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Remaster in HDThere is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to Bright Thoughts productions, each programme or project is made for a different audience and therefore has different requirements. Most of the past productions are in the British Film Institute Archive and many have been digitised. There is however a lobby to get all master 1" tapes at least digitised and some remastered in HD for re-use in a variety of ways.
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Current Restoration and Upscaling
DIGITAL RESTORATION BY CHARLES USHER
The first active projects are Macready! and Here's A Funny Thing which we hope to have available in 2025.
Macready! is a stage play about the great Victorian actor who toured 65 countries over 22 years. The Bright Thoughts production continues to be requested often by acting students and sometimes in America.
By contrast, Here's A Funny Thing some regard as the definitive version of life and career of Max Miller and has a keen following by fans of the late John Bardon and also the Max Miller Appreciation Society.
The next restoration project we are hoping to achieve is The Green Tie On The Little Yellow Dog aka 'the monlogues' largely because most audiences today would have no idea of these extraordinary vignettes (mini performance pieces) by some now legendary stars.
Macready! is a stage play about the great Victorian actor who toured 65 countries over 22 years. The Bright Thoughts production continues to be requested often by acting students and sometimes in America.
By contrast, Here's A Funny Thing some regard as the definitive version of life and career of Max Miller and has a keen following by fans of the late John Bardon and also the Max Miller Appreciation Society.
The next restoration project we are hoping to achieve is The Green Tie On The Little Yellow Dog aka 'the monlogues' largely because most audiences today would have no idea of these extraordinary vignettes (mini performance pieces) by some now legendary stars.
Also to Remaster in 2025-26
At least two of our contemporary and experimental music productions aimed at a minority, specialist audience (never aimed to get ratings) have become 'sort-after' and to some degree have a small cult following. With both Hoarded Dreams and Crossing Bridges, they capture improvised performances never to be repeated. Hoarded Dreams brings elite jazz-musicians from around the world together for this one event at the Bracknell Jazz Festival. Some of those musicians are no longer with us. Crossing Bridges brings together six renowned experimental guitarists for the one and only time. Our aim for at least these two programmes is to make them available on one of the pay-per-view platforms.
The televised stage play on the life of Groucho Marx recorded in front of a live audience Groucho In Toto. Although very much 'of its time' stands up to the test of time. The aim is to be remastered and re-released.
Above are examples from our one-man-shows and improvised music sections.
The televised stage play on the life of Groucho Marx recorded in front of a live audience Groucho In Toto. Although very much 'of its time' stands up to the test of time. The aim is to be remastered and re-released.
Above are examples from our one-man-shows and improvised music sections.
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Curator Comments:
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In the early days of independent production the idea wasn't just to aim for blockbuster hits, it was to create shows that we wouldn't otherwise do working for the TV networks.
For us, the one-man-shows and TV adaptations of plays were our 'bread and butter', they didn't require big budgets and typically were biographical dramatisations of famous people which we adapted for a TV audience and potentially for video release. As 'Here's A Funny Thing' and 'Macready!' were the very first entertainment commissions by Channel 4, they were also the very first recordings we did for Channel 4. But, this is not sentimentality, we still receive enquiries about both shows and requests to view them again! Some of our other music shows (e.g. jazz) were never aimed at ratings and popularity, they were designed to be specialist, some improvised and experimental created specifically for minority audiences. These have become collectors pieces largely because of the scarcity value of acclaimed artists rarely seen on camera and some, very sadly, no longer with us. |
