The ups and downs of the post-production community in Soho has been the central theme running throughout almost all our most popular, most read and most shared facilities and technology stories this year.

 

Soho post firms under threat

Top of the list is our story from last month, revealing details of a proposed hotel slap bang in the middle of the Soho post community on Wardour Street. The story was shared widely online and informed many, for the first time, about the proposed luxury hotel development, which puts the Soho offices of a cluster of creative companies under threat and could even signal the death knell for the very future of post-production in Soho.

 

Industry pays tribute to Rushes

Staying with the Soho post scene, many were shocked, towards the end of this year, about Deluxe’s decision to close down much admired VFX house Rushes. We ran a number of stories leading up to the closure, culminating in a hugely popular piece pulling together a series of touching tributes to the post house. RIP Rushes.

 

Warner Bros to open major Soho post facility

More positively for Soho, at the beginning of November, in another broadcastnow exclusive at the time, we unveiled plans by Warner Bros to create a 25,000 sq ft post facility on Greek Street, Soho. It was another of our most popular facilities stories of the year.

 

 

The Farm heads to Manchester

Earlier this month, another exclusive announcement of plans for a major new post house, this time in Manchester, was another of our most read of the year. It is on a very similar scale to the Warner Bros facility, with post-production group The Farm set to open a 25,000 sq ft full-service facility in Manchester city centre next year.

 

Lens change to make Doctor Who more filmic

A cinematic look for iconic BBC series Doctor Who was a big hitting story for broadcastnow this year, with many, many Doctor Who fans sharing the story through social media channels. There was a real buzz created by the anticipation of how this may impact the look and feel of the drama, which, from series 11, is being shot using Cooke and Angenieux anamorphic lenses for the first time as the show’s production team move to make the show look more filmic.

 

The re-opening of television studios at Television Centre

A number of our stories covering television studios returning to Television Centre were very well read. A story confirming the first shows to return there, back in May, was a big hitter, as was this follow up story in September, when BBC Studioworks re-opened its studios.

 

 

Red reveals its big secret

One of our biggest tech stories of the year came when camera manufacturer Red announced it was launching an Android smartphone, The Hydrogen One. It took everyone by surprise, as was revealed in this story covering industry reactions to the news. We look forward to seeing the phone, which is billed as “the world’s first holographic media machine in your pocket”, when it hits the market in early 2018.