Traditional Camera Company, a camera hire firm which turned 10 years old this year, has recently upgraded much of its equipment in response to the increased demand for HD and file-based cameras.

While it works with several production companies, the bulk of the company's clients are freelance camera operators. "We've noticed over the last 18-24 months that the freelancers are doing more sports-based work and therefore they are asking for HD equipment," notes Peter Young, Managing Director, Traditional Camera Company. "Of course, we have to go where the market goes."

Traditional Camera Company's most recent purchases were two Sony PDW700 cameras and a Sony HDW750, in a deal worth around £50k. "We had work waiting for them when they came in, so they have already been a great success," says Peter. "By the end of the year we'll have more card-based cameras, as we're being asked more and more for the Sony PMW500."

Peter had dealt with Fineline a few years ago following a recommendation by Sony authorised dealer Top-Teks. "I'm loyal to people and companies that give good service so I approached them again for this purchase," Peter explains. "John Bartlett was particularly helpful in facilitating a quick turnaround when we needed to supply kit for an imminent production. As a small company, that kind of service is very important."

www.tradcam.co.uk

Highlighting the use of broadcast equipment beyond the traditional broadcast space, Minicams has recently been involved in a ground-breaking project at The Clinical Exchange medical training facility near Guildford. The company specialises in supplying minicams and robotic head systems, which are in increasing demand for observational documentaries such as The Family II. For The Clinical Exchange, meanwhile, it found itself installing all the infrastructure required to support up to six remotely-controlled Sony BRC-H700P robotic cameras.

The HD robotic cameras are hired in by the facility on an ad hoc basis. "The project demanded HD because the clinic wanted to be able to project the images live from the operating theatres and ultrasound treatment room on a large screen elsewhere. That way they can have more students watching the same procedure," says Minicams MD, Nick McLachlan. "They also needed the detail that HD provides as some of the surgery, such as varicose vein procedures, takes place at the micro level."

The cameras were purchased via Fineline. "They were efficient, very helpful, and overall a pleasure to deal with," says Nick McLachlan. "And as a result we've set up what we think is a fairly unique and valuable training facility."

www.minicams.tv

For its latest venture into the realms of adventurous acquisition, Helicopter Film Services is keeping its feet, if not quite firmly on the ground, then at least a lot closer to it. Long established as one of the world's leading aerial filming companies, it has recently set up a new division called Pursuit Europe, specialising in providing high-performance car-mounted camera systems for a variety of filming purposes.

While the new work might be closer to the ground, it's still speedy. The company uses the fully-stabilised Pursuit Cranes developed by Shelly Ward Enterprises in the US, which are tested and rated at well over 100mph, and for good measure it mounts them on either a Mistubishi Evo or one of two VW Touareg 4WDs. The Touareg option also makes them extremely flexible, company MD Jeremy Braben pointing out that they were the only wheeled units able to get to the shooting location for a scene in Ridley Scott's upcoming Robin Hood.

"The Touareg unit can also be used as a static crane as it can be repositioned extremely quickly," he says.

While the units are all road legal, Braben approached Fineline to help finance the construction of a specialist vehicle transporter from Vipex.

"Our relationship with Fineline basically allowed us to custom build the transporter to suit our purposes," he says. "The trailer lets us transport the Touareg in a fully secure and weatherproof environment and be ready to go as soon as we turn up – all we have to do is attach the camera package. It also doubles as a support unit, enabling us to carry wheels, rims, crane arm extensions, and all the other bits and pieces we may need."

www.helicopterfilm.tv

Over the past handful of years, the rapid evolution of broadcast technology has meant that the armchair sports fan has become both better entertained and better informed. On one hand, multiple cameras including such specialised units as wireless touchline cams, skycams, remote units, rail cams and ultra slo-motion units, have revolutionised the viewing experience. On the other, a huge rise in the amount of graphical data presented to the viewer has provided access to a wealth of analytical information previously only available to the team coaches.

This in turn has given rise to the graphic specialists and London-based MOOV has established itself as one of the best in the business. Specialising in data-driven graphics for sports, as well as producing title sequences for programmes such as Mock the Week, MOOV has become the graphics company of choice for some of the world's leading broadcasters, including the BBC, ESPN, AI Jazeera, RTE, ITV, Sky Italia and Channel 4.

