BBC Television Centre 1980's

An introduction training film about life in the BBc TV Camera Department.

[@jonnyhaw]

It's one of the great regrets of my life that I never got to have a proper look around TV Centre before they needlessly destroyed it.

[@eamesaerospace2805]

ITV use it

[@MrDunkiep]

@Finnegan Victor slightly random. I was just checking out the TV cameras.

[@adolflenin4973]

Immigrants use it

[@dareks8000]

@@eamesaerospace2805 ITV Rent TC studios 2 and 3

[@dareks8000]

The BBC knew the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

[@tightcamper]

I worked in radio and television as a technician. I could go anywhere and used to spend hours in production control rooms. I never tired of the excitement. International live satellite hookups were real adrenaline generators.

[@brushhead]

I was on Children's BBC in 1986 on a game show and me and my dad managed to have a good look round TVC in its heyday! I was always going to be an engineer and my favourite night of BBC1 was always Thursdays. Top of the pops and Tomorrow's World. I had lunch in the fabled BBC canteen and on the next table was Tomorrow's World and I was dying to go and say hello but they were going out live that night. The last thing they'd was a spotty youth accosting them all! Some great memories. Paul Daniels and Janice Long were on my show that day and Mike Smith was the presenter. All sadly now gone.

[@kenmeade9924]

can you remember the name of the game show? What shows did you work on?

[@brushhead]

@@kenmeade9924 oh I was just a contestant. It was called 'Secret's out!'

[@MrDannyDetail]

Steve Winwood at number 14 makes it the 17th July 1986 edition of Top Of The Pops.

[@MarkBrydondrums85]

I was born that day one year before so was 1years old....

[@bobbell7985]

For Jaworskij, Dan Cepeda, and TroysVisualArts, the BBC in the United Kingdom and the ABC in Australia have a unique method of planning and executing precisely cut shots in a music production. Every shot is planned and "timed" down precisely. But the methodology of the timing is quite unique. The Director's Assistant is calling out the progress of the "bars-of-music". She is counting the music bars, so the Director and Vision Switcher, or Technical Producer know exactly when the next scheduled shot is required to be switched in. The Director is working from his planned Shot List he has rehearsed with the crew earlier, in collaboration with the Director's Assistant and her bar-counting. The Director's Assistant is also alerting the camera crew members which camera shot is coming up next, in between her counting the bars-of-music. It's actually a much more efficient way than trying to physically time the shots with a stopwatch. You will hear her say "two of four" meaning it's up to the second beat in a "four-beat bar of music", and then you will hear "Three next" meaning Camera Three will be on air when the vision is next switched. As stated they do that at the BBC, and ABC in Australia. I worked as a studio cameraman at a major city commercial station in Australia and my station and others in the marketplace amongst the commercial stations did NOT employ the bar counting method. I also believe that even in the USA, bar counting is mostly not practised. Some music programme Directors in the USA actually do the vision switching themselves, particularly at smaller tv stations, and some shows are directed and switched off-the-cuff. If they time shots in the USA it's usually on the stopwatch. Remarkably though, the results are often still outstanding, when they have experienced and talented camera operators, particularly where up to five or more cameras are used. In the BBC clip, in the Shepherd's Bush TV Theatre music sequence, Camera Five was the handheld camera, with Camera One the Mole Crane mounted camera, with Camera Two, Three, and Four being pedestal mounted. The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) teach bar-counting for music programme production planning and execution.

[@rty1955]

The directors in USA are not allowed to perform switch operations, camera switching, Technical Director or TD for short. They are union jobs. Directors are not permitted to touch any technical gear. I am a member of IATSE and if any director touched anything rhe production may come to a screaming halt. In addition people have specific jobs, meaning a camera operator may not do video tape work and visa versa. I was a video tape editor and stayed in the tape room or edit suite. Never was i permitted to do any other sort of work, nor did i want to. Each person has thier own talents and is respected for that. A camera operator would have NO clue as to rhe technical operation of a quad video tape machine, nor the standards that must be adhered to.

[@walkingtheboogie]

Thanks for the explination.

[@eddiewillers1]

@@rty1955 Senseless demarcation became protectionism and destroyed the unions.

[@user-bg2nj5fn4m]

@@rty1955 Three years on, are they now multi-skilling?

[@catholicpriest1]

I love the big television cameras. An era gone by.

[@therealmodernwalking9695]

Well they still exist and are used by many.

[@WELLINGTON20]

It’s not like modern day tv is being filmed on phones you idiot

[@therealmodernwalking9695]

@@WELLINGTON20 Don't call him an idiot though..

[@jackbailey2595]

Yea think it's a bit out of order calling him an idiot, don't need to go that far, but yea era has changed cameras are still big when coming down to television

[@RyanGonTV]

I agree, television cameras are getting smaller compared to the EMI2001 cameras the BBC and Thames and others used.

