Advances in Technology in Coronation Street
Introduction:
Coronation street is a british soap set in wetherfield. It started in 9th December 1960. It is produced in Manchester at the Granada Studios by Granada Television and shown in all ITV regions. Since first being aired, it has been one of the most financially lucrative programmes on commercial television, underpinning the success of its broadcaster ITV and its franchise Granada Television. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running TV soap opera currently in production.
How have sets changed in the soap serial?
Sets have changed dramtaically in coronation street over the years by the house interiors and exteriors. This was erected inside one of Granada Television's studios in central Manchester, with less houses .This small set was awkward for the actors, who had to walk more slowly than normal to appear in scale with the houses. There are lots of reasons for using an indoor studio; the main one would be the infancy of production techniques at the time didnt allow easy recording and editing use of sequence filmed in different location. Not untill 1967 the editing techniques had improved enoungh enought to allow them to be filmed on seperate interior and exterior set. The studios weren't big enough for the whole street, so it was split into halve. The pavement and cobbled strret were painted onto the studio floor. Despite the less limits of the cramped studio set, some complex and dramitic scene were filme there.
In 1982 a full-size street was built in the Granada backlot, with the cobbles running in the correct direction. Since it was to be permanent, the houses were constructed from reclaimed Salford brick and roof slates to give an authentic look.The chimneys are made of fibreglass since there is unsufficent support for brick ones. The buildings are used as offices for writers and as store rooms for props used in outdoor shooting, aside from the take away, butcher shop and betting shop, which are built so that filming can be done inside them. However, in preparation for the switch to High Definition, the chimneys are now made of real brick. Towards the end of 1980s; the scenes were filmed on the exterior set increased after the show's location work switched from film to videotape in 1988. Some outdoor video shooting, using large, tethered cameras, had been tested as early as 197.More tested were conducted with a PSC (portable single camera).
In the broadcasting industry there has been speculation over the future location of the permanent set. One of the many options under active consideration includes moving Granada to a new headquarters in Trafford Park, which would result in the outdoor set moving permanently out of Manchester for the first time ever. However, it is understood that there is some opposition within Granada to this decision, with the alternative being a new development of the main building, leaving the set, sound stages and The Bonded Warehouse (Granada's new headquarters) as they are. In March 2009, it was confirmed that Coronation Street would stay on the current site "for the foreseeable future". Following a change at ITV management, talks between ITV.
How has the recording and broadcasting technology changed ?
Between1960 and 1961, Coronation Street was broadcast twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday. During this time, Friday episode was broadcast live, with the Wednesday episode being pre-recorded 15 minutes later. When the programme went fully networked on 6 March 1961, the broadcast days changed to Monday and Wednesday. .
The series was Shown in black and white for the majority of 1960s. Lots of Preparations were made to film episode 923, to be transmitted in colour on Wednesday 29 October 196. In the event suitable colour film stock for the cameras couldn't be found and the footage was shot in black and white. The following episode, transmitted Monday 3 November, was videotaped in colour but featured black and white film inserts and title sequence. Like over networks such BBC1, the ITV network was officially broadcast in black and white at this point so the episode was seen mostly in black and white.
The reason why episodes were produced in colour for monochrome transmission are not stated in any literature but it is possible that it was for the purposes of testing the look of sets and costumes using the new cameras. The Rovers Return set underwent a subtle change of colours in November 1969 without any on-screen explanation.
In October 1970, The terms of the work-to-rule were that staff refused to work with the new equipment and therefore programmes were recorded and transmitted in black and white, including Coronation Street The dispute was resolved in early 1971 and the last black and white episode was broadcast on 8 February 1971. On 7 January 2002, was the first to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen format. Coronation Street was the last British soap to make the switch to 16:9
From 22 March 2010, Coronation Street was produced in 1080/50i for transmission on HDTV platforms on ITV1 HD. First transmission in this format was episode 7351 on 31 May 2010 with a new set of titles and re-recorded theme tune. On 26 May 2010 ITV1 previewed the new HD titles on the Coronation Street website.
The series was Shown in black and white for the majority of 1960s. Lots of Preparations were made to film episode 923, to be transmitted in colour on Wednesday 29 October 196. In the event suitable colour film stock for the cameras couldn't be found and the footage was shot in black and white. The following episode, transmitted Monday 3 November, was videotaped in colour but featured black and white film inserts and title sequence. Like over networks such BBC1, the ITV network was officially broadcast in black and white at this point so the episode was seen mostly in black and white.
The reason why episodes were produced in colour for monochrome transmission are not stated in any literature but it is possible that it was for the purposes of testing the look of sets and costumes using the new cameras. The Rovers Return set underwent a subtle change of colours in November 1969 without any on-screen explanation.
