Kev Baker Show: A Technical Expert Writes

This comes in from our associate ‘M & Q Continuum’, a highly qualified audio-visual technician with extensive experience working in TV, radio and sound production. This is what he has to say about the farcical ‘Kev Baker Show’ interview we posted earlier. To be honest, the whole thing was blatant ocelot poop from start to finish, as was clear to anyone with half a brain. But it’s great to have that confirmed by someone who knows what they’re talking about. This is what he has to say:

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1:48:00… The clown claiming to be a “film director” who has “done it for years and years and years”… Having actually spent 35 years working in television myself… Graduating from (ENG/EFP) Cameraman to Director to Producer… And having had to QUALIFY through college an university ultimately to Masters level to reach that point… I’m calling ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT on this wanker’s claims… He justifies himself with bizarre claims of having been a sound engineer (completely different thing from being a film director – rather like a carpenter pontificating on bricklaying) that ‘freelanced’ via Abbey Road for the BBC at the old TV theatre… I doubt it… The BBC has its own sound engineers, and some of the finest in the world they are too! Oh they might hire the odd ‘name’ from a major studio for a particular job. What they DON’T hire are random nobodies who quite plainly don’t know their XLRs from their elbows… Whether the BBC hired ‘freelance’ scene shifters, van drivers or lavvy attendants I couldn’t say; but this guy – and this WILL be obvious to anyone with a credible film/TV tech background – hasn’t even a basic grasp of any broadcast engineering discipline… “Corporate video” sayeth this fool? Well, having owned a corporate production company for nigh-on 30 years I can tell you about those too! And having actually LECTURED in TV production for part of my career I can tell you exactly how and why there is massive crossover in technique between news-gathering and field production techniques… “Flat tube television cameras”? The last camera I used with a TUBE as the imaging device was an EMI 2001 – Go on! Look up what one of them is! – A great big huge thing first used in the late 60s the last of which went out of service in about 1989! ‘Flat Tube’? – A term only ever applied to domestic television receivers back in the 80s and 90s. ALL television cameras have necessarily flat imaging devices… And these have been ‘chips’ rather than ‘tubes’ for most of my career! Clearly the man has NO FUCKING CLUE about camera sensors, studio cameras or any of the rest of it!! And even less about what various types of cameras are used in modern news gathering and features production. Sony F55s are now fairly standard issue to BBC documentary and features crews. http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/article/broadcast-products-cinematography-documentary-filming-f55 – They’re ‘large sensor’ cameras that produce just exactly this ‘cinematic’ shallow depth of field type of picture… A current fad… And over the past 20 years ago, as lighting kit has got smaller, lighter, cooler and less power-hungry there has been a real move towards more (what we call) ‘crafted’ lighting… Basically, you can carry more kit in less space, light at lower levels and don’t draw the huge amounts of power that would have been needed years ago. OF COURSE the lighting in TV features is getting better! This was a planned interview remember – not ‘off the cuff’ run and gun stuff… And probably shot in an ‘offline’ (i.e. not in use) studio or open production space like a rehearsal room… You don’t just walk into a TV studio with a features crew, fire up the studio cameras and off you go… In most cases IF a studio is used for this sort of thing it’s quicker and easier just to use the space and set up portable ‘field kit’… But then anyone who had REALLY worked in TV would know that… As for the BBC not having ‘exclusives’? LOL! – And while we’re about it; what would a ‘FILM producer’ (aye right! – and my cat’s a ballet dancer) necessarily know about television news and features production? Would you accept the local Vet as being an authority in gynaecology???

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Wow! Thank you so much for your input, MQC. Your extensive technical knowledge has left me breathless; and it’s always great to receive input from genuine experts. I can’t offer too much in the way of camera knowledge etc. but one thing I can say without fear of contradiction is that Abbey Road studios have absolutely nothing to do with the Beeb. As a lifelong Beatles fan (as you’ve probably picked up on), I can state categorically that Abbey Road studios are – and always have been – owned by EMI. Thanks again for your insights. Keep tunnelling! Scarlet x

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Further insights from MQC:

    

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The failed show in question:

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Our previous critique of this sad little show:

https://hoaxteadresearch.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/another-laughable-effort-by-hoaxteaders