Biography

 

STEVE WHITFORD – SOUND RECORDIST.

+44(0) 7973 168761

 

DOCUMENTARY CREDITS:

 

TITANIC
Bedlam Productions/National Geographic
Director: Nigel Levy     Camera: Graham Smith
A 100 minutes Documentary special from the Production company who produced the "The King's Speech" feature film & documentary. This documentary provides an insight into why the Titanic sank, 100 years ago. 
Shot on High Def HDSLR - Sony F3 - with multitrack flash drive audio mastering & timecode sync.


SEVEN DWARVES
The Garden Productions/Ch4
Director: Richard Curson Smith     Camera: Graham Smith
This observational documentary series provides a thought-provoking insight into what it is like to be a person of  short stature in a big world.
Shot on High Def HDSLR - Sony F3 - with multitrack flash drive audio mastering & timecode sync.


WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ? - "DAVID MITCHELL"
Wall to Wall/BBC2
Director: Mary Crisp    Camera: Rob Goldie
The 6th series of family history programs featuring popular celebrities.  
Shot on High Def with tx'd audio via Zaxcom digital stereo unit, with SD flash drive back-up.


MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED...WITH TONY ROBINSON
Flashback TV/Ch4
Producer: David Edgar   Camera: Graham Smith
Tony Robinson & Becky MacCall front a three part series which brings a rational investigative approach to the world of psychic mysteries and the myths and legends of the past. 
Shot on High Def with tx'd audio via Zaxcom digital stereo unit, with SD card back-up.

 

FIGHTING THE WAR
BBC Documentaries and Contemporary Factual for BBC2
Royal Television Society Award: Sound - Entertainment Non-Drama Production 
Awarded to: Sound Team:
"The winning team demonstrated good judgment in dangerous and unpredictable conditions. They exercised first-rate craft skills in the most difficult circumstances to ensure the key moments were captured." 
Director: Janet Harris     Camera: Neil Harvey  (Photos here)
6 x 1hours following the 2003 war in Iraq. Our program was filmed with the Black Watch Battle Group on their push into Basra from Kuwait. 
Filmed on DigiBeta with tx'd audio to the 790, backed-up onto pro Minidisc. Mono with M & S atmos's.

 

THE FALLEN
Minnow Films/BBC1
Best Documentary 2008  
BAFTA Best Single Documentary 
Producer: Morgan Matthews     Camera: Graham Smith
A landmark, 3 hour feature-length film for BBC2 to mark Remembrance day 2008. The Fallen will remember every British service person who has died whilst serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and those they have left behind. 
Filmed on Digi Beta with tx'd audio via Zaxcom digital stereo unit, with SD card back-up.


THE DIETS THAT TIME FORGOT
Silver River/Ch4
Producer: Caroline Ross-Pirie    Camera: Matt Marschner
Series following 3 groups who live 3 different historical diets and lifestyles in a country house, and the conclusions. 
Shot on Digi.


THE MONARCHY
RDF/BBC1
Director: Steven Lambert     Camera: Sam Keys/Peter Wilkinson
Now-notorious observational documentary going behind the scenes of the working Monarchy. Mostly self-shot.
Shot on High-def with radio linked audio to the camera, and backed-up on SD flash recorder.


THE BLAIR YEARS
Brook-Lapping/Ch4
Director: Rob Coldstream     Camera:Rob Goldie
Definitive 3 x 1 hrs on the Premiership of Tony Blair, as related to Andrew Rawnsley, by those who served alongside him (Blair, not Rawnsley!). 
Shot on DigiBeta.


KIDNAP !
Mountain Film Unit (NZ)/Discovery-USA
Director: Tim Conrad     Camera: Chris Goodger
Pilot for 13 x 1hr series for Discovery USA, about kidnap victims. This reconstructed in Morocco, the 2004 kidnapping, detainment, and release of American Roy Hallums,  from captivity in Baghdad. Hallums was the world's longest-held captive.
Shot on High Def, with Flash Drive (MicroTrak) atmospheres.


EATING WITH: 'OONA KING' / 'MINETTE WALTERS'
Optomen/BBC2
Camera:Graham Smith
8 x 30' programs which combine the personal histories of the food-loving celebs, with a slice of social history.


WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ? - 'BILL ODDIE'
Wall to Wall/Ch4
Director: Simon Chu     Camera: Graham Smith
1hr- well known faces within the British media each embark on individual journeys to answer some questions in regards to their own family history...