To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson though, the price of keeping on top of the technology is eternal vigilance. "The entry standard has been raised to a much higher level," says MOOV MD, Duncan Foot. "All our kit needs to be HD compatible and capable of doing realtime 3D graphics whilst keeping the flexibility of the older systems."

Thus, when the company recently won the contract to overhaul the graphics for the ATP tennis series, it needed to invest in new kit and bought two Chyron HyperX2s. "We already had three Aston7s that theoretically should have been able to do this work, unfortunately we didn't have enough confidence in their reliability and they are very slow to design new layouts on," says Foot. "We needed a system that we could produce complex 3D animations on quickly but it also had to be rock solid as it would be sent around the world. The HyperX2s fitted the bill and also had plenty of potential for additional projects."

The machines were purchased via Fineline, "they were very quick to react to our needs and more importantly understood our area of business," says Foot and they have since added a new HyperX3 unit for the Saturday night Football League highlights programme. "The show is produced by IMG for BBC and follows straight after the normal Match of the Day programme," explains Foot. "We provide live graphics from Media House in London as well as edit graphics at two other locations."

The evolution, it seems, continues.

www.moov.tv

High speed photography is not only as old as film, it predates it – Eadweard Muybridge conducting a series of experiments in the late 1880s to see if a racehorse lifts all four feet off the ground when in full gallop (it does). Thus it is perfectly natural to see it currently evolving from film in turn into the digital arena.

The companies that specialise in high-speed filming – and the technology is complicated enough that specialisation is the norm – are having to move with it too, and Green Door Films is a case in point. Founded in the late 1980s as an independent company offering a wide range of high-speed film cameras to the rental market, especially the Photo-Sonics 16mm, Super16 and 35mm high-speed film cameras, it has recently progressed though the Phantom v5 and v5.1 to the current, top-of-the-range Phantom HD.

"Most of our work has always been for commercials, music videos and TV idents," says company founder, John Hadfield. "But we're also starting to do more documentaries and there are also the military jobs as well – but I can't really talk about that!"

The Phantom HD is an impressive piece of kit. It shoots at up to 1000 frames per second in full HD, meaning that 4 seconds of realtime footage, for instance, can be extended to around two and a half minutes in length, slowing down the action by a factor of 40. These images are then output as a series of TIFF files and taken away by the client on a hard drive.

It's also an expensive piece of kit too and Green Door now has two of them, representing an investment in the region of £250k.

"We asked for three quotations, as you always tend to do when you're buying high value kit, but the other two couldn't come close to the Fineline offer," comments John Hadfield. "You also very much get the personal touch with Fineline. You're not dealing with faceless people over the telephone; they're always prepared to visit and meet up with you face to face."

It's an investment that certainly seems to be paying off for the company. "Our recent enquiries have included two feature films – one UK based the other from Spain – a wartime documentary, two music videos and our usual commercial production companies both here in the UK and abroad," concludes Hadfield.

www.greendoorfilms.co.uk

David Crute has been a DoP and steadicam operator for nearly 20 years and has owned Rock Steadi Pictures for 15 years. Up to now he has only invested in generic equipment like steadicams that he could use with both film and video.

The Shroud of Turin

David spends a vast amount of time shooting on location and has little time to arrange the purchase of specialist kit. Choosing the right equipment, however, is vitally important for Rock Steadi Pictures and never more so than when David was commissioned to shoot a unique BBC documentary about the Shroud of Turin, following new evidence coming to light regarding its authenticity as well as new dating evidence.

David explains: "For the Vatican to allow the cloth to be filmed was unheard of. The last time it was photographed was 20 years ago and it maybe another 10 years at least before it is seen again. We wanted to ensure we captured the images in the best possible way on HD."

On Choosing HD

After Vatican approval was secured, David selected the Sony HDW-790 HD Camera, which he describes as: "The best documentary, high-definition camera around" along with an HD lens.

With a price tag of around £30,000, the HDW-790 HD is no small investment and, with this in mind David opted for a three year lease deal. He comments: "I have a long standing relationship with Fineline and it was around Christmas time, we were mid production and needed kit in a hurry. Duncan at Fineline and Paul Brown at Visuals together were able to sort this all out while I was using a hired camera on locations such as USA, Israel, Oxford and of course Turin."

David continues: "I felt it was time to invest in HD as most of my Digibeta clients wanted HD and a lot of my film clients wanted to save money."

