television

Fair play at UKTV

Darren Childs UKTV

Five years ago, UKTV was seen as the home of the BBC’s archive shows and the owner of a channel called Dave. Everyone in the industry thought Dave was named after the company’s former CEO, David Abraham.

Fast forward to today. The 300-strong company that began life as a multichannel archive business 20 years ago has grown. It now runs 11 channels, ranging from natural-history channel Eden to Good Food, and has a commercial television market share of 9.3%.

RTS Student Masterclass: Sound

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TV sound engineers are used to keeping a low profile. Only if something goes amiss do the people responsible for the sound emerge from the shadows. Paradoxically, minus the sound track a TV show would be unwatchable.  

This point was made by the two veterans delivering an RTS Craft Skills Masterclass on sound, Chris Ashworth, Production Sound Mixer, and Mike Felton, Sound Designer.

“You only get shouted at when things go wrong,” Felton observed. “Sound is a masochist’s job. Basically you do it for your own satisfaction.”

RTS Student Masterclass: Writing for drama

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You could be forgiven for thinking that the award- winning screenwriter and producer, Jeff Pope, approaches his work by trying to find the most gruesome story possible.

This is the man who has made TV dramas based on the dark deeds of serial killer, Fred West, Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, and Britain’s most prolific hangman, Albert Pierrepoint.

RTS Student Masterclass: Camerawork

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Television is at its core a visual medium and the cameraman exists at the very heart of it.

Tim Palmer, a cinematographer working predominantly in TV drama, and BAFTA winning documentary cameraman Steve Robinson turned the viewfinder on themselves to deliver an RTS craft skills camera masterclass.

The session was chaired by former Yorkshire Television high flier Helen Scott.

RTS Student Masterclass: Editing drama and documentaries

Ben Stark, Alex Graham (chair), Una Ni Dhonghaile (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

When it comes to producing great television, a good editor is where it all begins and ends. That was the clear message for students attending the RTS craft skills editing masterclass.

Ben Stark, a feted documentary film editor and Una Ni Dhonghaile, who has won plaudits for her work editing TV drama, delivered the masterclass chaired by media consultant Alex Graham.

Stark and Dhonghaile each discussed three examples of their work.