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Brockweir, the seat of
location lighting training for TV.
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Brockweir is a small village
reached by a narrow road bridge over the river Wye in the Forest of
Dean, Gloucestershire. It has a Moravian Church, a Church Hall and a Pub.
Recently, it has also acquired some connections
with London Town 150 miles away down the M4. It has become a centre of
excellence for location lighting training. Let me explain.
In 2001, BBC Television Outside Broadcasts
asked Bernie Davis to look into the possibility of running some
training for location lighting ON location. Brockweir was chosen as
a 'test bed' and two years later is still going strong. We
are currently running the course twice yearly. We are also actively
considering increasing the range and type of courses. Lighting
appreciation courses for Designers, Directors and others not directly
involved are a distinct possibility, probably of three day maximum
duration. |
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Bernie asked Mike Baker to help on the first course, and
they have been
running two courses each year between them ever since. Bernie is one of Britain's
most successful TV lighting Directors with a long string of credits to his name. From the Royal Variety performance to the last night of the Proms and many, many
more in between, he has a vast experience of mid to high end shows in the area
of classical and light music shows. Bernie's C.V. can be seen here. |
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Mike has come up through a studio background working on a wide
variety of types of programme from quiz shows, through current affairs, Sport
and Children's programmes to Drama. In recent years, he has gathered
considerable experience of location lighting of small to medium sized shows of
various kinds. He has devised many lighting handouts based on his own experiences and these are
illustrated by photographs of real examples. His full C.V. can be seen here. |
| Their working profiles, although very different, are a good
match for each other in the field of training. The courses are designed for
groups of about six to eight students. They are fully residential in nearby Bed and Breakfast establishments.
You can download a pdf document giving you more info by
clicking here.
E.L.P. Lighting provide a truck full of lamps and trussing
accompanied by an experienced electrician who also helps the students during the
week. The exercises are designed to lead students through the basics of lighting
people and buildings (exterior and interior) in a variety of scenarios that reflect the real world of
location lighting. They progress in increasing complexity through the five days
of the course.
Feedback is always sought and has so far been of a very
positive nature. The course is open to all applicants who can get further
information by e-mailing Jeff Boden
at:
jeffwboden@fsmail.net
An extract from a BBC newsletter written by
Dave Chapman (one of the attendees) can be downloaded by clicking here.
It's in Acrobat PDF form and is about 500K in size.
Below are some of the pictures taken on various exercises
during the a recent weeks activities. If you want to know more about helium balloons
(seen below) then try
here. |
Below are some of our attendees/students who have been all been through the
Brockweir 'Mill' between 2001 and 2008.
   
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