On this page you will find profiles of typical Prolink assignments.  They demonstrate the diversity of the projects we undertake and the wide geographic spread of our operations. 

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December 2009:  The Saturdays played a one off concert at the HMV Forum in Camden as part of their tie up with the Impulse Diaries.  The concert and interviews with the girls were recorded for Channel 4's weekend programme T4.  Prolink provided an Outside Broadcast Unit, cameras, track and dolly to record the programme. Extracts from the concert can still be seen on "You Tube", copy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hdUNUM_YRY into your browser for an example.

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October 2009: Puglia, Italy. More Golf and more same day highlights.  The trip to Italy saw the first assignment for our new 'Versatile Production Unit'. The VPU is divided into two distinct areas, each equipped with air conditioning and a range of lighting options. With the ability to be configured as a mini-scanner, an edit suite, a voice-over facility or simply a very comfortable production space, while maintaining a 10 tonne load capacity, it is the ideal vehicle for this type of assignment.

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September 2009: As Autumn approaches its off to the fantastic Dukes course at Woburn GC for three days of the  Travis Perkins plc Seniors Masters.  One of the most popular events of the year amongst the players and noted for its large galleries, the event was covered as a same day highlights package for Sky Sports.  With multiple Digibeta camcorders covering the action on the course and a production base providing edit, graphics and sound dubbing facilities for regular commentators Phil Yates and John Hawksworth, the programme was uplinked from site each night at 20:30 for transmission later in the evening.

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August 2009: Boxing:  A combination of access difficulties and parking restrictions led to the roll out of our Broadcast PPU to provide Dubai TV with live coverage from a central London hotel.  Broadcasting from the upper floors of the hotel, the PPU admirably demonstrated the flexibility, portability and robustness needed to deliver a live programme.

The full facilities configuration included a Jimmy Jib, 6 channel EVS, a comprehensive sound capability plus supplementary ring and architectural lighting

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July 2009: The History of the Open. This landmark documentary, to be aired on BBC World towards the end of 2009, celebrates all aspects of the world's oldest and most respected golf Championship. 

Containing interviews and features with players, journalists, commentators and television production staff from the four corners of the globe, the documentary will explore every aspect of the competition and its coverage in the media.

Prolink crews travelled around the British Isles and to several European cities to record the material, making use of the latest LED lighting banks, jibs, tracks and dolly's.

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July 2009, Butlins Minehead:  The English stage of the Euro Beach Soccer League kicked off with Prolink providing live coverage for Eurosport and highlights for an ITV4 production. The round robin tournament, played over three days with three matches per day, featured leading national teams such as Portugal, Germany and England with the French side being led by no less a name than soccer legend Eric Cantona.

Coverage was provided through a mixture of cabled and radio cameras and enhanced through the use of slo-mo replays and a range of on-screen graphics.

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May 2009: ITN News at Ten Special

The current political turmoil saw ITN's flagship News Programme, News at Ten, take to the road and for the first time the programme included a panel and audience discussion element interspersed with the day's leading news items.  The programme came from Naseby in Nottinghamshire a village famous for the battle between Royalists and Roundheads that took place there during the English Civil War.

The live programme was anchored from Naseby village hall by Julie Etchingham. As is the nature of news led programming the Outside Broadcast wasn't commissioned until late the previous evening leaving little time for requirements to be finalised and equipment dispatched. Technically the programme made use of four cameras- one jib mounted, one steadicam- seven radio microphones, wireless in ear monitoring for the presenter and cabled IEM for the panelists, a small PA system with the lighting rig and power supplied by Film and TV lighting. 

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May 2009: We're going to be in the movies!!!  Sometimes, something comes along that's just a little bit out of the ordinary.  And so it was in May that we found ourselves working for one of Holywood's largest movie companies (we're talking big time here) on the set of their latest motion picture.  It seems the plot of the film requires the main characters to be watching television and we went in to make the programme they'd be watching.  It was fascinating to see how the approaches to film and programme making differed, they couldn't believe how quickly we got through the material.  All in all a different and very enjoyable experience. 

