Recently, The Elstree Project were invited to go to BBC Elstree Centre to record and document the building in 360º photography, video and with LiDAR — a laser scanning system which records the exact dimensions, space and details of a room as data which can then be turned into a virtual 3D model. We spent four days on site at the Fairbanks Building and Neptune House, and we also took an acoustic sound print of Stage M so that its ambient sound tone can be recreated.
The 360º images will be edited together to form a "Google street-view" style interactive tour of the buildings, with embedded stills and audio from our archive. For the first time, the public will be able to walk through the buildings and onto the stages and hear voices of those who worked there.
Here's a preview of Howard on Stage D, as part of our work!
We are delighted to have filmed an interview today with Tim Rose — animatronic character designer, puppeteer and performer. Tim worked on a number of films at Elstree Studios from when he helped the Muppets to learn to ride bicycles on The Great Muppet Caper, to performing as the iconic character Admiral Akbar in Return of the Jedi. Jim Henson invited Tim to come to Elstree Studios, and he carried on to other productions which included The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and Labyrinth.
Tim recalled the studio environment at Elstree Studios, including the art department workshops being like "giant cow sheds", where he had to go upstairs to meet production designer Norman Reynolds to ask for work; and the studio restaurant which was catering to George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Barbara Streisand, Paul McCartney and Ringo Star all at once!
Our huge...