REGENCY HOUSE PARTY
Wall to Wall/Ch4
Producer: Caroline Ross-Pirie     Camera: various
Series about six aspiring Mr Darcys and six Miss Bennetts (and their chaperones) the chance to go back to the England of the early 1800s and live at the height of the age of romance.


CUTTING EDGE: "BAD BEHAVIOUR:"
'BEN'
'FRED AND DIANE'
'THE HOLLIS'S'

Lion TV/Ch4
Director: Hilary Clark     Camera: Jeremy Humphries/Graham Smith/Jeremy Humphries
3 x 1hr programs following the work of Behaviourist, Warwick Dyer, who works with parents to change their discipline strategies, in response to their children's extreme behaviour. 
Shot on DigiBeta with tx'd audio backed-up on TCDAT.


FOOTBALL DIARIES
Seek/Ch4
Director: Ian Denyer/Ian B. MacDonald     Camera: Ian MacDonald
8 x 1 hrs following Weymouth Football Club under the new leadership of Steve Claridge as Manager and Ian Ridley as Chairman, through the 2003/4 season. The series also looked at English football clubs such as Reading, Newcastle, Chelsea, Ipswich, Blackburn and Manchester City.


SADDAM'S IRAQ
Middle East Broadcasting/BBC
Director: Janet Harris     Camera: Richard Gibb
4 x 1hr series on Iraq's post-war (2003) history, filmed in and around Baghdad. 
Shot on DigiBeta with tx'd audio to the 790, backed-up onto pro Minidisc. Mono with M&S atmos's.


AFGHAN WARRIOR: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ABDUL HAQ
Touch Productions/BBC4
Royal Television Society: Southern Centre Award for Best Investigative Documentary 2003 
Director: Malcolm Brinkworth     Camera: Ken Guest   (Photos here)
80min special on the history of Afghanistan over the last 25 years, as personified by the recent murder of leader-in-waiting, Adbdul Haq, by the Taliban regime. 
Shot on DVCam with tx'd audio to the DSR570, backed-up onto pro Minidisc. Mono with M & S atmos's.

ANCIENT REFUGE IN THE HOLY LAND: UNEARTHING A REBEL HIDEOUT
Nova/WGBH
Director: Kurt Wolfinger     Camera: Mike Haynes
Special following an American archaeological expedition aiming to find 2,000 years old artifacts buried in a remote cave system in Israel's Judean Desert. 
Shot on w/s Super 16mm with TimeCode DAT. 
Article published in Line Up magazine.


TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
Newsweek Productions
Director: Veronica Young     Camera: Kirsten Johnson  (Photos here)
1 hr special centred on an American Peace Camp in Croatia, set-up for young survivors of the Balkan Wars. We follow a group of Bosnian musicians and children from Sarajevo on their journey to the Camp, and relate their experiences. 
Shot on Sony PD150 with transmitted audio backed-up onto pro Minidisc.


TRIAL AND ERROR:
"DRUHAN";  "BOWLER UPDATE";  "PARSONS";  "FELL";  "MILLS & POOLE;  "CLEARY";  "WARR"

JustTV/Ch4
Director: Steve Heywood / Steve Phelps     Camera: Nick Barnett/Sean Bobbitt/Sam Keys
UK-based 1 hour specials x 7 fronted by David Jessell, each about a specific miscarriage of justice. Reconstruction drama documentaries. 


A FAMILY CENTURY
Twenty Twenty/Ch4
Director: David Leaf/Susan Cardy/Kate O'Driscoll    Camera: Mike Haynes
50' special on Digibeta about a family of 113 living members which charts the Social history of the 20th Century, through their family's story.


LAGOS AIRPORT
Afro-Wisdom/Ch4
Director: Charlotte Moore     Camera: Mike Haynes
5x1/2hrs shot solidly over three months transmitting audio to Digibeta, with TimeCode DAT TC/audio,  following the life of Murtallah Muhamed Airport, Lagos, Nigeria.  (Article published)


THE CORONER
Twenty Twenty/ Ch4
Producer/Director: Ian Taylor     Camera: Mike Haynes
4x1hrs shot solidly over three months in M and S stereo on TimeCode DAT TC/audio transmitted to DVPro, following the work of the Birmingham Coroner's officers. 


ROYAL TV
BBC TV
Director: Bill Treharne Jones    Camera: Mike Haynes
1hr special on the relationship between the monarchy and UK television, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.


