AB Biog

Alan Benns, Lighting Cameraman M.M.Inst.V

Alan joined Thames Television in 1979, the year that film gave way to videotape as a news gathering medium. In the years that followed he worked on a rich variety of television programming, enjoying the glitz and glamour of Miss World and travelling the world with Wish You Were Here - but he also experienced some war zones of the time with the flagship news and documentary series This Week.

By the mid-1980s, like many of his former Thames colleagues Alan had become freelance, and soon afterwards he and writer/director Martyn Cox co-founded production company Vision Control for which he shot, and in many cases also edited, a wide range of corporate productions written and directed by Martyn for their many business and travel industry clients. [For client and production list see Martyn's biog.]

By the end of the decade, and with Vision Control's shooting kit, Alan found himself back in the Thames Television fold when he was contracted by the ITV children's wildlife series OWL TV. He would spend the next five years as the vivacious presenter Michaela Strachan's cameraman because when she jumped ship to the BBC's The Really Wild Show, Alan went too!

Television companies in Japan were the early adopters of the High Definition system, and during the nineties Alan filmed for the country's national broadcaster NHK on a diverse selection of programmes when this ground-breaking new television system was first taken on location in Canada, USA, Europe, and the UK.

Alan's early experience with Thames TV, and also as a freelance cameraman working on ‘Sooty’, stood him in good stead yet again when his former colleague Brian West was commissioned by Channel Four to produce twenty six episodes of his self-written ground breaking late-night puppet comedy show 'PETS'. The programmes' credits show Alan Benns listed as "Lighting Cameraman" but in fact he also acted as studio director and editor, and later produced re-edited versions of the series for overseas broadcasters. His work with Brian West has since flourished and the duo now specialise in filming and editing entire programmes aimed especially at the web, often called Vod-casting.

Alan is a Master Member of the Institute of Videography with a Fellowship nomination for camerawork. He remains based close to his television roots in Teddington where he now has High Definition, DVCam, and DV shooting and editing facilities and produces the filming of special events as well as working with several communications companies for the media training of their clients. He also shoots regularly for the BBC-TV's promotions department working alongside their creative directors producing on-air promos for the digital channels BBC3 and BBC4. He has also worked on location for many programmes and commercials made for The Travel Channel.

Alan Benns has recently been reunited with his long time friend producer/director Martyn Cox for the Our secret war oral history filming. This has entailed working in France, Belgium, and all over Britain - even at Buckingham Palace. - and has meant a welcome 'return to the front' for the former Vision Control team for this fascinating and worthwhile project.

To return to this site’s ‘Welcome’ page click HERE.