December 2013 – Page 4 – What Was Pebble Mill?

IVC9000 slant track 2″ VT machine

Photo by John Burkill no reproduction without permission.

This photo from 1976 is of a 2″ videotape machine, a IVC9000 machine.

Ray Lee added the following information: ‘I believe this was the IVC9000 slant track which was used extensively on Pebble Mill at One. Unfortunately as we only ever had the one machine, much time was spent transferring clips to the Ampex VR2000 format and back again, as although both used 2″ tapes, the formats were completely incompatible.
None of the early VT’s had pictures in shuttle. It was not until the 1″ C format VPR2′s came into use around 1976-77 that it was possible to see pictures while cueing.’

Regional Editing Allocation Sheet

Thanks to film editor Charles White for sharing this document, and for keeping it safe since 1987!

This document shows the allocation of regional editing suites in summer 1987.

The programmes listed are the regional opt documentaries. These were weekly, 30 minute programmes about all sorts of subjects of interest in the Midlands. They included regional versions of shows like Crimewatch. The standard editing day seems to be 8.30-16.30.

Each programme had a separate programme number, which is shown under the episode title.

Ros Gower adds the following information: ‘The initials show who was producing and directing the programmes – KW Katie Wright, JC John Clark, DN David Nelson, MD Mike Dornan, RG – me, Ros Gower. Not sure who CC was. I can remember all of them! The one with my initials against it, and presenter Mike Dornan’s, was a doc we made in Shropshire at Condor Hall, an amazing school for deaf blind children.’

The final column shows how the programme was made e.g. studio, PSC (portable single camera), TK (film transfer), VT (videotape editing).

Children in Need Crew Badge

Thanks to Peter Poole for sharing this Children in Need crew badge.

The badge would have been worn by crew members to allow them access to all areas on busy Children in Need evenings.