AV News 197 - August 2014
M e m o rie s a n d a V is it to M e d ia C ity
Ray French
After a very pleasant ride on
the local Metro Tram system I
arrived at Salford Quays for
the Wilmslow Guild AV Group
outing to 'Media City UK'.
We were greeted by our two
tour guides who started off by
telling us some of the history of
the BBC in Manchester. They
mentioned the previous BBC
studios on Oxford Road but
sadly forgot to mention two
other locations - the old church in Dickenson Road which was famous as the
home of 'Top of the Pops' and also 'Pinky and Perky' and the Corporation's main
headquarters, Broadcasting House in Piccadilly which was above a bank.
Broadcasting House, brings back many happy memories of the 12 years
spent as a freelancer supplying the BBC with news and current affair footage
shot on 16 millimetre black and white negative film. I wish that I had a pound for
every time I had entered the building, rushed into the cutting room, done a quick
'top and tail' edit, before dashing into telecine, transmission switch set from 'neg'
to 'pos', hearing "Roll TC", then collapse and get ones breath back!
I used a clockwork Bolex three lens turret camera which took a 100ft of
daylight film (notice the word film not digital)
I remember one news story I was sent to cover involved the Queen Mother
visiting a home for retired people and, because it was indoors, I used a battery
light to help with the exposure. After about 10 minutes the Queen Mother's Lady
in Waiting came over to me and said "the Queen Mother requests that the light
be turned off as it is distracting her". This I did and the Queen Mother mouthed
the words "Thank You". A happy day indeed.
Often on location you would meet up with the stills photographers from the
local newspapers. Knowing that you had to get back to Manchester with your
footage in time for the lunch time news, they would often ask me to hand in their
rolls of film to the picture editor. These days pictures are downloaded straight to
the newsdesk - no need for the mad dash to beat the deadline.
Sometimes whilst on the location a sequence of the events happen to give
you the thrill of a lifetime. I was filming at the scene of a train derailment, where,
thankfully, nobody was hurt. Fitted inside my car was an early version of a BBC
communication unit called 'Air Call.' I got back into the car to be greeted by the
message 'Film wanted asap - meet police escort on the main road'. Sure enough
waiting for me was a very fast police car and, having made contact and
established my identity, away we went.
I was driving a 'Hillman Minx' at that time and didn't realise just how fast it
would go - weaving our way through the traffic, going on the wrong side of traffic
islands, through red lights finishing up at the processing labs just in time for a
quick edit and into Tele-Cine for transmission!
Page 36