LIFE BEFORE BIRTH
BBC Science
Director: John Hayes-Fisher     Camera: Mike Haynes
BBC1 series following the work of Kings College Hospital's Harris Birthright Trust. We portray the Trust's head - world-renown Prof. Kypros Nickolaedes - and tell the stories of those that come through the doors of the Trust. 
Shot on DigiBeta with tx'd audio to the camera. Also TimeCode DAT.


DOCTORS TO BE - UPDATE
BBC Specialist Factual/BBC1
Director: Sadie Holland    Camera: Mike Haynes
1hr special updating the on-going series of the 1984 intake of medical students at St.Mary's Hospital, London. 
Shot on DigiBeta with tx'd audio to the camera. Also TimeCode DAT.


WHAT CHILDREN WANT
BBC Current Affairs
Director: Matthew Thompson    Camera: Chris Goodger
BBC1 special about children and the way they get what they want ! 
Shot on Digi Beta with tx'd audio to the camera.


THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY
BBC Political Documentaries
Director: Bill Trehearne-Jones     Camera: Mike Haynes
BBC2 1hr special about Margaret Thatcher's continuing effect on the modern Tory Party, and how that legacy is responsible for their current state of uncertainty.  Shot before and after Ian Duncan-Smith's leadership election on DigiBeta with tx'd audio.


NEW DOCTORS TO BE
BBC Science
Director: Sadie Holland    Camera: Mike Haynes
BBC series following the the first years intake of a radically new Australian Medical course to train new Doctors, based at St. George's Hospital, Tooting. 
Shot on DigiBeta with tx'd audio to the camera. Also TimeCode DAT.

 

CHILD OF OUR TIME 
RTS Nominated  
BBC Science
Producer: Tessa Livingstone    Camera: Mike Haynes
90 minute special as a fore-runner to 20 year project charting the progress of a group of 20 babies born in the new Millennium.
Shot over 18 months transmitting audio to Digibeta, with TimeCode DAT TC/audio.


SECRET HISTORY: CHILDREN OF THE IRON LUNG
Granada/Ch4
Director: Ann Hawker     Camera: Ian Moss
Digibeta shoot tracing how Polio epidemics swept the UK in the 1950's and 60's, and how the disease was finally conquered, as seen by victims and contemporary experts.


HORIZON: DIET FOR LIFE
BBC Science/BBC
Producer/Director: Tessa Livingstone     Camera: Mike Haynes 
1hr special shot in the UK USA on TimeCode DAT TC/audio transmitted to DigiBeta, about fat and the science of it all !


DOCTORS AT LARGE
BBC Science Features
Producer/Director: Tessa Livingstone     Camera: Mike Haynes
Third update series of 11 x1/2 hrs shot over eighteen months in M and S stereo on TimeCode DAT TC/audio transmitted to Beta following the developing careers of young doctors, first filmed 13 years previously when medical students.


THE DAYS THE GUN FELL SILENT
BBC1
Director: Chris Sykes    Camera: Richard Ranken
2 x 50' shot in UK France on TimeCode DAT Super 16mm, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice.


EXTREME MACHINES: SUB
Pioneer/WGBH
Director: Hugh Whitfield    Camera: Ben Hodgson
1 hour special on-board USS. Miami - an American nuclear powered and armed sub, on NATO manoeuvres. Audio transmitted to BetaSP.


HOW TO BE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
BBC Political Documentaries
Producer: Michael Cockerill    Camera/Director: Charles Miller
1 hour special audio transmitted to DVPro following William Hague's efforts to be the 'Leader of the Opposition'.


AGENTS OF CHANGE
Films of Record/Ch4
Producer: Roger Graef    Camera: Michael Haynes
1 hour special audio transmitted to DVPro/DVC/Digibeta about the effect Management Consultants have on modern businesses.


CUTTING EDGE: THE INVESTIGATORS
Forstater Productions/Ch4
Director: Dev Varma    Camera: Lawrence Gardner
TCDAT/Super 16mm on Lambeth's new fraud detection squad.


MODERN TIMES: THE ARCHES
BBC2
Director: David Turnbull     Camera: Mike Eley
Middle and Side TCDAT/Super 16mm on people who work under Railway Arches


THE POISONED CHALICE
Barraclough-Carey/BBC
Director: John Bridcut     Camera: Mike Haynes
4 x 1 hours shot on Beta in UK Europe, about Britain and the EuropeanCommunity, from the 1950's to Maastricht.