The job of a Director of Photography is a complex one requiring complex kit, so when DoP Stuart Graham recently found the need to purchase some new lenses he turned to Fineline for the finance.

Stuart decided to push the limits of what most DoPs have in their kit bag and purchase the full range of Arri Master Prime lenses. Dubbed Dreamcatcher and developed in close collaboration between ARRI and Zeiss, these herald a new generation of high speed prime lenses with more speed, more resolution, more contrast and virtually no breathing.

Stuart decided straight away that purchasing the full set would give him a creative advantage and ability to push the boundaries of his work. Currently working in the high-end world of commercials and looking at longer form drama work, purchasing the total set of 14 Master Prime lenses was able to give him the flexibility when on any type of shoot.

The lenses have been put to use straight away in South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and London for clients as diverse as Muller, Honda, Nicorrette, Specsavers, Bakers, Zyrtec, Landrover and the BBC with a TV Licensing campaign.

One of the main advantages of the new lenses is the ability to shoot in any type of lighting situation for example a candlelit dinner scene at T1.3 will be rendered as well as a high-contrast shot in the snow at T22.

"For me to invest in new equipment it has to have a major draw to it and this set of lenses offered so many. As a set they have struck so many firsts," he comments.

For Stuart the investment was a big one and so he turned to Fineline for the finance. Having worked with them since he started in the business, he knew they understand DoPs, and would know how best to structure the deal. "Fineline understand the peaks and troughs you can get in this industry which made it even easier to do this deal," he concludes.

When Mark Roberts Motion Control decided to finance the building of a new demo rig, Fineline was happy to be involved.

Of all the sights on offer at your average industry trade show, motion control rigs are one of the most fascinating. There's some­thing hugely impressive about watching half a tonne of solid machinery accelerate down a track while a mounted camera rotates around it on an arm with balletic grace, and realise that it's doing this with millimetre-perfect precision time and time again.

Mark Roberts Motion Control, based down in East Grinstead, makes the world-leading motion control rig, the phenomenally successful Milo. Its success is based on rigidity, as motion control depends on performing repeatable, frame-accurate, and wobble free moves that enable you to produce vfx shots that previously would have depended on a locked off camera.

The Milo, for all its success, is big though. So, last year MRMC launched its little brother, the Talos, at IBC. "The Milo won't fit through a standard-sized doorway and also weighs almost twice as much as the new machine," explains MD, Assaff Rawner. "The Talos is much more portable, and is used in places where you still want the precision you get with a Milo but don't need the same range of motion."

The problem with this sort of precision engineering is that it doesn't come cheap. To demo the Talos effectively, Mark Roberts needs to show people what it can do; and that means a dedicated rig that the company can send all over the world. But, as Rawner explains, when you think that the rig easily costs a six-figure sum, the build costs are substantial in themselves.

"We had built the Talos already, but we couldn't easily carry the cost of doing that for a long time ourselves," he says.

Hence Fineline. "Speed was one of the main things about them," says Rawner. "They deal with broadcast and film equipment a lot so they're familiar with the industry too, which helps. Unlike other kit, the Talos is both expensive and portable and designed to go on location around the world, and it can be hard to find finance companies that are happy to take the risk on that as there is more to go wrong. But Fineline was happy."

Mark Roberts also took full advantage of Fineline Sales Manager, Duncan Payne's widespread industry knowledge. "We were able to talk to Assaff about the industry as it actually is," says Payne. "We find that clients really appreciate dealing with people who know what they're talking about and have detailed, specialised knowledge about how the film and broadcast industries operate."

Since its launch, Talos machines have been all round Europe shooting commercials and are starting to stretch their wings further afield on several high-profile jobs. Exactly what they are Rawner unfortunately says he has to keep under his hat for the moment, but suffice it to say that, even if you never actually notice it, it won't be long before you see their work on a screen somewhere.

Production company Ammonite used Fineline services when they bought the world's smallest HD camera, the Iconix HD-RH1, to film some of the world's smallest insects for Smalltalk Diaries.

Coming to the BBC this autumn, Smalltalk Diaries is an engaging 10 x 15 children's series that uses a fictional Translation Lens to show the viewers the world of insects, bugs and slugs, and experience it though the creatures' own voices. Older readers are encouraged to think Animal Magic through a microscope at this point, while for the technically minded, the visuals of the Translation Lens are achieved using a combination of production company Ammonite's own specially developed optics and unique Frankencam motion control rig, medical endoscopes and – now – the Iconix HDRH1, the world's smallest HD camera. The Iconix is an impressive bit of kit. The head weighs a meagre 64g and measures an equally small 33.5 x 38 x 48.8mm.