[@mistofoles]

The BBC did official tours, but of course you only saw a very small part of the centre, basically what they wanted to you see. My partner's mother had a friend who actually worked in the BBC newsroom. She invited us in to see how everything worked, and with our passes, we were able to wander around TV Centre freely as long as we didn't actually interrupt any filming.

[@terrybrett467]

I always had the greatest admiration for the Director's assistants, sometimes called Production Sectretarys fortheir ability to call the shots and count the music bars at the same time.

[@iwtoc65]

@toresbe ...continued. A lot of the shots are scripted to last for several musical bars, so you also get while on a particular shot a bar count. e.g at 4.44 you hear "ten, one next", which means as before, we are on shot 10 and camera one is next. Then you hear "two of seven". This means that this shot lasts for seven bars and we are on the second bar of the seven. The PA then counts the seven bars "three...four..etc" on the 7th bar she also counts beats 2 to 4 of that bar ("7,2,3,4").

[@gkeaoyrge]

Don't get me wrong, Broadcasting House is a fantastic place to be and it looks superb but that TVC magic has gone in my opinion. Was a pretty remarkable place Television Centre. Hopefully the BBC can use Broadcasting House in an equally creative way. :) Great video!

[@gordonm2821]

Hello from 2024 - On the Top of the Pops bit when the director said ‘cue applause’ that was for the sound op to play the cheering crowd audio on the Akai sampler. That is the cheering you hear. They then cut to studio where the floor manager had already cued to crowd to start cheering / clapping. The actual crowd watching the acts was very small and just moved between acts.

[@user-bg2nj5fn4m]

...and there was I thinking it was real!

[@villavic59]

after watching the history of the television centre last night on bbc4.and being old enough to remember the iconic progs made there,its time to stand up keep this peice of our history

[@raymondwilkinson5048]

Great filming of Shepherds Bush from above and when the camera looking out of the East Tower, pans from the roof of Television Centre across to the TV Theatre, you can just make out the high buildings of the BBC Lime Grove studios, which back onto the railway line. The only good thing to come from Television Centre being sold, is that TC1, TC2 and TC3 have at least survived and been retained. Looking from Wood Lane, the entire frontage of the revamped Television Centre, hasn't changed that much good and the new building that has replaced the Spur, is probably a lot better to look at and at least all of the bricks match this time.

[@jacksugden8190]

All just a memory. Such a shame loosing Terry Wogan, saw him on the steps outside the old theatre talking to some women one afternoon years ago, saw That’s Life there.

[@UXXV]

Thanks for posting this

[@troysvisualarts]

Great video on this classic camera, gotta love how the female camera director instructs the cameramen on Top Of The Pops, she so sounds like an aerobics instructor, can easily imagine some chick dressed in 80s lycra on an aerobics program talkin like this to her students with some 80s dance pop playing in the background lol

[@dxutube]

Love those chords.

[@allan5428]

Absolutely fascinating.

[@letstalkcriterion]

amazing those cameramen don't bump into each other they look so heavy.

[@trevorrandom]

Thanks for uploading this very interesting stuff any more?

[@jonnyhaw]

Those Mole Cranes at TV Theatre look pretty ancient, even then!

[@BBT609]

This is amazing

[@mojiburrahman4550]

BBT609

[@SuckMyFarts]

that tune is awesome

[@Zenon222]

Television Centre will be sadly missed after it closes.

[@dareks8000]

When Cameras were heavy!

[@ppotter]

I'd have heard that woman's counting in my sleep if I'd worked there...

[@nakamichiguy]

Absolutely fascinating! Can someone explain the method behind the counting madness? That isn't the director, right? This can't be how every BBC music production was directed can it? I mean, Live Aid went on for hours. That would be humanly impossible! Love the look those massive cameras gliding in the studio gave. TV is 'better' now no doubt, but this older style has such charm.

[@johnrauner2515]

The numbers are the director calling the shots (that's where the term comes from). The women is saying what cameras to put to air. She is being listened to by the crew, the camera operators know their camera is about to go to air by her calls and the vision switcher (sitting to her right in the control room) is pressing the buttons that put the different cameras on air as she calls for them. And yes this goes on the entire time shows are on air. Although with music production, the pace is a bit more frantic than say news or drama. But live aid is an example of where this kind of pace was kept up for a long length of time.

[@iwtoc65]

@toresbe The "intercom" is a recording of production talkback. The Production Assistant is calling out the shot numbers and which camera is taking the next shot. e.g at 4.20 you hear "two, two next; three, one next; four, four next". This means we are on shot two, camera two is on the next shot, then we are on shot three and camera one is on the next shot, then shot four and cam 4 is on the next shot and so on. Explanation continued in next comment......

[@rty1955]

Too much chatter.. We used "standby 1, take one. Standby 4, take 4, standby dissolve to 2, dissolve" etc. One direction is for camera operator, the next is for the technical director or TD. This gives proper direction to everyone on com.

[@gordonm2821]

@@rty1955- In the UK the person operating the vision mixer is also called a vision mixer. A TD role does exist. Depending on setup they could be just the main technical contact for production, co-ordinating live circuits, etc. In some places they also ‘rack’ the cameras so that multiple cameras looking at same thing are all colour and exposure matched for example. Other places have dedicated vision controllers to do the camera racking. Especially live sport/outside broadcasts.