POLITICAL AMBITIONS
Twenty Twenty/ Ch4
Director: Brian Hill/Kate Woods     Camera: Mike Haynes
3x1hrs on BetaSP, following 7 prospective MP's before after the May '97 General Election.


MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED
Discovery
Director: Rob Gardner     Camera: Rege Becker
1hr special shot on 16mm/TC Nagra, about UK ghosts !


THE MAJOR YEARS
Sky Political Unit
Director: Virginia Carington     Camera: Mike Haynes
Definitive series on John Major's government, as told by Cabinet colleagues.


THE GRAND HOTEL
7th Art/ Meridian
Director: Sally Jenkinson    Camera: Mike Haynes
4 x 50' fly-on-the-wall programs on the Grand Hotel in Brighton.


EQUINOX: TWINS
Fulcrum/ Ch4
Director: Salina MacNair    Camera: Mike Haynes
TimeCode DAT/TimeCode transmitted to BetaSP, shot in UK/USA, on the science of twins.


GURKHAS
BBC2
Producer/Director: Michael Begg     Camera: Mike Spragg
M & S stereo 1 hour special shot on Beta in UK, Nepal and Hong Kong, profiling the Gurkha Regiment.


DISPATCHES: CARE
Hart-Ryan/ Ch4
Director: Alex Sutherland     Camera: Mike Haynes
M & S stereo shot in UK, about under-age prostitutes in local authority care.


BLACK BAG - THE CAMPAIGN FOR RACIAL EQUALITY
3rd Eye/ Ch4
Director: Jude Allan     Camera: Sue Brooks
2 months fly-on-the-wall DAT/Radio-link to DVC, on the people and work of the Commission for Racial Equality.


NOBEL CENTURY
BBC/ WGBH
Director: Juliette Miller     Camera: Mike Spragg
Shot in UK; Sweden; Canada and USA series of 3, about the history of the Nobel prize.


EQUINOX - RADIATION
Box/ Ch4
Director: Viv King     Camera: Mike Spragg 
1hr special about naturally occurring radiation, and its effects.


HORIZON: HEARTS
Goldwyn/ BBC
Director: Viv King     Camera: Mike Spragg
16mm Nagra. 4 parts shot in Scotland and England about aspects of heart disease.


LIFE ETC
BBC Manchester
Director: Belinda Cherrington     Camera: Chris Openshaw, Mike Haynes
8 Part Series, in which Rosie Boycott interviews various contributors about their lives, experiences and the stories they have to tell raising various dilemmas and issues.

  

NEWS FROM NUMBER 10
RTS Nominated 
BBC Political Docs/ BBC2
Director: Alison Cahn     Camera: Pat Turley 
80 minute special revealing how the Blair government's news  machine really works, by following the then PM's Press Secretary, Alastair Campbell. 
Shot on DVCam with tx'd audio with MiniDisc back-up.


THE HOUSE OF LORDS
BBC Political Docs/ BBC2
Director/Camera: Charles Miller
Special from the inside, following the proposed abolition of the House of Lords, shot on DVCam with tx'd audio and MiniDisc back-up.


THE EURO
BBC Political Docs/ BBC2
Director/Camera: Alison Cahn
Special on the political and economic aspects of Britain's proposed entry into the Euro.
Shot on DVCam with tx'd audio and MiniDisc back-up.


THE SIEGE OF SCOTLAND YARD
Films of Record/ Ch4
Director: Roger Graef Camera: Alan James
Shot on DAT/ tx'd audio to DVC and DVC Pro. After the Report into the Lawrence Inquiry, Sir Paul Condon (Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police) prepared to face the world…


GOD'S ARMY
Independent Image/ Ch4
Director: Ken Kirby     Camera: Mike Haynes
7x1hrs shot on TimeCode DAT and TC/audio transmitted to DVPro, following the work of the Salvation Army.


WITNESS: KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Films of Record/ Ch4
Director: Roger Graef     Camera: Alan James
Mini Disc and tx'd audio to DVC, on the first filmed Family Group Conference convened by Social Services.


CUTTING EDGE - FOOTBALLER'S WIVES
Adventure Pictures/ Ch4
Director: John Fothergill     Camera: Lawrence Gardner
Super16mm/ M & S/stereo TCDAT, as per title !


ASSAULT ON THE MIND
Union Picture/ Ch4
Producer/Director: David Patterson     Camera: Mike Haynes
Beta series on the emerging science on Alzheimer's.


