Editing Ealing Studios (section)

=== Owned by the BBC (1955–1993) ===
The [[BBC]] bought the studios on Ealing Green in 1955, for £300,000,<ref name="odnb/93789">{{cite ODNB |last1=McFarlane |first1=Brian |title=Ealing Studios (act. 1907–1959) |date=22 September 2005 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/93789 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |url=https://www.britmovie.co.uk/forum/cinema/british-film-studios/82392-ealing-studios |access-date=30 August 2024 |via=britmovie.co.uk}}</ref> though productions bearing the Ealing name continued to be made at the [[MGM British Studios]] at Borehamwood for two years. Balcon later said of the MGM-Ealing partnership "Personally it was a happy relationship. But I do wish I had realised at the outset how absolutely vital it is to make films with mass appeal in America - by which I don't mean lowering standards but rather finding the right subjects."<ref>{{cite news|first=Alexander|last=Walker|newspaper=The Birmingham Post|date=26 November 1959|page=19|title=Where does Sir Michael go from here?}}</ref>

In 1958, [[Associated British Picture Corporation]] acquired Ealing’s parent company, Associated Talking Pictures, together with its extensive film library. The BBC based its Film Department at the studios; and at its peak 56 film crews used the studios as a base for location filming of dramas, documentaries and other programmes; shot on 16&nbsp;mm and occasionally 35&nbsp;mm film.<ref>''"A History of the BBC's Film Department"'', by David Martin (1983).</ref> Led by a director, these crews usually consisted of a Lighting Cameraman, a camera assistant, a lighting technician (known as a 'spark'), and a sound recordist. Initially these crews were equipped with Arriflex ST cameras and EMI L2 quarter inch tape recorders that had to be tethered to one another with a physical sync cable to ensure the picture and sound ran in lock. In later years, Eclair NPR cameras replaced the Arriflex machines and Nagra tape recorders replaced the EMI units. The Nagras made use of 'crystal sync', a system that provided synchronisation between the camera and the tape recorder remotely, removing the need for a physical cable. There were also over 50 cutting rooms, equipped with Steenbeck editing tables, working on every genre except News and Current Affairs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=John |first1=Ellis |last2=Nick |first2=Hall |date=11 April 2018 |title=ADAPT |journal=Figshare |language=en-US |doi=10.17637/rh.c.3925603.v2}}</ref> The editing suites came complete with movable film trim bins and Acmade picsyncs (picture synchronisers) for synchronising the film and sound rushes, and working with the edited cutting copy. The latter was especially useful when splitting the sound track(s) and adding additional effects, atmospheres, music and commentary tracks in readiness for film dubbing.

Many programmes came out of Ealing from [[Alistair Cooke]]'s [[America: A Personal History of the United States|''America'']] edited by Alan Tyrer and photographed by Kenneth MacMillan to ''[[Z-Cars]]'' edited by Shelia Tomlinson and many others and ''[[Cathy Come Home]]'' edited by Roy Watts, assisted by Roger Waugh. These programmes had post production support, viewing theatres, transfer suites, dubbing theatre, maintenance; all these staff and the film crews made up what was fondly known as the TFS Family.

It was not unknown for major international film stars to visit the studios during BBC Television days. Shortly after ''[[The Eagle Has Landed (film)|The Eagle Has Landed]]'' (1976) was released in London on 31 March 1977,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Eagle Has Landed (1976) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074452/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_rdat |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=25 December 2021 |archive-date=25 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225151020/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074452/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_rdat |url-status=live }}</ref> Michael Caine was present at the studios during his promotional tour for the film. Apart from the regular production staff and technicians involved with filming the associated interview, at his table in the studio canteen he was surrounded by a large entourage of followers during the obligatory break period.

In the 1980s, the BBC developed and expanded the use of electronic PSC (Portable Single Camera) location equipment and the use of 16&nbsp;mm film on location gradually declined. The BBC also used the studio facilities at Ealing for filmed inserts where an electronic studio could not be used, such as for the excavation site in ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]'' (1958–59), ''The White Rabbit'' (TV mini-series, 1967), ''[[Colditz (1972 TV series)|Colditz]]'' (1972–74) and the communal sequences in ''[[Porridge (1974 TV series)|Porridge]]'' (1974–77). Programmes wholly shot on film were made there also, such as ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1966 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1966), ''[[The Singing Detective]]'' (1986), ''[[Portrait of a Marriage (TV series)|Portrait of a Marriage]]'' (1986), and ''[[Fortunes of War (TV series)|Fortunes of War]]'' (1987).

The BBC had preview theatres to run 16&nbsp;mm [[sepmag]] film and 35&nbsp;mm. The 16&nbsp;mm machines were Bauer and the 35&nbsp;mm projectors Kalee 21. The projection area was a long room (open plan) with projectors serving theatres E -J. There was a separate projection room in the same area for theatre K, which was 35&nbsp;mm. There was also a dubbing theatre B, where 16&nbsp;mm productions would be dubbed, and film dispatch and sound transfer suites, where the quarter-inch tape from Nagra tape machines would be transferred to 16&nbsp;mm magnetic film. Film previews ran rushes, cutting copies, synch rushes, answer prints and transmission prints before going to telecine.

Television Film Studios was also the home before, during and after 1977, of the BBC TV Film Technical & Training Section run by the Senior Assistant, Training, Frank A. Brown. Courses were based in a lecture room at the studios, typically lasting 6 weeks, and comprised both theoretical training, with extensive information-sheet documentation being provided, plus day excursions for practical experience sessions to film cutting rooms, a film dubbing theatre and the Rank Film Laboratories at Denham (where a considerable quantity of BBC TV film programme content was processed and printed). The courses provided instruction to trainees, culminating in a written theory test, with each either being tailored to film photography, film sound or film editing skills for incoming trainees in these departments. The BBC Engineering Training Department, for training in video work and all aspects where a detailed knowledge of electronics is essential, has, alternatively, been based at [[Wood Norton Hall]], Evesham.