Camera Operator July/Dec 1997 by Society of Camera Operators

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The Operating Cameraman Magazine Volume 7, Number 1 July-December 1997 In what galaxy will you find this planet? (Hint: It's not Mars.) See page 43.

Camera lenses had undergone major changes by the first time the credit line at the bottom of this screen appeared. The movie was A Hole in the Head. See page 52.

The Mitchell camera was everywhere. learn more about it-see page 26.

CoNTENTS oF THIS IssuE:

2 3 4

SOC Web Page In Memory of Brent Hershman Making Movie Magic on $5.00 a day by Carol Bidwell 9 Compromising the Making of 'Where Truth Lies' 14 SOC News and Notes 14 15 19

26 39 43

New Corporate Sponsors SOC Board Meets at CBS Studio Center Neither ice nor snow nor ... (News from Canada) Helping Children: Our Donations at Work

Mitchell-the Standard b y L Sprague Anderson Show Business Is My Life by Owen Marsh soc 2 Be or Not 2 Be by David Rohman SOC

48 52

More About Video Assist by N Paul Kenworthy }r Rivals to Cinemascope (4th in the W idescreen Series, the beg inning of the anamorphic lens)

by Rick M itchell Cranking at Double Speed (Michae l Fredi ani 's presiden cy)

Ultra 4000 by jacques Arnet 73 Perspectives by Bill Hines soc 74 Advertisers' Index 76 An Islander's Odyssey by Phil Bishirjian 80 Roster of the Society of Operating Cameramen, Summer 1997

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 1

his society has been established to advance the arts and creative contribution of the Operating Cameraman (Second Cameraman, Camera Operator) in the motion picture and video industries. To foster and strive for excellence, artistic pe1jection and scientific knowledge in all matters pertaining to film and video photography.

EDITORS

Bill Hines Stan McClain AssociATE EDITOR

Jeffrey Alan Goldenberg PosT-PRoDUCTION MANAGER

Douglas Knapp ADVERTISING/S ALES

Bill Hines

T J ision,

CIRCULATION

Amanda Thompson D ESIGN

& PRODUCTION

Lynn Lanning, Double L Design, Glendale ELECTRONIC IMAGING

Lightning Process, Culver City

the essential ingredient that we V as Camera Operators use in our work intrinsically bonds us • to children with vision problems. ~ Our organization contributes I;. its full support to the Eye Care Clinic of the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

PRINTING

Katy O'Harra Gemini Graphics, Marina del Rey CoNTRIBUTORS

L. Sprague Anderson Bill Hines N . Paul Kenworthy Jr Jacques Arnet Carol Bidwell Owen Marsh Phil Bishirjian Rick Mitchell Michael Frediani Bill Molina Rick Garbutt David Robman PHOTOGRAPHY

The Operating Cam eraman Magazine is published semi-annually by the Society of Operating Cameramen. For advertising information and article submissions, please contact: SOC Attn Bill Hines at PO Box 2006, Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070 Copyright © 1997 by the Society of Operating Cameramen fa) ® is a registered trademark. ~ All rights reserved.

SOC O FFICERS

Stan McClain . . . . . . . . . . . . . President Phil Schwartz . . . . . . . . . Vice President Amanda Thompson . . . Vice President Terry Harkin . .. ... . .. Vice President William Molina . . . . . . . . . . . Treasurer Georgia Tornai Packard . . . . . Secretary Steve Essig .... Membership Chairman Michael E Little . . . . Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Hines. . . . . . . . . . Corporate Liaison Harvey Genkins ... . .. . .... SOC Wear Patty Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . Administrator BoARD o F G oVERNORS

L. Sprague Anderson Chris Hood Steve Essig N. Paul Kenworthy Jr

MikeGenne Aldo Antonelli Ken Ferro Peter Hapke Lance Fisher Ron High Torn Fraser Michael Jones Bill Gahret Alan Lurn Li Bill Waldman

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ContactThe S.O.C.

Chauncey Chapm an Michael Frediani

Page 2

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

Webmaster

Supervising Editor

In Memory of Brent Hershman Society of Operating Cameramen

t rying to return home after a

is dedicating this issue of their

brutally long day. Productions should

magazine to the memory of BRENT

strive to keep exhausted drivers,

HERSHMAN, an assistant cameraman

impaired by fatigue, from getting

who was tragically killed in a car acci-

behind the wheel, instead of contribut-

dent on his way home after putting in a

ing further to this clearly tragic situation. A grass roots petition to all production

nineteen hour day on a feature film. After helping to wrap three cameras

companies has spread across the industry to

and a Power Pod, he reminded his co-workers

limit our work day to fourteen hours, begin-

on the camera truck to drive carefully and left

ning at the call and ending when the last

for home. He was exhausted but his eight year

person is wrapped. This standard will improve

old daughter, Ariel, had been sick and he

our working efficiency and morale and cer-

wanted to be with her when she woke up.

tainly allow for a sufficiently productive work

Midway through his trip, the exhaustion over-

day, far in excess of the national standard.

came him. He drove his car off the road and

The work force in our industry has persevered

was killed. Besides Ariel, he leaves behind

far too lon g without such a vital safety

another daughter, Hannah, who is three and

guideline in place. A petition in Brent's name has been circu-

a half, and his wife, Deborah. We believe it is our responsibility to

lated titled BRENT'S RULE. The Society of

ourselves, our families, and the innocent

Operating Cameramen joins the tens of thous-

drivers of other vehicles to prevent this from

ands in their support for a fourteen hour work-

happening again. According to insurance

day and we urge all production companies to

industry research, driving while fatigued is

adopt the fourteen hour day.

as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. Working exhaustive and excessive hours has

The SOC has made a contribution to the

become an industry standard and we all

Brent Hershman memorial fund to help his

share blame for accepting it. We all know at

family. Anyone wishing to do so may send

least one person who has been in an accident

their contributions to the address below.

Deborah Hershman Trust, c/o Western Bank 1888 Century City Park East, Los Angeles, CA 90067

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page3

E3f'Making Movie Magic

o early moviegoers, "the pictures" meant thrilling cowboy chases and Saturday afternoon cliffhangers. But to Lothrop Worth, Jerry Fuller and Harry Lewis, the early days of film were a blur of "gag men," shavingcream pies, cranking cameras to a counted cadence, filming without scripts and long hours with little pay. "It was sometimes a crazy business," recalled Worth, 93, a retired cameraman who worked at several studios beginning in 1923, retiring in 1969 after a 20-year stint at Paramount Pictures. "You kind of made things up as you went along in the early days." "Things were quite unorganized at times," agreed Lewis, 95, who worked as an assistant director for Monogram and Allied Artists studios as well as a series of independent producers from 1923 to 1965. "You'd go out on location and somebody would say, 'What are we going to do today?' Somebody would have an idea: "You could do a chase.' And we'd do that until we thought we had something." And no matter what your job, it wasn't unusual to be drafted to appear before the cameras, said Fuller, 93, who doubled for Errol Flynn and other athletic stars, did a stint as a cameraman and worked as a prop man for a half dozen major studios from 1917 to 1979. "They'd be short a driver for a car Page4

The Operating Cameraman

0~ $5·00 a day by Carol Bidwell

and they'd say, 'Jerry, put on that hat and drive that car, or jump in the pool,"' Fuller said. "And you'd be in the movie." But in an industry that's celebrating digitally enhanced outer-space action and computer-animated dinosaurs, the three men admit those good old days seem long, long ago. Their musings on that early era of filmmaking were among the highlights of a documentary "Long, Long Ago," broadcast March 11 on American Movie Classics.

••••••••••••••••••••• Three men remember early days in Hollywood's 'crazy business' during heyday of silent films

••••••••••••••••••••• Of the 26 seniors who talk about their movie memories on the television show, Worth, Fuller and Lewis are the only three who were actually involved in making movies. "I was fascinated by the fact that these guys were in the industry. but July-December 1997

they weren't stars," said Ray Farkas, the film' s director. "And yet they were there. They're talking about a time that I never knew. And they were wonderful, an absolute delight."

A talkative trio The three men, who never worked together during their long careers but who have become buddies since they all became residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Country House in Woodland Hills, share a genuine camaraderie evident when they swap tales of movie-making mayhem. The stories come one on top of the other as the three finish each other's sentences and chime in with funny punch lines. Like the tale about the time Lewis showed up on Sunset Boulevard to get things organized for a shoot and found film siren Clara Bow and an actor stark naked and drunk in the back seat of a Rolls Royce that had one wheel stuck in the streetcar tracks. Or the day an Errol Flynn battle scene with hundreds of extras had to be reshot because halfway through the action the prop man discovered the British flag flying upside down. Or when there wasn' t enough money to fill an arena with people for a low-budget boxing flick, so each extra was given two painted papier-mache dummies and told to shake =*>

TEHND TECHND

tually working for Mack Sennett, Monogram, Republic, Warner Bros, Four Star and MGM studios. Lewis, who worked as a construction engineer at Lake Arrowhead, got his entree into the movies in the early 1920s when independent producer Harry Joe Brown (who later produced Fred ThomsonandKenMaynard westerns) came looking for help to secure lakeside filming permits. "I helped him out and he said, 'Any time you're in Hollywood and want a job, look me up/" Lewis recalled. "So I did. I worked for him for five years as a key grip, a lighting manager. I'd do about anything to make a dollar. I acted for Sennett some, but my acting career was very short." Cranking out the laughs

Retired filmmakers Lothrop Worth, left, Harry Lewis and Jerry Fuller

them to simulate audience excitement as the boxing match unfolded. The road to Hollywood

