On Thursday June 10th, three girls from Royal Docks
Community School were treated to a day out at the world-famous Pinewood Studios
on the outskirts of London, England. They were greeted by Julia Hillsdon, Head
of Marketing at the studio, who gave them a tour of the mansion building
originally known as Heatherden Hall, which the studios have been built around.
Julia took them through the picture gallery and explained the studio’s
illustrious history, films made there, and the many famous stars that have
walked its corridors during the past 50 years or so.
This was followed by a tour of the vast garden area, this time
given by Dave Worrall, co-publisher of Cinema Retro magazine, who explained to
the girls how the gardens were used in various James Bond and other major films
over the years, including Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang, the Hammer Horrors and Harry
Potter. This was followed by a very interesting tour of Technicolor. Hosted
by Chris Smith, the girls were given an overview of how the laboratory
operates, including a preview of their new 3D technology in their luxury
screening room.
The actual
‘prize’ of visiting the studio came about through Jim Rainbird,
one of the organizers of The Children’s Magical Taxi Tour, whose
charity, run
by The Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers (WCHCD - the
London taxi
trade’s City Livery company), gives sick children the chance to get a
break
from their world of treatment and therapy and go on a trip of a lifetime
to
Disneyland. To help raise funding, various events are held throughout
the year,
and the Pinewood Studio day was one of them. The winner, Dave Fuller,
donated
the prize to ‘someone less fortunate than himself’.As
the WCHCD has an affiliation with the
school, the prize was offered to their GCSE photographic students, some
of
which don’t even have their own cameras. The winners, whose names were
drawn
from a hat, were Megan Readon, Laura Dempsey and Lakeisha Smith and were
accompanied
on the day by teacher David Oliver. The
actual ‘day out’ was organized by Terry Bamber, a veteran of many films
at the
studio, including Casino Royale, Quantum of
Solace, and the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels, starring Jack Black.
Following a
short lunch break at the nearby film-themed restaurant
Palm Suite, who also supported the day’s event, the girls were shown
around the
studio’s Underwater Stage, the most comprehensive facility in Europe,
and given
a talk by Dave Shaw of Diving Services UK. After a short walk past the
huge
outdoor tank, the girls visited Alpha Grips and were shown how cameras
are
mounted on huge cranes to obtain certain shots, and then went on to the
Powell
Theatre where sound mixer Richard Pryke, who won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, explained how films
are dubbed, including showing a short clip from Nanny
MacPhee and the Big Bang.
A good day
was had by all, and the girls went home a lot wiser
about how the world of movies make a lot of people’s dreams come true,
as do
The Children’s Magical Taxi Tour does – but in a different way. The
whole event
couldn’t have happened without the kind generosity of the companies and
people
who gave of their time, and these included:
Saloum N’jie
and Tony Chivers, who made a video documentary of the
day’s event, and Christian Black, a professional photographer who
recorded the
girl’s day out on digital images. A big thank you to Julia Hillsdon and
Richard
Pryke at Pinewood Studios; Dave Shaw of Diving Services, UK; Chris Smith
of
Technicolor; David Williams at The Palm Suite; Dave Worrall from Cinema
Retro
magazine; Andy Webber of Alpha Grips; Terry Bamber, and not forgetting
Jim
Rainbird, who took the girls to the studio in his taxi – what else?!
(For many other photos of this event, visit photographer Christian Black's web site by clicking here)