice is the same as well because of the flexibility it gives that camera position. “Operators tend to bring their own specialised cameras such as Steadicams, that’s the same for jib and crane operators – cranes are obviously hired in but the operators are still freelancers.” LOOKING BACK “I think we’re in a good position six months down the road. We’ve got the configuration where we wanted it. Since 16 April, we have ITV Studios Daytime live morning shows in studios TC2 and TC3. This is while ITV Studios HQ on London’s South Bank is being redeveloped. Also in

fundamentally looking for a very good HD camera but with an upgrade path to 4K, HDR and IP workflow being a bonus. LENS TESTING For the glass choices the BBC were looking to the future. “Lenses are quite different for us, we took a different view on those. It’s a significant investment but if you treat a lens right it’s going to last you ten to 15 years. We thought that in five years time most workflows would be 4K and HDR so we wanted our lenses to not require any upgrades, as we were looking at the investment long term. So it was imperative that they did have to operate in 4K and HDR modes – these were key requirements. That’s the direction of travel, definitely. “So the way we looked at the lenses was to look at standard studio configurations, which is around eight to ten cameras and sometimes that scales up. There will be a mix of different types of lenses, although we don’t use primes. We do tend to use a mixture of barrel lenses for wides and mobile cameras, and cameras that are closer to the talent. Studio box lenses are 27X, mostly, which

our facility in Elstree we host an array of other broadcasters.” With regard to BBC Studioworks’ recent credits at Television Centre – by the end of April this year, the company had facilitated over 200 episodes of television since reopening the studio space in September 2017. Recent productions in 2018 so far include BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show and Sounds Like Friday Night , ITV Studios’ daytime shows Good Morning Britain , Lorraine , This Morning and Loose Women , plus some Holywood-style excitement in the form of an Avengers: Infinity War fan event.

BELOW The upgrade means BBC clients have top tech at their fingertips. ABOVE The studio space has room for audience shows.

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JUNE 2018 DEFINITION

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