Unlike many people who found work in the movies, none of the three men arrived in Hollywood with stars in their eyes. Worth was attending the University of Southern California majoring in commerce and business administration when his father suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving him and his mother destitute. Director Cecil B. DeMille and his wife, who were family friends, helped ease him into behindthe-scenes movie work. "The DeMilles thought I should be an actor/' Worth said. "But I thought I should do something more technical. It was more lasting." He made his debut as a cameraman in 1923 and briefly became a sound

technician in 1927 when studios that had produced silent pictures were suddenly faced with producing talkies in response toW arner Bros' release of The Jazz Singer. Laid off a year later, he resumed his career behind the camera. In Toluca Lake, where Fuller lived, the movies were almost a neighborhood business. "All my friends and neighbors were actors and directors," he said. "So I went on down to Hollywood and Sunset (boulevards, where film studios were headquartered) to find a job." Almost immediately, he was put to work as a double in action flicks. "I was pretty athletic," Fuller recalls. "I doubled for lots of stars." But he, too, realized that a career built on brains rather than looks would probably last longer, and decided to work behind the camera as a property man and cameraman, even-

July-December 1997

Before sound pictures debuted, lots of "little, cheap comedies" were cranked out, one after the other, with minimal cast, crew and sets. "You'd shoot whatever the director wanted to shoot, and you'd make use of whatever happened that day," said Lewis, who as assistant director, had to make sure cast and crew arrived on time, arrange transportation to off-set locations and get everybody fed. "Sometimes some funny gags happened." Fuller and Lewis both worked for Sennett, who helped pioneer the screwball comedy. The cast (often including Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle), crew, director, a gag man (sometimes a young Frank Capra, hired to think up visual bits of funny business long before he became a director) would pile into two Cadillac convertibles and "head for the beach to make a picture/' said Fuller. Sennett's famous bathing beauties would change into their bathing suits in the restroom of a beachfront gas station, then they' d cavort on the sand as the camera rolled. If a gag didn't fit in one movie, it could always be used in another, Fuller said. The ultimate prop

The silent movies also developed a uniquely American comedy art form: pie throwing. And it was the job =*> of the prop man

The Operating Cameraman

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to make the pies by piling shaving cream into pie plates and when the lights' glare on the white pies caused too high a contrast on film, to paint them with whatever color paint was around the set, Lewis said. "Earlier efforts at pie making using whipped cream failed when the hot lights melted much of the cream and soured the rest." When a set got too messy from thrown pies, the cast and crew would start over on another set. Even when companies worked with a script it contained only a suggestion of dialogue, and since movies were silent the director would shout instructions to the actors through a megaphone. "You'd see their mouths moving but a lot of actors were saying nothing," he said. "It was just gibberish, but they looked like they were carrying on a conversation." The cameraman caught the action cranking crude, cumbersome cameras by hand-at 16 cranks per minute for a drama, 18 for a faster-paced comedy. If special effects-a split screen, a fade-out, a soft-focus close-up, a double exposure- were required, "We did all the tricks in the camera," said Worth, one of the early cinematographers who learned new techniques through trial and error.

Talkies take over After The Jazz Singer debuted, other movie companies scrambled to make talking movies, too. But because sound was such an innovation, sound men were equally experimental in their approach. Nobody was quite sure where to put the microphones, so the mikes - connected to long, cumbersome cords- were concealed beneath actors' clothing, in vases of flowers, desk drawers or anywhere else they could be hidden on the set, Worth said. It was several years before technicians were able to produce soundless booms to hold a microphone above an actor's head, just beyond camera view. Wages before the formation of protective unions in the 1930s were $5 a day for actors and crew alike (about the same pay as streetcar conductors earned, $1 less than a postman and $2 less than a carpenter)-although Page8

The Operating Cameraman

stars such as Mary Pickford could command $10,000 or more a week, even in the 1920s. In the earliest days of film, most actors also had to provide their own wardrobe. Suave Adolphe Menjou worked constantly "because he had his own tuxedo," said Worth. "He'd carry his whole wardrobe with him in his car."

The daily grind It wasn't unusual for crews to be shuttled from one set to the other on the same day, working on more than one film at a time. "There was no over-

••••••••••••••••••••• ''I'd be working today ifI could." -Lothrop Worth, cameraman

••••••••••••••••••••• time, nothing (extra) for nights, Saturdays and Sundays," said Fuller. "It was $5 a day for 24 hours." "At midnight, they gave you $1 to eat on," Worth said. "And we had places where we could eat for 35 cents, so we made 65 cents (extra) for working the night." When possible, two or more movies were filmed on the same location using different casts and a single crew. Once, recalled Worth, cowboy actors Yakima Canutt (who later became Hollywood'smostrespectedstuntman) and Art Acord took turns galloping horses past the camera against a background of rocky terrain. "We'd run Art through," he recalled. "Then we'd pan a little bit to change the background and run Yakima through." By the time they finished, they had two movies in the can. "I made two westerns in three days for $5 a day," said Worth. "I made 15 bucks for two pictures." After filming all day, the rest of the crew would go home, but the cameraman had to unload two cameras- one used to record the action, the other to snap still photos - and take them to two separate labs for processing.

July-December 1997

"Sometimes I'd get home at 2:00 in the morning," Worth said. "And no overtime pay. That was something fierce. That was what drove us into the unions." During their careers, the three men worked with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, from Judy Garland and Gene Kelly to John Wayne and Gary Cooper, and most respected directors, including Billy Wilder and John Ford. Buteventually, theydecideditwas time to hand the reins over to younger technicians. Lewis retired after spending nearly an entire year aboard an aircraft carrier filming the 1964 film Flat Top. Fuller retired after working for several years on the December Bride series at Desilu. Worth hung up his camera in 1969 after a bout with heart disease. Of the three, Worth is the only one who misses the movies. "I'd be working today if I could," he said. "I loved the work. There were new problems with every story. You were learning all the time from other people." The three say they rarely venture into a movie theater anymore. Too much nudity and bad language, they complain. Their favorites? Jurassic Park, with its animatronic dinosaurs, "was done beautifully," Worth said. Fuller liked the pig saga Babe and Fly Away Home, in which a young girl teaches a flock of wild geese to fly. "There was no language that was offensive, there was no nudity," he said. Worth is perhaps the most critical of modern films. "I think a high percentage of today's movies are (made) just to make money," he said. "The public goes for them. But there's very little story, no character development. It's all fireworks and special effectsor they're trying to shock you. These things just bore me because I know how they're done."

~ ©Daily News Reprinted by permission. Carol Bidwell is a staff writer for the Daily News.

••••••••••••••••••••• John Savage stars as Dr. Jan Lazarre, a deeply troubled psychotherapist who tumbles into a deep depression of drinking and despair after learning his wife Wendy dies in an auto accident. His second wife and his best friend have him committed to the Blackhurst Institute, a rehab clinic operatedbyDr. VemonRenquist(Malcolm McDowell) and the equally enigmatic Nurse Chambers (Kim Cattrall). That of course is when Lazarre 's troubles really begin. Also stars Candice Daly, Eric Pierpoint, Sam Jones and Denis Forest. Directed by William H. Molina (Co/or/97 min. / Rated R)

••••••••••••••••••••• Every production undoubtedly has its share of problems and compromises. The making of Where Truth Lies was no exception. From the beginning anumber of problems plagued the project. The original hundred and twenty page script penned by Ted Perkins had been titled "Hysteria. " Production embraced it as an omen. After several rewrites, the newly titled and unfinished ninety-seven page screenplay was hastily deemed ready for principal photography. With countless production hurdles and less than four weeks of pre-production, the project was already suffering from numerous compromises.

The producers mandated a twenty day shooting schedule with no less than ten locations, twenty two sets and eight leading characters. Talent schedules did not coincide with locations. Locations did not coincide with budget. The below the line budget was slated around half a million. The math was simply not adding up. Compromise is defined as a settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions. Unfor-

is a collaborative process. There is no such thing as being independent. Whether it's the screenplay, the producers, the financing, the distributor, the actors, the crew, the weather, whatever-the fact is you are dependent. Something or someone will eventually and perhaps inadvertently compromise your vision. It is as though filmmaking is a by-product of compromise. The final outcome is adversely affected and dependent on the process itself." Having a total of twenty-two locations and only twenty days in which to shoot the film, one of the most critical budgetary concerns and challenges was to eliminate as many company moves as possible. Logistically, with page counts varying from five to ten pages a day and locations and sets widely ranging from mountain roads to corridors of a mental institution, there was no way possible production could execute two or more company moves a day and still meet the shooting schedule. And the mere mention of building sets on a sound stage or warehouse, much less twenty-two of them, was simply out of the question. Director I cinematographer Molina along with production designer Scott Plauche decided

Compromising the Making of

~where tunately, more often than not, it is the filmmaker and ultimately the film itself that end up making those detrimental concessions . For the record, compromise is part of making films in Hollywood. ''I'll be the first to admit, compromise (expletive). It's disheartening and unwarranted but somehow very much a part of the job," Molina relates. "By all accounts, filmmaking July-December 1997

Truth Lies' to compromise by selecting and consolidating as many sets and locations as possible. Existing standing sets were chosen for their adaptability, then dressed and lit accordingly to meet the picture' s criteria. Out of the twenty-two sets, only Lazarre' s room was specifically built for the film . Other locations doubled for the remaining se ts. Consequently, the choice of using preexisting sets ~> The Operating Cameraman