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April 2009: Dunlop Best of British Motorsport

Prolink has been contracted to provide camera, editing and radio communications facilities and personnel to support coverage of the 2009 Dunlop Race Series. The series of 6 events takes place across the UK with filming taking place both for Saturday qualifying and Sunday racing.  Prolink will provide upto 6 XDCam camcorders plus on-board cameras for each weekend, with the resulting material being edited into a 47 minute highlights programme on a Final Cut Pro system ready for broadcast on SKY Sports.

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June 2008: European Tour, Seniors Golf. With Sandy Lyle making his debut appearance on the Senior Tour and with regulars Ian Woosnam, Sam Torrance, Mark James and Constantino Rocca also teeing it up, the 2008 Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open taking place at Conwy Wales was sure to attract the attention of the public and media. 

Sky Sports and the European Tour chose the event to launch a same day 50 minute highlights programme which aired on each of the tournament days.  The programme was edited on site from material shot by a number of PSC cameras out on the course and up-linked from the site at 22:30 each evening.  Prolink provided the full Digital Betacam edit suite, Aston graphics. DigiBeta camcorders and crew members.

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January 2008.  Saga Insurance Masters.  A regular start to our year with a trip to Wembley to shoot player interviews, pundit analysis, playing tips and presenter links over the eight days of this the most prestigious and important invitation tournament in the snooker calendar.

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December 2007 And so the year ends in much the same way as it began - golf coverage against a watery backdrop.  This is the Ponte Vecchio International Approach Championship in Florence Italy, a unique matchplay event that involves players driving from the bridge onto 'greens' moored in the River Arno.  Points are scored only for balls that  stay on the green, with the furthest greens having the highest points value. The event was won by Andre Bossert who beat Bernard Langer (pictured left) in the semis to set up a final against Englishman David Lynn.

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Off to Cardiff to provide Outside Broadcast coverage of the Special Stage of the Wales Rally which took place under the closed roof of the Millennium Stadium - an altogether strange experience with the pitch missing! Acting as host broadcaster our pictures were transmitted to Scandinavia for a live programme on National TV, were streamed live to the web via the World Rally Championship site and provided big screen images for the thousands of WRC fans at the event.

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October 2007 The unveiling of a bust of the African National Congress President, Oliver Reginald Tambo, in North London brought about a first for Prolink - sumultaneous live one hour specials for South African TV and radio.  With the television programme housed in the scanner, Prolink's sound department set up a separate radio facility at the edge of the action which was well placed for flash interviews and gave a real 'get amongst it' feel.

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Wimbledon Tennis championships,  June 2007.  Prolink will be providing the equipment and crews for the event's 2007 Official Film. 

To be shot in Hi Definition the Official Film will capture the story of the 2007 championship both on the court and behind the scenes.

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The Doha Debates, May 2007.  This high profile series came to the world famous Oxford Union for its first programme outside of Qatar.  As part of our Team Prolink approach we provided the production with outside broadcast facilities, lighting and power, PA for the hall and  screens for the  electronic voting system and live camera feeds.

The Debate was broadcast on BBC World and can be viewed as an archive programme on the web at http://clients.mediaondemand.net/thedohadebates/index.aspx?sessionid=23&bandwidth=hi

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April - May 2007.  The Crucible in Sheffield once more played host to the World's oldest and most important Snooker Tournament.  Helping to fill over two weeks of coverage on the BBC, Prolink crews provided the player interviews and inserts that give viewers a better understanding of the game, the event and the competitors.  New for 2007 was the "A frame with Davis" feature - TV presenters, celebrities and sporting heroes potting a few balls and learning a few tricks with snooker legend Steve Davis.  The feature, recorded in the Reception of the BBC's Television Centre, was lit and shot by Prolink using three DigiBeta camcorders and multiple radio mics.

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March 2007, Barry Sheene DVD released.  Prolink PSC crews shot feature pieces and interviews with family, friends and fellow competitors for this definitive record of the legendary rider's childhood, the highs of his World Championship years and the lows of countless injuries and lengthy recoveries.

