Tim talks about his latest car series and the pitfalls of working in a new dimension.
After three successful years of The Fast Lane (TFL) with Motors I'd grown very fond of the show. Working on a comedy based car series was unlike any other role that I'd ever had and I knew that it would be a tough act to follow.
Many witty themed car tests, including Battling Darth Maul in a Bentley, ghost busting with a hearse and hopping back to the 1970's for Cars on Mars left lasting impressions and the show had of course been running on-line for over ten years!
In addition, we had a great team and it had been a pleasure working with lunatics like Dave F Williams, Jon Siddall, The Sneil and my old pal Kim Sabido. So when I was asked to create a new show from scratch, naturally I had to give it some serious thought.
Looking at the vast array of digital channels and their programmes, it became clear that more topics than ever before were being future-proofed for stereoscopic delivery and it suddenly hit me that it was only a matter of time before motoring went 3D!
Stereoscopic art looks amazing and subjects like architecture, or vehicle design are direct extensions of this creative ethos. The curves of a Ferrari 458 Italia gleaming in the afternoon sun, or the angular lines of a 1963 Lotus Cortina at a classic festival give an overwhelming insight into the very soul of the motoring world. 3D takes this to a totally new level. Peering into and around scenes you can almost smell the hot leather and the petrol vapour. It's like being there and after an early screening of our Donnington Historic Festival item we all felt as if we'd been back to the late 1960's!
But, as the world adapts to the amazing concept of 3D home entertainment, so too do the producers, presenters, directors and crew. It's been a real learning curve for all of us and we discover something new that doesn't work well in 3D every day! Likewise, we also discover more and more things that look amazing with every shot.
For me '3Drives' is a step back towards sanity after TFL, predominantly featuring thorough car reviews on sensible vehicles. For real petrol heads there will be two special shows on the most exotic, prestigious cars and one on historic marques but, in these tough times, the rest of the 8 part series takes a refreshing look at practical modern transport, with family needs in mind.
No blowing things up, getting arrested, or breaking supercars...
Just useful, practical car buying advice for a change.
Of course the series will be as sensible as you can expect from the likes of me and my family video diaries are sure to bring a smile to your face.
The first of these begins 'Woke up with a Jack Russell up my left nostril...' You get the idea...
You'll be able to catch up with Ben the 3D Jack Russell and other preview clips from the series this autumn on-line.
The full series is scheduled for completion at the end of November with transmission planned for Q1 2012 but I'll do my best to Tweet any news, updates and general silliness as we go.
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