"A
very slick and professional piece of work, that moves a lot faster
than the average Myth Makers or BBC DVD interview... Overall,
hugely enjoyable and one of the best releases of its type."
Doctor Who Magazine
In
August 2004, Doctor Who actress Daphne Ashbrook visited
the UK to make her first ever personal appearances. Daphne
Ashbrook in the UK is an all-new 50 minute DVD documentary
covering her trip and looking back at her work on the show.
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Shot
over several days, the core of the production was formed from
two interviews. The first, concentrating on Daphne's life today
was shot at Tower Bridge, to give some breadth to the visuals
and to give a recognisable London landmark. The second was more
extensive, covering the Doctor Who TV Movie, shot at Daphne's
London hotel room. In deliberate contrast to the exterior material,
this interview was shot with washes of coloured light and skewed
camera angles to break up the inevitable talking head syndrome.
In
addition to fly-on-the-wall footage of Daphne's personal appearances,
a final day of shooting took place at the Big Finish studios during
the recording of the audio story The Next Life. A behind
the scenes feature was shot throughout the day, including contributions
from Paul McGann and writers Alan Barnes and Gary Russell. At
the same time, a reunion feature with Daphne and Paul was shot,
to be interspersed throughout the video.
For
the title sequence, I shot a selection of compositions around
Tower Bridge, intending to use the vertical lines I had incorporated
into the cover design. These were
edited together in montage, based vaguely on Channel 4's daytime
idents, using vertical blocks tracking at different speeds to
create an illusion of depth. David Darlington's outstanding music
was then composed to the pictures, greatly enhancing the graphics.
In
addition to the main documentary, I also oversaw the editing of
the disc's extras, which comprised a 25 minute stage talk and
a photograph montage.
Daphne
Ashbrook in the UK is out on now on DVD. Region 0 PAL/NTSC
Flipper
Featuring
Daphne Ashbrook, Paul McGann, Gary Russell, Alan Barnes and Paton
Ashbrook. Production Assistant: Leon Horton, Post Production Sound
and Music: David Darlington, Camera and Assistant Director: Robin
Prichard, Producers for 10th Planet: Derek Hambly and Paul Taylor,
Produced by Paul Huzzey and Robin Prichard, Directed and Edited
by Stuart Manning
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