Beaconsfield Studios
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Beaconsfield Film Studios is a British
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
studio in
Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...
,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
. The studios were operational as a production site for films in 1922, and continued producing films - and, later, TV shows - until the 1960s. Britain's first talking movie was recorded there, as were films starring British actors
Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
,
Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...
and
John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...
. Since 1971 it has been the home of the National Film and Television School, an internationally recognized postgraduate school for film and TV production, famous as the birthplace of animated characters
Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...
.


History


Life as a studio (1922–1970)


Construction and early years

Construction began on the studio in 1921. Producer George Clark and actor/director
Guy Newall Guy Newall (25 May 1885 – 25 February 1937) was a British actor, screenwriter and film director. He was born on the Isle of Wight on 25 May 1885. He began his film career by acting in the 1915 film '' The Heart of Sister Ann''. In 1920 he direc ...
had been making films at a small studio on
Ebury Street Ebury Street () is a street in Belgravia, City of Westminster, London. It runs from a Grosvenor Gardens junction south-westwards to Pimlico Road. It was built mostly in the period 1815 to 1860. Odd numbers 19 to 231 are on the south-east side; ...
in
Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. They outgrew this and raised financing for a new, larger and more modern studio to be built in Beaconsfield. The studio opened in 1922, and Clark and Newall made several films there such as '' Fox Farm''. They also leased it out to
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
companies to make films. The whole industry was badly hit by the
Slump of 1924 Slump may refer to: * Slump (economics), better known as a recession * Slump (food), a variety of cobbler * Slump (geology), a form of mass wasting event * "Slump" (song), by South Korean boy band Stray Kids *Slump (sports), a period in which a pl ...
, and filmmaking at Beaconsfield ceased almost entirely. Clark and Newall later sold the studios to the
British Lion Film Corporation British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was kn ...
.


British Lion Studios

In the late 1920s, British Lion took over the studios producing a number of
Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...
adaptations. Following the conversion to
sound films A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befor ...
in the 1920s, the company largely concentrated on making
quota quickies Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...
with the occasional higher-budget film.


Crown Film Unit

Following the outbreak of World War II, the
GPO Film Unit The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films ...
became the
Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in ...
. The Crown Film Unit was based at Beaconsfield Film Studios. Fifty-one productions are credited to the Crown Film Unit between 1940 and 1952 - when it was disbanded - although it is not known how many were actually filmed at Beaconsfield Film Studios.
Full list of Crown Film Unit productions, at IMDB


Anvil Film Unit

Former Crown Film Unit sound recordist Ken Cameron started The Anvil Film Unit in 1952 and operated out of a theatre, offices and cutting rooms at the studios. The company recorded post-synching dialogue, Foley sound effects and music with Cameron as chief music engineer and
Muir Mathieson James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films. Career Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...
the conductor, before moving to
Denham Film Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's '' Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s t ...
in 1966.


Independent Artists Studios

After the Crown Film Unit was disbanded, the studios was known as Independent Artists Studios between 1958 and 1964, when it was run by the film production company Independent Artists (Production) Ltd., formed by
Julian Wintle Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (gi ...
. Independent Artists made several films in these studios, including: * ''
Very Important Person A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...
'' * ''
The Man in the Back Seat ''The Man in the Back Seat'' is a 1961 British B-movie crime film, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner. The film was based on an Edgar Wallace story, and was tightly shot, with only four name-credited actor ...
'' * ''
House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets''. It is also the name of the titular setting of the series. First serie ...
'' * ''
Circus of Horrors ''Circus of Horrors'' is a 1960 British horror film directed by Sidney Hayers, and starring Anton Diffring, Yvonne Monlaur, Erika Remberg, Kenneth Griffith, Jane Hylton, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Romain, and Donald Pleasence. Set in 1947, it foll ...
'' Several other films and TV shows are confirmed by IMDb as having been produced in the studios by other film production companies during that time: * '' The Vicious Circle'' (1957), starring John Mills) * '' The Battle of the Sexes'' (1959), starring Peter Sellers) * ''
Payroll A payroll is the list of employees of some company that is entitled to receive payments as well as other work benefits and the amounts that each should receive. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks pe ...
'' (1961) * '' Ghost Squad'' (TV series, 1961–1964) * '' The Human Jungle'' (first series, 1963) * '' Strictly for the Birds'' (1964)


Life as a film school (1971 onwards)

The studios are now exclusively the home of the National Film and Television School, whose alumni have won numerous
BAFTA awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
and
Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
.


The National Film School (NFS)

The NFS was created in 1970 and in 1971 bought the studios to be its home, thanks to a loan from the
Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...
, producers of the Carry On film series and owners at the time of the nearby
Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
.


The National Film and Television School (NFTS)

It was renamed the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in 1982. The first Wallace and Gromit film, '' A Grand Day Out'' was started by
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
-winning director
Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...
whilst he was a student at NFTS, and like all works created at the school, the film is credited as being the copyright of NFTS.


Current facilities

NFTS students still use the original 1930s sound stage and 1960s TV studio building, but other buildings have been constructed on site to improve teaching facilities.


Recent expansion

To modernise and expand the teaching and administrative space, the NFTS commissioned Glen Howells Architects to design a three-storey building (see photo). Upon its completion in 2008 it won a
RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
prize. In June 2009 it was formally named The Oswald Morris Building in honour of cinematographer
Oswald Morris Oswald Norman Morris, (22 November 1915 – 17 March 2014) was a British cinematographer. Known to his colleagues by the nicknames "Os" or "Ossie", Morris's career in cinematography spanned six decades. Life and career Morris was raised in Mi ...
. It contains a 150-seat cinema which was upgraded in 2017 to support
Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
and 4K DCP projection. In 2017, an additional teaching building opened on the site of a number of yellow classrooms on the north side of the site, and it houses a new studio, edit suites, dedicated sound design suites, as well as multi-purpose teaching spaces. The "Channel 4 Rose Building", also opened in 2017, incorporates teaching facilities, as well as an extra 60-seat cinema, café and incubation space. The original 1960s TV studio was also upgraded to 4K capabilities with new
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
studio cameras and a high-end
vision mixer A vision mixer is a device used to select between several different live video sources and, in some cases, compositing live video sources together to create visual effects. In most of the world, both the equipment and its operator are called ...
, also from Sony. This was the only true-4K TV studio in the United Kingdom until Television Centre's TC1 reopened in September 2017. The sound infrastructure was also upgraded with a new
Studer Studer is a designer and manufacturer of professional audio equipment for recording studios and broadcasters. The company was founded in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1948 by Willi Studer. It initially became known in the 1950s for its professiona ...
sound control surface capable of supporting 5.1 surround sound. This was named the ''Sky Studios at the NFTS'' studio.


Current Stages

* Stage 1 (Main Stage) – (approx.) – traditional wooden floor film stage with permanent scenic cloth * Studio 2 (TV Studio) – (approx.) – concrete resin floor television studio * Stage 3 (Rehearsal Stage) – (approx.) – traditional wooden floor film stage * Stage 4 (Teaching Block Stage) – (approx.) – resin floor multi-purpose stage


References


Bibliography

* Warren, Patricia. ''British Film Studios: An Illustrated History''. Batsford, 2001.


External links

{{Commons cat inline British film studios Beaconsfield Buildings and structures in Buckinghamshire Television studios in England 1922 establishments in England