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An article written for the
Society of Television Lighting
Directors quarterly Journal following the third phase of a 60 day working visit to TRT
Turkey in the first quarter of 2001
Roast
Turkey
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Boats in the harbour at Izmir |
Page 1of 7
All pictures are 'clickable' to enlarge
| Tuesday
April 17th
Izmir is
Turkeys third largest city with a population of two million, but with the
benefit of a Mediterranean ‘ambience’. It’s setting is dramatic; a
huge bay backed by mountains to the east and south. |
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My view on arrival... |
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has had a long and eventful history, but most of its historic past has
been swept away by fire, wars and earthquakes. My hotel was right on the
sea front, overlooking a fairly workmanlike harbour with naval boats, fire
tenders and ferries, making an interesting change from the bleakness of
wintry Anatolia. |
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...and the following morning. |
| Ebru
met me and I was taken to the managerial building, some distance away from
the TV studio, where I met Izmir’s Head of Television. Introductions and
pleasantries over, we took a short in distance but somewhat circuitous
journey around Izmir’s one-way system to the studio building nearby,
which is situated in a huge park. |
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Spacious and lush gardens surround TRT's Izmir studio. |
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a TV studio, fountains, green grass in abundance and trees. Green
is not an Ankara colour in winter, but certainly was here. |
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Definitely a Mediterranean touch. |
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inside dimensions of the studio are about 25 metres by 15. There was a
comprehensive barrel system, a bit widely spaced, but quite serviceable,
although it was sporting some rather ancient lamps: theatrical type non pole
operated 2K’s, scoops, and soft lights without egg crates.
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Hitachi SK110A tube cameras, which had been ubiquitous at TRT and are now
gradually being replaced. Everyone was extremely welcoming and keen to make me
feel at home.
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My alarm clock |
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Wednesday April 18th
Cloudy
and rainy. Well, at least that made me feel at home. I had wondered whether I
would wake up on time, but a large alarm clock in the shape of a fireboat moored
just 20 metres from my bedroom window must have woken half the city when it
blasted its hooter at 7 a.m.
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Head of Design and one of her colleagues |
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was taken in to the Design office, which had a rather nice view over the
extensive park. The Design staff comprised three girls and one guy. I was
shown a scale model and plans for new set. I could feel all eyes on me as
I was asked for my opinions. The plans were all done properly, with
lighting barrels shown dotted! Now that’s a first. Excellent. I sat down
in a corner and did a workable (I hoped) plot in pencil. |
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View from the Design Office. Beats a view of the Circle
Line! |
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