[@bjadan]

@jaworskij It's not the director, it's the script. And we use the same technique in Norway, and I would suspect that's because Norwegian broadcasters were trained by the BBC in the 50's!

[@Joyousmicor]

TV Theatre became Shepherd's Bush Empire, when productions from there transferred to TC1

[@catholicpriest1]

In the early days of television in the United States, many Broadway theaters where turned into makeshift television studios. The Ed Sullivan Theater is the last remaining theater to be used of television production.

[@aidanlunn7441]

2:10: - the EMI 2001, the definitive BBC camera. It's a pity the Link 110s weren't featured in this video as well.

[@malcolmelliott1876]

Aidan Lunn most of the cameras you see ARE Link 110s

[@aidanlunn7441]

Malcolm Elliott No, they're Link 125s. Go on Google Images and compare the two.

[@malcolmelliott1876]

Aidan Lunn sorry my mistake... luckily we didnt have to suffer the Links.. we had EMI 2005's... even worse!!, until the LDKs arrived . I have just noticed the very trendy dancing camera assistants on the Mole during TOTP. Thanks to KZbin these snippets of past years wont get forgotten.

[@aidanlunn7441]

The pictures from the 110s actually weren't bad, the 125s however...

[@pyerseaston9633]

Wasn't Eastenders shot on old 2001s cast off from TVC? The noisy green channel was a giveaway.

[@YACW]

beatiful

[@bjadan]

We use several of the very same Vinten head at our university college now!

[@Salmagundiii]

cool video; they should have had a PIP showing the result of the floor director's camera calls

[@Lighting_Desk]

So modern. Still lowkey wanna do lighting for the bbc.

[@mwscuba]

I can remember using them heads at BBC Wales, along with the peds.

[@BroadcastGamerHD]

What's the music playing in the background from 4:17 to the end?

[@MrDannyDetail]

I'd love to know too! I made the assumption that all the clips in this upload are contemperous to each other, and therefore think the episode of Wogan must be in July 1986, or thereabouts, as the TOTP clip is from 17th July 1986. I have checked The Times digital archive for the guest listings for every episode of Wogan in July 1986 and it doesn't appear to match any of the advertised musical guests. Radio Times, and therefore also genome, only give a generic vaguely humourous description for each show, as presumably the guests weren't finalised until after RT went to press. I've also tried to pick out whatever lyrics I could, to attempt to Google some of the phrases and track the song down that way, but no joy with that method so far, even with headphones the numerically obsessed woman is still louder in both ears than the music is (I was hoping I'd get lucky and she'd be in one ear and the music in the other, but no).

[@marcin_usrk]

Songs name please I'm loved bbc tvc plz guys BEFORE 301 :-)

[@Buckshot106]

I'd guess that these performances used pre-recorded fold-back music - those standard cans wouldn't keep out full volume pop making it hard to hear your talkback over the guitar amps!

[@vcn89hd]

What's the song playing at 3:30 please?

[@PaulSmith-iy2ez]

Does anyone know the name of the music track at the start of the video?

[@jupitersailing]

What was the reason they closed television centre? Now you walk right through the grounds as you head to the football ground next door.

[@joenest2122]

TV industry has changed. Up until the early 90s, the BBC made all their programmes and all the production and technical crew were staff - that required a large complex of offices, studios, set construction, prop storage etc. These days a lot of the BBC's output is made by independent production companies at any studio/location they choose to use (not to mention that the government has forced the BBC to push most of its production activities outside London). Plus, of course, technology has got a lot better/smaller/cheaper.

[@fastwalkingphil]

I've always wondered why the number counting... I get camera numbers but what's with the others 😁

[@user-zt1er1uj6i]

shots of next camera.... 3 next 5 next..... beats in bar and at what point in the beat.... to make cuts in time with music.

[@Channel-kx1mz]

What is the music from 0:00?

[@mamanap5194]

Please help us!

[@mistofoles]

I'm afraid I don't know, but it does sound very much like a Jean-Michael Jarre composition.

[@quizmaster85]

Tried using Shazam; two false readings from the intro.

[@atmakali9599]

3:50 what’s with the bingo caller ?

[@LouserTV]

STEVE WINWOOD!

[@gaosiaodanyin]

BBC TELEVISION CENTER................

[@jaworskij]

That's quite the way for the director to call out the next cameras. Must be really exhausting because it's non-standard way of doing it.

[@patricksmith4424]

What on earth is that ghastly woman rabbiting on about?

[@atmakali9599]

It would have been a much better world if television had never been invented.

[@rty1955]

Way too much chatter on intercom

[@nigelwilliams9307]

That silly woman directing the cameras did my head in!

[@atmakali9599]

Lots or people were raped in that building.

[@UQRXD]

Ridiclous sized cameras.

[@anoopsahal1202]

The music is absolute torture!