Page 9

dictated and forced the visual look of the film . Had there been no compromises, the film would have, for better or worse, taken an entirely different direction. Compromise forces one to ultimately improvise, which in itself can be a good or bad thing. Principal photography got underway at an abandoned hospital in East Los Angeles. The location served as an architect studio, a morgue, an

accordingly, putting the company into night shoots. This factor alone changed the entire complexity of the film. It altered the performance of the actors and the performance of the crew. Having to shoot intense scenes and close-ups at five o'clock in the morning was not a matter of choice or convenience. The physical and emotional wear and tear of shooting nights was starting to affect every-

actual working hospital, the dark corridors of Blackhurst Institute and Renquist' s laboratory. The first day started with the usual delays including a generator not running crystal-sync. But the company managed to make its first day somewhat unscathed . The second day of shooting was simply hysteria. A principal actor became severely ill and was unable to perform. Just as the shooting schedule was being revised, there was another "slight" problem with the location agreement. Production was temporarily evicted from the building. Afternoon shooting was abruptly canceled. Consequently, scenes had to be omitted in order to make up for the lost time. On day three of production, the page count sky-rocketed to nine. Because of the inadvertent halt in production the previous day, turnaround and call times were pushed

one on the set, especially the actors. For camera, everything was starting to look out of focus . Turning around the schedule without sacrificing another day was not feasible. Consequently, the actors and crew had to cope and battle with pre-dawn fatigue . Ironically, such solemn performances actually enhanced the dark mood of the film . Certain scenes were photographed with a VHS camcorder to create a non-broadcast quality image. The transferred 24-frame video would then be rephotographed on 35mm film through a nine-inch black and white monitor to simulate Lazarre' s room security camera. The Arriflex 535 camera supplied by Otto Nemenz International made for excellent shooting opportunities. Not only for its built-in electronic features, but its clear viewing system. This was extremely important to the director who was also serving

Page 10

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

as the cinematographer and camera operator. Molina also relied heavily on the camera' s capability to do incamera effects such as speed I aperture changes. The only drawback to this feature was that the shutter angle could only go down to 11 degrees, thus eliminating the choice of doing in camera fades and dissolves. Double exposure was used to show Lazarre witness himself walk into the morgue. Rather than do the effect as an optical, the film was reversed in the camera, then re-exposed with Lazarre now standing behind his own reflection. Other creative shots included speed I aperture changes which started in slow motion and ended in sync dialogue. The effects were used with subtlety in an effort not to call too much attention to them. Molina selected Eastman Kodak' s 5298 not only for its high-speed capability but its versatility as well. Film stocks were exposed as rated and processed normal by CFI. Tiffen Black Pro-Mist filters were used to enhance and soften the image slightly. Different lighting styles were employed throughout the production, but soft keys and fills were the norm. At times, a fog machine was used to accentuate and diffuse the lighting. Molina relied heavily on Kino-Flo fluorescent lighting for the laboratory and morgue scenes. "The great thing about Kino' s is you can get a quick confined soft light with-

out building and rigging huge soft boxes." Larger sets such as the main corridor, the courtroom and the cafeteria were lit conventionally with an array of tungsten units and chicken coops. A 7000 watt Xenon ~>

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was used to create the dramatic shaft of light both in the furnace room and the Blackhurst Institute corridor. HMI' s were also used extensively on location and in the maximum security cell. Since the observation room and Lazarre' s bedroom were nowhere remotely close in proximity as called for in the script, two things were done to tie the sets together. First, a black and white security camera was introduced to bridge the gap between the actors and the room. And secondly, a window plug was used to shoot the reverses at a completely different location. Obviously, the juxtaposition of the two sets would eventually tie the separate locations together. But during shooting, a certain amount of cheating had to be accomplished. Actors had to pretend the other room and performer were actually standing before them. On day six, the company relocated to Dos Carlos Stages located in downtown Los Angeles. The city hall set doubled for the main entrance to Blackhurst Institute. In midst of a major set-up, an actor's three hour makeover and hair change did not conform to the earlier camera tests of the director's instructions and specifications. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no time to correct the problem and the actor had to be shot as presented. Continuity was established and ultimately the director had to compromise his vision. The second week of shooting

brought on a w hole new set of problems. Payroll was delayed forcing the crew to understandably walk, leaving the director to fend for himself. Rather than lose yet another day of shooting, the director had no

Page 12

The Operating Cameraman

choice but to shoot several scenes with an empathetic and voluntary crew of five. "Without a proper crew, you have no choice but to compromise. It's damn near impossible to high-handedly push your own dolly, float a flag, pull focus and operate carnera." Third week of shooting ushered in several critical scenes. Namely, Teresa's discovery of the truth and her unforhmate rape scene. Murphy's Law struck again. Transportation had not been paid; therefore, the generator was not refueled. The set fell to complete darkness as cameras got ready to roll. Production lost several critical hours. "It's hard enough shooting a film in twenty days, but creating these kinds of unnecessary problems does not make the process any easier," Molina declared . Coverage was sacrificed in order to make up for lost time . Just when everyone thought things couldn' t get any worse, the company turned to shooting night exteriors. Griffith Park doubled for an abandoned mountain road. The scene involved a semi truck skidding past Wendy's oncoming car. The night exterior was keyed from high above using two 12K HMI' s from a Hi-Lite truck. Having access to this truck saved enormous time with light-

July-December 1997

ing set-up. In addition to the stunt, Wendy's rape scene needed to be shot outdoors. But as luck would have it, Wendy's picture vehicle accidentally backed over the main distribution box, knocking out all ground power to the set. Several hours later, picture finally got underway . But by the time the rape scene rolled around, the sky had started to glow with morning light. As a matter of necessity, Molina went handheld with the 535 camera in order to get the essential shots. This of course altered the shooting dynamics, which in this case actually worked for the scene. The following night, the company set up to shoot Wendy's car plummeting down a sheer cliff and blowing up. But of course, as the car made its one way trip over the slope, it got entrenched high above the rocks. After several failed attempts, the car was finally dislodged and pushed down the cliff. In order to allow the effects team sufficient time to rig the car with explosives, scheduled shots within the disabled vehicle were obviously dismissed. Turn-around finally put the company back into days. A private mansion located in Pasadena doubled for the exterior of Blackhurst Institute. Being late in the year, daylight was rather limited and critical. So it was no surprise when the honey wagon happened to break down in the middle of a crane shot. WHERE TRUTH LIES, coNT.~>

FAX: 2 I :J -~l6?- 12 17 J52 FJ-\.:<: UOU - 52~l-2205

WHERE TRUTH LIES,

CONTINUED

The last day of principal photography came to a close at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. This location doubled for a restaurant, a bar and Teresa's bedroom. A few weeks later, Molina flew to San Francisco to photograph the remaining establishing shots. In the end, the film was finally completed, but not without several more editorial and post-production compromises. One can only speculate what the outcome of the film could have been if there had been no compromises.

On the Web With SOC New categories on the SOC's web page include Members On Line and Members Photo Gallery (you can be there, too), Interesting Industry Information, and things you can do to improve Safety on the Set. http:/ /www.soc.org

SOC Welcomes New Corporate Affiliates

Above: Bill Hines, corporate liaison, George Nolan, president of GEO Film Group and Bob La Bonge, sponsor. Nolan is being presented with a plaque and certificates of Corporate Affiliate membership in the SOC.

••••••••••••••••••••• "Director William H. Molina, who also served as cinematographer and editor, develops a suitably spooky atmosphere. Savage is angry and anguished in just the right measures, while McDowell and Cattrall have some sly fun with the ambiguities of their characters. Other performances are as good as they have to be. William Molina's moody cinematography is pic's strongest tech credit.

Below: Mike Frediani, outgoing president and Bill Hines, corporate liaison present to Denny Clairmont, president of Clairmont Camera a plaque and certificate of Corporate Affiliate membership in the SOC. Georgia Tornai Packard, secretary, and Stan McClain, incoming president join in the welcome.

-Variety Weekly Film Review

••••••••••••••••••••• Page 14

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

SOC Board Meets at CBS Studio Center Left to right: Georgia Tornai Packard, Steve Essig, Stan McClain, Lance Fisher, Phil Schwartz, Michael Little, Amanda Thompson, Joe Epperson, Jeff Hoffman, Terry Harkin,AIIan Lum Ll, Bill Hines. Kneeling: Jeff Goldenberg, David Robman.

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The Operating Cameraman

Page 15

Focusing our best wishes toward all skilled professionals of the Society of Operating Cameramen .

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News from Canada

Neither ice nor snow nor ... CSC Assistants 1 Course & Operators Workshop

derful 'goodies' in those equipment cases. And in truth it is likely there has never before been such a collection of professional motion picture equipment gathered in Winnipeg.

JANUARY, 1997- WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA. The enthusiasm was high, the hospitality was warm and the Hands-on Goodies weather was diabolical. A disused warehouse on Sherbrook, Over the next few days we were joined by Greame most recently the site for studio work on The Adventures of Weston from ARRI Canada, Helmut Cramer of PanaShirley Holm es was the locale for the first ever Assistants 1 vision, and Hans Gahr from William F White Ltd, all SOC Course in Canada' s heartland. Corporate Affiliates. Enrollment was limited so each day Sponsored by the Manitoba Motion Picture Industries students divided into manageable groups of 3-4 rotating Association (MMPIA) and the CSC with assistance from among 4 work stations spending up to 2 hours hands-on members of IA TSE Locals 669 & 667 and several corporate with each camera package. sponsors, the course was the culmination of weeks of Each session was overseen by Lance Carlson, CSC who preparation ... and then Murphy's Law set in. had been the driving force (along with Sandra Moore) in Instructor Ernie Kestler and 106 cases of equipment bringing the elements of the course together. Everyone was valued at nearly $4 million lay stranded in Toronto by an ice exposed to the Arri III, SRII, SRIII, BL-IV, 435 & 535, the and snow storm that paralyzed the airport. Jay Kohne & I, Platinum and Gil, CANADA CONTINUED ~> Panavision instructors who were already in Winnipeg did some fast rearranging as Sandra Moore of the MMPIA burned enough current on the phone lines to Toronto to raise the temperature noticeably. So ... the first day and a half of nine were devoted to detailed discussions of set protocol, job duty descriptions, motion picture theory, general film handling and the construction of a working assistant's kit. Handouts pertinent to all of these skills were distributed. But of all the handouts that we provided, The Operating Cameraman magazine was the first to be colECONOMY WITHOUT COMPROMISE • Precision engineered for the professional cameraman • smooth, lected by eager students. The magazine is a finger-tip control with return to center variable balance spring • wonderful learning tool and as a member I'm Advanced 3-step drag system with o freewheel setting. darned proud of it. To the whole editorial • For cameras from 8.8 to 19 lbs. • Features 100mm ball, QR plate, and production staff, job well done! levelling bubble, and much more. Meanwhile 'back at the ranch,' we scrounged an Arri SRII package locally, while student Cliff Hokanson brought in his Steadicam TM rig. On a last minute whim I'd brought along my reflexed Eyemo and its associated toys. (Sometimes it pays to listen to see your dealer or contact: those nagging little voices ... ) With that Bogen Photo corp., material and the flood of questions from the 565 E. crescent Ave. Ramsey, NJ 07446 students we were able to easily exceed the !201) 818-9500. scheduled instruction time. Ernie arrived midway through Day 2 looking as if he had traveled via blender. Much of the equipment we wouldn't buy ourselves. finally appeared, making a very impressive showing in the warehouse loading area. It is always a treat to see grown adults get the look of 'childlike rapture' at the sight of the won-

