"Close Up" was a TV documentary series produced and aired in 1992 for Malta's national TV station "Xandir Malta" (during its re-branding as "PBS").
It was practically the first local production pre-sold to the station and not produced "in house". In those years this was considered a very daring move by the new CEO Roland Flamini and his actions almost led to station employees going on strike. Previously the only TV series that was not produced in house was "Ghawdex Illum" (Gozo Today) but this was considered a reasonable exception since the station did not have any production employees on the island of Gozo.
"Close Up" was created as a follow up to the long-running radio series by the same name, also written and produced by Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante. It took over two years for the station to finally accept his proposal for a TV version, probably because he was still in his teens.
The production, with a budget of under 500 Euros per episode, was filmed and edited on Super VHS.
Crew Credits:
On-Set Director: Raymond Grech
Technical Director: Tony Parnis (including provision of camera)
Cameraman and Editor: Martin Mercieca
Soundman, Lighting and Technical Coordinator: Paul Preca Trapani