Studio l'Equipe is a historical operator. It was created by André Bosman Sr. over fifty years ago, and this family business has always strived to stay on top of the audiovisual needs both in French- and Dutch-speaking Belgium. First at Flagey, then in Schaerbeeck and finally in Evere, they adapt to demands in order to offer their customers high quality services. Now that their newest studio, in Bièrges, is one year old, we wanted to take a look back to better understand why Studio l'Equipe chose to set up in Walloon Brabant. An interview with Philippe Bosman of Studio L'Equipe.

“This company was set up after the War,” recounts Philippe Bosman. The INR, now RTBF, had radio studios installed at Flagey. But the channel wanted to venture into television, even if it didn't believe in it. “We created the studio in order to sonorise the films and other reports aired at the time.” Since there were no VHS recorders, sound was added live to images. “We took part in magazines like Neuf millions (an INR news show in the fifties and seventies)) where, sometimes, the broadcasting of the first reel started while the mixing of the third was being wrapped up...” This reality pushes Studio L'Equipe to play the proximity card. “We also had our offices at Flagey, then when the television department moved to Reyers, we followed to Schaerbeeck, setting up in the Rue Colonel Bourg in 1969. We built the first mixing auditorium and diversified by focusing half of our activities on Belgian cinema, both on short and feature films.” Soon after the RTBF television department wanted to handle the entire production process internally.

Then they developed the production of advertisements for the Luxembourgian television. The Studio then launched the first 2 inch video editing in 1975.

In the seventies another need became apparent: electronic subtitling. In 1981 Studio founds LVT in Paris, a studio where electronic subtitling replaces chemical subtitling. “We were the first in the world to make subtitles with a laser by engraving it image per image. The fine tuning of the process even made a French patent! By the way, the very first subtitling work in 35mm was on the subtitles for Bird by Clint Eastwood, about jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, for the 1988 Cannes Festival.

We also launched a video subtitling department. This work was done for cine-clubs, but also for television channels such as France3.

The nineties staged the move to the Avenue Mommaerts. “Our premises at Colonel Bourg became too small. We wanted more mixing studios. So we opted for a more spacious place with the possibility to install more things.”

Ten years ago, a new economic fund for cinema saw the light of the day: Wallimage. “At the time, there was no sound post-production place available in Wallonia. We committed to installing a studio, but the real question was to know where and how.” Studio L'Equipe then bought out API Service (a post-production company in Mons). “We bought the activity, the material and ... the debt. However, we couldn't start right away because the equipment was almost obsolete.”

After visiting many places, we finally opted for a former music school in Bièrges. “We converted the showroom into a mixing auditorium. The acoustics were particularly good and we put a Euphonix System-5P console in it, which is one of the most performing in Europe. By opening it a year ago, we could offer customers eligibility with the Wallimage fund.”

How about digital archiving?

“We were lucky to be in touch with Jean-Pierre Verscheure, a worldwide expert.” This INSAS professor is passionate about cinema, both about its content and its form. He got his first 35mm projector, an Ernemann 1, going back to the period of silent film, at age 14. Since then, he collected many projectors and equipment corresponding to all big technical eras in cinema. “He also possesses thousands of reels. He is one of the few private people in the world who are capable of projecting films, made in now completely obsolete formats, on their original medium.”

Another inevitable player for digitalisation is XDC. “We will work with Jean-Pierre Verscheure and XDC to offer a digitalisation service for films which also takes into account the (often forgotten) wishes of the directors of yore (films mixed in stereo, with desaturated colours to make the film less aggressive, adjusting of the caches, etc.).”

As for the location of this service, “it will be in Mons, between Brussels and Paris.”

Note also that Studio L'Equipe already digitalises numerous private films and thus wants to create an database with (entirely new) images, retelling history with a lower-case 'h' and a capital 'H'. “At the 30th Anniversary of Notélé, there was a general call for the public to provide us with family films still on film (9.5 or 8 mm). We received tens of thousands of hours of film. There are many pretty irrelevant images (random children f.e., etc.) but sometimes these snippets are set against the background of History and that is indeed what grabs our interest.” We count about 5% of reusable images, some about the Universal World Expositions in '39 and '58, some about Belgian Congo, some about the opening of important buildings. “We are working in this field because we think that in time profitability is possible. For the investments, they must be made today before the media become unreadable, either because of their deterioration or disappearance, or because a suitable reader no longer exists.”

Studio L’Equipe and Wallonia

“In time, Studio L'Equipe always reinvested its profits. The wish to open up to Wallonia or elsewhere was there from the start. We often waited for real opportunities before going through with an investment.”

Today, Studio employs nearly 75 people in its different locations. There is also a bureau in Paris, in charge of contacts in France for the different services (from mixing to colour grading, and the laboratory). These many years in business make for an incredible experience and know-how in the domain of post-production. Even if this know-how is now related to an industry (that of film) with the need to be profitable, it remains above all motivated by a passion for the audiovisual and for high quality work.

VBdT