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July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 19

le~l

Eye Care Clinic

If~

ehdt/um.-

OatZJ~ /I~ ttl~ Dear SOC: Once again this year the Eye Group at Childrens Hospital thanks the Society of Operating Cameramen for your second very generous donation of $6,000.00 which was presented to us earlier this month. The funds will be used to purchase trial contact lenses and will provide lenses to needy patients themselves. For approximately ten years the SOC has supported the Contact Lens Service. This continued support has unique importance for our pediatric patient population. When infants and young children are initially fitted with lenses provided with SOC funding we know that they have a solid start on their visual rehabilitative process but the ultimate visual outcome is still unknown for many years. The visual system is not "hardwired" until seven years of age; hence vision can either improve or worsen during that period. If lenses are not worn consistently or patient families are not compliant with regards to patching or keeping appointments, vision can drop often permanently. For those families who are conscientious, children can attain very good results.

@@@ CANADA,

CONTINUED

Aaton-35, Moviecarn Compact, Steadicarn and Eyerno, all with complete lens and accessory packages. Lunch was eaten amid the babble of eager questions and industry anecdotes-our days ran well past the allotted 8 hours. As instructors we were always concerned whether enough invaluable information was presented. Yet after all was said and done we

Page 20

The Operating Cameraman

I would like to tell you about three children in particular whom you helped many years ago and who have reaped the benefits of your continued generosity. I have also enclosed Polaroid photographs of them. I have a special fondness for each of them since I have had the pleasure of following each of them for a minimum of nine years and seeing them grow up.

MICHAEL Michael was born with bilateral congenital cataracts. He underwent surgery at seven weeks of age and today is almost 12 years old. Soon after his surgery he was fitted with aphakic contact lenses (special contact lenses for someone who has had a lens removed because of cataract) and did very well. About seven years ago, Michael's father became unemployed and lost his health insurance benefits. Michael needed a new set of lenses to see optimally and his parents could not afford them. The SOC fund provided Michael with a new pair of contact lenses and today he sees 20 I 25 in the right eye and 20 / 20 in the left eye. If the SOC were not there to help, Michael might not have the good vision he enjoys today. Cataract sur-

received rave reviews. One student (a professional videographer) made a point of mentioning that he didn't realize that "You film people work with so much attention to detail." All's Well That Ends Well

Even the diabolical weather carne in handy. We were able to perform experiments by setting up cameras outside in afternoons that warmed up to -28C (Did we mention the wind?)

July-December 1997

gery alone does not improve vision in children as in adults. Consistent lens use is critical to good permanent vision. Because he was only four when his father lost his health insurance, Michael' s vision might not have developed properly without the lenses you purchased.

GUILLERMO Guillermo was five years old when his left eye was poked with a rusty metal rod. When he arrived in the Childrens Hospital Emergency Room he could only distinguish light and dark from that eye. That same day he was seen in the ER and ophthalmologists from Childrens Ey e Group repaired his injured left eye. A month later he underwent a second surgery to remove a cataract which developed secondary to the initial trauma. If a cataract develops under the age of seven, vision cannot be restored unless the lens is removed and a contact

in order to check camera performance and to witness the 'Thermal Death of Batteries.' For the two-d ay Operator' s Workshop we were joined by Marc Champion, CSC. The tone of discussion shifted from the highly technical Assistants 1 Course to one concerned with the aesthetics of cinematography and the interaction between the Camera Operator, Director and Director of Photography. In both areas ~>

lens correction is consistently worn. When Guillermo was first fitted with a rigid contact lens his visual acuity was 'Finger Counting' at 2 feet. He was a very active five year old and after his initial fitting he lost 4 contact lenses in the course of four months. His mother became very discouraged but persisted after the SOC paid for several lenses. Guillermo's vision improved steadily and today he sees 20 I 30. He is 14 years old and thanks to the SOC can pass his driver's license examination in both eyes because of his excellent visual result. JOHNNY

Johnny was two months old when I first fitted his left eye with an aphakic contact lens. He was born

small, normally sized lenses do not work well. From 1989 to 1992 I tried every type of contact lens type which was manufactured: silicone elastomer, rigid gas permeable ("hard lenses" ) and hydrogel ("soft lenses). Johnny would tolerate certain lens types for a few months; then his eye would become red and swollen. His mother had to bring him to the Eye Clinic many times during the refittings. She could neither drive nor had access to transportation, so they took the bus, transferring buses three times in the course of one trip. They never missed an appointment. With persistence and SOC funding to pay for lens fittings that insurance companies did not cover, we were finally successful. Today Johnny is nine years old and wears a hydrogel "soft" lens successfully. Because of his mother's tenacity to continue and your support at a critical time, her child sees 20 I 40 in the left eye. I never imagined he could see this well.

@@@

Michael, Guillermo and Johnny come from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds; however there are common denominators in each of their stories. They all have wonderful, devoted parents who have sacrificed many hours coming to the Clinic and have followed our =*>

SO SOA AND NATURAL, IT'S LIKE DAYLIGHT ON AN OVERCAST DAY )~ with a cataract in one eye only. Not only did he have a cataract but he was born with an unusually small eye. These cases represent the most difficult to rehabilitate. Because the eye is

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CONTINUED

Marc's input was instructive and illuminating for both the students and the working operators. Is it worth participating in courses such as these? You bet your contrast glass it is! From these sessions a new generation of camera folk emanate; therefore it is in our own best interests to foster their interest in our craft. -Rick Garbutt, SOC

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See it at your dealer or write: Bogen Photo corp., 565 E. crescent Ave., Ramsey, NJ 07446 201·818·9500. FAX 201·818·91n email: info@bOQenphoto.com • web: www.bogenphoto.com

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 21

EYE CLINIC,

CONTINUED

instructions which were anything but easy. Second, each of these children needed financial assistance during different years and because of the SOC's continued donations, funds were available to them when they needed it most. Third the Eye Group has had a commitment to provide care which promises the best visual outcomes for all patients.

Your generosity today can help us continue our tradition of caring and providing the best eye care to the children of our community. On behalf of the Eye Group at Childrens Hospital and the kids we serve "THANK YOU." Most sincerely, s / Ellen R. Matsumoto, 0 .0 . Director, Contact Lens Service Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles

This commemorative plaque was presented to the Eye Care Group at Chlldrens Hospital Los Angeles on May 16. (L to R) Ellen Matsumoto, O.D., Director, Contact Lens Service; William H. Molina, SOC Treasurer; Michael Frediani, SOC Past President; Mark Borchert, MD, Associate Professor of Opthalmology k Neurology; Ed Moseley, Practice Administrator.

BOGEN VIDEO TRIPODS AND HEADS FOR THE SERIOUS CAMERAMAN

Whether you choose the 3191 Video Tripod with spring-loaded spike tips or the 3190 with spiked feet, you'll get a Bogen/Manfrotto tripod with a sophisticated design and with the features that have become the standard for today·s cameramen . • Outstanding strength with double tandem legs • Quick-acting , sure-locking leg locks • 100mm ball leveller • Precision machined , high quality castings • variable leg angles And there's a professional fluid head perfect for your requirements. • 3066 - designed for cameras up to 22 lbs., this head offers outstanding , unsurpassed value. • 316 - capable of supporting cameras up to 35 lbs., this head features an adjustable counterbalance spring, 100/150mm ball and smooth effOrtless operation. • 510 -The top of our line, this model incorporates a 3-position drag setting plus ofreewheel, adJustable counterbalance spring and is designed with ultra precision in mind for cameras from 8.8 to 19 lbs. With Bogen/Manfrotto Video Tripods and Heads you'll have the perfect combination for the job you want to do and all at a price thats amazingly affordable. See your dealer or write: Bogen Photo corp., 565 East crescent Avenue, Ramsey, NJ 07446-0506 (201l 818-9500

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 23

Cameramen have counted on Deluxe since 1915.