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Imperial War Museum, London, March 2007 In a More4 News Special, our Outside Broadcast Unit spent a night at the museum filming a panel debate featuring a senior member of the Government, the Clergy, defence experts, campaigners and an audience of under 25 year olds.  The topic - replacement of the Trident Nuclear deterrent. You can watch the debate by following the "Video links, watch the report" link at:

http://www.channel4.com/more4/news/news-opinion-feature.jsp?id=550 

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Orange British Academy Film Awards 2007.  Prolink were backstage at the official Pre-BAFTA party held at the Natural History Museum filming interviews with actors, cast and crew from the nominated films.  Shot in Hi-Definition, Prolink set-up a blue screen studio to allow graphics and film clips to be added in post production.

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Barbados, February 2007 Its a tough job, but someone's got to do it.  As the 2007 Golf season tees off, we set sail for the Caribbean for a week of match coverage and supporting feature packages.  One of the team captured re-living a Duran Duran moment from his youth.

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Prolink crews provided the principal photography for the documentary "Paul Weller: into tomorrow". Shot in Hi-Definition the documentary features Paul telling his own life story and also contains interviews with his parents and musical associates.  The film was chosen to open the 2006 Sheffield Docfest, the UK's premier documentary festival.  It later made its television premiere on BBC 2.

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Ryder Cup 2006 As avid golf fans and regular suppliers of crews and equipment to the European Tour, we were delighted to be part of the 2006 Ryder Cup coverage.  Our thanks to the people of Ireland who made us so welcome and congratulations to the European Team.

Pictures:The European Team pictured shortly after their historic third consecutive win and scenes of celebration on the 18th Green.

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The BDO World Professional Darts Championship at The Lakeside

2006 begins and Prolink crews and an array of equipment make the annual pilgrimage to Frimley Green in Surrey for the week long tournament. Darts has an incredible following around the world with 74 countries taking TV pictures and a large international crowd at The Lakeside making everyday a unique and often noisy experience.

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The World Ten Dance Championship,  November 2005:

Contestants from all over the world competed in traditional and modern dance styles at the Austrian Open in Vienna.  Prolink provided behind the scenes coverage and created a studio area for filming interviews and features with the leading couples.  Material was used by the host broadcaster ORF to add colour to the televised competition and in a highlights programme created by the London based Production Company for worldwide distribution.

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The Citizens’ Summit was part of the "Your Health, Your Care, Your Say" initiative – an exercise in consultation organised by the Department of Health to find out what people want from community health and social care services. Held in October 2005 at Birmingham's ICC, The Citizens’ Summit brought together 1,000 people from around the country to debate the issues and help shape future policy.

In a first for government, The Citizens’ Summit was webcast live and recorded as a marathon 7 hour programme.  Hosted by Sue Nelson, the programme featured lively discussion from the event and interviews with cabinet ministers and senior government officials.  Prolink provided all television facilities including digital wireless camera systems, lighting for the main studio area and plasma screens throughout the event area. You can see the programme by clicking  the "Your Health, Your Care, Your Say" link at http://www.dh.gov.uk/Home/fs/en  The programme was subsequently recognised at the 2006 IVCA Awards awards ceremony for making “a complex subject very accessible”.

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Prolink have been chosen to supply the personnel and camera equipment needed for the making of the "Wimbledon Championship's 2005 Official Film"  The film offers match highlights from the 2005 Tournament, player interviews and a behind the scenes look at the world's most famous tennis event.  This marks the fifth occasion that Prolink has worked on the Wimbledon Project.  Prolink's Andrew Dugard was the lighting cameraman for the "Wimbledon 2000" film which finished as the runner up in the Best Sports Programme category of the "Indie 2001" awards.    

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UK General Election 2005. Prolink deployed facilities and crew throughout the election campaign and on the evening of the election count.

President Clinton joining Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and other officials at a Labour Party event via a Prolink satellite link. The same event included a link with Ghana.

On election night Prolink were based in Folkestone, Kent, providing coverage of Michael Howard's election count to ITN, BBC News and SKY News. Folkestone was a main presenter location for ITN with journalists holding two ways with London for the early evening news bulletins and throughout the special election programme. Extensive talkback facilities were required and coverage was provided through fixed and digital wireless cameras. External and venue TV lighting and power were organised by Prolink

BBC and Sky uplink trucks in the Folkestone TV compound.  The Prolink scanner fed 16:9 pictures to the BBC and 4:3 to Sky and ITN.