"Once we were able to design and build a special mount for the Iconix to work on Frankencam, we have been able to go to places hitherto only dreamt of by film makers," says Ammonite's Jonathan Jones, cameraman on Smalltalk Diaries. "The Iconix really opened up some new ground for us. The size of our subjects in this series has been a challenge, and getting either low enough to the ground or actually in the ground is always tricky. The Iconix helped solve some of these problems."

Jones says that once the company had decided it needed the camera, he was impressed at how quickly Fineline came through with figures and options. "We had asked another (large) company which had financed our previous large purchase to give us some ideas on costs, and after three months, they hadn't got it together," he says. "To be honest from that point we didn't look any further. I was happy that Fineline would deliver and they did."

"Film and TV production seems to have a completely different set of rules to any other form of business and in the production world it is often necessary to start filming before the funding is fully in place," concludes Jones. "It's nice to work with a finance company that specialises in that area, and understands the particular pressures that film production companies experience."

www.ammonite.co.uk

Parthenon Entertainment is a relatively young company, but in that time has established itself as an award-winning producer/distributor of Nature, Science, History and Human Interest programmes. Founded by Carl Hall, Parthenon originally built its reputation on Natural History programmes, but over the last few years has diversified into science shows, factual formats and children's programming.

Carl explains "We are best known for our success in delivering 'natural history with a twist'. In 2005 we delivered 15 acclaimed wildlife specials, including Lions Behaving Badly, Sacred Animals of the Pharaohs and Phantom of Vietnam, to name a few. By broadening our portfolio we now appeal to a much wider audience while at the same time extending our international reach. By way of example we are currently working on Samurai Sword – the making of a myth. It is being shot in Japan and England using top Samurai experts and high speed HD cameras."

Fineline has played its part in helping the rapid growth of Parthenon as Chris Biggs, Fineline Account Manager explains "Young companies, particularly in the media business, are treated with a high degree of caution by many finance houses, while media finance is our specialisation. We understand the need to be flexible and therefore assess the risks in an entirely different light to most other funding providers."

Supporting the continued growth of the company, Carl took the decision to create a new out of London base to house a High Definition in-house production and facilities operation. He explains "We wanted to create a state of the art facility that would allow us to fully exploit the latest technology in surroundings conducive to creative people. Our new Chorleywood facility is ideally situated, convenient to both Heathrow and London and therefore easily accessible for overseas as well as UK clients. It has been purpose built to our own specifications and includes a high performance fibre-optic network, editing systems, storage devices, floating floors, air conditioning and sound insulation, providing an ideal environment for viewing cuts and working on programmes."

Chris picks up the story, "Parthenon is a young but rapidly growing company with a level of capital finance requirements we expect to see in the media industry. Understanding Carl's business and recognising its potential is the key to our involvement. We are delighted to play a small part in their success."

Carl concludes "It gives us the confidence to expand, and continue that growth, knowing we have Fineline in our team."

www.parthenonentertainment.com

For many the Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of the gardening year. For Cine Wessex it is also a high point as they deliver the Official Souvenir Video and DVD of the Show for Two Four Productions.

This means shooting on Press Day, adding in footage of the build up and preparation, and getting it back to Chelsea in time for the first public day. With such an immovable deadline it is a major logistical exercise to film, edit, duplicate, package, deliver and have for sale a recording of the annual event on time.

Joe Conlan Cine Wessex director comments: "We regard Chelsea as something personal. Everyone in the company gets involved and it is a matter of pride that we make available for the visitors a keepsake of the Show. We prepare weeks in advance and the operation is run like a military exercise. We have never missed the deadline and it is a compliment to the skill, energy and commitment of the team."

Founded in 1976 Cine Wessex started out providing camera and sound recordist skills to production companies. The business grew quickly and the unexpected demand for equipment hire added a new dimension to the services on offer. Soon a full television and video facilities house had been created offering crews, equipment, postproduction and duplication services. Working together they offered broadcasters, independent production companies and corporate clients an unrivalled service.

