Tag: John Smith

Pebble Mill at One – pre planning trip for Billy Joel shoot

Photo by Derek Price, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of director, John G Smith (on the left). It dates from November 1984, and was at a pre plan for a Billy Joel shoot for ‘Pebble Mill at One’. It was taken on a balcony top, in the U.S.A.

Producer Roz Gower left the following comment on the Facebook Group about  how common pre-planning trips were in the 1980s: ‘there were quite a few pre planning type recces done in those days, esp if it was somewhere nice! Alas John Birt put an end to all that fun, sorry, creativity.’

Pebble Mill at One – photo Derek Price


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from Derek Price, no reproduction without permission.

The photo was taken in Oslo in 1982, during a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ shoot in Norway.  It features director John Smith, production assistant Jane Mclean and Derek Price.

OB in the back of a van

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

The photo takes from October 1980.  It looks like part of an outside broadcast set up.

The portable 2″ quad recorder, in the briefcase on the side is an Ampex VR 3000. It was a specialist piece of kit designed for field recording, when it wasn’t possible to take a full 2″ machine.  Even so, it was pretty heavy to carry around – weighing 55 pounds!  It was capable of high or low band recordings, used 20 minute reels, and could be powered by battery or on AC.  Visit this link for more information: http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/TV/Ampex/VR3000.htm

The men in the photo are John Smith (multi camera director), Peter Hodges (sitting down) and Derek Price (engineering manager).

The shoot was almost certainly for a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ programme, since John Smith was one of the principal directors on the show.

Paul Vanezis added on the Facebook page that the ‘Pebble Mill at One’ titles, with the fisheye look, were in fact recorded on an Ampex VR 3000, as were some of the opening titles of ‘Look! Hear!’.

Please add a comment if you can add any information.

Memories of the VPR20 – Norman McLeod

(Norman McLeod remembers the following incident involving the VPR20, a portable 1″ recorder)

Nigel Evans and Ian Dewar spent 3 days and nights trying to repair the beast in Raffles Hotel Singapore – a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ Summer shoot in 1984 with Donny MacLeod, Paul Coia, Peter Seabrook. Eventually, an Ampex engineer was diverted from Malaysia with chips. The then Video Manager refused to let us take one of the new-fangled Beta portables as back up, so we had to borrow a Singapore TV VHS for the first part of the month. Don Cooper was camera, Roger Casstles directed, Arthur Binnie producer, Nicky Barfoot prodn. asst. Dick Bentley E.M. All our credit cards (especially Dick’s) were hammered to pay for facilities not covered by production – especially the Tiger beer.

Also used on Loch Ness on a Scottish adventure with John Smith – Whisky distillery at dawn: and the “Sealink Cycle Race” with Norman Steemson sitting in the boot of a Rover hatchback from the Isle of Wight to Sheffield.

Norman McLeod

Pebble Mill Reunion 2010

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. Thanks to Jane Mclean for making the photo available.

The photo was taken at Keith Salmon’s get together at the Saracen’s in 2010.

Included are: John Smith, John Endall, Yvonne Ackrill, Keith Ackrill, Jim Dumighan, Roy Ronnie, Margaret & Brian Barton, Gordon White, Keith Salmon, John Kimberley, Dave Ballantyne, Toby Horwood, Bob Jacobs, Wilf Welch, Tony Wolfe, James French, John Couzens, behind Jane Mclean (front with orange juice), Kath Woolston, John Abbott. Simon Evans wearing shades at back and Eric Wise standing in the front between Dave Ballantyne and Bob Jacobs.  It might be Keith Bullock behind Margaret Barton, Dave Doogood behind Bob Jacobs and Mark Kershaw between Wilf Welch and Tony Wolfe.  Probably Phil Wilson behind Kath Woolston. Simon Albu on left in front of John Smith.

Thanks to Dave Bushell, Jayne Savage, Janet Collins, Yvonne Ackrill and Jane Mclean for identifying everyone.