INSIDE STORY - PILOT DOWN
Mann Made Films/ BBC
Director: James Ewart     Camera: Michael Haynes
TimeCode DAT/SP/DVC transmitted TimeCode, about a Naval pilot's survival course.


MODERN TIMES - JEWISH WEDDINGS
BBC
Director/Camera: Steven Walker
TimeCode DAT/DVC/Beta Transmitted TimeCode about a Jewish wedding.


MODERN TIMES - MANGE TOUT
BBC
Director: Mark Phillips    Camera: Tony Caldwell
Super16mm/TCDAT about the vegetable !


SECRET LIVES - TRAITOR KING
Hart-Ryan/ BBC
Director: David Ryan     Camera: Chris Smith
16mm Stereo DAT, about Edward VIIth's Nazi sympathies.


GULF WAR
Fine Art/ BBC1
Director: Eammon Matthews     Camera: Steve Lawrence
Beta SP/ M & S stereo DAT. 4 parts chronicling the first Gulf War.


THE HORSE IN SPORT
Transatlantic/ Ch4/ Discovery
Director: Henrietta Brunt/Roger Parsons     Camera: John Bulmer
One of a series of six films on Horse Sports produced by Transatlantic Films for Channel 4 and Discovery Channel. Each follows a few of the top competitors in the World at home, and then sees them compete against each other at world level competition. The other films included Four in Hand Driving, Rodeo, Eventing, Dressage and Show Jumping.

Stereo Nagra/16mm UK; USA; Argentina; Hungary; Denmark; Germany series 4 x 1hrs, about the horse in sports.

 

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STEVE WHITFORD – SOUND RECORDIST.

+44(0) 7973 168761

 

DRAMA CREDITS:

 

TRIAL AND ERROR: "DRUHAN";  "BOWLER UPDATE";  "PARSONS";  "FELL";  "MILLS & POOLE;  "CLEARY";  "WARR"
JustTV/Ch4
Director: Steve Heywood / Steve Phelps     Camera: Nick Barnett/Sean Bobbitt/Sam Keys
UK-based 1 hour specials x 7 fronted by David Jessell; each about a specific miscarriage of justice. Reconstruction drama documentaries. 


BAND OF BROTHERS
Granada
Camera: Chris Openshaw
Series about the American Civil War.  I worked on scenes involving American and Redcoat armies; cannons firing; musket battles; horse charges; special effects; battles ...and dialogue !  
Shot on DigiBeta using tx'd audio backed onto MiniDisc.


U BE DEAD
Granada
2nd unit sound on network prime-time drama based on a true story about a woman stalker.  
Shot on Red camera using audio recorded onto flash drive.


HEADLESS 
Granada
Series.  Worked on last episode.


THE KNOCK 
LWT/Granada
Some 2nd unit on series 2.


MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED 
Discovery USA
Director: Rob Gardner       Camera: Rege Becker
1 hr special shot on 16mm/TC Nagra, about UK ghosts !   Mostly reconstructions using actors in scenes depicting the Middle Ages and its festivals of magic.

 

COMMERCIALS:

"FAMILY FORTUNES" / "HEART FM" x 3 / "MAGIC FM" / "GOLD BUYERMAN(Toast TV)


PLUS:
numerous CORPORATESJacarandaThe EdgePukka Films; etc.


...numerous 'MAKING OF... FEATURE FILMS'  for Special Treats eg. "Tomorrow Never Dies"; "Much Ado About Nothing"; "Blue Ice"; "The Whistle Blower"; "Robin Hood"; "Shining Throughetc.  


...numerous BOOM OPERATING and ASSISTING on TV dramas & feature films"Worzel Gummidge"; "Cat's Eyes"; "London's Burning"; "Duet for One"; "Tank Malling" etc.


... numerous BOOM OPERATING and ASSISTING on 35mm commercials


... numerous ASSISTING & PLAYBACK on pop promos.


... and some NEWS too !

 

Research interests

I am producing a series of filmed interviews with Master Practitioners for website dissemination. 

I intend producing one journal paper under the title: The changing face of the art of Location Sound Recording practices within the Observational Documentary genre, in UK TV; post 1990.

I will also produce a second journal paper which will consider the future of the Observational Documentary genre in UK TV: The impact of 360 Audio on Story-telling: the new opportunities for the art of Location Sound Recording practices within the Observational Documentary genre, in UK TV. 

At the root of my outputs as above, is my industry practice and experience as a Sound Recordist specialising in Observational Documentaries in the international Film/TV industry, over 25+ years (CV above).