HESLINGTON STUDIOS – the commercial arm of the University of York’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television launched earlier this year – has chalked up an early success by partnering with Green Screen Productions’ first feature, The Knife That Killed Me. The film is at the late pre-production stage and will be distributed by Universal Pictures in the UK at the end of 2012. The partnership involves Heslington Studios providing post-production facilities, as well as recent York graduates working alongside industry professionals at Green Screen Productions. These include
John Mateer, head of film and television production at York Uni
Oscar-winning producer Stephen Evans (Henry V, The Madness of King George). The partnership grew out of
an earlier collaboration between the university and Green Screen principals Kit Monkman, Alan Latham and Tom Mattinson on
the 2006 film The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey: York students carried out a significant portion of the visual effects work for that feature. Head of film and television
production at the university, John Mateer, is the driving force behind the new business model. “Although general industry collaborations in other disciplines are not uncommon at universities, they are rare in film and TV. The Knife That Killed Me is particularly unusual in that it has the backing of a major studio,” he says. Post-production work will be carried out on a further four films at the university’s new £30 million facilities over the coming year. The Theatre, Film and
Television building boasts two HD broadcast TV studios, a 140-seat preview cinema, a sound stage, and state-of-the-art audio and video post- production facilities. www.heslingtonstudios.comwww.york.ac.uk/tftv
UNITED KINGDOM
April 2012 l 25
cost of new Theatre, Film and Television dept at York University
studionews
Specialist pro-audio outlet KMR Audio recently supplied a pair of Barefoot MicroMain27 monitors to producer Jarrad ‘Jaz’ Rogers for his south London Studio where he has been working with rising star Pixie Lott on her album for Mercury. Rogers, pictured here with Lott, said: “[The Barefoots] are very, very good. When I first heard them they didn’t
seem to make my music sound amazing, in fact it sounded flatter. But then I realised I could hear stuff which I hadn’t heard before. I could hear below 50Hz, clearly and all the way down and I wasn’t trying to compensate by adding stuff. It was sounding fuller which I think is key for a producer.” www.kmraudio.com