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Summer 1992
BOARD OF GOVERNORS Stu Barbee Joe Blaisdell Mike Chevalier George Spiro Dibie Mike Ferra Bruce Finn Patricia Hill Norm Langley Owen Marsh Ed Morey Rick Neff Herb Roberts Mike St. Hilaire Pernell Tyus
Paul Basta Howard Block Bill Clark Bob Feller Mike Ferris Rusty Geller Bob LaBonge Tom Laughridge Mike Meinardus Jay Nefcy Wayne Orr Chris Schwiebert David Stump Liz Ziegler
OFFICERS President 1st Vice President 2nd Vice President 3rd Vice President Secretary Treasurer Seargeant at Arms
Randall Robinson Mike Benson Liz Bailey Vincent Baldino Bill Hines Doug Knapp Phil Schwartz
COMMITTEES Membership Howard Block Standards Joe Epperson, Bill Hines Corporate Liaison Bill Hines Promotions David Stump SOC Picnic Herb Roberts, Mike St.Hilaire Screening/Seminar Mike Ferris, Liz Bailey Banquet Howard Block, Bob Feller Publicity Phil Schwartz Charities Gil Haimson, Rose Wapner Association Liaison Jay Nefcy The Society was incorporated in the State of California, as a non profit charitable organization on January 18th, 1981, advancing the art and creative contribution of the Operating Cameramen in the Motion Picture, Television and Video Industries. The Society serves the purpose of bringing into the closest confederation, Industry leaders in their field, whose achievements have entitled them to standards set for themselves. NEW ADDRESS:
Society of Operating Cameramen P.O. Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone Number (818)382-7070
Features Akeley Camera Evolution of Film Technology Ten Commandments Cottage Grove Day SOC Logo History Film Restoration of the Classics Children's X-Mas Screening Far & Away Children's Hospital Kati Sleeman Contact Lens Management Operator Centerfold Dave Myers Committee Reports Lifetime Achievement Awards Technical Achievement Awards Reflex Viewing System Panaglow System Steadicam Commonwealth Cameramen Combat Cameramen SOC/Russian Luncheon Motion Picture TV Fund Behind The Lens BTUSOC Operating Seminar SOC Letters
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Editor: Randall Robinson Computer Graphics: Gayle Robinson Advertising Sales Director: Bill Hines Account Executive: Doug Knapp Contributing Writers: Liz Bailey, Louella Benson, Howard Block, Paul Basta, Peter Brosnan, Garret Brown, Stephen Chamberlain, Bill Clark, Joe Epperson, Mike Ferris, Randy Haberkamp, Bill Hines, Wes Lambert, Joe Longo, Dr. Ellen R. Matsumoto, Albert Mayer Sr, Dave Stump, Gayle Robinson Photography: Peter Brosnan, Bud Gray, Klaus Willie, Randy Haberkamp, John Hamilton, Gene Stein, Phil Stem Logo Design: Karen Slaton, Dale W. Kinci UABOUT THE COVER:
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Ford's Point in Monument Valley. Named after Director John Ford, who filmed some of his greatest westerns at this breathtaking location. The camera crew captures an action sequence in Ford's Cheyenne Autumn, 1964. Director of Photogoraphy: Bill Clothier, ASC Photographer. John R. Hamilton, from his book entitled, THUNDER Jli lliE 12!.fil For the past thirty years John R. Hamilton has been taking his Nikon's into the center of cinematic action and processing his own film to achieve a mood beyond what the camera simply records. He has been published in LIFE, LOOK, TIME and countless other publications.
~ Society of Operating Cameramen
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The AKELEY 35mm Camera Series on the development of the Motion Picture Camera by Wes Lambert Carl Akeley was a museum curator, taxidermist, and avid observer of African wildlife. As such he (about 1910) had a typical English movie camera configured so that he could photograph wild African gorillas in their natural habitat. A long lens was mounted on the camera because one did not get too close to wild gorillas on the loose. Use of this long lens required that the camera viewfinder be masked way down to show the proper field . The camera required the use of two (supply film and take up for exposed film) film magazines. Each magazine installation required proper positioning, threading around its specific metering sprocket and the proper threading of the film in the film exposure gate. The camera required hand cranking and the erratic movement of the gorilla in the jungle required the concurrent hand cranked movement in azimuth and elevation (pan and tilt). To do this properly it required the use of three hands working in perfect coordination. In this camera use by Mr. Akeley in photographing gorillas in Africa he found the camera system unsatisfactory! Mr. Akeley decided to design a camera for his specific use. He was not encumbered by being a movie camera designer so he built a camera system for his own specific use. His camera utilized matched pairs of taking and viewing lenses. Even when using a very long taking lens,
Summer 1992
the matched viewing lens presented the operator with the proper viewing field of view. A single combination supply and take up film magazine was used that incorporated a single metering sprocket for supply and take up. A predetermined loop of film from this displacement film magazine was used for insertion in the camera film gate. The result was the Akeley camera could be loaded in about ten seconds. The regular camera tripod head that required a hand cranked action in both azimuth and elevation (pan and tilt) was replaced with a free wheeling gyroscope damped action in both pan and tilt that resulted in a remarkably smooth action in both axies. This camera action was supplied by the camera operator with one hand accuating a single control arm. The resultant camera could be manned by one operator who had a full sized view of his randomly moving subject and he only required one hand for camera running and one hand for camera pan and tilt. The camera could be reloaded with a fresh film supply in about ten seconds, rather than over 30 seconds. The resultant Akeley camera system was ideal for Mr. Akeley's specific utilization and was unusually effective for sports and newsreel work where the camera operator was not part of a programmed event. The camera's circular configeration in a profile view quickly earned it the affectionate name of the "Pancake". They were used extensively in both WWI and WWII and some (with the addition of an electric drive motor) found great use in the movie industry. The Akeley camera found extensive use in non studio motion picture coverage of randomly moving events. The Akeley camera in my collection is serial number two and could still be used.
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EVOLUTION OF FILM TECHNOLOGY IS REDEFINING THE ARTFORM
Great cinematography doesn't just happen. It takes a lot of people, a lot of talent, and tremendous cooperation. Kodak recognizes the important role the camera operator plays in creating the look of a film. The operator is a master at his or her craft and works closely with the cinematographer as an integral part of the artistic process The traditional Hollywood crew system has played a key role in shaping filmmaking as an artform, and the Society of Operating Cameramen is an essential part of that system. The division of labor allows crews to operate efficiently and effectively. That leaves more freedom to concentrate on interpreting the use of light as a storytelling medium. The craftsmanship the operator provides has never been more demanding, or more necessary. Rapid advances in film technology, together with new breakthroughs in the evolution of lenses, tools for filtration and diffusion, and in camera mobility, have changed the character and nature of lighting. As recently as 10 years ago, there was only one Eastman color negative film. It was rated for an exposure index of 12S in 3200 degree Kelvin light, and 64 in sunlight with a number 8S filter on the camera lens. While the film was "pushable," it didn't offer the cinematographer exposure latitude in the sense that we speak of it today. Several film laboratories offered proprietary processes for "pushing" the negative by one or two stops. But with that option came an increase in granularity. Cinematographers had to be as concerned with lighting for proper exposure, as they were with using light in a painterly way. During the 1980s, Kodak developed a series of complementing, intercutable film stocks. These included a range of faster films, and daylight emulsions. These provided much more creative latitude, and left cinematographers with many more choices. The rapid advances in film technology reached a new height in 1989 with the introduction of the first members of the family of Eastman EXR "extended range" films, which literally changed the way we think about exposure latitude. The new films are based on revolutionary breakthroughs in emulsion technology and design. The cornerstone was the development of the T-Grain emulsion. Each layer of every frame of film contains millions of silver halide crystals. When light strikes each individual crystal, it begins to form a latent image, which is later processed and amplified at a film laboratory. Prior to the invention of the T-Grain emulsion, silver halide crystals were cube-shaped. T-Grain emulsion crystals are tabular-shaped, or flatter, with more surface area to collect light. Prior to this, the main design tool for making films "faster," or more sensitive to light, was the use of larger silver halide crystals.
Summer 1992
Generally speaking, the design of faster films required that some noticeable compromises be made in grain and apparent image sharpness. The invention of the T-Grain crystal, together with advances in chemistry, particularly color couplers, and film design, changed that equation. It made it possible to design faster films with much less noticeable loss of image quality. The first generation of EXR films included new SOOT (tungsten) and SOD (daylight) speed films. At the time, Kodak scientists predicted that during the 1990s, they would be able to make on-going improvements by a factor of 1O. They said that would result in the development of more new and improved EXR films. Later, a 1OOT film was introduced, and just a few weeks ago, Kodak unveiled an improved SOOT film, and a new 200T film. The result is that today cinematographers can choose from a range of color negative films, rated for optimized exposure indices of SOD, 1OOT, 200T and SOOT EXR in both 16 mm and 3S mm formats. All of these films are optimized for telecine transfer, and they offer broad exposure latitude. In addition, they can be intercut freely with a number of previous Eastman color negative films, which are still being offered to satisfy individual tastes and needs. All of this opens up new creative freedom for doing very subtle lighting. Cinematographers can choose to work with very small units in just about any environment. As a result, there is a lot more flexibility in the choice of practical locations, and in times and places where films can be exposed. There is also a lot more freedom of action in camera movement. The last word in film technology has not been written. The EXR films will continue to evolve during the remaining 1990s. Furthermore, there will be on-going developments in the evolution of hybrid film-digital technologies. Kodak has developed a high resolution electronic intermediate system for motion picture film. Key components of the system consist of a CCD scanner, an image computing workstation, and a laser film recorder. With this system, film can be scanned into digital for mat for electronic image manipulation. The digital pictures can be recorded back onto film without making any compromises in the image quality of the original negative. Kodak is opening a Digital Film Center in Los Angeles on September 2S. The main objective is to provide filmmakers with an opportunity to test this hybrid image system. We anticipate that in the beginning the digital intermediate system will be used for visual effects applications, including image compositing. Because of the precise control that can be applied at an image computing workstation, we expect that there will be much more flexibility in shooting plates and other blue screen elements. The way this technology will effect filmmaking in the future is yet to be seen. Kodak plans to bring the digital intermediate system to the marketplace in 1993. The changing technology is exciting. We know things will continue to change, but certain constants remain: Kodak's commitment to the artistic craftsmen -- the SOC's commitment to the artform. Let's continue to work together.
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Jl&W ŠŠfNJ!Nltf.l W!PJ!Nl&Wm SET RESURRECTED By Peter Brosnan Excavation Project Director
A lost Egyptian city has been It is the city of discovered. Pharoah Ramses, the city from which Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage. It was discovered, not along the valley of the Nile, but on the central coast of California. And it was built, not in a millennia past by an Egyptian Pharoah, but in 1923 by that Pharaoh of Film: the one and only Cecil B. DeMille. Now, thanks to the participation of the Hollywood Studio Museum and a preliminary grant from Bank of America, efforts to save this unique "city" actually a rare and precious piece of American history - are finally nearing fruition. The city is the set from DeMille's original - silent and experimental Technicolor version of his epic, The Ten Commandments. Built on majestic sand dunes near the small coastal town of Guadalupe, the "City of the Pharoah" was the greatest of the "great sets" of the silent era. Designed by French architect Paul ("father of art deco") lribe, it towered 11 O feet over the rolling Guadalupe Dunes in northern Santa Barbara County. Three hundred tons of massive, Egyptian-style statuary graced its walls and grounds. When filming was completed, DeMille had the whole thing dismantled apparently to keep "quickie" filmmakers from reusing it - and buried. And there it lay forgotten for the next 60 years. I first heard the tale of DeMille's "lost city" back in 1982 when Bruce Cardozo, an old friend from the New York University film school, asked if I'd be interested in hunting buried
sphinxes in the middle of California. "Pull the other leg," I said. "It's got a bell on it." Undeterred, Bruce showed me an obscure paragraph from DeMille's posthumously published Autobiography: "If, 1,000 years from now, archaeologists happen to dig beneath the sands of Guadalupe, I hope that they will not rush into print with the amazing news that civilization Egyptian extended all the way to the Pacific coast of North America. The sphinxes they will find were buried there when we dismantled our huge set of the Pharaoh's city." "Do you think the sphinxes are still there?" Bruce asked. Well, there was one way to find out. Weeks of sleuthing by telephone led me to Joe Gray, a local rancher who knew where The Ten Commandments had been filmed. On a foggy, windy morning in June 1983 - 60 years almost to the day after the set had been buried - Bruce and I, along with our friend Richard Eberhardt, followed Joe to the remote, rubble-strewn film site. After a few hours of excited poking around - eurekal - dozens of pieces of buried statuary, including the six-foot-wide bas-relief of a horse's head, the same horse that had once graced the walls of the Pharoah's city. Schliemann, upon finding Troy, couldn't have been more ecstatic. For one magic moment, the secret was ours alone: DeMille had buried the whole set and it was still herel Recovering the set seemed the next logical step. Surely, we thought, within a year or two this will all be in a museum. Well, that's what we thought. Ever hear of "Murphy's Law?" First an avalanche of unexpected publicity attracted
Summer 1992
every would-be Indiana Jones within a day's drive of Guadalupe. As a result, much of 1984 and 1985 was spent, not writing proposals and raising funding for the excavation, but putting up fences and "no trespassing" signs, coordinating security with the county sheriff and chasing off a small army of shovel wielding souvenir hunters. By 1986 things seemed on course: planning for an excavation was well along, and we were ready to begin fundraising. Enter Murphy's Law again. The site, which had long had a "for sale" sign on it, was purchased by The Nature Conservancy, an environmental organization. The whole project would have to be put on hold until the complicated sale was completed and the Conservancy had conducted an environmental study. The "lost city," it seemed, was fated to stay lost a while longer. It was early 1989 before the Conservancy was finally ready to deal with this weird guy from Los Angeles who claimed there was a lost Egyptian city buried in the middle of their new wildlife preserve. Fortunately, Ken Wiley, the Conservancy's on-site manager, quickly appreciated the project's importance. What's more, the project was exactly the kind of "gentle on the land" activity the Conservancy likes to encourage. Things were finally moving. In short order, Richard Adkins, a long-time supporter of the project and executive director of the Hollywood Studio Museum, arranged for Hollywood Heritage to provide nonprofit sponsorship. Duncan Knowles, vice president of Bank of America (whose founder, A.P. Giannini, saved the day in 1923 by offering DeMille a personal loan when The Ten Commandments went over budget) arranged for a $10,000 grant to cover an initial archaeological survey of the site.