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The Brief: To provide live multi-camera coverage of a race over a mile of London's busiest roads and between some of its tallest buildings.  Straight forward enough, but throw in the complication that no roads would be closed and pedestrian access would need to be maintained and things begin to get interesting.  Restrict preparation  time for site surveys and planning to the day before the event and ingenuity and focus become crucial.

The Solution: Digital wireless cameras positioned at the start line and first section of the course provided the freedom to move with the competitors without subjecting the public and traffic to trailing cables. Pictures were sent back to the OB hub using an uplink truck at the remote end of the course and a TVRO (Television Receive Only) unit on the Scanner.  Additional wireless systems and conventional triax cameras working directly from the Scanner provided action from the later stages of the race and the finish.

The Result: The very best result - a delighted client

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Question :  Name a live event that can be seen in every country of the world simultaneously?   Answer : Well, the obvious answers are major sporting or news events such as the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Less obvious are the corporate webcasts that more and more leading companies are employing to report financial results or make product announcements.  Photograph shows Unit 3 on duty providing multi-camera coverage of a  company's annual results for distribution to the world wide web.

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Mild Seven Outdoor Quest, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.   Prolink is delighted to have played a part in the television coverage of the seventh  edition of the Mild Severn Outdoor Quest.  Staged in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, the event is a four day multi-sport adventure race covering approximately 300 kilometres and testing the athletes abilities in 7 disciplines. "Hot, wet and muddy" sums up the views of our crew member.

Top photograph courtesy of Mild Severn Outdoor Quest

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The LG Cup in Preston marks the start of a new snooker season which will once again be the subject of comprehensive coverage on BBC Television.  Prolink were given the prestigious commission to shoot the material needed for the opening titles which feature snooker tables, balls and cues being formed from red hot metal.  The high impact titles, which precede all live and highlights programmes, make use of jibs, tracks, dramatic lighting and smoke effects.

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BBC Learning Zone is a unique service which covers a wide variety of subjects including a number of foreign languages.  An invitation to "Come on a journey and discover the language and culture of Greece" is being extended to viewers, with Prolink providing the crew and equipment needed to record a series of drama programmes set on the Greek mainland and islands.

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The brief was simple: A US Cable channel wanted to record a series of programmes featuring British guests.  They had no UK presence and needed a production partner to organise and manage studio and full technical facilities; make-up and wardrobe; set design and construction; crewing and catering.  Team Prolink took on the project and the programmes were duly delivered on-time and within the tight budget.

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Legendary BBC sport show "SUPERSTARS" returned to our screens after an 18 year absence from UK television screens.  Prolink supplied equipment and personnel for the filming of the series which featured a variety of disciplines set amongst the grounds of Spain's exclusive La Manga resort.

Picture courtesy of wiZZwam Photographic - Photographers for TWI's new series of SUPERSTARS for the BBC.  See more images from the event at www.wizzwam.co.uk

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When BBC London decided to televise the opening by Her Majesty the Queen of the Greater London Authority's new building in a live one hour special, they called on Prolink's Outside Broadcast capabilities.   

The programme required continuous coverage of the Queen's visit from arrival, through the formal ceremony of the opening in the Assembly Chamber and onto a civic reception at the top of the building.  Coverage included seven cabled and two radio cameras.  One radio camera was positioned at the centre of Tower Bridge offering pictures of the scenes outside the building and the river pageant, the other, a new digital type not limited by line of sight operation, stayed with the Queen throughout her tour of the building. 

Three presenter positions, a commentator sited deep within the building and numerous effects mics following the progress of the Queen and her party kept the sound crew on their toes.  Being a "pooled" Royal event the coverage was also provided to ITN, Sky News and BBC News.  Outgoing and incoming vision, sound and communications was handled via both satellite uplink and fibre optic circuits for redundancy

You can see a recording of the programme on the BBC web site.  Click on the following link www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/gla/cityhall_gallery.shtml and choose to watch the video

Upper picture courtesy of Hayley Madden.  Centre and lower pictures courtesy of Nigel Young / Foster Partners  

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