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by L Sprague Anderson

MITCHELL THE STANDARD

n September 13,1917, a camera maker named John Leonard walked through the doors of the Static Club (soon to become the ASC) in Hollywood, shook hands with President Charles Rosher, stepped in front of the membership, and demonstrated the prototype of the most famous camera in cinema history - the Leonard camera. Never heard of it, you say? Maybe that's because its name changed. Within two years, Leonard sold his designs to Henry Boger and George A Mitchell, who used Leonard's work as the heart of their new machine the Mitchell Standard. Leonard's patented work defined the Mitchell's look and ensured the Mitchell's popularity. He filed for the first two patents in 1917: these covered the variable shutter, driven by planetary gears (US Patent No 1,297,703); Page 26

The Operating Cameraman

and the distinctive rackover device (US Pat No 1,297,704), which, even in the patent drawings, set the Mitchell's appearance for the next half century. The Leonard film movement revealed his familiarity with Albert Howell's workitused a flexible film guideway, pinned at the top, that alternately placed the film on either the pulldown claws or the fixed register pins. This is the same method Howell used in his first eight cameras, the wooden Bell & Howells. In 1920, Leonard added the patent for this movement to the package (US Pat No 1,390,247). According to a Mitchell company history being prepared in 1954, the Leonard movement wasn't very satisfactory and a new design had to be substituted on short notice. The modified version added a third cam to improve the lateral stability, and it brought movable registration pins in from behind, rather than fixing them in front . This design worked much better; it became known as the AA movement and it was the only drive available for the Mitchell until1925. George Mitchell filed for a July- December 1997

patent for this variation on May 12, 1920 and it was issued on January 10, 1922 (US Pat No 1,403,339). Only nine years prior to the Mitchell's appearance, the Bell and Howell 2709 had spawned a revolution that doomed the beautiful wood-bodied Victorian cameras to obsolescence. The Leonard I Mitchell Standard wasn't a surprise on the same grand scale. It was a child of the 2709, a natural enrichment of the new themes: all-metal construction, single piece "mouse ear" magazines, built-in ground glass with an improved rackover, and so on. Leonard and Mitchell reflected on the 2709, saw its shortcomings, and found solutions that made life easier on the set. Cameramen showed their gratitude by swamping the Mitchell Camera Company with orders, completely overwhelming the firm's limited production facilities. Between the time Floyd Jackman bought the first Mitchell camera in 1921 and the sale of a Standard to Fox Case Corp two days before Christmas in 1927, Mitchell sold 104 cameras (about one-third the sales that the Bell & Howell 2709 achieved in its first seven years). As of June 29, 1923, Mitchell had delivered 32 of these ~> cameras, and the company was

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operating 72 hours a week to catch up with their back orders, which at that point were running six months behind. Production may have been slow at first, but the camera itself was fast. Efficiency is a recurring theme in the ads. "The Mitchell ... lined up with exceptional quickness," Scott Sidney tells us. 1 "Owing to its wonderful equipment and mechanical arrangements, we are able to photograph at nearly twice the speed we formerly used," reports Victor Schertzinger at Fox, but he doesn't say what they shot with before. 2 Victor Seastrom at MGM went even further: "I have found through experience that during the course of a production, it will save in overhead cost an amount almost equal to the original cost of the camera."3 Even better of course when the original cost was picked up by your cameraman. Actually MGM had at least six Mitchells in their camera department, all bought new in 1922 and 1923; the studio was Mitchell's second best customer. First National did the best, picking up eleven in a two-year stretch-they had one out of every ten Mitchells in circulation and that's just counting the ones they bought new. Other studios also made multiple purchases: Christie took four, Fox put three on their lot and United Artists laid claim to a couple. Still, it was individual cameramen who bought most of the company's output in the 1920s. Many of Hollywood's most sought-after shooters became the camera's first owners. In 1921 Gaetano 'Tony' Gaudio was near the head of

Mitchell Price List -May 1922 Camera unit ................................... ....................................... $1200 War tax (only in the United States of America) ....................... $120 Automatic &: Hand dissolve, built in ........................................ $225 Iris, built in ............... ............................................................... $150 Four-way mattes, built in ..... ... ... ... ....... .................................... $125 Stock mattes, built in ................................................................ $50 Veeder counter, built in ....... .................................. ........ .. .... ... ... $50 Magazines, 400 feet, each .. ....................................................... $50 Tripod base ............................................................................... $90 Tripod tilt head ....................................................................... $160 2-inch Goerz Hypar lens, mounted ............................................ $75 3-inch Goerz Hypar lens, mounted ............................................ $85 1 5/8-inch Goerz Hypar lens, mounted ..................................... $75 2-inch Goerz finder lens, mounted ............................................ $35 3-inch Goerz finder lens, mounted ............................................ $40 1 5/8-inch Goerz finder lens, mounted ................................. ..... $35 (Any other lens furnished if desired.) Camera case, fiber combination ................................................ $25 Magazine case, fiber, for four .................................................... $20 Adjustable extension finder ....................................................... $45 Extension arm and upright ...... ............. .................................... $30 Film, matte cutter ..................................................................... $60 Prices cash at the Mitchell factory.

the line to buy a Mitchell camera; he got #10. He'd been a cameraman since 1902, kept Carl Laemmle' s IMP going photographically in the days of the Trust and went on to spend much of the 1920s behind his Mitchell as Norma Talmadge's cameraman. The beginning of 1921 was exciting for Charles Van Enger: He bought the second Mitchell off the line to use on his pictures with Madame Nazimova. The spring of 1922 was even better: In March he was voted

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The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

into the ASC and in April he left for Europe, first making a stop in Chicago to demonstrate his Mitchell to 30 cameramen in that town, practically in the Bell & Howell Company's parking lot. During the next two years he worked with Maurice Tourneur, King Vidor and Victor Seastrom. In 1924 he began a two-year stint as cameraman for Ernst Lubitsch, taking enough time off to shoot Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera for Universal. Charles Rosher, an enthusiastic and outspoken Mitchell fan, began shooting with Mary Pickford's Mitchell (#8) in the middle of 1922 and bought his own (#61) in 1925, but several sources say he was photographing Pickford films with Mitchells as early as her first feature, The Love Light in 1920, before Mitchells had serial numbers. Rosherwas one of the best-known cinematographers in the silent era and not just because he was Mary Pickford's cameraman. He was one of the earliest lensmen at Nestor Films, the first permanent studio in Los Angeles. Always excited by innovations, he experimented with panchromatic

filmstocks as early as 1919, long before they became practical. Among his numerous talents he was a master of split-screen work. During the 1920s Rasher spent a great deal of time in Europe and at least one trip abroad stimulated a European order for Mitchell cameras. Not long after his return from Germany in 1924, UFA Films ordered 2 Mitchell camera outfits with all built-in features, 10 magazines, 2 universal finders, 2 extension arms, 2 matte cutters, 2 sunshades, 6 tripods, heads and cases, a total sale of $10,000. On New Year's Eve 1924 the Mitchell company sent them cameras #45 and #47. Fellow ASC member James C Van Trees was also an enthusiastic Mitchell owner; as an independent cameraman he'd use camera #4 throughout the 1920s at Lasky Studio, Metropolitan and the flashy and aggressive First National, working with the likes of William Desmond Taylor and Rudolph Valentino and lensing pictures like Flaming Youth. After picking up his Mitchell on

April30, 1921, he kept a Pathe camera (#1110) around for a while, but finally put it up for sale in the fall of 1924. George S Barnes joined the growing family of Mitchell owners some time prior to May 1922. He carried it with him to the King Vidor Studios, to Metro, to Cosmopolitan and on to Samuel Goldwyn Productions, shooting a wide variety of films including Son of the Sheik, The Winning of Barbara Worth and Sadie Thompson. Norbert F Brodine bought a Mitchell around June 1922, vowing to use nothing else from then on. His Mitchell captured a three-year series of Frank Lloyd pictures as well as The Sea Hawk and The Silent Watcher among his two-score silent features . Sol Polito bought a Mitchell camera in June 1922, becomingthe7thASC member to own the new machine. (The other six are named above.) Attracted by the rackover feature, Arthur Miller joined the Mitchell club in 1923. His Standard replaced the Bell & Howell he got from Famous Players-Lasky, which in turn replaced

the Pathe he'd bought as a newsreel cameraman. At least one other cinematographer, Charles Rasher, followed this pattern of ownership. 4 Georges Benoit started cranking his new Mitchell (#32) in July 1923.

MITCHELL CAMERA PATENTS Mar 18, Mar 18, Mar 25, Apr 13, Oct 26, Sept 6, Sept 6, Oct 4, Nov 8, jan 10, Mar 30, May 11, Nov 23,

1919 1919 1919 1920 1920 1921 1921 1921 1921 1922 1926 1926 1926

............ 1,336,640 ............ 1,637,529 ............ 1,648,559 ............ 1,812,056 ............ 1,849,880 ............ 1,850,411 ............ 1,851,400 ............ 1,893,712 ............ 1,912,535 ............ 1,922,742 ............ 1,930,723 ............ 1,954,885 ............ 2,259,849

Benoit epitomized the wide-roaming cameraman of the early days in film; he already had 16 years of experience in France, Africa, South America and on both coasts of the United States. =*>

FOR 1T 1HI JE SHOOTER W 1HI (Q) WANTS 1T (Q) KNOW ~

OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY for FILM &VIDEO Is a Complete and Practical Guide To Professional Camera Operating and Operating Cinematography WHAT RENOWNED DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAVE TO SAY ABOUT OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY • "Must reading if you want to expand your visual capabilities."-Haskell Wexler, ASC

• " ... a wonderful guide. In it you'll find everything you need to know to do my favorite job, the best job in cinematography--camera operating." -Conrad Hall, ASC • " ... a valuable one-of-a-kind book on operating cinematography."-Vilmos Zsigmund, ASC • " ...an excellent guide to the method and purpose of camera operating." -Gordon Willis, ASC • " .. .includes a wide diversity of essential information ... on-set protocol, working with other crafts, and shot management." -Dean Cundey, ASC • " ...emphasizes two important areas, set etiquette and communication." -Allen Daviau, ASC • "When you finish reading this book, you will know what camera operating and operating cinematography are all about." -George Spiro Dibie ASC

OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY is available at bookstores@ $24.95, or order direct from ED-VENTURE FILMS/BOOKS, P 0 Box 23214, Los Angeles, CA 90023 for $27.45, including shipping-California residents add $2 sales tax. JOB DESCRIPTIONS for FILM & VIDEO is at cinema and video booksellers @ $15. For more information, contact EdVentrFim@aol.com July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 29

His physical dexterity and camera skills were honed to a fine edge; in one scene for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam he made 49 overlapping exposures. Less than a year after buying his Mitchell he had one of the

Later in 1925 J D "Dev" Jennings that could be adjusted independently was shooting with Mitchell #25 at into the picture area from top, bottom, the Metropolitan Studios on a horse left and right. Deeper yet was a wheel racing picture called The Million Dollar with nine pre-cut mattes (binoculars, Handicap. On the same film he's also keyholes and the like) that could be reported to have used John Boyle's swung into place behind the lens and invention that piggy- an equal number of blank matte holdbacked a 2709 and an ers for custom mattes; these proved Akeley on a single tripod suitable for gel filters in later years. In (2709 on top). Within a fact later Mitchells eliminated the preyear Jennings would be cut mattes on this wheel and provided working with Buster blank holders in all the positions. Later Keaton on Battling Butler. still the matte wheel was eliminated I'm not sure whether completely along with the iris. Mitchell #25 was his camAll these early Standards had the era or the company's, but original AA drive which limited their I'll wager he kept it close frame rate to about 32 fps. It was to him. Four years earlier Friend F Baker who field-tested the at Christmas his own Bell first high-speed Mitchell AB move& Howell (#474) had ment at the end of 1925. In a letter been stolen from the written May 24, 1927 he tells the Mitchell Co that he's exposed over The special high-speed hand-cranking door has a Robertson-Cole studios. The Ben Hur chariot 150,000 feet with the movement at all shaft for 64 frames per turn, as well as a conventlonal8-frame shaft. Looks like a 1920s accessory, race was a great workout speeds and making multiple expofor cameras and camera- sures at as much as eight times normal but It actually dates from the mld-1930s. men, drawing in much speed. He used it to do the photo"scares of his life" when the wind of the cinematographic talent of graphic trick work on eight films, knocked a reflector against his camera Hollywood. There were six Mitchells including The Better 'Ole, The Winning and it rolled 35 feet down a bluff. The among the battery of cameras, and of Barbara Worth and Old San Francisco. camera was undamaged, a testament the director of the race, Reeves Eason, On the last-named film he tested two was especially pleased to its rugged construction. As of November 1923 Alvin with how quick the Wyckoff was reportedly a Mitchell Mitchell was to operate. owner but he didn' t show up in the "Its saving in time alone company' s sales records till he bought proved of inestimable #99 in October of 1927. The man who value." 6 No camera has ever shot Joan the Woman, Male and Female, Blood and Sand and The Cheat would been so well equipped have no trouble making good use of for special effects work; a Mitchell during his ongoing it was another reason for relationship with Cecil B DeMille, a the Mitchell's immediate relationship that ended abruptly and popularity. The lenses permanently when Wyckoff helped could be swung off-axis establish the first union for camera- in the turret, giving the men, Local659. 5 same effect as the rising In 1925 JR Lockwood owned front on a large format Mitchell camera #49, which he was still camera: the equivaoffering for sale "new" in the American lent of a 15째 tilt without Inside the front of the Mitchell's Standard "L"Cinematographer. He spent many years the converging verticals plate: Shifting Iris and four-way adjustable mattes. shooting comedies for Mack Sennett that you see when a negabeginning in 1914 and ran an active tive is actually tipped back. Early additional high speed movements on camera rental business throughout Mitchell Standards could also be an earthquake shot and all three the silent period and on into the com- equipped with an extensive array of cameras worked fine .7 A few months later in 1927, ing of sound. By 1930 he had three optional effects devices between the Mitchell sound cameras available for lens turret and the shutter. The first perhaps influenced by Friend rent and more than one Bell & Howell layer was an iris that could be adjusted Baker's endorsement, Donald Keyes 2709 for sale, a clear reflection of the to any part of the frame. Below that bought a super-speed Mitchell with lay a set of four straight-edged mattes a range of lenses from 35mm to changing technology.

Page 30

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

12 inches. By now the serial numbers were up to 101 and the silent era was drawing swiftly to a close. Mitchell cameras on the other hand were just beginning a long and productive service life. I saw one on the street just the other day, shooting wild footage for a commercial. Let's see this camera as it first appeared in 1921.

Mitchell Standard Construction Painted or enameled metal. Available in smooth black or crackle black finish. Machined to the highest standards of precision. Mitchells were hand-built one by one. As a result, parts are not necessarily interchangeable between cameras, even of the same model. On used cameras, check the serial numbers carefully; most parts have them.

Magazines External, metal, double-compartment "mouse-ears" holding 400 feet of 35mm film. (1000 foot mags became necessary with the advent of talkies).

Focusing The camera box holding the gate, shutter and movement, and supporting the magazine, slides left and right on an "L" -shaped bed. At the front of the assembly is the upright of the "L," holding the four-lens turret as well as all lens-related effects devices. The underside of the bed attaches to the tripod. On the left side of the camera box, integral with the door, is a tube with a focusing eyepiece. A "T" -shaped handle on the rear edge of the bed controls the movement of the =*>

A typical day at the office for the Metro photographic department. Gabes Oasis, Tunisia, January 8, 1924. A common camera package: Mitchell as the first camera; Bell & Howe112709 as the second. The film they're making Is probably The Arab; First Cameraman, John Seltz.

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camera box across the bed. Turning the handle counterclockwise slides the camera box to the left side of the bed; in this position the film is behind the taking lens and the focusing tube is looking at a blank spot on the back of the upright. On turning the handle clockwise, the camera box shifts to the right, moving the gate away from the aperture and placing the focusing tube there instead. Focusing can then be done on a full-aperture ground glass mounted at the front of the focusing tube. To turn the "T"shaped handle, depress the button in the center of the spindle, as soon as the handle begins turning, release the button; the handle will then lock in the right place. WARNING: If you don't release the button, you could be risking damage because some Standard cameras have no stop to prevent the camera box from sliding past the end of the track and detaching from the bed. If the handle does slip off the gears and you have to crank it back on, be sure that in its left and right locked positions the handle doesn't extend below the plane of the camera bottom; if it does, there's a risk that someone will rest the camera weight on the protruding handle and distort it. The improvement that this rackover method offers over the similar method found on the Bell & Howell Studio camera may not be evident at first glance, but a few minutes of operation with both systems clearly reveals the advantages of the Mitchell technique. Both provide full-aperture viewing at the exact position the taking lens will occupy during the exposure, and in theory neither method requires the operator to disturb mattes and adjustments in front of the lens. But in practice it's usually necessary with the Bell & Howell to slide the matte box out on its rails in order to rotate the lens and shift the camera. With the Mitchell all the movement takes place behind the lens standard, and the lens with its preset effects remains truly undisturbed. The cameraman is less reluctant about taking that last look at the scene to double-check just before shooting. This in itself is a major

(C:) Leonard movement, from the patent

reason that the Mitchell so quickly became a popular competitor. Viewing

Viewing is possible on the ground glass when the camera is shifted to the focusing position, and this is the only absolutely reliable check for critical framing and effects;

......

'AA' movement, from the patent

of course it's not possible during the actual taking of the scene. From the first the Mitchell Camera Co offered the conventional "spyglass" finders with individual objectives matched to

July-December.1997

the taking lenses. Beginning in the late Twenties the company also manufactured an excellent patented side finder that shows the scene upright and laterally correct on a large ground glass. Masks are inserted in this finder to indicate correct fields of view for the various lenses. The finder pivots to compensate for parallax. (Later finders have built-in matte ribbons to set the field of view.) Lenses

A wide range of lenses is available in Mitchell micrometer focusing mounts for installation on the four-lens turret. These mounts very closely resemble the focusing mounts for Bell & Howell lenses and it's almost possible to use Mitchell lenses and Bell & Howell lenses interchangeably. However, certain modifications are necessary to install one camera's lenses on the other. The most critical difference lies in the distance from the turret face to the film plane--the" flange focal distance." In the Mitchell the depth behind the lens mount is 1.695N. In the Bell & Howell this distance is 1.6875N. The difference between the two is .0075N, which is enough to affect the focusing scale of any lens switched from one camera to the other. In adapting a Mitchell lens mount to a Bell & Howell you can use shims to correct the disparity. The simplest way to correct the focus on a Bell & Howell lens, which will be too long on a Mitchell, is to scribe a new witness mark on the barrel, but this will place it in an awkward position for viewing. Two other physical problems need to be addressed. The four machine screws that secure the lens in place are positioned differently on the Mitchell than they are on the Bell & Howell. To mount a Bell & Howell lens mount on a Mitchell turret face, it's necessary to recut the screw holes on the mount farther from the center of the lens barret that is, to center the holes on the circumference of a larger circle. This alteration positions the holes right at the edge of the mounting flange. It follows then, in mounting Mitchell lenses on a Bell & Howell, the screw holes have to be re-tapped closer to the center of =*>

The Operating Cameraman

Page 35

TH£ GOlD£n ~G£ conTmu£~ ~

•

the mount. In this case to provide clearance for the screw heads, grooves must be routed in the edge of the protruding barrel of the mount. The final clearance that needs to be re-cut is on the inside edge of Mitchell mounting flanges. When mounting them on a Bell & Howell, in order to clear the wider shoulder in the center of the turret, a small arc has to be cut into the edge of the Mitchell mounting flange. Any qualified machinist can make these changes and they don't jeopardize the integrity of the lens which will perform equally well on either body, but cameramen should be aware that a significant amount of machining is required to do the job right; there are dealers in used equipment who will assure you that "Oh yes; you can use these lenses on your camera, no problem," without telling you how much tinkering is involved.

