Tag: Ray Lee

Videotape in the 70s (part 6) Ray Lee

Balcony of the 2nd floor bar: Ivor Williams, Nigel Evans, Mike Bloore, John Burkill
Photo by Tim Savage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VT Office

When Pebble Mill was first built, the BBC Club was on the second floor, and became known affectionately by some as the VT Office. It was true that most of the VT staff could be found there at lunch time, and that many conversations with programme staff, producers, and directors took place there over a pint. That in a sense was the cauldron of ideas, that quite often led to innovative programme ideas that came to distinguish Pebble Mill. Departments were small enough, and the bar just about big enough that representatives from all disciplines could come together socially and exchange ideas.

I was only an occasional user, usually having ventured there to collect a Radio Times, but for some it was their regular lunchtime activity. It was there that the problem lay, in that it was just a bit too convenient on the 2nd floor, and more than one of my colleagues was recognised as having a drink problem, and sent on a “drying out” course by the BBC management. As space became more of a premium, the new Club building was built and the second floor returned to office space. I don’t remember the details of the changeover but the net result was that a more deliberate decision was needed to go to the club, rather than just falling out of the lift at the second floor.

Ray Lee

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Jane Clement: ‘Ah, the second floor bar – home of my first Pebble Mill job (barmaid) and the scene of many an interesting night (and lunchtime). The tales I could tell from both sides of the bar as a barmaid then a researcher, then an AP…The new Club that replaced it was never quite the same.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘Ooh yes, some people I could mention did use it as their office but you are right, I am sure many programme ideas were thought up there. The new bar was never quite the same! I remember my first rum punch day (the first of many) – or rather there were parts of it that I forgot!’

Videotape in the 70s (part 5) Ray Lee

 

photo by Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VT Christmas Tapes

There was a tradition in VT to compile together a series of funny out-takes from the programmes, into a programme for internal viewing at Christmas. Quite where it started I don’t know, but it also involved colleagues at ATV, and London VT. The most famous were “White powder Christmas” and “Good King Memorex”. This was at a time when the BBC was pretty straight laced, and it was unthinkable to broadcast actors failings. It became quite well known among the regular actors, who when they had stumbled, or let rip with an expletive, would quite often add “Merry Christmas VT”

In the run up to Christmas there would quite often be mysterious line bookings, late night edit sessions, and other clandestine goings on, in order to complete these works of art. Initially managers turned a blind eye to it, but it got clamped down on when it started to impinge on genuine bookings. As the years went by VT editors had become ever more ambitious and the process was taking away too much effort from genuine work. However it later became legitimised to some extent with the programme “It’ll be Alright on the Night” Somehow there was never quite the same incentive to try to create Christmas tapes again.

Ray Lee

The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Jane Clement: .We all loved those Xma VT tapes – they were greatly anticipated every year. It was always funny for people in different parts of Pebble Mill to see the gaffs in other areas as well as their own. On Pebble Mill at One we were responsible for quite a few outtakes as we were live to air – the presenters in particular were always a bit nervous as the great Xmas unveiling approached! I seem to recall Drama had its fair share of the tape too, and Midlands Today. But any program (and anyone) was fair game for the VT boys.’

Stuart Gandy: ‘I think if you look on you tube you can at least find parts of them. The first time I remember seeing one was towards the end of my A course at Wood Norton when our course lecturer had obtained White Powder Christmas on tape. This was just before Christmas of 1979. It was so funny, and as Ray says it was of footage that would normally have been thrown out. The story goes, from the grapevine, and I could be wrong here, that it was produced during the strike in the run up to Christmas the previous year. White Powder Christmas was so successful, that the following year Good King Memorex was made, altogether much more polished.’

Peter Poole: ‘Copies of the tapes got into the hands of the tabloid press. These papers printed a story that presented the BBC in a poor light. It was the usual BBC bashing. The BBC then banned production of the Xmas tapes. Even out takes must not be kept.’