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In November 1990, I joined archaeologists Brian Fagan and John Parker, art conservator Glenn Wharton, geophysicist Lambert Dolphin and a small army of volunteers for an intensive, hitech, week long exploration for the "lost city." Although we were unable to do any actual digging, proved "Phase I" survey conclusively that large portions of the set remain intact beneath the Guadalupe Dunes: 0 With "ground penetrating radar", geophysicist Dolphin trench found a 300-foot containing 23 large plaster "anomalies." Subsequently, the widow of the man who actually dismantled the set in 1923 told us that the massive, five ton sphinxes had been, would you believe buried in a 300 foot long trench I 0 A 20 foot high base relief statue of Ramses was located. Art conservator Wharton examined
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the artifact assured us that with the proper conservation, it and the "horse's head" found on the 1983 survey could be restored to museum specifications. 0 Major portions of the four 35 foot high statues of Ramses, modeled after the statues at Abu Simbel, were discovered largely intact. 0 Numerous, still unidentified pieces of statuary were also discovered. The locations of all artifacts were recorded and mapped by archaeologist Parker. 0 0n the down side we learned that much of what's there is in severe danger of erosion, and may not survive even one more year on the site. The race is on. A press conference on the site attracted media from around the world: Johnny Carson even worked it into his monologue that night. And, buoyed by the success of the survey, we immediately began planning and preparing for
Summer 1992
Phase II: further mapping of the site and actual recovery of several major artifacts. It is anticipated that artifacts recovered will be shared by Hollywood Heritage and similar historical organizations in Santa Barbara County. Phase II is, at the moment tentatively budgeted at $150,000. But, given that there is now hard, "scientific" evidence that major portions of this historic set really are there, we are hopeful that support will be forthcoming. After years of enduring skepticism, ridicule and obstacles, we have found the "lost city of Cecil B. DeMille." Now, we won't give up until it's where it belongs: in a museum where our grandchildren and their grandchildren can marvel at this magnificent piece of their heritage, and at the enduring genius of Cecil B. DeMille.
Pho to co urt esy o f Pe ter Brosna n
THANKS THE
SOCIETY OF OPERATING CAMERAMEN FOR THE
1992 SOC TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD "FOR THE INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPINNING MIRROR REFLEX VIEWING SYSTEM IN 1932 WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE ART AND CRAFT OF THE CAMERA OPERATOR."
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Society of Operating Cameramen
Summer 1992
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With the great success of our first Historical Marker in Cottage Grove, Oregon, we now proudly announce the plans for a second plaque in Silver Lake, California. The Magic and the interest these plaques bring to the community make them worthwhile and enduring.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy "The Music Box", 1932 This plaque commemorates the making of the 1932 film . "The Music Box" starring comic legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy on this site. The stairs were also used in the 1927 Laurel and Hardy comedy, "Hats Off'. Both films were Hal Roach productions. Presented by The Society of Operating Cameramen and Hollywood Heritage, Inc.
BUSTER & LAUREL & HARDY by Randy Haberkamp President Hollywood Heritage, Inc. In its efforts to recognize the tradition of excellence in American Filmmaking, the Society of Operating Cameramen initiated a historical plaque program in association with Hollywood Heritage, Inc. The first plaque in the program was placed in front of the Cottage Grove Hotel in Cottage Grove, Oregon. To commerate the location shooting of Buster Keaton's 1926 Silent Film Masterpiece, THE GENERAL. Dedicated on August 3, 1991 as a part of the Cottage Grove Main Street celebration. The ceremony was attended by SOC President Randall Robinson, SOC Charter Member Owen Marsh and Hollywood Heritage President Randy Haberkamp. Cottage Grove Mayor Jim Gilroy and City Manager Jeff Towery hosted the ceremony and were particularly helpful in facilitating the plaque placement. Particularly gratifying was the honorary screening of the film at the Village Twin Cinema to a packed house. Local grade schooler's were overheard to say, "You know, this is really good." Eighty-two year old resident John Wilson offered an unexpected treat to the Hollywood delegation. Wilson, who at the tender age of sixteen, had been recruited as an extra for the film. He proudly shuttled the visitors to the various locations used in the film. His tour included the river where the most expensive stunt in silent film history took place, the locomotive crossing a collapsing bridge. The second plaque honoring the comedic excellence of Laurel & Hardy is to be placed at the 133 step stairway near Sunset on Vendome in Silver Lake where they shot their Academy Award winning short, "The Music Box", in 1932. SOC members with experience in LA location shoots will, no doubt, not be surprised to learn that Los Angeles City clearances are a bit more complex than that of an Oregon village. Therefore the placement of the second plaque will be scheduled as soon as the proper permits can be obtained. The good news is that Silver Lake residents are fully behind the plaque and that the third and subsequent plaques should be much quicker in coming once the process is finally unraveled.
~ Society of Operating Cameramen
Pagel
Summer 1992
'lJ[fu@ Ž@Š ~@[fi)@@j[f@[jj]) Ii\ !SJro~f !HU~~ŠJry by Paul Basta
Many things were more fundamental to us in those fledgling days than having an emblem or logo: a constitution, bylaws, non-profit status, a place to meet. The fact we even got together was a substantial achievement. However a logo, even though it was only a part of what we wanted, seemed to add a sense of legitamacy to our new organization. There was much talk of how to go about making the best logo for ourselves; questions about what kind of design, what direction should the graphics go, more toward film based ideas or video based ideas. A combination of viewpoints seemed to best represent our charter, but just how to generate the design to incorporate our viewpoints and make it good art was the task at hand. Back then the driving force behind all of our endeavors was meeting the deadline for our first Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet though not yet an annual event, having a proper logo to represent our society was uppermost on my mind and the Board of Governors. In March of 1981, the Board of Governors directed me, as head of the Logo Committee, to contact art institutes in the area and pitch the idea of a contest among their students for a design of a logo for our society. Four major schools were contacted; Art Center, Otis-Parsons, Long Beach State and Cal Arts. Only one school responded, Otis-Parsons, but the constraints of our schedule and their Summer school schedule killed any hope of having a contest in time. A handful of our operators had some background in the graphic arts, and while we were working with the Board's directive for a contest, some of us also generated ideas and designs. We came up with around 8 to 1O designs, and when it was clear that the contest idea was going nowhere, I recommended to the Board that the logo committee choose one of our own drawings and engage a professional to help complete the job.
Out of the artwork submitted, there rose to the top a particular design from a close friend of video camera operator David lrete. Karen Slaton, herself versed in graphic arts and layout, had not only designed the artwork but submitted the design as camera ready art. The committee felt that Karen's design, submitted through David, was the best of the bunch and gave us the most to work with. I do not know how much input David had himself. Her design having won approval, I brought the art to a very talented artist illustrator. Dale W. King had been highly recommended to me by Owen Marsh. Dale and I worked refinements to Karen's idea over the next few months and by July 25th, 1981 the approval of the Board and finally: The SOC had it's logo. There is some mention in my notes at the time that the Board asked that a letter of thanks and acknowledgement be drafted to Karen, and that we obtain a release from her for using her preliminary art work. The letter was drafted, but I do not know if she ever received it. At the least she should not have been slighted by receiving formal acknowledgement from the SOC until June of 1982. Contrary to popular myth, to the best of my knowledge Karen Slaton did not try to sue the SOC for copyright infringement. Sitting down and trying to piece this history together has made me realize how much this organization is indebted to many people outside of our ranks in those formative years. We as a group owe recognition to the talents of Karen and Dale for their contribution in the creation of one of the best logos around. To the best of my recollection neither of these artists asked for compensation from the SOC. Looking back brings a sense of satisfaction in having been able to help, in my own way, guide our logo into reality.
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Summer 1992
Restoration, Now or Never by Randall Robinson In the course of our successful Heritage Film Series, it has become evident that our emphasis should be to insure the life of these fragile strips of celluloid for further generations of filmgoers to enjoy. I am sure that in all of our minds, we take for granted CASABLANCA will always be there for us to view on the big screen over and over. But the truth is that these are fragile, ever deteriorating bits of sprocketed celluloid. Only ten percent of all the films made in the silent era still exist. When the natural rush is to save the old classics, it is the pictures made in the forties and fifties that are going the fastest. The old Technicolor three strip negatives with their rich dyes have held their color well. While pictures like STAR WARS are on newer stocks which are seeming to fade and lose their luster. For all our feelings about Ted Turner and his colorization of old black and white films, it is he who, through his efforts to perserve his investment is doing the the most. Turner Broadcast is restoring the entire MGM libary one by one. A wonderful job being led by Richard May. I understand Disney is quietly doing the same to their library. But to give you an indication of the difficulty involved in this process, let us look at some of the restoration work done on some grand films in this series. As GONE WITH THE WIND was printed and reprinted during 50 years of it's history, subsequent versions moved further and further from the original camera negatives. The Technicolor company struck new prints in 1947, 1954 and 1961, changing
over from the highly unstable nitrate stock to safety film for the 1954 version. This was about the time that the color reversal intermediate (CAI) stock became available. But it proved to have unstable dyes, resulting in much of the color degeneration that has begun to plague films released in the 60's and ?O's. It was decided to strike a print from the original camera negative. Most of the reels sailed through It was then the printer. discovered that the three negatives making up the Technicolor processes (one for each primary color) had shrunk at different rates over the years. This has been a problem in other restorations such as SPARTACUS as well. In the case of the magenta negative shrinkage, the print caused Vivian Leigh and Leslie Howard to have multi-colored noses. The more serious shrinkage problem is where the center of the picture is in registration while the edges are out. Correcting this requires tolerances of .001 inch. In restoring SPARTACUS, the original negative had been cut twice before and none of the precensored material existed. Secondly, the color had a sickening blueish lavender cast, not because the color itself was objectionable, but because to a negative, this was the pallor of death. Printed, it lacked contrast and the shadows had turned blue. There was no black reproduced whatsoever, and the facial highlights were a bright yellow. The ultimate materials protecting SPARTACUS were the black and white protection
separation masters. Produced for the most important films but not all. These are created by exposing black and white fine grain stock through, yellow, cyan and magenta filters. In this way, all the color information on the original negative could be preserved on a non fading film element. Storing Precious Originals Robert Harris was assigned the task of bringing LAWRENCE OF ARABIA back to the big screen. When he first went to inspect the cans of the camera original he was in for an unpleasant surprise. The delicate 65mm negative was stored in cans which were covered with a rust-like patina. While this was of little concern, some of the cans were almost totally crushed, only kept in shape by the bulk of the negative inside. I've heard horror stories where SARTACUS was found stored on a outside dock, under the elements of the hot sun and rain. As Cameramen this is all outside of our realm. Bringing this to the fore front of the industry's and public's attention may be all we can do. Just as our economy has changed before our eyes, so can we lose this legacy of celluloid. I'm a big fan of the Laser Disc technology. They have spoiled me with excellent picture quality. I'm delighted with the efforts of these restorations. These efforts make films available on Laser Disc in Letter Box format, insuring that myself and my son Taylor will always have access to these great films. The real trick here is to be able to enjoy these pictures while being surrounded by an audience of 300, laughing and crying at the epic on the big screen.
~ Society of Operating Cameramen f~EVEl
'fO 'fHE
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GOES WES'f/ H~'fCHCOCK
AMERICAN TALE II; Flevel Goes West was the 3rd Annual Children's Holiday Matinee on Saturday, December 17th, 1991. The children attended the prestigous Hitchcock Theatre on the lower lot at Universal Studios. Invited guests included children of the camera operators from the International Photographers Guild as well as our own. The young crowd embraced the film filling the theatre with joy and laughter. And as the curtain closed, to a surpised audience, life-size characters of Fievel and Honest John led Santa Claus to his throne. Cake and ice cream were served before the decorated Christmas tree that adorned the lobby. Kids of all ages came to visit with Santa, receiving a candy cane and Fievel poster as they departed. Our thanks to Steven Spielberg's office for the early release of the print. Thank you Universal Tours for making it seem as though the characters had stepped off the screen. As for Rick Neff, soc, your reliable, reoccuring, always anticipated surpise was much appreciated. Last year, the children were able to view Disney's 101 DALMATIONS in which half a dozen dalmation puppies ran out after the screening. We hope that our members embrace the spirit of these screenings and enjoy the laughter and joy of the holiday season.
FAR and AWAY @ DGA by Michael Ferris Saturday, June 27th, ushered in a new era of screenings for the SOC with the collaboration of the International Photographers Guild. The screening was held at the Director's Guild of America to a packed house of over 500 strong. The picture was FAR AND AWAY, the first 70mm photographed production in twenty-two years. The Panaflex 70mm camera stood proudly in the beautiful lobby. A check in the amount of $13,428.66 from the proceeds of our annual pin sales, the Arnold Schwarzenegger jacket and the butterly plaque, was presented to Dr. Linn Murphree and Dr. Ellen Matsumoto of The Children's Hospital. Rose Wapner presented the beautiful butterfly plaque in memory of Kati Sleeman which will hang in the new wing of the hospital, now under construction. THE RETURN OF 70MM From 1950 to 1970 Hollywood made what were called Roadshow Films; large epic stories that attempted to capture their themes on an even larger than life canvas. Shot in wide-screen format and using a 65mm negative, these films provided an enormous emotional impact. Films like SPARTACUS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, 2001: A SPACE ODESSEY were released during these years. It was not unusual to look forward to two of these films in a single year. RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970) was the last of these grand films to be released until spring of this year. Cinematographer, Mikael Solomon, used the newly tooled Panavision Super 70 Panaflex Camera System. They also provided 65mm hand-held cameras that could be adapted for SteadiCam use. Mikael used lenses from 24mms to 800mms. A Canon zoom was also used. For slant focus work a 35mm and a 45mm lens were adapted, which allows the lens itself to be used as a split diopter. I think the 45mm version of this lens is now available from Panavision on a regular basis. His general working T-stop was T4-T5.6. He used Eastman 5297 for daylight interiors. 5245 for daylight exteriors and 5296 and 5297 for night exteriors. Solomon photographed the land rush sequence with nine cameras. One on a high tower, two SteadiCams on a camera car, a vista vision camera on a helicopter and multiple specially adapted eyemos. FAR AND AWAY represents a return to the spirit and the style of the roadshow film. We can all hope it is the beginning of a new trend. Through the success of the joint efforts of The International Photographer's Guild and the Society of Operating Cameramen, further screenings have been planned. Saturday, August 1st, again at the Director's Guild, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN had a great reception.