movements are rated to 32 fps . In all these movements, four claws engage the film, two on either side below the aperture. The movement can be cranked in either direction. The shutter is a 170 degree disc with a planetary gear dissolving mechanism. The automatic dissolve on the Standard works at three speeds: 2, 4 and 8 feet. Manual shutter adjustments can be controlled with a lever at the rear of the camera which moves along a calibrated arc and can be locked at specific positions. The camera stops automatically at the end of the dissolve; a button

unlocks the movement when you're ready to start up again. (Later models have no auto dissolve). NOTE: In the Bell & Howell camera the shutter acts in front of the viewing system as well as the taking system; if you do a fade-out as the first half of a dissolve, when you go to do your setup for the incoming shot, you're unable to view and focus on the ground glass because the variable shutter is fully closed and can't be opened without risk of flashing the film. This isn't the case with the Mitchell because the shutter shifts away from the aperture

Drive The earliest Mitchells had a "clapper" movement with many similarities to the original Bell & Howell drive. A pivoting carrier pinned at the top alternates the film between the fixed registration pins and the pulldown claws, which are driven by a drunken screw. Probably only a handful - if any - of these Leonard movements still exist. The Type AA movement was initially installed in about 60 Mitchells . It uses three cams to control the pulldown, insert the register pins and apply lateral pressure to the film while at rest in the gate. Many of these movements were later pulled out and replaced with high speed movements, the type most commonly seen today. Beginning in 1925 Mitchell was building cameras with the improved High Speed cam and gear movement and with the coming of sound they began offering it in two versions: Type AB (ball-bearings) and Type AC (sleeve bearings, much quieter). In spite of the "High-Speed" designation, only the AB movement can handle really high speeds (up to 140 frames per second but recommended to about 110); the AA and AC

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 37

to make room for the magnifying eyepiece-no matter how the shutter is set, it has no influence on parallaxfree viewing between shots.

Effects A metal disc mounted just in front of the gate is cut with these masks: keyhole, round, small oval, large oval, binocular, horizontal split stage and vertical split stage. An index pin assures proper positioning. This is in addition to a standard mask slot which also accepts frames of film shot during previous sessions, for perfectly aligned match dissolves (another valuable Mitchell innovation). A built-in iris can be positioned anywhere in the frame and closed to any size. From the rear of the camera the right hand knob on top controls the horizontal position of the iris in the frame and the left-top knob aligns the iris vertically. The iris itself is opened and closed with the large knob on the left side just above the finder. Four individually controlled mattes are also built-in. Two concentric knobs on top center of the front

standard control the upper and lower mattes. Two concentric knobs on the left side of the standard control the left and right side mattes. Nor is that all: using a knob next to the turret, the lenses can be rotated slightly to give the effect of a rising and falling front standard, which allows the field of view to be raised or lowered an equivalent of 15 degrees without tilting the camera and altering perspective. The versatility of these arrangements can be matched on other cameras with a number of accessories, but nowhere is so much control over the frame available within the body of the camera itself. NOTE: Though each of these devices is precision machined and positively controlled, operators should be cautioned that they can be moved into the frame inadvertently during the course of a day's shooting, and it's prudent to be aware of their settings.

Other Features A tachometer is available to indicate cranking speed. One accessory item available for hand-crankers was

a special door with an additional shaft yielding 64 frames per turn; two turns per second on this shaft drives the camera at 128 frames per second.

References

Scott Sidney's letter in a Mitchell ad, back cover of the American Cinematographer, February 1927 2 Letter in a Mitchell ad, back cover, American Cinematographer, March 1927 3 Letter in a Mitchell ad, back cover, American Cinematographer, February 1926 4 In many photos from the silent period, you'll see a Bell & Howell working as first camera and a wooden Pathe or Eclair as second camera, making the European negative. After 1921 you'd increasingly see the Bell & Howell as the second camera and the Mitchell as number one. 5 Brownlow: The Parade's Gone By .... AlfredA.Knopf,NewYork, 1968, p.227 6 The Mitchell Company used his letter as an ad on the back page of the American Cinematographer, October 1926 7 Mitchell ad in American Cinematographer, July 1927, back cover

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The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

eople were running in every direction with terror in . their yes, screaming and crying, the earth shaking beneath their feet. A pretty lady wiped the little boy's tears, picked him up and ran from the falling buildings. The pretty lady was Jeanette MacDonald, I was the little boy, and the picture was the 1936 MGM classic, San Francisco. I was in the movies!!!! I've been there ever since. FADE TO BLACK: 17 years, school, marriage and 2 wars later FADE INTO: Young man standing in front of desk. "So, you want to get into the union, huh kid?" The man sitting behind the big desk in this large wood paneled office and asking this question was in 1952 the most powerful union boss on the West Coast, Herbert Aller, business agent for the camera local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the IA TSE Local659, Hollywood, California. He wasn't a large man but with his three-piece suit and steel-rimmed glasses he ruled this town with fear and hard smart business sense. "You're Ollie Marsh's boy, aren' t you?" "Yes sir," I answered, hoping that my dad's name would help me in getting back into the movie industry. "Well I'll tell you something kid, as long as I run this union, you will never have a job in any camera depart-

ment west of the Mississippi." (Talk about sugar coating.) Here I was, twenty two years old, just back from the war in Korea, and trying to get back into the business that I had grown up in, and the man on the other side of the desk was holding a twenty year old grudge against me for something that my father had done. I guess since my father had died some eleven years earlier I was next in line to be ticked off at. In 1932, during the movie industry strike my father along with four or five other cameramen who had formed the ASC

•••••••••••••••••••• ".. ,YOU WiLL Nf:VfR HAVf A JOB iN ANY GAMfRA DfPARfMfNf WfSf OF fHf MiSSiSSiPPi. • CTALI( ABO() f

SU&AR

GOA fiN&,)

•••••••••••••••••••• (American Society of Cinematographers) as an independent union, had taken their crews across the IA TSE picket lines into the studios, bringing an end to a long period of unemployment for hundreds of workers and making Mr. Aller look like a fool. Here, plainly, was a man with a very long memory who had finally found a way to get even. The fact that he was destroying a lifelong dream of mine didn't seem to bother him in the

July-December 1997

slightest. After the strike the ASC became a fraternal club for Directors of Photography and remains today as one of the most prestigious organizations in the film industry. A side note on Mr. Aller, if you will. The day after he retired from his long held position with the union, he became the personal agent for several non-union and foreign cameramen, telling them that he could get them work in Hollywood because he knew how to get around the union rules and regulations. L£SSON : LO'(Al T'( iN THiS TOI/JN iS

A FLHriN6 THiNG- .

Since I had to make a living to support my growing family (my wife was soon to give birth to our daughter), I went looking for any job that had anything to do with the making of motion pictures. Finally getting an interview with Mr. Norman Pottel of Technicolor Laboratories and convincing him that he really should hire me, I became a full fledged motion picture laboratory technician (lab rat) and for the next three years called Technicolor home. If you're ever in Hollywood around Santa Monica and Cahuenga and you see a huge concrete monolith that covers a square block, this is the building that used to be Technicolor. Film labs are, by necessity, places where the sun never shines. This one ran twenty-four hours a day, and it didn' t matter which shift you were once you got inside. Our recreational activities became rubberband shooting and locking

The Operating Cameraman

Page 39

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fellow employees in the film storage vaults. Try to imagine the euphoric high late Friday night as you drive out of the parking lot and hear faintly in the distance someone' s cry for help

••••••••••••••••••••• SHOULD HAVf

&orrfN

MY FiRSf CLUf fHA r

fHf

BUSiNfSS

t WAS &ffriN& iNfO Nor COMPLfffLY SANf OR RA riONAL. WAS

••••••••••••••••••••• coming from the third floor vaults, knowing that he wasn't to be discovered for several hours. And I can still hit a moving target with a rubberband at twenty-five feet. Some things you never forget! Technicolor was also the place where I should have gotten my first clue that the business I was getting into was not completely sane or rational. My first job there was to sit in a small concrete walled room for eight hours a day and vacuum clean (with an old Electrolux) lO"xlO" pieces of black velvet. These pieces of velvet were used in the cleaning of film negative, preparing it for printing. When I would catch up and have all of them cleaned I would go into the next room where they were being used and pick up another stack. It was a never-ending process that was boring as hell. Months later I was promoted into the cleaning room (which was also four poured concrete walls) and allowed to clean the film with those little pieces of velvet that I had cleaned so well. Only now, when they were dirty, I would throw them into the pile for the new kid to pick up and vacuum. I was really moving up the power ladder at an alarming rate. Three years passed. My wife presented me with a daughter (born nine months and two days after my return from Korea) and then a son, we bought a small house in Pacoima, and I got laid off. My luck was holding firm! On to Pathe Lab for a few months, then to Consolidated Film Industries

Page 42

The Operating Cameraman

Lab for another three years. At CFI I moved from color developing to black and white printing and finally to color timing (where you read the negative for density and color and designate what levels it is to be printed on). During these six or seven years I had been making the rounds of the studios, still trying to get into the camera department and follow the career that I wanted: a job on the "outside" as we called it in the labs. Then, as with all fairy tales, "It" happened. In 1959, the studios were busy. Companies were hiring people in all departments and the unions didn't have enough people to go around. I had been making a pest of myself at MGM, figuring that I would stand a better chance of getting a job there since this was where my father had worked for many years. For more than six months I had been spending at least four hours a day learning their equipment and loading film (all without pay, of course) and now I had a break to make it pay off. Ray Johnson, head of the camera department, called the union, said that he had an opening and since they didn't have anyone available, would it be okay to use this kid who had been hanging around? They said yes and he never told them my name until I had already worked my thirty days and was on the "producer's roster." By law, the union and the unforgiving Mr. Aller were now forced to accept me for membership. There are many stories about how different people got into the camera union as it was the most difficult union in Hollywood to crack. In the twenties, thirties and forties, some of our best Directors of Photography were former truck drivers. In those earlier days when someone on the camera crew got sick or injured on location, the only member of the crew who knew anything about the equipment, where it was, and more

July-December 1997

important what it was and how it worked, was the camera truck driver who had helped the assistants unload and set up their cameras for mornings on end. He was instantly made the second assistant cameraman and, if he worked out, was kept on the crew. My all time personal favorite story however is that of Rich Benda. While taking the tour at Universal Studios, Rich found what he saw interesting and decided that he would like to work in the movie business. He promptly jumped off the bus, went into the first door he found and asked for a job. This of course was the camera department. Two weeks later they called him and he started work as a film loader. And it took me seven years! L.fSSONS: BLiND LVC.K Al-iD riMiN6 WiN OVH~ P£~S£VHANC.£ AND AMBiTiON ALMoST £VH'( riM£ . lHH.fC.riONS AR£ ViSiONS WHOS£ riM£S HAV£ PASS£D.