Today Cine Wessex focuses on maintaining the friendly and approachable service it has become known for. The business is proud of its emergence as a facilities house that offers a quality end-to-end service from a single point of contact. All this in a highly demanding technology-driven marketplace.

Recent projects include Channel 4's A Place In The Sun (Tiger Aspect), The City Gardener, Channel 4's primetime gardening series (Two Four Productions), Britain's Best Homes for Channel 4 (Topical Television), Room for Improvement (RDF Television), Jonny Wilkinson sold through DVD (Empire Media), Audi UK (Two Four Productions), Wet Water Wizards for Severn Trent Water and Mapping Murder for Channel 5 (Pixelle Productions).

Joe continues: - "Keeping pace with the rapidly changing technology in our industry requires constant investment in new equipment. Our relationship with Fineline goes back over 10 years and throughout that time they have provided sound financial support whenever we have needed it. It is important that we work with people we trust and who understand the pressures and demands of our business."

Chris Biggs, Fineline Account Manager explains: "In the last 12 months we have helped Cine Wessex expand their hire stock by financing three full camera shooting kits. We have since helped them upgrade their duplication services from being primarily video based to being DVD based. As a result of increased customer demand for this type of format they are investing in a complete DVD replicating system."

Joe concludes: - "The Chelsea Flower Show best reflects the nimble and responsive nature of Cine Wessex. Our success is dependent on the skill and creativity of our team and an investment programme that will keep them at the forefront of technology.

www.cinewessex.co.uk

"Through gathering and sharing advice, best practice and relevant information, Baby-TV aims to help parents-to-be make informed decisions for the health, welfare, safety and happiness of both themselves and their future baby", says Nick Pannaman Strategic Development Director of Baby-TV.

Baby TV was founded in 2002 by Roger Sinclair and Gavin Anderson with the intention of providing a nationwide service for all maternity wards. Nick has since joined the board along with business partner Simon Kay.

Nick continues – "The intention of Baby-TV is to provide valuable information to mothers and fathers to be, at an anxious and exciting time in their lives, combining the production techniques of broadcast television with simple clear text messages."

Baby-TV is a digital information channel delivered on 20 inch flat screens in maternity waiting rooms, the only places visited by almost every parent-to-be. Baby-TV is therefore an ideal communication platform.

Social responsibility is a key foundation of the channel and the content must reflect the most up to date research on what is best for babies and their mothers. Baby-TV appointed a non paid committee of midwives to help steer the content type, and created a set of self governing guidelines for the channel to work within. The committee of midwives approve (or not as the case may be) all of the media used on the channel, including all brands and products.

As each hospital requires some measure of customised content Baby-TV has incorporated the latest solid-state controlled playback system in its technology to allow for individualised play lists. This enables each maternity department to access a comprehensive content database and play out the content specific to its own location.

Baby-TV offers brand sponsored tips, messages, safety advice and information features. The company installs the system for free, generating its revenue from advertising with companies such as Boots, Mothercare, Huggies and Johnson & Johnson, and providing an opportunity for those working in the healthcare and baby market to access their target audience directly.

Fineline Director Gareth Wilding said: "Baby-TV is already installed at over 30 hospitals with the aim of providing this service to over 200 hospitals in 3 years time. Such a venture requires significant funding. We have been the lead funder in syndicating this deal, effectively spreading the investment across a number of finance partners who were all encouraged that we were taking the lead lending role ourselves. We are delighted to be part of this exciting initiative"

Nick added: "With the funding secured by Fineline we have little doubt of our future success. This is an exciting move for us and allows the full potential of Baby-TV to be realised."

www.baby-tv.co.uk

"The HD market is the place to be." said Mel Noonan, Marketing and Sales Manager at Polecam.

"Different countries around the world are at different stages in their adoption of HD technology. Japan and the US are at an advanced stage while Europe is only just moving forward, presenting us with diverse markets."

"Alongside our broadcast quality Polecam, we now offer POLECAM HD as a unique and innovative product for high definition television and film production work. "With Fineline's help, we are moving our business forward to the next stage."

High Definition Kit

Polecam has obtained finance from Fineline for new camera kit to develop POLECAM HD and support the company's expansion into the growing HD market.

The Company has acquired an Ikegami HDL-20 camera, a Panasonic AJDHD-130DVC Pro HD recorder and an HD-SDI monitoring down-converter.