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KATI SLEEMAN by Gayle Robinson Kati Sleeman, the blind girl whose unfailing humor and wisdom. during her struggle with cancer tugged at the heartstrings of everyone who knew her, is the brave little girl we are honoring with a placque this year. She was four and a half years old when she died of a massive tumor. Kati was diagnosed with retinoblastoma-a cancerous tumor of the eye-at 7 weeks old . Her right eye was removed shortly thereafter. She lost the other eye at age two and a half. After a year of intensive chemotherapy and radiation, another cancerous tumor appeared near her brain. It later spread into her bone marrow, her spinal fluid and lymph glands, and eventually throughout her body. "About 90% of all children who have retinoblastoma s~rvive it," said Dr. A. Linn Murphree, M.D., an expert in the disease who treated Kati. "Most victims are affected in only one eye," he said, "and generally that eye is removed and sight in the other eye remains intact." But in Kati's case, the cancer was particulary vicious. Although doctors tried "everything that was available to mankind" t.o put it in remission, Dr. Murphree said, it returned with a tumor in the center in the middle of her forehead. Then there was no cure. The tumor got so big that doctors were forced to remove one of Kati's glass eyes. "Kati ~ouched a lot of people's lives, staff people , fellow patients and visitors," said hospital spokeswoman Maria lacabo. "I think that people who were involved with her life learned a lot from this little girl." She touched lives
Summer 1992
outside of the hospital as well, from prisoners in Vacaville who sent her tape-recorded stories to a homeless man with whom she corresponded. In some ways Kati was a typical child. She loved "The Wizard of Oz" and butterflies and her pet dog, Binky. Yet throughout her ordeal, she amazed those who knew her with her remarkable maturity and acceptance of her fate. She was often funny, sometimes cantankerous, and exuded a warmth that even strangers found irresitable. Kati's family, which lives in San Bernadino, had been exceptionally open with Kati about her condition and its prognosis. Doctors said this helped Kati maintain her positive outlook. "Among all the pain and suffering that she was going through, I asked her what I could do for her " Kathy Sleeman said. "And she said, 'Just love me.'" ' Typical of Kati was her response to an offer by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which fulfills the fantasies of terminally ill children. She did not choose to visit Disneyland, or to meet a celebrity or take a trip to Hawaiieven though her parents told her she could have any one of these things. Instead, Kati elected simply to have a party at the hospital, with pizza and balloons and all her friends around her. "Despite all of the terrible physical handicaps she had to deal with, including her blindness, she never lost her personality, she never lost her enthusiasm, her ability to talk with you about things, to be Kati. Even to the very end," said Kati's doctor, Stuart Siegel. The Society of Operating Cameramen honors Kati Sleeman for her bravery and her enduring spirit which will last forever. We made this placque to represent that spirit.
IT ALL COMES TOGETHER AT CFI • FILM LABORATORY • TITLES AND OPTICALS • SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS • VIDEOTAPE TRANSFERS • EDITING ROOMS • PRODUCTION OFFICE SPACE • SOUND STAGE
PERSONALIZED SERVICE • QUALITY PERFORMANCE 959 SEWARD STREET, HOLLYWOOD, CA 90038 (213) 960-7444 • FAX (213) 460-4885
~Society of Operating Cameramen
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CONTACT LENS MANAGEMENT OF PEDIATRIC APHAKIA By Dr. Ellen R. Matsumoto, OD, FAAO Director Contact Lens Service Division of Ophthalmology Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
jM, L.os
Summer 1992
ANGELES
$13,428.66 Raised this year from Pins Sales, Butterfly Plaque and the Arnold Schwarzenegger Jacket Here now is an indepth report on just where our donnation goes, and just how valuble it is to those Children whose lives are made better.
INTRODUCTION Contact lenses are the treatment of choice for unilateral and bilateral pediatric aphakia. In infants with bilateral cataracts, extended wear contact lenses provide a constant clear retinal image. Aphakic spectacles are often dislodged from infants who spend most of their time lying in bed, thus these infants are not effectively corrected. Bilateral extended wear contact lenses are most consistent in providing a clear retinal image thereby preventing the development of nystagmus and allowing central visual development. For monocular congenital cataracts, surgery and contact lens fitting should be performed as soon as possible, preferably within the first weeks of life. Typically a contact lens for congenital aphakia is fitted and dispensed successfully within the first week post-operatively. During the first year of life (the critical period of visual development), an extended wear lens regimen is instituted in order to maintain a clear retinal image 100% of an infant's waking hours. Thereafter, contact lenses are used on a flexible wear basis i.e. patients use the lenses during all waking hours and occasionally on an extended basis. Our experience has found that over the age of 3 years, children are relatively cooperative and standard adult contact lens fitting techniques can be employed e.g. a normal slit lamp examination can be performed rather than using a portable design. This discussion will concentrate on pediatric contact lens management for those aphakic infants and children under 3 years old. LENS TYPES AND FITTING There are 3 major lens types based on materials: 1. Silicone elastomer 2. Rigid Gas Permeable 3. Hydrogel Silicone elastomer lenses (the Bausch and Lomb "Silsoft" and the Danker "Sila-Rx" -- available on a limited basis) are our lenses of first choice in aphakic infants and toddlers. This material is 100% silicone rubber which is molded unlike rigid gas permeable materials which are copolymerized with silicone and then lathed using conventional hard lens fabrication methods. The silicone elastomer material has the highest oxygen permeability of any contact lens material availabe (Dk=340), making it optimal for an extended wear regimen. Low oxygen permeability of lens materials has been associated with the presence of corneal edema and endothelial polymegathism, which is a potential concern in aphakic inf ants who may be wearing contact lenses for many years. Unlike the wearers of RGP and hydrogel lenses, endothelial cell morphology for silicone elastomer lens wearers has been shown to be similar to non-contact lens wearers.
A lower lens loss rate than the hydrogel lens materials allow more consistent wear i.e. frequent lens losses in infants can be amblyogenic. This lower loss rate also offsets the higher costs of this lens in this age group. Lastly the lens is handled well by parents i.e. ease of application and removal even if the toddler proves uncooperative. Between 2 months and 2-1/2 years infants and young children are routinely sedated with chloralhydrate for the inital contact lens fitting examination. Although articles regarding average keratometric readings have been published, the standard deviations from these averages are significant enough to affect lens fit. Keratometric readings are taken on every patient to facilitate the fitting procedure as well as establish baseline data should an infant become intolerant and require a refitting to another lens material. In the event that outpatient sedation is impossible, keratometry can be obtained in the Operating Room. We have developed a device which can be attached to the arm of the operating microscope or on the equipment stand in a examining room. Using the flat K and the patient's age an initial trial lens is selected (e.g. if the flat K is 45.00 and the infant is under 6 months of age a "Silsoft" lens with a base curve of 7.5mm and a power ranging from +26.00 to +32.00 Dis selected). After the lens is inserted, flourescein is applied and the fit is evaluated. A lens showing alignment with some peripheral lift is considered an optimal fit. We feel peripheral lift is critical to prevent the "suck on" lens syndrome. "Suck on" syndrome consists of a lens which is stuck on the central cornea and does not move. After removing the contact lens, there is central punctate staining and local edema of the cornea. Although the exact cause of lens adhesion is debated, clinically it has been consistently alleviated with the refitting of flatter lenses that show good mobility. If the lens fit is too flat, parents will report frequent lens decentration. The aphakic refractive error is determined at the corneal plane by an over-refraction over the trial contact lens. This minimizes mistakes due to vertex distance. The power of the contact lens depends upon the age of the child and whether the aphakia is unilateral or bilateral. In infants under one year, we over-correct by 2 to 3 diopters. In children one or two years of age, we over-correct by approximately 1 diopter. Complications with contact lenses include corneal edema, keratitis and corneal ulcers. To minimize potential complications all parents are rigorously taught contact lens application and removal techniques when lenses are dispensed and instructed to remove them if redness, or (Continued on page 12)
~ Society of Operating Cameramen
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tearing is noted. Extended lens wearers under 2 years of age are examined 2 days; 1 week; 4 weeks; and every 2 months post lens dispensing. At the 2 month interval visit changes in refractive error, lens fit and tolerance by slit lamp evaluation are monitored. Minimal signs of intolerance such as superficial punctate keratitis are monitored carefuly and warrant lens refitting to other lens parameters or materials if persistent. Rigid gas permeable (RGP) materials allowing extended wear have been useful for pediatric aphakes. The "Fluoroperm 92", Boston "Equalens" and Fluorex "700" have been approved for extended wear usage but for a limited power range. In infants and children with corneal diameters of 9.5mm or smaller, we have found that a good fitting relationship cannot be found with the silicone elastomer material (either the "Silsoft" or "Sila-Rx"). For these patients and those that fall out of the power/base curve range of the "Silsoft" or "Sila-Rx", rigid gas permeable lenses are fitted. Trial lens fittings are performed based on K-readings, usually 0.25 to 0.50 steeper than the flat K and ultimately dependent on the corneal toricity and fluorescein patterns. Hydrogel lens materials represent a useful lens choice in children over 4 years of age but pose problems for usage in infants and young children under 3 years. Manipulation of the lens is very difficult in the latter group i.e. application of the lens proves extremely difficult in active toddlers. Frequent lens loss (up to 9 lenses/eye/year vs. 1.5 lenses/eye/year for the silicone elastomer material), lens damage and difficulties with manipulation often lower the chances of success with this lens type. Parents have voiced concern regarding lens comfort and often prefer a hydrogel lens for their child. It has been our experience that children 3 years old rarely fail because of comfort related lens intolerance. In children over 4 years old cooperation is forthcoming and hydrogel lenses are a more viable alternative.
THE PEDIATRIC APPROACH It is our philosophy that one must keep in mind the major objective of correcting pediatric aphakia to optimize success: providing a clear retinal image consistently. Under the age of 3 years, the contact lens management of pediatric aphakes can be further subdivided into: 1) infants (0-1 year old) (2) young children, (1-3 years) During the first year of life, a lens with extended wear potential is imperative due to the sleep/wake cycles of infants. In order for a lens to be worn during all waking hours it would be necessary for parents to apply and remove lenses multiple times each day if a daily wear lens was worn. The first year of life is the critical period of visual development and aphakic infants are at risk of not developing good visual function if their contact lens correction is not worn consistently. If extended wear lenses promote consistent lens use during all of a child's waking hours we feel that the risks are warranted. Under one year of age, the silicone elastomer lens is the lens of first choice although the RGP lenses can perform as well. Lens loss is not a serious issue in infants under 6 months; at 1 year the lens loss rate increases in conjunction with a child's improved manual dexterity and mobility. The rate of lost lenses is highest with hydrogel lenses. For that reason
Summer 1992
they have been found effective only during the first few months (0-6 months old) of life. From 1 to 3 years of age a child's development in terms of his mobility and dexterity will greatly affect his parents' ability to be compliant with contact lenses. The silicone elastomer material is again the best lens for active toddlers. However not primarily for its high oxygen permeability but rather its low lens loss rate. The "Silsoft" and "Sila-Rx" loss rate is 1.5 lenses/eye/year wheras the RGP material is approximately 1-4 lenses/eye/year and the hydrophilic material 9 lenses/eye/year. During this period children are gradually converted from extended wear to a flexible wear schedule using the same lens type. We feel that is is imperative to have an inventory of lenses for immediate dispensing. This is ideal for initial fittings and for the replacement of lost lenses. We advise parents that lost lenses should be replaced within 3 days. Even if a large inventory cannot be maintained, overnight delivery services should delay lens dispensings only 2 days. Our experience in over 250 pediatric aphakes is that a high percentage of pediatric patients have tolerated contact lenses well with the advent of silicone elastomer lenses. In those patients who are contact lens intolerant, other methods for treating aphakia should be used. July 9, 1992
Dear Society of Operating Cameramen: On behalf of all the children at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles who need contact lenses in the course of their ocular rehabilitation, we want to express our sincerest and warmest thank you's and kudos to all of the members of the Society of Operating Cameramen. It seems that each year we are in the position of thanking the SOC membership for their generosity. This year we are doubly grateful. We know how difficult it is in this time of recession with decreased work possibilities available for the members of the society. We also know the common effort it takes for the members to raise this money. It therefore makes it all the more precious to us and to all the people involved in the delivery of care in the name of the society. It was a wonderful morning on Saturday. All of the people from our institution thoroughly enjoyed the film and the setting in which it was shown. We always watch the credits to see the SOC initials which have been showing up recently in the credits to various films. The work at our clinic continues. With the generous help of the funds from the society, Dr. Matsumoto continues to make it possible for kids who otherwise would not be able to see, experience a normal visual life. For that, and so many other things we are extremely grateful to you and all of the members of the Society of Operating Cameramen. Again, our hardiest thanks for all of your efforts. Sincerely,
A. Linn Murphree, M.D. Head, Division of Ophthalmology
Ellen R. Matsumoto, 0 .D. Director, Contact Lens Services
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Summer 1992
DAVID MYERS 0~ 9 ir it ft©rr SlUIMM(Qfl' C9fUft9rr~©~©I E~ch issue we spotlight the career of one of our members. David Myers, known for his handheld work, has become the infamous cameraman to the Rock 'n Roll Stars.
by Randall Robinson
It's 2:30 in the afternoon and my friend, Klaus Willie and I are on our way to interview Director of Photography Dave Myers. A cameraman who has been refining the art of operating hand-held for fifty-two years. We arrive at his Mill Valley home. It has a nice country feel about it. We sit in the diningroom with it's white washed walls and a grand wooden table. Dave places a bottle of vodka on the table which he claims will not give us a hangover, no matter how much we drink. We are joined by his wife Barbara. An artist in her own right. Her beautiful paintings adorn the walls of the Myers home. Barbara is a very intelligent and warm hearted lady. Dave Myers first worked as a still photographer in 1940. But when he looked at his 35mm contact sheets he found he was more interested in his mistakes. He started to see these contact sheets as movie frames. Eventually David started shooting television newsreels coverage. He had discovered the 16mm Bell & Howell. "A tough little simple camera," as he describes it. Since that time, Dave has gone on to become known as the Cinematographer to the Rock Stars. He has worked with such legends as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Santana, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. As Cinematographer he's worked on Music Features such as: WOODSTOCK, THE LAST WALTZ, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, ELVIS ON TOUR, LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, and SOUL TO SOUL.
The interview begins with the story about the making of RENALDO AND CLARA, the Bob Dylan Music Feature. They improvise~ as they shot. "Bob has a genious way of getting interesting people together and then saying, 'Do your own thing'. Dylan had Sam Sheppard write some skits for the picture. We had half a dozen heavy duty women. Joni Mitchell was there, Joan Bias and Sara Dylan (Dylan's wife), a very intellectual lady." They were shooting at the famous hotel Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. "This room looks like a brothel," Dave exclaimed as they walked in the door. The room was decorated in red wallpaper, red velvet curtains and red carpet. The set was perfect. So they staged a hoarhouse scene . "The women really got into it, they seemed to enjoy themselves. At one point they stopped and laughed. They realized they were acting as hoars when they were supposed to be making a women's lib film."
