Welcome to MJTV, where TV is not just a medium but a passionate love affair - we love TV! That's why we called the company, "Moi, J'aime la Télévision".
Founded in 1992, MJTV is a Paris-based TV production company that creates, produces, and post-produces magazine shows, documentaries, fiction series, as well as specialising in televisual design, special effects, video clips and TV commericals. The company has its own digital post-production and TV graphics equipment, including Avid, Edit Box, Silicon Graphics and Stations After Effects. Since October 1999, MJTV has also invested in webcasting for broadband internet users. Its websitcom, Comme des Sardines dans l'Espace was the first of its kind in French. The company also won a Narrowcast Award for its webshow Catherine Beguigui Vous Respond Enfin in 2000.
Stupid Questions And Smart Answers
The revolution in desktop editing was a pivotal moment in MJTV's history, enabling us to create our own TV shows - rather than simply making eye candy for others.
The big break came with a commission from Canal Plus to make 120 episodes of our info-tainment programme CNET, a witty, well-dressed little show based on a simple premise: Sometimes Stupid Questions Need Smart Answers.
Not convinced? Try these out for size:
- Why are hard rockers always so skinny?
- What do colourblind people see?
- How do you punch somebody correctly?
- Where is Panama?
- What have we left on the moon?
- Are Poltergeist bad for you?
CNET combined comic sketches, high-impact graphics and advanced SFX to communicate complex ideas and concepts in a swift, logical and amusing fashion.
"It was important to let our graphic designers experiment with the technology in order to develop a visual grammar for CNET", says MJTV founder Phil Ox. "That's why we upgraded our own SFX and graphics machines, so that we could afford to let them play."
Creative playfulness and a visual style that conveys information in a fast, witty, easily assimilated format - this has become MJTV's hallmark, readily visible in our talent show, 'Iapiap', commissioned by Canal J.
A Three-Dimensional Medium
Strong visuals sometimes take precedence over good writing. Not at MJTV where our distinctive visual aesthetic is complemented by sharp, incisive scriptwriting skills. Though we began as a post-production and graphics house, at MJTV we believe original ideas are TV's third dimension. Without them, you might as well sit on the beach and look at the sea through a picture frame. At least you'll get some fresh air.
Original storytelling is the highest form of art. You can steal a visual idea, tweak it, and make it look fresh and clever. But with drama there's no cheating. It may look good, but plagiarism always feels cheap, because the end product lacks that vital third dimension creativity.
So we brainstorm, we play script tennis, we think-tank, and we develop our characters through situation rather than resort to stereotypes.
Innovative Content, with Superior Production Values.
Embedded R & D
Standards of excellence are constantly evolving, and TV thrives on novelty: today's avant-garde is tomorrow's commonplace.
Because we love TV, we love to keep pace with the latest technical, visual and conceptual innovations. In France, MJTV pioneered the use of Mini DV as a tool for gameshows and drama. We used this new technology to elevate the quality of our primetime shows. Others have used it to make cheaper TV with lower aesthetic standards. But who wants grainy, green pictures?
With over 800,000 Euros spent on equipment - including an Avid editing suite/Final cut SD/HD, Edit Box, Silicon Graphics, Stations After Effects/Combustion, and a Maya 3-D/Softimage XSI imaging system - MJTV's in-house post-production facilities are absolutely state-of-the-art. Having our own post-production facilities allows us to spend more time - and less of your overall budget - on editing and SFX.
As well as our own team of in-house technicians and graphic artists, we can locate and contract external expertise on a short-term basis whenever necessary. This has the knock-on effect of keeping us plugged into new trends, information and fashions of all kinds, from cinema to street clothing to computer games. This kind of 'embedded research and development' gives our products a topicality that others lack.
As a small, highly flexible company, MJTV sees viable risk as an investment in the future, a form of R&D that keeps us ahead of our competitors. Mistakes are only mistakes if you don't learn from them. So our choices are never based on repeating a successful formula, but on the quest for visual and conceptual innovation.
"One of the company's prime motivational factors", says Phil Ox, "is to avoid boredom. And that means continually looking for a new challenge."
Though we continually strive to break new ground, as with any TV production company our scope for innovation is dependent on the TV channels and the goodwill of commissioning editors. Fortunately, MJTV has been lucky enough to work with creative, visionary editors such as Alain de Greef (Canal +), Pierre Belasch (Canal J), Howard Litton (Nickelodeon UK), and Stuart Murphy (BBC3).
Teamwork is the key to our success. With the right balance of in-house creative, technical and administrative skills, as well as our top-flight freelance writers, directors and producers with direct access to cutting-edge post-production facilities, manned by highly skilled technicians - MJTV can produce the highest quality programming, in the shortest possible time, within a realistic budget.
The Boss
After studying mathematics, Phil Ox turned towards music and FM radio in the 80s, working for Parisian stations Radio Express, Hit FM and Radio 7. In the mid-80s he moved to London and became producer Hans Zimmer's assistant, working on major feature films including Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Launderette and Nicholas Roeg's Insignificance. He also took up rock journalism at this point, writing articles for Rock&Folk, 7 a Paris, New Look, Details and 20/20.
Shortly afterwards, Ox became news editor at Rock&Folk, covering several Cannes Festivals, the first concert of Madonna's world tour in Tokyo, Bjork's triumphal concert in Reykjavik, and the return of the Rolling Stones. At the beginning of the 90s, he moved into TV and directed his first shows for Thierry Ardisson (Lunettes Noires pour Nuits Blanches and TlZbre). In 1992 he created his own TV production company, Moi, J'aime la Télévision (MJTV), which produced three seasons of CNET, a highly influential magazine programme, for Canal+.
These days, producer-director Phil Ox prefers to concentrate on fictional series, televisual design and programme development. He has directed several episodes of the Channel 4 TV series Rendford Rejects and Comme des Sardines dans l'Espace, the first French web TV sitcom, produced for nuovo.com.
He created the 'Bob' advertising campaign for CanalSatellite and the video clip for Mafia Trece's A La Recherche du Mic Perdu. Most recently he directed and post-produced the primetime talent show, 'Iapiap' for Canal J, an MTV like Trivial Pursuit for Hasbro, and the BBC animated series Popetown.
Install Flash to hear the theme!!