Keith Brook: ‘Yes. Another classic example of bad management. The tabloid story was based on ‘wasting’ licence payers’ money, which wasn’t true of course because it was in their own time and at no cost to the BBC. The management could have just let the story wither on the vine but instead over reacted and threatened dismissal of anyone caught making a Christmas tape. That’s why the following year it was an ‘Easter’ tape!!’

Videotape in the ’70s (part 4) Ray Lee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

Peter Wood-Fisher’s electronic clock. Grab from Keith Brook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VT Clock

The countdown clock was initially a mechanical clock on a kind of blackboard in the studio, and was recorded at the beginning of each section of recording. It had sections for the programme title, tape number, take number, sequence title and other important identifying information. This was written on by the floor manager, (or assistant FM) prior to the recording. One of the difficulties was that when a tape was edited, the clock information could not be updated in VT to indicate this was an edited master, unless a separate clock had been recorded previously. The clock was generally started at around 30 seconds and allowed to count past 0, although in shows recorded as live the vision mixer would cut to black at 3. Where a series of clocks for editing purposes were recorded, the cut to black would be done in the edit by VT.

In the late 70’s Peter Wood-Fisher, a keen engineer built an electronic VT Countdown clock using a large quantity of integrated circuits, and housed it in a home made plywood box. It was around 18inch square with a full size keyboard at the front, then an up-stand housing the rest of the electronics, on which there was just room for a pair of 9inch monitors. This allowed VT to add clocks to edited items and recorded inserts without tying up studio time. This was the forerunner of using the BBC Micro as a VT Clock, which only became possible in the mid 80’s. (the BBC Model A was first produced in 1984). In those early days studio recordings often still recorded the clock from the studio, but the VT clock was used for subsequent edits. As there was only one VT Clock, various routing arrangements were made in order to make it available to the other VT areas. It sat on the back shelf in VTA cubicle.

Ray Lee

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Peter Poole: “BBC Norwich still used these VT clocks long after Pebble Mill changed to electronic. I went on attachment as a Tech Op. The studio looked like a museum of broadcast equipment!”

Eurwyn Jones: “Just read the article on the Pebble Mill site. I remember the clock well – on live shows like ‘Farming Today’ on Sunday mornings,the clock was used at the end of the show as well. It faced the presenter in the studio and on cue from the PA counting down to the end on the show we would start the clock and they would see how long they had left. Some would ignore it though!!”

Peter Poole: “Pebble Mill engineers had a great talent for building ingenious electronics.”

Ned Abell: “Its ironic this surfaced the day after Ceefax closed…now wheres my BBC B from September 1982?”

Videotape in the 70s (part 3) – Ray Lee


Photo by Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission

VT Expansion

Around 1975/6 VTC was created. A pair of AmpexVR1200 were installed into the new area, but because there were only sufficient lines on the Comms router at that time for one more VT they shared a single source and destination route, and one control line. When working with a studio or outside destination, they only saw whichever machine was switched to line, which meant that for programmes like Midlands Today, one machine could be cuing the next item, while one was playing, but normally it would need a brief return to another source so that the machine to line could be switched prior to playing the next item. I had a fairly extended period working in VT after VTC was created, and even did some training of others including Tim Savage. At that time Angela Ripon was the main presenter on “Top Gear” which was frequently edited in VTC.

Soon after that the IVC 9000 Slant track machine was installed in the former Telecine viewing room. More and more programmes were using VT and so any viewing of film material took place either in the viewing theatre run by Stan Treasurer, or in the Telecine cubicles themselves. The IVC 9000 used 2inch wide tape like the Quad machines, but recorded the tracks diagonally across the tape. The tape also ran at half the speed that the Quad machines used, so could accommodate longer continuous recordings.

