ELP love life down on The Farm

The latest series of Channel Five’s reality TV show ‘The Farm’ saw a return for ELP to a rural setting in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside.

The show, which began on Monday 9 May 2005, sees 10 celebrities experience the "harsh realities" of life on a real working farm. Among the contestants taking part in the second series are Keith Harris and his puppet Orville, entertainer Lionel Blair, hip-hop legend Flavor Flav, actress Charlene Tilton (who played Lucy Ewing in Dallas), and well endowed porn star Ron Jeremy.

As crew chief Joe Sherno explains, this really was a ‘no frills’ experience for the contestants. “When we arrived on site on May 1st we had to install the entire infrastructure from scratch. Our two 500K generators provided all site power including reality house, living quarters and production village. We worked with the set builders to create and fully wire these spaces from old barns and outbuildings. Our dimmer room was the garden shed”

One would think that the mucky, rustic setting would be a hindrance for creative production but LD Mark Kenyon and board operator Bill Peachment came up with some innovative tactics to disguise technology, blend in with the rural surroundings and use camouflage devices the military would be proud of.
Lots of 1K Atlas floods were sprinkled about the site. “They are not dissimilar to the kind of lighting you would find in a barn so they looked appropriate” comments Bill Peachment.

He added, “Instead of using scaffolding or truss to build towers and lighting positions we used wooden telegraph poles as they looked more authentic. The props guys sourced them for us and although they were tough to sink into the ground they were more appropriate for the surroundings.”

Indoors, the daytime look was provided by Photon Beards and Birdies were used for night time recording. “Birdies are discreet and almost look domestic” comments the board operator.

Outdoors at night time, moonlight was recreated by using 50 par cans covered with blue gels.
“This was certainly unusual but very effective” remarks crew chief Joe Sherno. Normally we would light an outside area like this with a big flood like a 12K HMI but local residents weren’t in favour…also the effects on surrounding animals / wildlife were taken into consideration. The par cans provided more flexible and interesting areas of light and shade. The LD was able to turn certain cans up and pick out something interesting in the background. It provided a highly versatile resource to make the most of a seemingly bland backdrop”

Board operator Bill Peachment explained why he chose to use a Compulite desk for this production. “The Compulite is ideal for multiple channel basic fader operation. Simplicity of operation is important so that any of the crew can use the desk at any time. For example, this came in handy when the lambs decided to be born at 3am and suddenly the night watch crew had to leap into action.”

All the practical lights and fittings in the reality house were also controlled by the Compulite. So items like decorative room up-lighters, table top lamps, even bedside lamps could be regulated. In the main living quarters these were left on most of the day and at night time contributed to creating appropriate moods.

The ELP crew provided non stop 24 hour cover as recording was continuous throughout a three week period. A one hour edited show went out each night with the exception of Fridays where a live vote off show was broadcast.

The team sheet reads as follows:

Lighting Director – Mark Kenyon
Board Operator – Bill Peachment
Crew Chief – Joe Sherno
Dimmers – Gus Kid Stanton
Electrician – Miec Hegget
Rigger – Mike Sherno