Phoenix Film and Television proudly announce their selection to produce the documentary extra's for 2 Entertain's release of the
Official 25th anniversary edition of "The Young Ones".
The whole project was the brainchild of Phoenix's MD Anthony Caulfield and 2 Entertain's Tim Payne who both felt that the anniversary
of such a comedy classic should not pass by without a release. Anthony and Tim along with other fans of the show (which spawned two
series 1982 & 1984) have long been disappointed with "The Young Ones" DVD prescence which have simply consisted of a standard series
1 & 2 release a few years ago and contained no extras of any kind. Anthony spoke recently of this;
"Being a fan of the show myself I felt more could have been done with the previous release and knowing the anniversary was coming I
brought it up at a meeting with Tim at 2 Entertain that a re-release was very long overdue and as it turned out he'd been having exactly
the same thoughts!"
Tim then asked Anthony to go away and come up with what could be done if a re-release went ahead.
"I thought first of all there had to be a full 'making of' documentary featuring as many people involved in the original series as
possible. Also we're planning a couple other docos as well, one is about the comedy revolution of the late 70's early 80's leading to
the inevitable explosion onto our mainstream screens, another is about all the guest stars that appeared on the show, because a remarkable
fact of The Young Ones was how a very large percentage of the guest talent that appeared on the show went on to become the cream of not
only British comedy but also award winning acting talent and we felt it had to be acknowledged. And finally we're going to produce a short
featurette simply called "reunion" in which we will film the original cast and a few others as they meet at the voice-over studio to record
their commentaries for the DVD, and we'll just have to see what happens with that one, as I have absolutely no idea! Of course there will
be other commentaries as well as we want to examine not just the performance side of the show but also "The Young Ones" from the
Production and Writing angles as well. There are some other surprises planned but I'm not going to give it all away just yet!"
"The Young Ones" 25th anniversary boxset will be a 3 disc set containing all episodes from both series and a disc dedicated to all the
extras and is due for release later this year!
Classic "Doctor Who" & "K9" come to Phoenix
The Doctor and some of his companions including the above mentioned 'Tin Friend' will all be walking or rolling through the doors of
Phoenix Film and Television over the next weeks and months!
Phoenix Film and Television have been commissioned to produce several special feature documentaries for classic Doctor Who releases plus
the long awaited "K9 and Company" all for DVD release later this year and early next year respectively.
The content of the extras must remain under wraps for the moment but Phoenix will be producing 9 documentaries in total spanning several
releases throughout 2007 and 2008.
"It is a very exciting project!" explains Phoenix head of Production Rohan Latchman, "It's an opportunity to really delve into such a
classic TV classic and try and come up with something different." "The new show is so high end and full of spectacular special effects,
but classic Doctor Who offered all in involved so many challenges on a weekly basis to keep the show fresh and inventive and I'm really
looking forward to being involved in such an exciting project!"
Phoenixmedia Second Life Seminar hailed "A highly innovative success!"
Phoenix's Second Life seminar was a great success, with many people making it in time for the lively introduction to the virtual world of web 3.0 despite the transport disruption.
There were representatives from across broadcast, film and the music industries as well as visitors from several well known publishers and retail outlets. Apologies to all those who were not able to be fitted in this time around, Phoenix were quite simply overwhelmed by the response once the seminar was announced, so plan another very shortly. Detail will be coming soon of further upcoming events!
Pink Floyd "Pulse" Cinema launch and TV edits
Phoenix Film and Television have been asked to handle a re-edit and cinematic launch screening of Pink Floyd's live film "Pulse" as well
as separately edited TV versions for broadcast around the world.
The launch screening due to be held at The Vue Cinema in Leciester Square in July offers Phoenix several challenges to bring the film
firmly into the 21st century. To give the cinematic version a different edge Phoenix have been asked to carry out a re-edit to try and
intergrate some of Storm Thorgerson's fantastic visual material into the original edit.
Phoenix will also need to supervise the "up conversion" of the whole film to prepare it ready for the cinema screen.
"The problem is the original footage was shot back in 1994 on 4:3 Beta SP Video so it doesn't blow up well for the cinema screen, so
we'll have to work out the best way forward" Says Phoenix head of production Rohan Latchman. Phoenix will also have to incorporate the
new specially mixed 5:1 soundtrack by Floyd's Producer / Engineer James Guthrie into the new edit.
Once the cimematic version has been screened Phoenix will then get on and prepare several different TV versions for world-wide broadcast.
"Second Life" BBC Coverage has Phoenix Media inundated with requests!
Second Life, the business worlds most rapidly expanding on-line community with a market worth around £500m (1$bn) was the source of a recent BBC Money Programme special called “Virtual World, Real Millions”
in which it showed how forward thinking companies are making use of its rapidly growing online virtual environment with pioneering new ways of communicating, interacting, trading and remotely collaborating through the internet. Started initially in 2003 there are now over 7 million registered users and growing at a rate of 10,000 new members per day. It is expected to reach a staggering 25 million by March 2008. Sometimes referred to as the Metaverse, investors behind Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, include the founders of Amazon.com and eBay.
Phoenixmedia, the “New Media” arm of Phoenix Film and Television has been consulting its clients for many years on the new forms of media that are available and how best to utilize them, the two years ago went one step further and opened its own design centre in-house allowing them to consult and create specific looks and models for clients wishing to embrace this incredible new opportunity.
“Its not just Second Life though” Says Phoenix MD Anthony Caulfield “companies wanting to stay one step ahead of the game recognised a while back that expensive forms of simple brand recognition such as TV advertising is dying, these opportunities in New Media such as Second Life, YouTube and MySpace are not simply the latest fad, but are here to stay and clients find them more flexible, cheaper, but also with help have found ways of making money so are getting a quicker return than they can achieve in the real world. The sky really is the limit when it comes to how we can help a company. We are in the process of designing a Football Stadium for a Premiership Club where they will be able to sell all their merchandise to not just the real world but also for people (avatars) to wear and use within Second Life…they are the first club to do it so no doubt the others will surely follow. We have also recently completed a Second Life replica of a real life resort in South Korea in which visitors to the Second Life version can enjoy all the same facilities such as hiring rooms, eating in restaurants, enjoying the nightlife to hopefully tempt them into visiting the real place.”
To find out how Phoenix Media can help your company embrace New Media such as Second Life then simply get in contact on 0208 536 3690.