It was slightly less noisy than the Quad machines and had a much quicker start up mode. (I believe it could be synchronous in 3 seconds instead of 10). This machine was used extensively by Pebble Mill at One, but because there was only ever one machine, it still required a Quad machine to do edits, and also any material that was on slant track format tapes, could only be played on that machine, which rather limited its usefulness. The idea of obtaining a second machine for an edit pair never materialised, as by this stage the Ampex VPR2 machines were starting to be installed in London, and subsequently at Pebble Mill, and these had the advantage of seeing pictures in still frame and shuttle mode, which enormously improved the location of edit points.

Ray Lee

Ray added this additional information on the Pebble Mill Facebook page: ‘VTC was equiped with VR1200s which Paul (Vanezis) is quite correct were older machines (than the VR2000s). Pebble Mill had them 2nd Hand I think ex London when they were just starting to install VPR2’s at TVC as far as I recall.’

Videotape in the ’70s (part 2) – Ray Lee

 

Photo by Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of Jim Hiscox in VTB

Editing with Quad

As mentioned earlier cut editing was not feasible for videotape, so all editing was performed using “Dub” edits, and in sequence. The editor would decide which piece he wanted from the play in tape, and a cue point would be marked 10 seconds prior to that on the back of the tape with a china-graph pencil. The electronic editor on the record / edit machine recorded a cue pulse on the edit tape to initiate the electronic editor. This performed the switching sequence to switch the record machine from playback to record at the edit point, and involved careful timing of record and erase circuits, in order to create a seamless join. The Edit machine could work in Assemble or Insert edit mode. Assemble meant joining a new recording to the end of a previous one, and the new recording would then continue until the stop button was pressed. Insert recording was used to add a new section of pictures ( or sound) to an already existing section of recording which had to be continuous. The control signal that is recorded during a standard recording, or Assemble edit, was not re-recorded in insert mode, and as this was the equivalent of film sprocket holes, had to be continuous for a stable playback. This meant that insert edits could not alter the overall duration of a recording, and that the section being inserted had to be the same duration as the one being removed.

Most programmes were assemble edited, starting with the line-up, and VT Clock (in those days a mechanical clock in the studio). Then the opening title sequence, which would often have come from film. VTA was the play machine, which could be used to do simple “on the fly” edits, whereas VTB had the Editec controller which allowed for some adjustment of edit points. The procedure was, locate the in point on the playback machine and wind back 10 sec, marking the tape (physically), locate the in point on the record machine, marked with a pulse, wind back 10 sec and mark the tape physically. Remote the play machine, switch on the editec and then run both from the record machine. If the in point was at a shot change from the player, it was quite important to check the edit point for flash frames. The nature of the colour TV signal meant that editable points were always 2 frames apart, and for a given sync point on the recorder, it was possible that if the in point on the player was on the non editable frame, the machines might sync on the wrong frame giving a flash frame. This was adjusted by physically moving the tape either forward or back from the china-graph mark when re-cuing.

In respect of Quad editing, John Lannin was a master of the craft. I remember him, and I think Steve Critchlow working for several days of edit sessions putting together a title sequence (Might have been for “Gangsters”) which comprised a long series of flash frames, probably no more than 4 frames of any clip. The effect was truly stunning.  There must have been 300 or more edits, and each one needed a 10 second run up, both to locate the shot and to edit it into the sequence, and finally to review it. No wonder it took a long time.

With every edit the recording went to another generation, due to the fact editing was a playback and re-record process. Also because the sequences all had to be laid down on the tape in order, it meant that to re-arrange the order meant another edit, and hence another generation. Ideally the best that could be achieved was 2nd generation, where the final edit was the first edit. For a lot of programmes a first edit was fine tuned by a second edit, leading to 3rd generation. However for programmes like ‘Pebble Mill at One’, inserts would often come from previously edited programmes or shows, so by the time they appeared in a ‘Pebble Mill ‘Highlights programme would be 5th or 6th generation, by which time the recording deficiencies start to become obvious. This has been something of a problem for archives, as often the original early generations have often been wiped, or the original source lost in the trail of hand written records. No wonder everyone welcomed digital recording with the infinite generation promise of fidelity, but that did not come for nearly another 20 years.

Ray Lee

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