Mel Noonan said: "Polecam is a great success story in the television industry for Steffan Hewitt, designer of Polecam and owner of the company. Now, with advances in technology, we have an HD camera with which to address the film industry."

The Fineline connection

Mel Noonan had previously built up a good relationship with Fineline while at Thomson Broadcast and had no hesitation in working with them again. "Fineline have a focus on the broadcast market and really know the business. With their help, Polecam can really look forward to growing and expanding the business."

The Polecam story

Polecam is essentially a camera on a pole. Steffan Hewitt has worked to refine the product since 1995. Early trials with MTV & Sky Sports resulted in increasing interest, and, in 1998, Polecam Limited was formed.

Shortly after, the first commercial rig was delivered to Disney in Madrid where it is still in use today. Polecam has since been used for a variety of shoots in such diverse locations as the Arctic for a snowboard challenge and National Geographic's Eco Marathon in the Borneo jungle.

The Future

Polecam, while addressing both broadcast television and HD, is diversifying into the global medical market and has already been shooting in operating theatres for the training of surgeons. Polecam can look over the surgeon's shoulder and see the work area without intruding into his space. The pictures are relayed to a lecture theatre with two-way audio link for questions and answers.

Polecam In Action

Polecam is the only crane licensed in the pit lane for Formula One racing and was also used at the Sydney Olympics to film swimming and diving events.

Other customers include: the BBC for gardening and home improvement programmes, Country File, Blue Peter, BBC News, Lynda La Plante's Trial & Retribution; GMTV for their travel programmes and competitions; Sky TV for Sky Sports and Sky News and many other production companies around the World.

www.polecam.com

The Plant Room team is off to Brazil next month to shoot the Pirelli Calendar promotional film with new equipment funded by Fineline.

This will be the fifth year that the leading provider of equipment and crew to the television and broadcast industry will work on the world-famous project. However, 2004 will be the first year that The Plant Room team will use its newly purchased Steadicam unit on the Pirelli project and this time the shoot will be in High Definition and Super 16.

Finance from Fineline has enabled The Plant Room to buy a Sony DSR 570 camera and a Steadicam, full spec broadcast kit to meet the upturn in demand from clients for DSR work.

The camera will also be available to hire out to other freelance cameramen, broadcasters and rental companies, and so will help to increase revenues for The Plant Room.

Said Founder Phil Bradshaw: "Now that we own this equipment ourselves, it means that we no longer have to hire it in if it is necessary for a job. The help provided by Fineline is allowing us to gradually add to our equipment stock and expand our business. Fineline know us now and know our business, and this makes it very easy to do business with them."

Whenever founders Phil Bradshaw and Chris Woods need assistance for any high value equipment purchase to add to their stock, Fineline is their first choice for finance partner.

"We have worked with Fineline since we started The Plant Room in 1999. Our first digi beta kit was purchased with help from Fineline and since then we have received in the order of £100,000 of finance from them," said Phil.

"We have always found Fineline very competitive within the market place. We know they can deliver and they are very professional to do business with," added Phil.

New Equipment

The addition of the Steadicam to The Plant Room's range of equipment will offer Phil the opportunity to undertake more of this kind of work and become more involved in this niche area.

Both the Sony DSR 570 and the Steadicam have already been used on several projects in the UK. The DSR 570 has recently been used to shoot a community based project in London and the Steadicam unit will be used to shoot the promotional film for The Making of the Pirelli Calendar, 2005, in Brazil in March 2004.

About The Plant Room

The Plant Room provides kit and/or crew to clients based in the UK or overseas for a whole host of projects, including television work, corporate videos and documentaries.

Recent projects have taken Phil to work on the European premier launch of The Return of the King, the last in the Lord of the Rings trilogy in Berlin. The Plant Room has worked with Creating Sunshine Production Co. on a corporate video for SJP, Wealth Management Agents, in Dubai, and The History Channel in the US has recently commissioned a six week around the world shoot, using kit and crew from The Plant Room.

Phil worked on a one day shoot for Avalon TV Production company to produce the Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for Jerry Springer, The Opera and each year The Plant Room shoots "junkets" – or celebrity snap shot interviews – for the major European film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

In addition to the more straight forward line of crew and kit rental, The Plant Room team also undertakes projects in High Definition and skiing and helicopter work.

Other clients include Carlton, BBC, CH4, SKY, NHK and National Geographic.

www.tvplant.com