Tallboy has seen the future – and it’s got nothing to do with technology. In fact, the future is as it has been in the past. The future isn’t iPads or HDTV. It’s a group of bright eight and nine year olds, as always, fascinated and excited by the magic of video.
Tallboy MD, Simon Banks, and TV presenter Sally Eden went to visit year 4 at Sheen Mount School in East Sheen. They’ve been looking at news – what makes it and why we need it. We provided them with the bit about how the news gets to our living room via the TV set.
We set up a makeshift studio with seven jobs available. Two presenters (one male and one female, of course). One autocue operator. One studio cameraman and a floor manager. Then a roving reporter and a location cameraman. We wrote a script based on the fun they’d had taking part in Sport’s Relief, and away they went!
Despite how nearly every dad has a video cam today and acres of tape is used recording every special event in a child’s life, it’s amazing the joy and excitement on the faces of the children when they see themselves on the telly. When I was eight, I was fascinated by that large box in the corner. Television programmes which showed any behind-the-scenes footage were thrilling to me, (as they still are today). The thought of being part of the team that “made” television was electrifying.
So the future of TV is as it has always been. A group of kids, whose imagination is fired by an hour of our time in school. They are the future of video. It’s good to carry on the tradition.