WOODSTOCK Some of the most interesting stories were his experiences during the filming of Michael Waddley's WOODSTOCK. His motel was ten miles away from the site. He unpacked his bags and prepared to leave for the concert. With his NPR, a T-shirt, a pair of jeans, an emergency space blanket and a toothbrush stuck in his pocket, he had no idea he would walk into history. The concert managers expected maybe 100,000 young people, instead 500,000 actually showed up. For four days, half a million people listened to the music of their generation while they danced, ate and slept together. Dave found himself sleeping under Jimmy Hendrix's trailer during the rainstorms. He thought highly of Hendrix, describing him as "an intense and very talented artistmusician." Myers was able to talk a helicopter pilot who was shuttleing VIP's, into flying him over to a famous Jewish resort near by so he could get a room and wash up. He had just finished shooting the famous overall aerial shot in the film. He received many strange looks as he walked down the halls to his room at the resort. But he washed his Tshirt and got a good meal. Ready to climb back aboard the helicopter, the grandson of the owner of the resort ran up and begged Dave to take him back to the site. Dave agreed saying, "it was the least I could do." Hendrix ended the concert playing "The Star Spangled Banner" at sunrise. David, standing back stage, was moved hearing this rendition. "I felt I should try to shoot an ending for the picture. Everyone was out of film except for some 100 foot loads. So I grabbed an Arri S and Wadley's 5.7mm. "The after math was truely amazing with sleeping bags everywhere covered in a foot of mud. I had a little film left, enough for one last shot. I went up to a couple of garbage men, crawled into the back of their truck, and told them to dump the garbage right on top of me. They did and that was the last scene of the film."
~ Society of Operating Cameramen
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Two lawsuits came about from the footage from Woodstock. The most serious suit was insitigated by the wife of a Portesan Cleaner. Dave interviewed the man cleaning the toilets asking, "Your getting a little behind on your work, aren't you?" The man's wife was claiming that their reputation was ruined. Apparently the couple lived in New Jersey under false middle-class pretentions. She had told everyone that her husband was a Sanitary Design Engineer. She was devastated to see her husband on the screen in New York City cleaning toilets. The case went all the way to the State Supreme Court. The Portesan Cleaner stated he didn't know the camera crew were professionals. Warner Bros. was nervous and asked Dave to testify. "If we loose this case, we may never be able to use real people in films again," Warner Bros.'s lawyer explained. Dave and his Soundman appeared in court in full battle gear; cowboy hat, NPR, Nagra and leather jacket. His mixer "was a far out gay guy, from New York, with a shaved head dressed completely in black leather." What a sight it must have been to see the two of them standing before the Judge! The Judge looked at them, then at the Portesan Cleaner and asked, "You mean to say that you thought these people were amateurs?" Warner Bros. was ecstatic. The case was won. They took Dave out to a cheap lunch and told him that he would be compenstated for a job well done. Dave thought, maybe a feature? A couple of weeks later, he received a special package. It was a black & white poloroid blow-up of Dave and his soundman standing before the judge, the jury in the background. "That was my reward from Warner Bros.," comments Dave. THE GRATEFUL DEAD concert, "Dead Don't Die", was an interesting experience for David. Shooting six days and six nights. All the cameramen were hand-held on stage. Dave was primarily on the leader, Garcia, positioned behind him in the middle of the drum kit. Their numbers would last a half an hour at a time. "I looked at my assistant after the first number and asked her how many magazines I
Summer 1992
used. Two or three?" I asked. "No," she replied, "six!" "Six magazines on one number!" "My camera position was better than all the others because I was behind the band. The Director of Photography had lit the concert from the front, flat and washed out. The stuff I shot was nicely backlit, saving all the colors. It looked great in dailies." "Ousley (the founder of LSD)," Dave amuses, "was putting acid on everything: doorknobs, in the drinking water, the coffee, everything. Half the cameramen were flipped out. I don't know how I escaped," says Dave. "A famous Cameraman/Director, I won't mention his name, apparently got so high from all the acid, that he was on his stomach pushing his camera in front of him across the stage." Dave recalls. "He had reverted to the reptile stage. He probably didn't even have any film in the magazine." Dave describes Elvis Presley as a "bloated asshole" on his last concert tour. "I was suppose to be the DP, but after shooting a couple of concerts, I refused. I didn't want to be with him that much. I thought he was disgusting and boring." He did shoot the tour hand held though. 'We went all over the country for several weeks. Elvis has these sudden moves you know, his dance moves. Whenever I was handheld right close to him, repeatedly he'd do a whip around when I was doing a whip around. And then BAM!, we'd bump into each other right on stage. Elvis would stop, and I'd stop. There would be a beat, then he'd turn away and I would go on shooting." Dave had to have his 1Oto 1 recolimated after that. Myers has impressive theatrical features as Director of Photography: DIZZINESS, THE TELEPHONE, HARD TRAVELING, FM, ROADIE, UFORIA, THX-1138, WELCOME TO LA and ZOOT SUIT. THX-1138 and working with George Lucas was very enjoyable. Lucas wanted to hire documentary cameramen so that he didn't feel like he had to direct the film as much. "We were doing our dailies at Dove Film and that's when I first met Haskell. Haskell Wexler was the reason George Lucas got into the film business. Haskell loves cars and George was a hot race car mechanic. They got friendly and Haskell persuaded George to go to film school." Alot of THX was shot in the tunnels of the San Francisco bay area. David shot four stops underexposed with SOASA film stock. "I was using a 1200mm lense and two hi hats in a tunnel. I had one hi hat under my lense. The 1200mm T28 was George's own personal lens." The scene was of a racing car coming into the tunnel. Dave had it set up so that he wouldn't have to pan. But the shot worked so well that, "I couldn't resist panning, swiveling the whole apparatus on the ground." In another scene of THX-1138, Dave used a 35mm Eclair on a side platform of a motorcycle. They were going 11 O miles per hour. The grip didn't secure the mount well enough and so the vibration from the motorcycle caused it to slip. "The motorcycle had something like ten gears and everytime they shifted up, I slipped further and further back." They ended up stopping the car just in time to catch Dave from falling off the back. Dave asked Lucas, "Which film best fulfills your ideas visually and cinematically?" "STAR WARS about 40%, THX-1138 about 95%," was Lucas's answer.
~Society of Operating Cameramen
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Summer 1992
.____c_o_L_L_EC_T_A_B_L_E_P_IN__ S_ET_s_____.I ~'____s_o_c__ A_NN_U_A~L__ P_IC_N_IC____.....I A limited number of the
complete SOC Collector Pin Sets are still available. There are five pins In each set. Included are: The Haley's Comet, Hollywood Commemorative, The Eyeball, Hot Air Balloon and this years Yellow Peace Ribbon. A donation of $100.00 a set will make you the envy of every kid on your block. Also still available are several single pins at the regular $10.00 donation. Only a limited number of Pin sets are available, so get them while they're hot. All proceeds go to the Children's Hospital Eye Care Clinic and are tax deductible. Call the SOC phone line to order: (818)382-7070
soc JACKETS & HATS AVAILABLE SOON by Dave Stump
Rejoice SOC members, looks like we're going to have hats againl The orders are in, and at the next breakfast meeting we will have several of the new jackets and hats available to try on for size. We're getting samples of wool hats, cotton hats, letterman's jackets and summerweight flight jackets. There will be a variety of SOC logo configurations available so that (for example) those of you who work sitcoms won't overwhelm the audience with our logo. We are getting three different size logo patterns along with the words ¡society of Operating Cameramen• embroidered on the jackets. Prices are pretty good too. The wool hats will cost $10.00, the cotton hats will cost $8.50, summerweight flight jackets are $80.00 and the letterman's jackets will be $125.00. You can also order the jackets with your name on the front for a small extra charge. We are looking into an SOC photojournalist's vest, so the new product line can also include a practical piece of work attire. There will be a flyer available soon showing photos of all the new goods, with prices, ordering instructions and availability. Stay Tuned ...
by Herb Roberts As most of you know, before the season started last year (1991 ), the SOC held another picnic In one of the local city parks. The turn out was around 150 to 175 members, families and friends. These picnics are a nice time for families to meet each other. For old friends, who haven't seen one another In some time, to get together and take a stroll down memory lane or find out what Is going on In the Industry. But most of all ---- to just have alot of fun with baseball, horse shoes, cards, badmltten and many other games. We, the SOC, sincerely hope at the next picnic there will be an even bigger turn out by having all the members that haven't been to one, find the time to do so. The plans now are for an October celebration. It really Is a lot of fun, the more the merrier. Let's all go to the next one, If ifs at all possible.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT by Howie Block Included in this newsletter, you will find your 1993 dues statement. As you can see from this magazine, we are Involved in many activities and we need your dues to keep it going. We hope all the events you are enjoying will spur you to get your checks In early. I'm happy to announce that we only lost a couple of members last year. We now have about 260 total membership. Things are looking great and getting better. I would like to remind the membership that we encourage anyone active In the film industry to join us. People do not have to be Camera Operators, Directors of Photography, Assistants, Still Men, etc. are all welcome as Associate Members. Members from Germany, Italy, England, Canada, and now Russia and Austrailia down under have joined the ranks. The SOC has truly become an international body. I'd like to see us double our membership this year. If everyone just brought in one new member this year, we could double our membership. It's easy to do because we have a lot to offer. Let's make It 500 In '93.
New Where Abouts Far The SOC!! Society of Operating Cameramen P.0. Box 2006 Toluca Lake, Ca. 91610 ( 818)382- 7070
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STANDARDS COMMITTEE REPORT by Joe Epperson The SOC Standards Committee is an idea and an organization that needs our support and input. We know the tools of the trade better than anyone and therefore our knowledge should be made available to manufacturers and others to enable them to supply a better product. · I'm sure we all have our pet peeves about equipment. As a video operator I can speak with firsthand knowledge about TV equipment, but my list could go on for pages. Here are just the highlights. Why can't Sachtler engrave a height scale on their tripod legs? Why can't all remote zoom controls have speed and response controls available to the operator, not a maintenance man with a screwdriver? Why can't tally lights in handheld viewfinders be standardized? I would like one in each comer. The lkegami 55 has the word "TALLY" spelled out in the lower left corner, making it impossible to see unless your eye is mashed into the rubber cup. I think most manufacturers want feedback on how their equipment is used and we have the professional experience and responsibility to supply that input. In 1980 I had the chance to ask an RCA field engineer about the ergonomics of their equipment (some of the worst ever made). I was told that the design people would never talk to the end users of their cameras. It wasn't too many years later that RCA closed their broadcast equipment division. There is another area of our business that the Standards Committee could be a big help and that is in maintaining minimum standards of rental equipment. Here again speaking of video gear, how often must we work with a viewfinder that hasn't had a new tube since the first Nixon Administration? We put our jobs on the line trying to find focus in all that mush. How many times do you find a nice new chip camera and viewfinder, but it sits on a Vinten head with a #9 cam designed for a monstrous TK-47? I occasionally hear producers or
directors say that they prefer to shoot on film because they like to see a moving camera. Well, if the choice is between a static camera and a dolly across a stage floor that has all the aspects of a bad CalTrans project, I'll sit tight. A lot of these problems happen because nobody knows what we need and they will never know unless we get together and support the Standards Committee. If we can't make improvements instead of just changes, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
STANDARDS COMMITTEE SET
A new committee has been established by the Board of Governors to facilitate and encourage innovative new product from the corporate entities serving our industries of film and video production. The following are the criteria approved for the SOC. Purpose: To develop a viable Standards Committee which will try, test and evaluate products and services which we use in our craft work. Lobby by way of letters in order to make the manufacturers aware, from a craftsperson's perspective, of both positive and negative aspects. In doing so that steps can be taken to improve that product or service to the mutual benefit of all concerned.
Committee Composition: The SOC members comprising the Standards Committee will vary with the product or service submitted. Those SOC members will be volunteers who are either specialists in their field of expertise which bears directly on, or have a high degree. of interest in, the product or service being submitted for evaluation.
Testing Criteria: •Each product or service to be tested and evaluated will be presented to the Standards Committee with approval of the Board of Governors. •Each product or service evaluation will be presented to the Board of Governors for its information and approval prior to release or publication. •Products or ser'o'ices may be under test and evaluation by one or more
Summer 1992 committee members concurrently, working together or separately. •Evaluations will be prepared and submitted to the Head of the Standards Committee who will then submit them to the Board of Governors. •A corporate entity desiring its product or service evaluated by the Standards Committee will present its request in writing to the SOC, however the Committee may elect to offer to test a corporate entity's product or service. ·The Standards Committee may elect not to test and evaluate certain products and services which it deems beyond the scope of interest or expertise of the members of the SOC Two tests have already been run under Standards Committee auspices. Howie Block has made two film tests--one of Eastman product and the other of Fuji em.alsions. The membership will have an opportunity to view the results in the near future.
CORPORATE AFFILIATE CONCEPT by Bill Hines.Corporate Liaison 1991 was an eventful year for our Society. At the 29 June 91 Board of Governors meeting, the concept of corporate affiliate membership in the SOC was presented for consideration. The Board voted to investigate the feasibility of this concept. A cross-section of more than twenty industry business leaders were then contacted during the ensuing weeks to determine their interest in the concept. The response was overwhelmingly positive and their input was constructive, helpful and very encouraging. On 9 Sept 91 , the Board received the favorable interim feasibility study progress report and voted to continue to pursue and develop the Corporate Affiliate Membership in the SOC and present the findings to the membership for it's consideration. The 28 Sept 91 General Membership Breakfast Meeting ushered in an historic event for the SOC An invited representative crosssection of industry leaders were in attendance to meet, mix and share their views on the concept with
Pae 17 members of the Society attending. It was a well-attended , warm and sharing experience and all those there, corporates and members alike, were strongly supportive of the Corporate Affiliate concept. Following this meeting, the criteria for Membership were further refined and presented to the Board of Governors and approved on 23 Nov 91 for inclusion in the By-Laws. The proposed criteria will be developed in a form suitable for insertion into our By-Laws, dependent, of course, on receiving final prior approval, by secret ballot, from the membership. The criteria will establish a Corporate Affiliate Membership status in the SOC. Corporate entities engaged in manufacturing, supply or service in and for the motion picture, television, photographic and allied media will be eligible for consideration for affiliate membership. An initiation fee for the corporate entity and an annual dues fee for its designated affiliate (personal representative) member will be established. The Corporate Affiliate, a non-voting membership, will be there to assist and support the SOC in its events and stated purposes, domestic and Support and foreign, and will: collaborate with the Society in encouraging the highest professional standards of craftsmanship in the art of camera operation and helping develop equipment , product, techniques and services which can help achieve this goal; provide ongoing support for the Society's official philanthropy, the Eye Care Clinic of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles; place ads in SOC programs and publications; sponsor meetings, seminars, workshops and social events; provide material, equipment and working space for use in SOC workshops, seminars, screenings and meetings. In return the Society has established a Corporate Liaison Committee to coordinate the collaborative relationship between the Society and its Corporate Affiliate Members. This will help insure that the corporate support is effectively used and that corporate effort is appropriately recognized. The corporates would have access to exposure in Society publications, be able to share new product info with
the members, and to utilize and gain objective constructive feedback from the expertise of specialists on the SOC Standards Committee regarding their products or services. Any further input from members regarding this Corporate Affiliate concept is welcome.
