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PINEWOOD STUDIOS
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By 1946 production had begun again, and the classics duly followed. David Lean’s Great Expectations, Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus, even one of the great Ealing comedies, Kind Hearts & Coronets, was filmed at Pinewood. Famously, it was the original setting, complete with an incredible deep water Alexandria harbour film set, for Twentieth Century Fox’s Cleopatra, which was later relocated to Rome.
Through the highs and
lows of the British film industry the studio has played its part. As Hollywood’s home from home, as the base for the gung-ho war movies of
the ‘50s, the birthplace of the Doctor films, the Carry On films and the Bond series. And, after the doldrums
of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Pinewood has met the challenge of an upturn in domestic production, prov-
ing so busy at one point that the James Bond film GoldenEye had to look elsewhere for a suitable place to shoot down the road at a disused airfield.
Part of the strategy for maintaining its pre- eminence in an increasingly crowded market place is to constantly improve the facilities with- in the lot. Already it offers 16 soundstages, two silent stages including the 007 stage (the largest of its type in the world), two process stages, the largest exterior water tank in the world, an orchard and some beautiful gardens. Yet in spite of the purpose built facilities, there has been many a time when more mundane features have been requisitioned by productions to play a key role in their film.
“Dressing rooms, offices, corridors,” sales & marketing executive Christina Sutch agrees. “They’ve all been used in films from time to time. I suppose it keeps production costs down, and everything can be controlled so much easier here on site. We have various things shooting in our gardens for example. A film called Still Crazy, star- ring Billy Connolly and Jimmy Nail, has been there. They used the 007 stage, another stage and vari- ous locations around the studio - like the garden, which doubled for a hospital garden.”
All these features, in addition to a backlot that can rival anything on offer in Europe account for the studio’s success over the years.
But no-one at Pinewood is resting on their lau- rels. “We’ve been upgrading the studio for the last four years,” Jaggs continues. “Stages A, B, C, D and E have all been totally refurbished, with new light- ing, new flooring and the newest technology has gone into the soundproofing. And we’re always upgrading our sound post production depart- ments too, because technology moves on so fast in this sector of the industry.”
From the state-of-the-art digital equipment used in sound post-production, to the more prosa- ic elements required of a film studio, all have been given due attention. Tackling the original sound- stages in turn, each has undergone extensive refurbishment - and a lick of paint.
So much seems to be going on in fact, that the building work might almost be seen to visitors to rival film production on this huge complex. But this is no short term plan, rather an ambitious attempt to keep the studio technologically competi- tive well into the next century.
“We’re continuing to invest in the studio,” Jaggs continues. “We have quite extensive local development plans coming up in two phases, the end result of which will increase stage capacity by 30%. Phase one will not affect the running of the
studio, but there will be a certain amount of demolition and rebuilding for phase two.”
It is a huge commitment, and shows no little vision to continue to improve and upgrade a stu- dio that is already one of the busiest and most popular in the world. But Jaggs is at pains to point out that the big productions are not all that Pinewood Studios is there for.
“As we speak,” adds Jaggs, “we’re now pre- senting a state of the art production facility to the programme maker. That’s how we see our- selves, because it’s not only features we can accommodate. Anything from commercials, tele-
vision programmes, game shows, pop promos, we feel we can handle anything from the smallest to the largest production.”
“We have a lot of television productions shooting here,” says Sutch. “The BBC have shown interest this year and we’ve done quite a lot with them including Jonathan Creek, and ITV’s The Vanishing Man made us their base when they were filming. Obviously we also have a lot of com- mercials and promo videos shooting as well.
“But the other thing is that we’ll always help out film schools where we can. If we have a stage available for a week, and say the National Film & Television School tell us they need an area, then we’ll let them use it. We know that they’re the film- makers of the future, so we try to do what we can.”
It seems there is no end of possibilities at Pinewood Studios, and not just filmmakers either. The general public can now mount a particularly special production of their own at Pinewood.
“We recently applied for and have now been granted a licence to hold weddings on the lot,” Sutch smiles in anticipation, “so if you wanted to get married at Pinewood Studios you can. You can can have your reception here and everything!”
Pinewood, truly the place where all sorts of dreams do indeed come true. ■ ANWAR BRETT
Photos: The infamous Cleopatra ‘Alexandria Harbour’ set; Main Street USA created on the backlot and the Tom Cruise blockbuster, Mission Impossible poster. (Courtesy BFI Stills & Posters)
EXPOSURE • 20 & 21