In October 1970, The terms of the work-to-rule were that staff refused to work with the new equipment and therefore programmes were recorded and transmitted in black and white, including Coronation Street The dispute was resolved in early 1971 and the last black and white episode was broadcast on 8 February 1971. On 7 January 2002, was the first to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen format. Coronation Street was the last British soap to make the switch to 16:9
From 22 March 2010, Coronation Street was produced in 1080/50i for transmission on HDTV platforms on ITV1 HD. First transmission in this format was episode 7351 on 31 May 2010 with a new set of titles and re-recorded theme tune. On 26 May 2010 ITV1 previewed the new HD titles on the Coronation Street website.
What has changed with HD?
Coronation Street production team has upgraded their equipment to the latest high definition equipment, including cameras, production vehicles, lighting and editing facilities. This includes a move from a standard definition tape based system to a state-of-the-art HD file based system. The exteriors of some of the sets in coronation street have also been upgraded to bring them up to high definition standard.
Coronation Street is the latest ITV programme to make the move to the whole of high definition production. An increasing amount of the ITV1 peak time schedule is being produced and broadcast in ‘native’ high definition with a huge variety of HD programming in May and June on ITV1 HD.
Coronation Street is the latest ITV programme to make the move to the whole of high definition production. An increasing amount of the ITV1 peak time schedule is being produced and broadcast in ‘native’ high definition with a huge variety of HD programming in May and June on ITV1 HD.
What impact has the HD format had on production?
The plan eventually was to continue shooting in standard definition while testing the new file-based HD workflow. This involved converting two SD studios to the HD format, and upgrading two OB vehicles for HD location shooting. One of the vehicles was to be key to the switchover, acting as the studio-based control room and a vision gallery while the old SD infrastructure was replaced.
New HD camera technology was also added in the form of six Ikegami 79EXs with Canon lenses for the studios and Panasonic P2 camcorders shooting to 64G memory cards for location shooting. Two AirSpeed Multi Stream workflow servers per gallery were employed, allowing four streams of HD to be recorded to an ISIS 7000 shared storage unit. This enabled the craft, edit, and dubbing suites to playback HD media simultaneously.
Pro Tools
Video Satellite
Airspeed Multi Stream
ISIS 7000
Avid Mojo DX
Symphony Nitris
Avid Professional Services
New HD camera technology was also added in the form of six Ikegami 79EXs with Canon lenses for the studios and Panasonic P2 camcorders shooting to 64G memory cards for location shooting. Two AirSpeed Multi Stream workflow servers per gallery were employed, allowing four streams of HD to be recorded to an ISIS 7000 shared storage unit. This enabled the craft, edit, and dubbing suites to playback HD media simultaneously.
The Products Used
Media ComposerPro Tools
Video Satellite
Airspeed Multi Stream
ISIS 7000
Avid Mojo DX
Symphony Nitris
Avid Professional Services
What is the impact of HD for Corrie?
Coronation Street's first night of HD broadcasting showed a dramatic hit with viewers, with attracting more than 500,000 viewers to the ITV1 HD channel on Monday 31 May. The ITV1 soap's first ever 9pm outing attracted 9.655 million viewers and a 38.2% share on the main network, with a further 509,000 (2.1%) on digital channel ITV1 HD. ITV has timed the HD launch of two of its biggest shows to coincide with a five-day scheduling blitz. The broadcaster is also promising the most expensive episodes of Coronation Street in the soap's near 50-year history.
How have new grip technologies impacted on production?
Polecam has scored a "First" on Britain's longest running TV Soap.
Tom Paterson of Forager Films Ltd was called onto the soap to provide crane shots from a rooftop where Jimmy Jibs would fear to tread.
For a dramatic finale to a major character, the rooftop of the Granada building was the scene of a night shoot where Tom's HD Polecam proved its worth enabling the director to call for off roof shots and vertigo inducing moves from 4 stories high in the air. This was the first time a Polecam has been used on "Coronation Street" which has been running since the early Sixties. Now shot on P2 High Definition at 100Mbps using Ikegami cameras the Polecam's Toshiba camera was able to compliment the other pictures and provide buttock clenching shots from beyond the roof line as well as craning moves to add drama to the scene.
What technological changes are in store for Corrie production in the future?
Coronation street are determined to making Programmes in the Uk, they have set targets for commissioning home-grown production that exceed regularoty requiremnts. For many production London remains the location for them, but they dramitically increase invest in the creative economy eleswhere in the country.In smaller town or rural areas they are making programs so it can bring enough economic beinifits and production teams on location can spend money on accomodation, catering, transportation and other locally- sourced service.
In 2012/13 Coronation Street will move their base in Manchester to MediaCityUK at Salford Quays. This will include building a new bespoke, high-tech production centre for Coronation Street. ITV Studios has operate a major production centre in Manchester and has bases located in Leeds and Norwich, where there wildlife programme business makes shows for the international market.
This video shows the use of a panasonic HD camera in 720p
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