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS APPROVED On 25 January 92, the Board of Governors approved criteria for the Technical Achievement Award. The award will be given to recognize outstanding contributions to aid and abet the art and skill of camera operation by corporate entities. PURPOSE: In order to encourage further research and development in improving the material and techniques we utilize in our craft of camera operation, the SOC shall recognize each such demonstratively significant and innovative technical achievement by a manufacturer, supplier, or researcher by giving that recipient an appropriately inscribed award for extending the potential of the state of our craft. TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT A WARD: An Award for Technical Achievement is in the form of an appropriately inscribed plaque bearing the SOC logo. This award is given to the company responsible for the development of what can only be a demonstratively innovative, significant and outstanding contribution, directly impacting the art and craft of camera operation. AWARD CRITERIA: To qualify for a Technical Achievement Award, the technical development and the company or individuals responsible for it must meet the following criteria: •The development must be either 1) a completely new, important and lasting device or technique, or 2) an essential and lasting innovation which modifies existing equipment, product or technique, or 3) a significant improvement on, or adjunct to, existing equipment, product or technique which is utilized during camera operation.
Summer 1992 •The development or innovation must have been in practical use for a sufficient length of time in order to demonstratively prove to its users that its use has significantly and substantially facilitated the craft of camera operation. A WARDING PROCESS : Any member in good standing in the SOC may nominate a company, naming its innovative product or service, specifying individuals responsible for the development. and a brief statement of particulars describing the product or service. Standards Committee, upon receipt of the written nomination, after investigating the particulars, shall make a determination as to the merits of the nomination. It will then present its findings and recommendation to the Board of Governors for vote. Once each year, the Technical Award(s) will be given to the honored recipients at a special meeting, a membership breakfast meeting or at the Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet.
This in our way is a small tribute to the sweetheart of the SOC, Stephanie Benson. For the past eight years Steph has been our secretary, minding to all the millions of details that it takes to run this organization. Always personable on the telephone and charming at the door of the Lifetime Achivements Awards Banquet. After the mounds of paper work Stephanie has decided to pursue other activities. We wish her well and because she has a genuine spirt we know she can go far. She will always be in our hearts. As an honorary member we hope to see her often.
'ยงEsociety of Operating Cameramen (Myers cont'd from page 14) ZOOT SUIT starring Edward James Olmos was another film Myers directed the photography. He says Olmos was a doll to work with. "He is an actor with integrity. He won't do a film if it's not consistent with his philosophies." Dave and the crew shot the film as a freebee 'so to speak' for Universal, a nice gesture to the Chicano community. "Universal offered Luis Valdez $500,000 to shoot on video. Luis called me and asked if he should take it? I said no." Then studio offered three million to shoot it on film, but with a thirteen day shooting schedule. That's when I came in. "I had thirteen days to shoot the show, that was the agreement. But the advantage was they brought me in early, two to three weeks of preproduction. I got to work closely with the Set Designer. We were going to shoot in the old Earl Carol Theatre. It had a rotating stage but no proscenium. So I said with thirteen days, we had to make the best of the rotating stage. We built three sets. I had a wonderful Gaffer, Earl Gilbert, and a Stage Lighting Director.
Page 18 "Originally ZOOT was a play. We wanted to be able to go from the play to a more cinematic feeling, then back and forth. Because there wasn't any proscenium, Gilbert had to hang lights through the ceiling, 350 units on chain over head. We were over schedule and the studio gave us one extra day. We had three cameras shooting three sets all at the same time. Something like the old silent days." FM found David directing the photography on the f ea tu re directed by John Alonzo, ASC, himself known for his hand held work. "Let me make it perfectly clear, John and I are old buddies , good friends. But we had this competition going. Alonzo was always itching to grab the camera. One day they were going to do a scene and John says, "I'll shoot this, OK?" Dave replied, "You try one, then I'll do one, and we'll see which looks better on screen." John Toll, soc had been Alonzo's assitant cameraman and John moved him up to operator. He'd yell at him to do it this way or that way. After a half an hour with the Panaflex perched on Toil's shoulder, Alonzo was still trying
Summer 1992 to tell him how to do the shot. David asked Toll how he put up with that. Toll sighs, "You just try and relax, don't fight it." "John Toil is a first class Cameraman and has become known for his hand held work as well," remarks David. Dave worked with Director Alan Rudolph, Robert Altman's protege, on WELCOME TO LA. "He has a very graphic, painterly approach to the visual aspect of filmmaking," says Dave about Rudolph. "It was an interesting shoot." Dave has also done a number of documentaries: JANE FONDA SPECIAL, JESSICA MITFORD SPECIAL, AMERICAN SAMOA PARADISE LOST?, JIMMY HOFFAHERO OR CROOK and JOURNEY TO THE OUTER LIMITS, a National Geographic Special which received an Emmy Award and an Oscar Nomination. A Stint at The White House Dave is best known for his hanclheld work. A technic he has refinded over the years. In 1960 Myers spent three weeks at the White House shooting President Johnson. (continued on page 31)
The first of ClainnontS new Arriflex 535s at work: reports from the Sleepwalkers set says Mr. Charters. "We were that much more likely to finish a shot just before breaking for lunch, which would have broken the mood."
' ' T o intensify the mystery and suspense, I wanted to use light falloff, dark areas, shallow depth of field," says D.P. Rodney Charters. ''They all make operating harder. So I chose the 535 partly for its bright, sharp finder image."
Didn't need magnifier
Speed ramping
"Speed ramping was another major reason for going with the 535. In one shot, we had cats and people in frame but the people weren't moving, at first. We ran at 48 fps on the cats, to smooth out their movements. When the cats ran out of frame, we switched to 24 fps as the people began to move and talk." Automatic exposure compensation, using the computerized shutter
"So in that one shot, we had slow motion and dialog. The shutter changed automatically for exposure compensation as we altered speed. There was no change in depth of field. The whole thing was absolutely undetectable." User friendlier
"There were also plenty of minor reasons for picking the 535. Michael Price (our First Assistant) called the two-speed follow focus 'wonderful.' He also liked seeing the numbers coming round the lens barrel-seeing them
Rodney Charters Director Of Photography
Philip Lee has been an Operator in Hollywood since 1987. "Working with this camera was a new experience for me," he says. "I'm used to using the eyepiece magnifier routinely before almost every shot. But I hardly used the 535's magnifier. I could easily see the focus falloff without it, a quarter inch forward and back-before the shot and while it was going on.''
before they got to the index mark, even when he was on the right."
Swingover finder, variable video tap
"The swingover finder wasn't just left and right-it was every position and every angle you could think of, with the image always upright. As a result, some of our moves were a lot easier. And the beam-splitter video tap let us set the monitor's intensity to match what Philip was seeing in the eyepiece, indoors or out." "Making things easier or more efficient often made them faster,"
Phili Lee
Camera Bperator
Eyepiece depth same as projected depth "A couple of times when we were on the go and there wasn't time to run a tape, I did flip on the magnifier before rolling. Usually it wasn't necessary, though. The depth of field I saw in the finder looked exactly like what we later saw projected on screen." Confidence "When I took my eye away to tell the Director we had it or we didn't have it, I could say that with absolute confidence," says Mr. Lee. "And there were no surprises at the Dailies."
side of the camera - magazine motor and lens. I ran the mic about two inches from the camera, with the mic pointing directly at it. Through my headphones, I could then hear it." Quiet soundstage "This was on a quiet soundstage and using a Sennheiser 416, which is highly directional. As soon as I scanned past the camera and panned the mic, I couldn't hear it." Curiosity "As a rule, I do this type of close scan when I notice a camera's adjustable pitch is off-or when I pick up magazine squeal. This time, I hadn't heard anything- I was just curious. I was tryingto hear it." Two foot shot "On Sleepwalkers' closest shot, the lens was about two feet from the actress," says Mr. Salcedo, "And the mic was about four inches above her head. I couldn't hear the camera."
Dennis Salcedo Mic Boom Operator Apprehension Dennis Salcedo has been a Boom Operator since 1984 and a member of Local 695 since 1972. "When they told me we'd be using a new Arriflex, I was apprehensive," he says. "But on the first day of shooting I was dumbfounded."
''So quiet I could not believe it." Two inch scan "This new camera was so quiet I couldn't believe it. As a test, I scanned the boom mic along the
Jeff Okun Visual Effects Supervisor design and execute the film's effects. Apogee hired Jeff Okun. "Before shooting began," he says, "We ran a series of tests on the 535. It was incredibly steady-probably the steadiest camera I've ever seen." Two-pass lock-off "One afternoon, I was on the Sleepwalkers set, observing. We were scheduled to shoot a two-pass lock-off effects shot the next morning, on that same set, using one of Apogee's Mitchells."
''Probably the steadiest camera I've ever seen." Visual Effects experts test 535 Jeff Okun has been a freelance Visual Effects Supervisor since 1976. He has worked with Apogee Productions since 1985. Sleepwalkers hired Apogee to
Used 535 instead "But that afternoon, they finished the scene sooner than expected; and they needed to strike the set and move on," says Mr. Okun. "The lighting was there, the set was there, the actors were there, I was there. Only the Mitchell wasn't there. So we made that effects shot with the 535. It looked great."
CLAIRMONT
CAMERA
4040 Vineland Ave, Studio City, California 91604 • (818)761-4440 North Shore Studios, Vancouver, B.C. V7J 3S5 • (604)984-4563
Page 19 ~ Society of Operating Cameramen 1992 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Summer 1992
by Howie Block Now that our fifth Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet is over, the Committee can finally sit back, relax and evaluate the entire process. I have been involved in planning all but one banquet, so I feel I can be very objective in my opinions. I feel very strongly that this one was the best yet. The atmosphere, food and service were up to their usual excellence. The ambiance of the Calabasas Inn with the late afternoon light and the cocktail service on the lawn made a beautiful start for the evening. As the band music filtered through the air, the guests made their way to the strikingly decorated tables. The awards were made bright by the wit and charm of the Mistress of Ceremony, Ms. Betty White. The comedy of Hank Garett kept everyone laughing. The new Technical Awards presentation went over very well. We gave awards to Arriflex, Panavision and Cinema Products for their contributions to our Industry. The highlight of the evening and the reason for the banquet was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Awards. Bob Feller received the Assistant Cameraman honor and the Cammy for Still Photographer went to David Sutton.
The Camera Operator award for Film went to Owen Marsh, soc and Ben Wolf, soc received this year's Video Operator Award. Bill Clark, soc presented the Governor's Award to his close friend, Frank Stanley, ASC. The first President's Award was bestowed upon Phil Caplan, soc. Woody Omens, ASC introduced Phil as he made the long walk to the podium, touching every heart in the hall. The response from the Corporate guests was that they felt we were right on target. However, I would like to point out the only real negative to that wonderful evening. That was the poor showing from our own members. Out of close to 300 people in attendance only a little over 10% of those were SOC members. This I fail to understand. Have most of you forgotten the original intent of the banquet? Needless to say, without the help of Bobby & Roz Feller and Stephanie Benson there is no way we could have done it. My hat's off to all the people who pitched in with all the many details. Plans are now in the works for next year's Banquet. With everyone's involvement, I know that the real spirit of this organization can be realized. We hope to see you next year!
~Society of Operating Cameramen
Page20
Summer 1992
FIRST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS by Bill Hines It was an evening to remember. The wellplanned, well-attended 1992 SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet came off with precision and style and became another high-point in the achievements of our Society. For the first time, our Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet included the presentation of Technical Achievement Awards given in recognition of the introduction of significant technical innovations by the corporate community which have helped advance the art and craft of the camera operator. Since the beginnings of our industry in the late 1880s, there have been many important developments and innovations affecting all aspects of production. Considering only those developments which have had a direct bearing on camera operation there remains a lengthy and rather impressive listing. Three outstanding and well-deserved technical achievement awards were given, in the chronological order in which each was introduced for use in the industry. The awards were presented by Bill Hines, soc, Secretary and Corporate Liaison of the SOC. The first award was given to ARRI for the development and introduction in 1932 of the spinning mirror reflex viewing system. For the first time, making it possible for the camera operator to see clearly the exact framing and focus of the objects being photographed by the motion picture film camera. Bill Russell, Western Sales Manager for ARRI, accepted the award.
The second award was given to Panavision for the development and introduction in 1972 of the Panaglow illuminated ground glass which, for the first time, made it possible for the camera operator to see clearly the scribed aspect ratio framing limits when shooting night exteriors or other contrasty scenes having dark or deeply-shadowed backgrounds. Accepting was Phil Raydon, Vice President of Marketing for Panavision, and the inventor, Albert Mayer. The final technical award of the evening went to Cinema Products for the development and introduction in 1976 of the Steadicam camera stabilizing system which, for the first time, made it possible for the camera operator to make consistently smooth-looking, seamless walking and running shots as well as up-and-down-the-stairs-type shots. Ed DiGiulio, Vice President of Cinema Products, and the inventor, Garrett Brown, soc accepted the award. And so our Society has begun the process of recognizing those important contributions to our craft. We have a lot of catching up to do. At each of our subsequent Awards banquets the Society plans to recognize other deserving contributions by the corporate community to our camera operating craft.
WE SEE IT FIRST!!
Summer 1992
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AWARD RECEIPIENTS With a warm heartfelt setting, all eyes turn to the Stars of the evening.
FILM CAMERA OPERATOR Owen Marsh, soc Owen started out in the business as a child actor. His Aunt Mae Marsh was one of D.W. Griffith's leading ladies. Working in the film labs was his first production job. In due time, he became a Second Assistant at MGM. Owen worked on epics like CIMMERON, BEN HUR, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, Elvis Presley movies, etc.. He worked under such outstanding Directors of Photography as Bob Surtees, Sr., Lester Schorr, William Danels and James Wong Howe. Owen Marsh was among the first to master the Cinerama camera system. His career changed at that point. Since he was one of the few assistants in town that had worked with this equipment, he was asked to go with George Stevens Company to make THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. He was then asked to become production liaison coordinator. What was to be a two week assignment, actually lasted for six and a half years. For the next score of years, he continued as an Operator, shooting features, TV movies and various series.
VIDEO CAMERA OPERATOR Ben Wolf, soc The Army Signal Photographic Company in China, Burma and India started off Ben Wolf's career as a Photographer. He then went with the 1st Infantry Combat Division of the Chinese Army on the Burma Road where they filmed documentary combat footage. Ben opened a photo studio in Philadelphia afterwards. He later relocated to California where he broke in with Channel 13 on The Al Jarvis show, the first talk show in L.A., 5 hours daily, 5 days a week. In time, he moved on to doing lighting and stage management, and 9 months later became Camera Operator. In 1952 he joined CBS where everything was live - no videotape. Some of the live network shows for which he operated were "The Jack Benny Show", "My Friend Irma", "Person-to-Person", "CBS Playhouse", "Lawrence Welk", and also game shows. Ben is a four time Emmy nominee and holds three Emmy's to his credit. He is the Founder and Treasurer of CBS Alumni Association and keeps in touch with over 200 CBS retirees in the USA.
