Stylised worlds: Colour Separation Overlay in BBC television plays of the 1970s

Panos, L. (2013) Stylised worlds: Colour Separation Overlay in BBC television plays of the 1970s. Critical Studies in Television, 8 (3). pp. 1-17. ISSN 1749-6020 doi: 10.7227/CST.8.3.2

Abstract/Summary

This essay aims to understand and interrogate the use of Colour Separation Overlay (CSO) as a mode of experimental production and aesthetic innovation in television drama in the 1970s. It sets out to do this by describing, accounting for and evaluating CSO as a production technique, considering the role of key production personnel, and analysing four specific BBC productions. Deploying methodologies of archival research, practitioner interview, and close textual analysis, the essay also delivers a significant reassessment of the role of the producer and designer in the conceptualisation and realisation of small-screen dramatic fiction.