GOVERNORS AWARD Frank Stanley, ASC In 1955 Frank Stanley was hired to do Technicolor special effects for THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. Stanley created the Fingers of Fire effects, turned a staff into a snake and made rain into snow for the film. Following the picture he was able to join the union. He began working as a first assistant cameraman, finally rising to become President of The International Photographers Guild. By the time he retired in 1985, with more than 100 film and television productions to his credit, Stanley had worked his way up to Director of Photography and was earning $5,000-$10,000 per week. His film credits include: PLAY MISTY FOR ME, MAGNUM FORCE, 10, SUMMER OF 42 and many others, receiving a Golden Globe Award for EAST OF EADEN. While President of 659 and during the formidable years of the SOC, Frank was inspirational and supportive in our efforts to organize. "People in the business really help each other, " he says fondly. "I was helped immensley." Frank Stanley is an Honorary Member of the SOC.
ASSISTANT CAMERAMAN Robert Feller Bob attended the U.S. Navy Class "A" Photographic School. He spent the next four years with the U.S. Army Pictorial Center as a Technical Animation Cameraman. In the 1950's, he was a member in the Photographic Society of America where his exhibition prints bore him honors. He was Animation Cameraman on "Moonbirds", which won an Oscar for Short Subjects in 1959. Bob then worked as an Optical Cameraman on 250 of The Groucho Marx, "You Bet Your Life" shows. Bob engineered the sequence, "Dancing Shadows" for the film, Godspell. Referred to, as "a creative piece of motion picture photography" by The New York Times. His skills have been used in more than 350 distant locations including television and major theatrical releases.
STILL PHOTOGRAPHY David Sutton David Sutton is an award winning Photojournalist. His art matured and survived under difficult conditions. World War II pulled him out of New York City and threw him into the China-Burma-India Theater where he flew 65 combat missions in a B-25 as a photo-gunner. For this, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. After the war, and a short stint with Life Magazine, he journeyed West where he opened his own studio. David became known as John Wayne's personal Photographer. Those years provided him with thousands of private-life photos. David has consistently been published in top magazines throughout the world. On a professional level, he has been lauded "an outstanding photojournalist whose photo credits stagger the imagination".
PRESIDENTS AWARD Phil Caplan, soc A founding father of the SOC, Phil has always been active in all our events, adding his charm and energy where ever they were needed. Phil has always been a sought after "A" Operator by Directors and Cameramen alike. Last working for Woody Omens, ASC on COMING TO AMERICA, HARLEM KNIGHTS and PRETTY WOMAN. Two years ago Phil had fallen of an aneurysm, losing his motor skills and speech. Through constant theraphy he has now been able to begin to walk with only a cane. Panavision and his friends prepared a special Panahead for him to practice. His recovery is remarkable. With much love and deliberation, the Board of Governors presents him with this Cammy. The inscription reads: For His Artistry, His Friendship and His Courage.
A NEW LINE OF FILMS A NEW DIMENSION IN MOTION PICTURE IMAGING
I
magine a range of film stocks that brings you more than diversity in speeds and image quality... • The ability to influence texture and color rendition according to the creative requirements of the scene. • The choice between powerful contrasting colors or a subtle tonal range. These artistic opportunities are now available in a single family of color negative films from Agfa. The crispness and depth of AGFA XTS 400, the smooth feel of XT 320, and the natural saturation of XT 100. These are different ways of looking at a scene, but each time without compromising image structure. It's a new dimension in motion picture imaging.
AGFA XT 100, XT 320 & XTS 400, COLOR NEGATIVE FILMS WE REFLECT THE BEST OF YOU
AGFA+
Pa e22
Cameramen
Summer 1992
ARRI/MIRROR REFLEX VIEWING GIVES OPERATORS A REAL EYEFULL by Stephen Chamberlain
"To August Arnold and Erich Kaestner of Arnold & Richter for the concept and engineering of the first operational 35mm spinning-mirror reflex shutter for motion picture cameras." (1982) The citation accompanying this Oscar reads in part: "The innovative engineering of the Arriflex camera has had a definite influence on the advancement of motion picture photography and recognition is hereby made of that contribution to the industry."
With these words, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Arriflex with a special Academy award of Merit Oscar Statuette at the Oscar ceremonies in 1983. The Arriflex spinning mirror reflex shutter is a basic component of a camera series, now represented by the ARRI 35-3, that has been in continuous production (and continuously updated) since 1936. Arnold & Richter, (the ARnold and Richter making up ARRI), founded by August Arnold and Robert Richter, has been involved in the design, engineering and manufacture of professional motion picture equipment continuously since 1917. The Arnold & Richter partnership began in 1916 with the collaborative design of the first automatic 35mm tabletop printer, a machine now on display in the German Museum of Technology in Munich. In 1917, this printer was the first in a long line of motion picture products manufactured at the new Arnold & Richter factory. During the early 1920's, ARRI began to manufacture their first professional 35mm camera, the KINARRI, which became widely used in the rapidly expanding German film industry. In 1925, Robert Richter came to the United States to study the film industry in Hollywood, and during the following year and a half worked at the William Fox Studios, Rothaker Film Labs, and at Adolph Zukor's Famous Players-Lasky Studios. After Richter's return, ARRI began the design and manufacture of several completely new lines of professional production equipment, such as new cameras, printers, processing machines, the first portable lighting generators and a complete line of incandescent reflector lights. In 1936, ARRI completely revolutionized 35mm camera design with the introduction of the first operational spinning-mirror, hand-holdable reflex 35mm camera, the ARRI 35. This successful new concept, engineered by ARRI designer Erich Kaestner, is still the key design element used in all professional reflex motion picture cameras in use today. The ARRI 35, in one stroke, eliminated parallax and focus problems, insured accurate framing, freed the camera from the tripod, and forged the way towards the kinds of creative and expressive camera controls that we take for granted today. The ARRI 35, and its successor models in the series, became the most widely used motion picture camera in our industry's 90 year history. The ARRI 35 has constantly evolved through continuous engineering and improvement, as seen in the ARRI 1A, the 1B, the 1C, to the widely used 2C, and these years of continuous evolution, the basic design characteristics of the revolving mirror shutter set down by Kaestner in 1936 have not changed for Arriflex or for any other camera manufacturer. We would perhaps not be straining the truth to say that virtually every professional cameraman world-wide has used an ARRI 35 series camera.
Cameramen
Summer 1992
P. e23
PANA VISION'S
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Panavision has always prided itself as a company that is responsive to the professional needs of the users of their products, the camera operators and assistants. Ever since the emergence of Panavision as a creator and supplier of movie equipment, this has been the p~ilo~p~y. !he original Panaflex camera was developed with this in mind and has transposed itseH from the original to the current Platinum, 16mm and System 65 cameras, always ahead of their time, but never losing their user friendliness. During the early stages of the Pana vision Panaf lex evolution, it became apparent that some means must be taken to illuminate the framing line(s} on the ground glass during low light conditions; a problem which could mean lost jobs during critical film scenes if framed incorrectly ... a problem that needed a solution. Early in 1976, the late Robert Gottschalk, Panavision's founder, and myself, Albert Mayer, Sr., developed the Panaglow system and incorporated it into all Panavision cameras. The abstract of U.S. Patent #4, 101,916 defines the Panaglow system as follows: ."To facilitate viewing of scenes photographed by a motion picture camera under dim lighting conditions, a viewing system for aiming and focusing the motion picture camera incorporates a ground glass plate and a
be~m splitter witb the light from a scene photographed, being, in turn, reflected from a conventional rotating camera shutter, through the ground glass plate and then reflect~ from one side of a b~am splitter and then through an optical system to the eyepiece. A solid state lamp such as red light emitting diodes are disposed on the other side of the beam splitter with the red light being transmitted thr?ugh the beam splitter onto the ground glass plate which has a set of lines defined by metal strips from which the red light is reflected back onto the beam splitter and to th.e .eyep!ece, such set of lines defining the boundary within which the scenes are required to be located." Simply put, the Panaglow system incorporates a ground glass which has reflective metal framing lines and a light source to illuminate such lines. The Panaf lex Panaglow has had nothing but praise ever since it's innovation in the 1970's, a "life saver" in the eyes of many of it's users. Panavision and I are proud to be the recipient this year of an award given by the Society of Operating Cameramen for the development of this design. It should be stated that the credit for this design, as well as for much of the Panavision family of cameras lenses, and accessories belongs not only to the company, but to all of the men and women who use Panavision equipment in the "real world" of motion picture magic.
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Summer 1992
Pa e24
THE BROWN STABLIZER CiP1ema Prod11ds Corporation
by Garrett Brown That's what I wanted to call it. It wasn't just ego (that came later!). I thought it needed a simple, honest, "70's" kind of natural name, a pure name, not a stupid, gimmicky name like "Steadicam." It was Ed DiGiulio's suggestion, which I hated immediately. I wanted to solve the problem of how to improve the look of my hand-held shooting. I had mounted a camera on a long pole rig slung below a helicopter for shooting into the windows of moving Subarus. It was surprisingly stable, except in a pan (the axis around the pole). I was intrigued and built a long "t-bar" rig of plumbing pipe, which was stable in all directions as one ran around the countryside. It was clumsy and rolled a lot, but the footage looked surprisingly good. I suppose if I had been satisfied with this gadget (which gets re-invented from time to time in this business, e.g. "shaki-cam" and "pogo cam"), the project would have ultimately fizzled, but I couldn't quite leave it alone. In the spring of 1973 the "pole" as it was still known, was rebuilt as a parallelogram mini-crane, and my ACL acquired a fiber-optics viewfinder in order to secretly shoot a commercial for Connecticut Natural Gas. It almost didn't get finished in time. My basement-type machinist, when asked to drill the last few holes, came out with a line which we still use: "I can't stay up, I have to supervise men tomorrow!" Needless to say, this guy never worked again in the "brown stabilizer" business... We ended up at 3 a.m. in Bridgeport, Connecticut in a vast old railway machine shop, with the owner himself trying to remember how to operate his locomotive lathe in order to make us the last few dinky parts. It worked, better than the earlier ones, and the camera stayed level as one boomed up and down, but carrying it was a big strain on the old hand. We hired the biggest, strongest cameramen in the land and sent them all home in a pillowcase after a day with the "Pole Rig"! So I built a body support which floated the whole contraption on the end of a nine-foot bunji cord running through yacht pulleys, and which provided my first taste for vanquishing Hooke's law, as to the "rate" of suspension systems. The contraption was as slick, in this regard, as our present-day arm, but applied all of its massive torque to the what doctors call "that" muscle in the operator's right shoulder. By now it employed a Kenyon gyro stabilizer and ~atte~ in place of the t-bar and weights, so you can 1magme how excessive its stability was, and how impressive the impact was of seeing an operator looming around a corner carrying the Lusitania suspended from "that" i:nuscle, fiber-optic bundle pressed against one eye, ~e~d tilted upward in a ~ain attempt to body-english some t~lt mto ~he shot, groan mg weakly, vertebrae shifting like t1ddly-wmks ... It was beginning to sink in that this device might not be what the motion-picture industry was waiting for. I loved the results and knew that I was the only one in the world who could make such shots, yet it was also clear that none but crazed obsessives would endure using this contraption.
We were shooting amazing commercials, with clients and crew signing agreements-of-secrecy. I had fabulous demo reels in 16mm and both Panavision and Cinema Products were interested, but both said they wanted to see a demo in 35mm (Oyl). All the spare dough from my commercial-production company ended up in little machine shops, and did they ever see me coming! For example, in an attempt to make the camera pan and tilt independently, I had strayed into the scary world of "grade-14" worm gears, cut and fitted to impossible tolerances, in order to avoid backlash when my web of Berg belts was cranked from the handle. The last of this series of finer and finer worm gears cost five thousand dollars to fit, and was the knock-out punch for the "pole". Despite having a patent application ready to file, I abandoned the whole notion. The principles were sound, but it was too big, too heavy, too complex - a turkey. I was desperate now to find a commercially viable answer and recover my investment. I have told interviewers that in the spring of 1973 I twice checked into motels for week-long marathons of thinking-with-no-distractions (except frequent room-service), and this much is true, however the story about scaring the maids by running up and down the corridors with borrowed mop handles is exaggerated. Mild amusement was the general reaction. (Conrd on page 25)
\
路.
.
~
The Iron Age. Steadicam's feature debut...Old and new technology meet on Bound for Glory. (1975)
~ Society of Operating Cameramen (Stead/cam Continues) Eventually I got it. The hardest part was giving up features - like the camera's ability to boom from floor to ceiling (I still think about how to get the present Steadicam to go from high to low mode while shooting). The requirements for a successful device were clear - lists I made at the time indicate it needed: "remote reflex viewing, isolated suspension (from vertical, horizontal and angular motions), minimum extra weight, close operation to the body, "float-with human servo-mech damping, 300 degree pan, 100 degree tilt, and zoom to 150mm." Range of lens heights: "knees to above head, minimum: waist to head". But which actual mechanism, which combination of devices would be good enough, yet light enough to add on to the weight of 35mm cameras? It was a chess problem. Although I personally gained about 20 pounds via room service, I did fin ally emerge with "The Invention." I believed it would work well for fast moving shots, but doubted it would ever give the dolly much competition for precision. At worst, I thought it could be simpler, smaller and lighter and therefore had a chance to be sold, so I decided to build one final version. It seemed quite promising, although it needed a bit of practice(!) I set out to make a final demo and had a job lined up on which to try it - an Arnold Palmer sweater commercial, to be shot on a golf course in Latrobe Pa. At the last minute, Palmer's manager notified us that he wouldn't let Amie sign any kind of agreementof-secrecy, so we used a tripod for the shoot, and crept out onto the course again at twilight to shoot the last few shots for the demo. I tum the film into Deluxe Labs in Los Angeles and await the few days it takes to process. Soon I find myseH in a projection room viewing my dailies. They're fabulous, even at high speed. By 6:00 that night, the demo had been screened three times at Cinema Products Corp. , and twice at Universal Studios (where Darin McGavin jokingly tried to buy it away from Ed DiGiulio) and several more times back at CP where we finally made a
Page25 handshake deal. Ed was great. He said he wanted it, and he agreed to pay my royalty and advance an amount equal to all I had spent. To my great surprise, no cameras were stabilized for nearly a year thereafter. My lawyer and Ed's closet Visigoth battled through eleven drafts of the contract, and at last I flew west to sign the deal and to tum over my prototype and my little trove of knowledge about camera stabilization to CP. I earnestly briefed the engineers as to how I thought it worked, spoke of areas I felt needed more attention (many), explained how I felt about fiber-optic viewfinders (queasy), and asked if there were any questions. There were none. Seven months later, I asked for an update, and returned to LA to see the results of 700K of R&D. Incredibly, I found that hardly anyone had actually worn the thing. I discovered the reason. It was excruciatingly painful. The arm, sheathed in bellowsmaterial, stuck out like a mastodon trunk. The video camera, designed by someone who hadn't seen the gimbal, hung down blocking any possibility of panning left. The video monitor clung to the head. The battery rode on a backpack. And it didn't work! Merde! The dream was dented. The only consolation was the advance! (Don't leave home without it!) What happened may have been that Cinema Products was very busy and very, very hot with the CP 16, and here was this long-haired nonengineer from Philadelphia with what they saw as a very crude machine. It wasn't even anodized! They wanted to make it better, but went after so many changes at once, that the sense of it got lost. To CP's credit they stuck with it and quickly turned it around. John Jurgens was put on the case, and he was able to make better use of the raw data, including the stray revelations from me. Soon things began to come out right. We tested a variety of arm-contraptions, even doing a little shooting for a "Rockford Files," during which DP Lamarr Boren had the distinction to be the first to ask, "Would that thing be any good underwater?" There was a real job approaching. Haskell Wexler wanted to use the machine to shoot a Keds commercial,
Summer 1992 and we needed a working arm. I urged that we go ahead and copy the one from my prototype, but add stronger springs and also a vertical hinge to bend it in the middle, which would greatly increase its range of motion. At the same time, Arnold DiGiulio began the computer design for the final arm, incorporating our notion to divide the springs into three wired-together segments in order to soften the ride. We mounted the tiny video monitor (with magnifying glass) back on the camera and attached a pair of CP16 batteries to the can down below with the camera motor and the video boards. The commerical was a hit. The camera "ran" smoothly after dozens of '70's nymphets wearing Keds. Although uncertain as to the contents of the frame at any given moment, I had a great time and was learning at a frantic pace. Early in 1975, we were engaged to shoot on Bound for Glory. Haskell was DP and had persuaded the late Hal Ashby to try an extravagant, timeconsuming, expensive megashot with complete reliance on our contraption. We had only one throated magazine. I had never been on a feature set until I arrived in Stockton, CA and entered Ashby's enormous migrant worker camp with 900 extras. In the end, I was numb with fatigue and nerves, and the whole crew flowed away to resume the regular work without a backward glance. It was two nights later, that I finally saw our amazing shot and received a standing ovation. I stayed on the set for several more weeks and made a few nice shots, but the unit had progressed into night shooting, and without a follow-focus system, it was clear that we weren't going to be of much use. The next job the "Brown Stabilizer" got was shooting Rocky in Philadelphia. Shortly thereafter I began work with Conrad Hall on Marathon Man, on the streets of New York. In case you're interested, my last Philadelphia prototype (with fiberoptic find er) weighed a total of 23 pounds! The CP version on Marathon Man weighed 31 pounds . The final "CP-35" with its integral Arriflex weighed in at 46 pounds.
~Society of Operating Cameramen
Page 26
Summer 1992
Combat Cameramen The Russian Tour by Joe Longo
W i t h t h e Co 11 a b o r a t i o n of Gu i l d s , Th e A S C, S OC a n d I CC A , Common Wealth Cameramen get a Royal Hollywood Treatment. In April, a group of Soviet filmmakers were sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute and the United States CIS Private Sector exchange initiative of the United States Information Agency (USIA). After almost one week of receptions and press conferences the group consisting of Union of Cinematographers, Foreign Relations, Minister of Culture, Historians and four Combat Cameramen made their way to Los Angeles. The International Combat Camera Association became involved because of the four Russian Combat Cameramen. The l.C.C.A. was formed four years ago by a group of ex-Combat Cameramen in the area. A non profit, non political group. Our primary purpose is to bring together those individuals who were assigned to a combat zone to record on film, videotape or still photography, historical scenes or sequences that depicted important events during the time of war, police actions or international conflicts. It is our hope that the forming of this organization will help convey a broad and balanced understanding of the complex and scattered events of those momentous times. To honor those who participated in the real life drama and tragedy of combat. l.C.C.A.'s primary goal is to secure recognition the Combat Cameramen have long deserved. And to develop an oral and visual record of those men and women who documented Combat Photography during times that are todays history.
With these goals in our agenda, the meeting with the four Russians C.C. was a highlight for them and for us, here was an opportunity to actually meet after 45 years since the last volley of the second World War dies away. They were our allies then, but with the advent of the cold war and mountains of propaganda and disinformation we grew apart. However, the world is changing and we have all come to realize the value of peace and understanding of common human values. The Russians had a good time while they were here, the program was full, Aside from the usual tourist attractions, they experienced a genuine one on one relationship. Helicopter rides over the city, California Barbecues and Shopping sprees. It all helped make their visit a memorable one. Parting was emotional. We both experienced a warm sense of accomplishment. The sort of feeling that maybe the distrust we had known in the past was unnecessary. When people can communicate one on one, a better understanding can be reached. We have been invited to visit them this October. Their invitation was sincere. A friendship has been established that should continue in the name of lasting peace. So Mr. Bitman, Mr. Arabov, Mr. Afanasyev and Mr. Khudonazorov, we bid you a fond farewell. We are hoping our paths will cross again in the near future. We would like to thank those who helped make the Russians feel at home. The SOC, Randall Robinson, the vendors Et al, George Dibie, the ASC, Bill Fraker and on and on, too numerous to mention but not forgotten for your efforts.
Cameramen
P. e27
RUSSIAN DELEGATION VISITS THE MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION FUND by Gayle Robinson
0
n the 26th of February, the Society of Operating Cameramen, in conjunction with the Motion Picture and Television Fund, hosted a delegation of dignataries. The select group was from the Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly referred to as the Soviet Union. The group consisted of twelve men and one woman: archivists, historians, filmmakers, combat cameramen and cinematographers. Their home countries included: Russia, lzbekistan, Ukraine and Belarus. The delegation's visit was in conjunction with the United States Information Agency/Smithsonian Institute conference entitled: "How We Viewed Each Other." Their goals were to exchange archival collections. They were here to get the 'facts straight'. President After an early morning visit with Ronald Reagan, a Luncheon was held at the Fund's Calabasas Country Home. The delegation was met by an enthusiastic industry crowd. Present to greet the visitors were trustees from the Motion Picture and Television Fund including the actress Janet Leigh. Also present were members of the International Combat Cameramen's Assocation, San Fernando Valley Arts Association, executives, business representatives and Hollywood industry leaders. Cocktails were poured as the visitors took the opportunity to view state of the art, 35mm motion picture camera equipment. Thanks to Arri, Panavision, Cinema Products, Clairmont Camera and Wes Lambert for their displays. A memorable moment took place when Naum Bitman, a film producer from Ukraine, wrestled the Steadicam literally off the body of the Operator. A warm and festive atmosphere was created by the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Tables were beautifully decorated and seating all arranged. How pleasing it was to see the Presidents of the Society of Operating Cameramen, the American Society of Cinematographers and the International Photographer's Guild sitting together. The group was addressed by Roger Davis, President of the Trustees of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and Pamela Ahearn, of the United States Information Agency. Warm and moving speeches were also delivered by Bill Fraker, George Spiro Dibie and Joe Longo. Certificates of recognition were presented to the group by Randall Robinson on behalf of the SOC .
Summer 1992
~~hr &.'~.
~ USIA
The Luncheon culminated in a touching moment when 89 year old Bitman embraced 90 year old veteran Hal Weinberg. Weinberg, in his Marine dress blues, had not seen Bitman since they were allies on the battlefields of WWI, over seventy years ago. Describing the event, Roger Davis said, "The opportunity to come together as friends and being able to share information with our counterparts from across the globe made this a meaningful experience for all of us." The Society of Operating Camermen was proud to be able to host such an event.
Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd., Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364
United States Information Agency Washmgron, D.C. 20547
Dear Mr. Robinson: Congratulations and many thanks for helping to make the visit of the World War II Filmmakers Delegation to the Los Angeles area a productive one. It was quite obvious that the delegation was overwhelmed and impressed with the significant level of information and affection that greeted them. The visit to Los Angeles would not have been complete without a visit to The Motion Picture Home. You and the Society of Operating Cameramen put a great deal of time and energy into making the CIS delegation feel a part of your community. Not only were you able to share with them a snap shot of how the industry takes care of its own, but you also shared with them a desire that Americans and peoples from the CIS will be able to engage further in contacts and cooperation in the field. You gave to them not only hope, but also a good sense of what America and Americans are all about. I certainly hope you enjoyed meeting them as much as they enjoyed meeting you. For your information, I have enclosed a copy of the delegation list. In the future, should we have other visitors from the former Soviet Union that are interested in your expertise, I hope that we may call on you. Sincerely, Gregory Guroff Coordinator Office of European Affairs United States Information Agency
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~ FUJI. A newwayof seeing things. 漏 1992 Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc.
Pa e28
Summer 1992
MOTION PICTURE & TELEVISION FUND
THE MPTF AND SOC ~£[~fIT'lM~OO®
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©£00~
by Louella Benson For decades, the Society of Operating Cameramen has been a supporter of the Motion Picture and Television Fund. This type of generous industry support has enabled us to provide a variety of services exclusively to the entertainment industry. Contrary to popular belief, the MPTF is not a "retirement home" -- one or more programs serve those as young as six weeks old (eligibility varies), and even adult children and parents. The MPTF of today is one of the largest care providers in Southern California, operating a 256-bed hospital, three health centers, a child care and educational facility, and a retirement community. No other industry can claim such a comprehensive provision of its own health and human services! HEALTH SERVICES In today's fast-paced world, the concept of "the family doctor" has not been lost at the MPTF. Boardcertified family practitioners and internists served as personal physicians at the Woodland Hills Health Center, Bob Hope Health Center in Hollywood, and Studio Health and Medical Center in Burbank. Inpatient services at the Motion Picture and
Television Hospital cover intensive, acute, skilled nursing, and Alzhheimer's care. To complete the range of health care, the MPTF also operates The Industry Health Network, a network of physicians, facilities and health plans. Comprehensive diagnostic services that help in early detection and treatment include: radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology and laboratory testing. Also available are inpatient and outpatient surgery, rehabilitation (physical, occupational and speech therapies), nutritional counseling, fullservice pharmacies and three special care programs (podiatry, pulmonary/allergy and geriatrics). SOCIAL SERVICES When the MPTF was founded in 1921, its mission was to provide emergency financial assistance to industry families in the aftermath of World War I. This program continues, as well as a number of social services that include: individual and group counseling, support groups, volunteer assistance for the homebound, a referral program for caregivers of seniors, a shared housing referral program and other community services. (Continued on page 29)
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Society of Operating Cameramen CHILD CARE In 1991, the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation Children's Center in West Los Angeles opened. MPTF addressed the needs for quality child care for children ages six weeks through six years. Non-enrolled children can still take advantage of the Center through two programs: Wishing Well program for children with mild illnesses as a cold or earache and the Drop-off Program.
Summer 1992
Page29
Helping Kids On The Edge Following the recent riots on the streets of Los Angeles, a program to reach out and help the children of the inner city has been started by the Watts Summer Workshop. The group originally formed during the riots of 65'. Bill DuBois will head a 16 week course at USC on all aspects of cinema. Students will make their own film at the conclusion of the program.
The SOC, along with The International Photographers Guild, has been asked for volunteers to teach classes. Many of our members will be giving their expertise to this rewarding endeavor. Haskell Wexler, Chuck Barbee, Bill Clark, Doug Knapp, Bill Hines, Mike Benson and Randy Robinson, to name a few, have signed up to teach classes. Perhaps these efforts can turn the tide in a young persons heart and help them to live a better life.
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY More than 130 Industry retirees live on the MPTF's Woodland Hills campus. Residents continue their active lives or find new ones at the Country House or Frances Goldwyn Lodge, where everyone has at least one thing in common: the Industry. Thanks to the SOC's generous donation of $10,000, residents enjoy a new Dolby sound system twice a week. When they view first-run films in the 250-seat Louis B. Mayer Theatre!
FOR AN APPOINTMENT For an appointment with a primary care physician, call any health center below. Walk-ins are accepted. Cancellations must be made 24 hours in advance. Payment by Industry insurance plans or Medicare and Medi-Cal for noninsured patients is accepted. The Toll-free, 24 hour Industry Healthline, is: 800/488-8844. Studio Health & Medical Center 2717 W. Olive Ave Burbank, CA 91510 (818) 559-4255 Mon-Fri, 1Oa.m. - 7 p.m. Bob Hope Health Center 335 N. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90069 (213) 938-2251 Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Motion Picture & TV Hospital Woodland Hills Health Center 23388 Mulholland Drive Woodland Hills, CA 91364 (818) 876-1050 Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. SaVSun, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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~ Society of Operating Cameramen
Page30
Summer 1992
BEHIND THE LENS
I
The Association of Professional Camerawomen by Liz Bailey, soc
Camera Operating was the subject of a panel discussion held at Panavision on Saturday, July 11th. The Society of Operating Cameramen & Behind the Lens: The Association of Professional Camerawomen held the panel in response to growing requests for more symposia by Industry professionals. The first joint venture between the two professional assocations was a huge success with 65 people in attendance. The panelists were: Paul Babin, soc, Allen Daviau, ASC, Kristin Glover, Patricia Hill, soc. Randall Robinson, soc, Richard Walden and Liz Bailey, soc as moderator. After brief opening statements from each speaker on their own operating priorities, questions were taken from the audience. Set etiquette was stressed, as well as communication skills and technical adaptability. Daviau talked about what he demands from an operator. He recommended Ron Dexter's new book on camera and set protocol. "This book is a must for any one who works in this business," Daviau remarked. He urged all to learn more about video because he feels the technologies are merging.
Babin related the unique considerations that special effects demand of an operator. Glover added her experience from STAR TREK VI and also spoke of womens' position in the world of operating. Hill gave pointers on handling less cooperative crew members and how to deal with some of the more common pitfalls. Robinson explained the objectives of the SOC and stressed the importance of safety on the set. Walden shared several humorous anecdotes as well as practical operating tips like avoiding "pink eye" by using alcohol swabs after sharing the eyepiece with innumerable crew that "want a look". Bailey stated the objectives of BTL and added multi-camera insight. The meeting concluded with hands-on demonstrations of a new shoulder rig for operating hand-held by Jib Jobs in concert with a host of Panavision equipment set up specifically for the symposia. The remarks were greatly received by students and professionals alike. Everyone stayed and mingled, it was a great event! (Liz Bailey did a wonderful job putting this event together. The Society is very greatful for her efforts.)
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Pa e 31 (Myers cont'd from page 18)
In the 1960's, Myers spent three weeks at the White House shooting President Lyndon Johnson. David recounts, "I was using an Arri 2C with a Cine 60 blimp, 400 ft. loads and a 25mm to 250mm zoom. I used the fastest film available in 35mm, color reversal, 200-250 ASA. All this supported on my shoulder by some sort of body brace deal." Dave describes Johnson as a real hard person to deal with. He goes as far to say that he "learned to dislike the asshole." Johnson used to walk by lighting set ups and pull the plugs out of the wall sockets. "I was shooting the signing of the Civil Rights Act, (which the Republicans are now trying to withdraw). Johnson was there along with Martin Luther King, Supreme Court Justices, and many other famous dignitaries. Dave had the perfect position for the signing of the Act. He was situated directly in front of the group awaiting the commencement. But then the press was let in and they all ran right in front of him. So Dave squatted down enabling him to hold his shot. Moving back a little he felt a soft cushioned area to sit. "It didn't struggle, so I just stayed there," says Dave. The next thing he knew, a dozen secret service men lifted him up like a crane. He looked down and realized he had been sitting on Lady Bird's lapl "Oh, sorry Mrs Johnson." But that didn't stop him. He went back to the Rose Garden where he knew LBJ would be exiting. He told his gaffer to get ready. "Blast him in the face with the Sun Gun." The signing ended, hands were shaken and then out came the President. On came the lights. LBJ flashed him a dirty look, Dave says, but kept shooting. Johnson knew he couldn't go anywhere. In seconds, the press was surrounding the President as well.
He had no choice but to put on a good face and answer the questions. Two or three minutes into rolling, Dave runs out of film. He hears this, "Cullunk, cullunk, cullunk," as the film empties off the magazine. He waited a couple of minutes but then said to his gaffer, "Turn off the light, let the guy go." Off Johnson darted. After completing the film, Dave ran into a friend who worked for the USIA. He asked her if she had ever seen the film on Johnson. "Are you kidding?" she exclaimed. "We ran that film in Istanbul, Turkey and it started a riot. They nearly tore the theatre down." Dave also covered President Reagan for three weeks when he was Governor. He describes Reagan as one of those characters you see on Hollywood Blvd, a one dimensional billboard poster. The only thing he can really remember Reagan talking about was how he ordered fresh jelly beans every two weeks from Beverly Hills. "It didn't seem like there was a man in there," Dave commented. At one point he found himself running hand in hand in the surf at Malibu with Nancy Reagan. "She's the one that wore the pants," Dave remarks . Hoffa "His feet were pretty close to the cement but he didn't know it," says Dave about Jimmy Hoffa. He did a documentary, entitled, "Jimmy Hoffa - Hero or Crook?" "He's the kind of guy who could get along with people if he wanted to. He had a clever, manipulative, humane facade." During the interview a BBC Producer commented: "The Teamsters have a very bad rep for hiring gangsters to knock off people they don't like." Jimmy retorted, "No, that's not true, we have some very confident people of our own to take care of problems like that." Hoffa disappeared shortly thereafter.
Summer 1992
We asked Dave about his opinion of what the business is going through now. "I am astounded. I'm sorry to see it in this state. But I guess you can't stop change, even if it's not progress." He blames MTV for being a degrading influence in the business. He first noticed this deterioriaton of professionalism in television documentaries, five to ten years ago. "I go back and forth between documentaries and features so I could really see it. The major blame, I think, is the networks would send out young, inexperienced field producers. I like to collaborate and work as a unit. But the more unknowledgable the producers are, the more they seem to resent any advice from anybody that knows more than they do." When being approached about these type of jobs, he said, "I refuse to take them. I do some research first. I turned one down recently and then I checked up to find out how it went and I was right. It's insulting to work that way." He says it goes to the managerial end of the business. studio heads and producers are closer now to agents and deal makers, than film makers. And on grey listing, "It's ridiculous. We've got to fight back. Make films on a different basis. Not let them get away with it. The knowledge and expertise that we have should be utilized. Myers is on the Executive Board of the Mill Valley Film Festival. He says the most entertaining films today are from Europe. French films relate more to the real world, more experimental and less sterotyped. Dave Myers has had some interesting experiences in this business. He is a very talented, respectable cameraman. The Society of Operating Cameraman is proud to have him as an honorary member of this organization.
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~ Society of Operating Cameramen
I
Summer 1992
Page 32
I
SOC Letters
July 9, 1992
April 29, 1992
Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd., Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364
To: THE SOCIETY OF OPERATING CAMERAMEN
Dear Randy: I wish to thank you and your marvelous organization on behalf of Garrett Brown and all of us here at Cinema Products for bestowing upon us the Society of Operating Cameramen's 1992 technical achievement award. It is this kind of recognition that inspires us to do more to advance the art of cinematography. I want to thank you also for a most enjoyable evening in the company of old friends. We also enjoyed the beautiful settings and the marvelous food and entertainment. I hope we will be worthy of your recognition sometime again in the future. We will certainly strive toward that end. Kindest regards, Ed Di Guilio, Vice Chairman Director of Research
Cinema Products Corporation
July 1, 1992 Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd., Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 Dear SOC, I am living in Cambria, California, far from Hollywood and all my dear friends. I battle with the nurses and the rages of old age. At a time when I was feeling as though I had been all but swept under the carpet, this recognition was bestowed upon me. My health made it impossible to attend your lovely banquet. I can't tell you how much receiving this award has meant to me. You come to me with such warmth and love for an old friend. I can't express how deeply you made me feel my life and remember all the good years we had together. Sincerely, Frank Stanley
OOARDOF GOVERNORS
I've never been so proud to be a member of any organization as I was on the night of the 25th. Congratulations to all on a first class event, with special recognition to Howie, Bobby, and Staph for a lot of hard work, it showed. If Howie hadn't misspelled someone's name on a particular trophy everything would have been perfect. Enclosed please find my check for $250.00 for my five extra guests. They were more of a shock to me than to you, but it was great having them present to see Grandpa get his award. The Cammy is truly the high point of my career and I again thank all those involved with the selection and presentation. To all my friends who may get up our way in the future; please stop by and say hello, spend a night and join me for a day of the best fishing on the coast, or just have a cup of coffee, but stop and say hello. With my warmest regards and fondest memories, I remain an SOC brother forever. Owen Marsh
June 25, 1992
-PANAVIE/DN
Mr. Bill Hines Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd. Ste. 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 Dear Bill: I would like to take this time to thank the Society for acknowledging Al Mayer on his creation of the Panaglow Illuminated Ground Glass. Panavision will always continue to manufacture state-of-the-art camera systems. We would like to thank all the camera operators for their many helpful suggestions during the development stages. As always, you or any member of the Society are welcome to tour our facility and test our equipment. Sincerely, Phil Radin Executive Vice President Marketing
~ Society of Operating Cameramen
Summer 1992
Page 33
A prt.'ot•. non-ptOllt corporotton
Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd., Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA Dear Randall, When our Director, Ed Artis, asked the Executive Committee for permission to promote a Los Angeles visit of the Russian participants of HOW WE VIEWED EACH OTHER to meet local combat cameramen and tour local film facilities, my first reaction was that it was not the Council's mission and we were not equipped to handle such an undertaking--but that was without knowledge of your forthcoming commitment and contributions. As you may have noticed, however, Ed is a very persuasive man and I agreed fortuitously. Thanks to you and your group it was a very successful undertaking. The joy of the Russian and American combat cameramen was evident, the warmth of their reception by you was gratifying, and the rewards to the Arts Council for one of our more successful events are many-especially observing the stars of our show being respected and appreciated. Our mission is to bring the people and the arts together in San Fernando Valley. Thanks to you--mission accomplished. Sincerely, Arlen Dean Snyder President
Dec 6 90 Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 USA Dear Randall Robinson: It was kind of you to send me a certificate and I was very pleased to receive it. I was delighted that you had sent one to Simon Feldman and I have forwarded it direct to him. You may not hear from him, but I can tell you that he reads and speaks English and he will be very touched and very pleased. As technical director at Billancourt Studios, he worked on 200 pictures including Carl Dreyer's classic, PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC(1928). This was photographed by Rudy Mate, who became better known in Hollywood. Best wishes and thanks again, ···· Kevin Brownlow .. .. ······· ... .. ··.············· .. ......... ··································· .. ..... .................. .. . I
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Society of Operating Cameramen 22704 Ventura Blvd ., Suite 123 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 Dear Randall: The presentation of the plaque and the screening of The General was a wonderful focus for our Main Street Celebration this year. The community of Cottage Grove is grateful for the efforts the Society of Operating Cameramen and Hollywood Heritage have made to celebrate and preserve this part of our history. From a personal point of view, I very much enjoyed the time that you, Randy and Owen spent at the celebration talking with people (especially the folks who were part of the film) and at dinner that evening. I hope your time here was all you hoped for. Our expectations were met and exceeded. Thank you again for your generosity. I have included a list of people who helped with the event as you asked. Good luck with the "baby thing". Sincerely, Jeff Towery City Manager
There's Alot More To It Than Meets The Eye
SOCIETY OF OPERATING CAMERAMEN CHARTER MEMBERS PARKER BARTLEIT PAUL BASTA MICHAEL BENSON RUPERT BENSON JR. BOB BERGDAHL HOWARDBWCK DON BURCH DAVID CAILOWAY MIKE CHEYAUER STEVE CONANT IlMCONNELL SAMDRUMMY JOE EPPERSON MIKEFERRA RON FRANCIS Bil..L GAHREf GILHAIMSON PETER HAPKE Bil..LHINES JOHNHUNECK WAYNE KENNAN BOB KEYS NORM LANGLEY TOM LAUGHRIDGE BRICE MACK ill ED MOREY TOM MUNSHOWER LEENAKAHARA JAYNEFCY RIKNERYIK KING NICHOLSON LEIGH NICHOLSON JOHN NOGLE DAN NORRIS SKIP NORTON DAVID NOWELL WAYNE ORR RICHARD PRICE ERNIE REED PETER SALIM CHRIS SCHWIEBERT MIKESCOIT HALL SHIFFMAN ROGER SMITH MIKE ST. HILAIRE RAY STELLA JOE STEUBEN CAROL SUNFLOWER JOEYALENI'INE
ACTIVE MEMBERS JAMES ANDERSON TED ASTON JR. Bil..LASMAN PAUL BABIN ELIZABETH BAIIBY VINCENT BALDINO STU BARBEE LOUIS BARLlA TOM BARRON RICHARD BENDA ALBEITCHER JOE BLAISDELL STEPHEN BLAKE JAMES BLANFORD PETER BONILLA Bil..LY BRAGG
GARREITBROWN BOB BRYAN JERRY CALLAWAY ROBERT CARIMICHAEL JOE CHESS JR. DANA CHRISTIAANSEN CHARLES COHEN FREDDIE COOPER JOHN CORSO RON COURTNEY IVAN CRAIG RICHARD CULLIS ROCKY DANIELSON DAVID DIANO GEORGE SPIRO DIBIE KEVIN DOWNEY ALEXIS DuPONT JAMES ETHERIDGE MICHAEL FERRIS BRUCE FINN HOWARD FORD MICHAEL FREDIANI MICHAEL FRIFT JAG GAYNOR RUSTY GELLER RALPH GERLING WAYNE GETCHELL RAY GONZALES JOHN GOODE JOHN GUTIERREZ ANNEITE HAELLMIGK TERRY HARKIN RONALD HIGH PATRICIA HILL WILLIAM HIRSCH JOACHIM HOFFMAN LEVIE ISAACKS DAVID JUDY BURL KINNY JOHN KISER DOUGLAS KNAPP DANKNEECE ROBERT LA BONGE JOHN LAMBORN JEFFREY LASZLO HENRY LEBO
MARKLEVIN MICHAEL UTILE GEORGE LOOMIS BRADENLUI'Z CAM MacDONALD CONSTANTINE MAKRIS JAMES MANN JOHN MASKALL RICHARD MASON STAN McCLAIN DONMcCUAIG RONMcMANUS MIKE MEINARDUS ROBERT MILLS WILLIAM MOLINA CHRISTOPHER MOON JEFF MOORE JOSHUA MORTON RICK NEFF MICHAEL NEGRIN CHUCK NICKLlN
ED NIELSEN RANDY NOLEN PHILIP OETIKER MICHAEL O'SHEA DAVID PARRISH AARON PAZANfl ROBERT PEEBLES DAYIDPLENN ROBERT PRESLEY LASZLO REGOS BERNARD REILLY HERB ROBERTS RANDALL ROBINSON DAYID ROBMAN HARVEY RUBIN FRANK RU'ITENCUTTER STEYENSCHOEDSACK PHILIP SCHWARTZ JONATHAN SMITH STEPHEN ST. JOHN GEORGE STEPHENSON CRAIG STEWART MICHAELSTRAMISKY DAYIDSTUMP Bil..L SWEARINGEN RICHARD TIEDEMANN JOHN TOLL DANIEL TURREIT
PERNELL TYUS ROBERT ULLAND GREGORY YanDERYEER THOMAS Yan OTTEREN VICTORIA WALKER JOHN WARD Bil..L WILLlAMS BEN WOLF ELIZABETH ZIEGLER
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS GARY ARMSTRONG EUGENE ASHBROOK CHUCK BARBEE MITCHELL BLOCK JOSEPH CAILOWAY BRUCE CARDOZO JEFF CLARK DON CROPPER JAMES DENNEIT RONALD DEVEAUX ROBERT FELLER DANFETLER GERALD FINNERMAN JOHN FLINN ill RICHARD GARBUTT JAMES GARVEY HARVEY GENKINS WAYNE GOLDWYN JEFF GREENE KEVIN HAGGERTY DONALD HALl.IDAY WYNN HAMMER JOHN HILL JOHN HUGGINS PHILIP HURN GREGORY IRWIN CHRIS ISHII GEORGE LA FOUNTAINE STEVEN LARNER
1992 JOHN LeBLANC BRIAN LeGRADY ROBERT MANSFIELD ANNIE McEYEETY JOHN McPHERSON MARK MELVILLE MANNY METAXAS GARY MOORE JOHN NEWBY NICHOLAS NIZICH TED POLMANSKI SERGE POUPIS BILL REITER MARVIN RUSH LEE SAFAR RICHARD SALVATORE BOB SEAMAN HASKELL WEXLER SHAUN WHEELER
HONORARY MEMBERS STEPHANIE BENSON BRUCE DOERING BILL FRAKER RON KELLY DAYLAT KHUDONZAROY WESLEY LAMBERT JERRY LEWIS LYNN MURPHREY DAVE MYERS JAY ROTH FRANK STANLEY GEORGE TOSCAS ROSEWAPNER HARRY WOLF
RETIRED MEMBERS BERNIE ABRAMSON CESARE ALLIONE BRUCE CATLIN PHIL CAPLAN BILL CLARK CLIFF CONCIALDI JEFF GOLDENBERG JERRY GOOD LUTZ HAPKE IRV HEITZNER KENNY HUNTER JOHN HUSSEY DAYID KURLAND STEVE LYDECKER OWEN MARSH BOB MARTA MICHAEL McCLARY AL MYERS ARNOLD RICH SAM ROSEN IlMSAPER LOU SCHWARTZ JOHN STEVENS DAYID SUTTON JOHN THOENY SVENWALNUM
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