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2 Be or Not 2 Be:

by David

better to start at In October of 1976, .._..,,...._,,,.. MI'"M~rt eaving a job as a roes euger h A1rt91~ Kaleidoscope ~ in-Ro become a amera assist

meet. since WQn ov a doze awards, but even then I knew I as in good company. On my first day, I asked Ken if there was a shooting script I could read. He replied there was only one script in the entire building and itwaskeptunderwrapsdue to its unique nal\lre. I understood the importance of the secrecy, but I still wanted to kn w what the movie was

all about. He replied: "Oh, that's easy. You see, there's these two droids, R2D2 and C3PO, on this rebel ship. And during an attack, they get in a pod to escape Darth Vader and jettison themselves into space. But instead of landing on the 4th moon of Yavu.IIIP--.i::S!~._,.~ they end up on the planet where they're captured by Ja . written in their Sandcrawler. And then ... " outtheslate, "Wait!" I said. "What the heck are it up on the painted glass and run off you talking about?" I realized at that a few frames . moment this was to be a very different On this fateful day, DaveB and I kind of movie, and no verbal synopsis were busy with the day' s work. As would take the place of seeing the finthe case, one of us had inadished product in the thea r. I knew tly neglected to change the then why all the studios had said no to on a slate we were about to this undertaking, but what I was still hoot. " Hold it!" I said. "Let me wondering was why had said ge it." I took the mar er and yes. Someone must hav walked over to the paper stu k up on ball! I thanked Ken for the glass. I carefully changed, proceeded to the work 'one' to a 'two' and we shot the slate. A few weeks later, another assis- I walked over to the slate and pulled tant, Dave Berry (DaveB), and I were it off the glass .. . and there in the asked to split off from Deimis nd Ken 路ddle of the beauti painted planet in order to shoot painted gl~s planets of Tatooine was a -inch blackand starfield footage. We leaped at the inked '2'! !! chance and dove right in. It was Godfrey-Daniel,Jolly-Roger, Docduring a planet session that our story tor Bee-Bee!! (W. C. Fields ... I couldn't unfolds. As many of thestJq~~~~~-~esist.) DaveB and I just looked at each only a few seconds in other. we could quickly shots were measured in ethisthinglikeButchandSundance did off that200 ' cliff. But, al , this o sta~ to look like

July-December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page43

~ g

Nearing Tatooine.

Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory. Imagine our horror. It was one of those moments in life where you must decide how significant a mistake just made really is. Instantly, we knew this was not an "Oh gosh, I just burnt the toast. What a shame ... I'll just put another piece in the toaster" type of mistake. This was an "''m standing at the altar and I forgot to bring the wedding ring" type of mistake. We obviously didn't remember that felt tip markers bleed through paper. And boy, did it bleed through this time ... like it was brand new! I had just ruined a $5,000 painting. I immediately went to the

phoneandcalledthearrlines to see when the soonest flight was to the farthest destination from Van Nuys. I figured if I could get to Siberia before anyone saw the goof, I could still live a happy life. But calmer heads prevailed and DaveB and I soon realized our true course of action ... blame it on the dog! Seriously, even though we were quaking in our boots, we kept our heads and realized that removing the offending '2' before it dried was of paramount importance. As you might have experienced, a felt tip marker only stays wet when you accidentally rub it against your new pants or your clean white shirt. This '2' wasn' t going anywhere with Kleenex dabs. We decided to get the storyboard artist (Joe Johnston, later to direct Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Jumanji) who was the lone person in the building with an art background to see if he could do

something about removing the offending '2'. We swore Joe to secrecy because rather than tell too many people, DaveB and I chose to alert as few as necessary until that moment when the guillotine was the only option left. Joe perused the painting. He could have easily buried us but that wasn't the ILM style. This was truly a great group of people who, when problems arose, would jump in and fix whatever needed to be fixed for the good of the show. I saw it happen with mistakes such as ours, equipment breakdowns, and the sheer tenacity from every department to get the best possible footage on every shot asked of us. That's probably why the movie turned out the way it did. Joe was no different. He proceeded to apply solvent to the ink and carefully remove it from the painting. It was amazing. Joe was able to remove the black ink with only the smallest amount of the planet's orange coloring coming off. DaveB and I felt our breathing start to come back to normal. Joe proceeded to take

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the paint that had been slopped over onto the frame (by the original artist) and add it to the area where the '2' had been. The planet returned to normal. The job was complete. But DaveB and I still knew where the '2' had been, so Joe's work wasn't the final test. Call in the boss. John Dykstra was the Visual Effects Supervisor. We decided to call him in, not tell him why, and ask him to view the painting close-up to see if he could find anything wrong. He sat down in front of the painting, not more than a foot away, and stared at the planet. After a few moments, he declared: "I don't see any problems." I called the airlines and canceled my flight. We thanked him and sent him back to his office. I'm not sure if we ever told him why he was asked to stare at the painting. DaveB and I finished shooting take '2' and went on to the next shot. We tied the marker to a string and made sure it couldn't go more than two feet from our work bench. One close shave was all we needed. The pall had disappeared. The sun even seemed to shine on our darkened

and...._

David Robman points to the painted glass panel of the planet Tatooine that he was photographing when a large black '2' appeared on the orange surface.

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Michael Frediani's article "On the Set With Video Assist" (Operating Cameraman, Fall/Winter 1995/96) sparked a response which was printed in the succeeding issue. Here Paul Kenworthy adds more infonnation about its development.

n 1951, as a graduate student in motion pictures at UCLA, I decided to satisfy requirements for a Master's degree by shooting a documentary on desert life. The film would involve major dramatic sequences between small desert creatures-insects, reptiles, arachnids and mammals-in a style that would require following focus on the subjects as they moved rapidly

the lens, and no adequate camera was then being manufactured. Paul Roos, I fortunately discovered, wasconvertingKodak16mmCine Special cameras to more versatile instruments by substituting a glass beamsplitter for the original reflex prism (which flipped out of the image path when the camera rolled, and was useless for following focus). He added a viewfinder tube that had variable magnification, and a four-lens turret with a filter slot. I purchased a used Cine Special Modell with 200' magazines, and had modifications made by his company, PAR Products. At no time did Roos and I discuss

Paul Kenworthy adjusts something In the model of Philadelphia. His snorkel camera lens is the black tube that extends from the hanging camera down almost to the table top. It shoots a people's-eye view.

across natural desert settings raised to tabletop level for controlled shooting in a small on-site studio. I needed a camera that could follow focus through Page 48

The Operating Cnlllermllnll

video assist, nor was I aware of the patent he had on this advanced idea. Back in 1951 there were no practical sized video cameras available anyway. July-Dewnber 1997

Who would have expected someone to use an ungainly one on a wildlife film, even if shot under relatively controlled conditions? Even at that point the equipment wasn' t adequate for the follow-focus demand of the forthcoming film. What I needed was rack-and-pinion bellows focusing wherein either lens or camera could be racked, the other locked off. With the help of a kind cameramachinist, LeRoy Richardson, an appropriate tripod mounted extended rack and pinion base was made and this plus the Roos modifications allowed me to shoot in a style that was then rather original. Many small desert creatures' battles were captured on film. In need of funds, I sold the results to Disney who made The Living Desert around it and other footage I shot later with the help of my entomologist coworker Robert Crandall. Several other cameramen also contributed to this film, which won a 1953 Academy Award in the documentary division. The main part of the video assist story begins in 1963 with the prototype Kenworthy Snorkel Camera System. A prominent Philadelphia architect, Vincent Kling, asked me to design a camera system that would place the viewer into an architectural model and simulate walking and driving within it by keeping the viewpoint at a level equivalent or close to the height of a person scaled to the model. With such a camera system, an architect could give his client and the public a much more useful and convincing view of a future construction especially for complex models of cities as developed under the then popular programs of urban renewal. I needed a remotely controlled periscope camera system-one with remote viewing also. So I teamed up with William Latady, specialist in building cameras for photo-instrumentation, and through trial and error and by reading books on optics, we made a prototype system for 16mm shooting. We used an Arri S,400 ' magazine and a 1- Vidicon TV camera that looked into the Arriflex finder . The Arriflex's finder ground glass was removed and a clear reticule substituted to eliminate grain and loss of light. ~>

Steadicam shot.

Walk backwards down the street w hile the fire chief talks about the award his team will receive tonight. When you come to the station begin circhng the truck, zooming in for a tight shot of the engine's hoses and ladders. Pass through the group of firemen, into the garage and stop at the pole where the entire department will gather to talk about how it feels to receive this honor in the wake of the recent fires. With a Video Steadicam the possibilities are unlimited. Mount your camera on one of three state of the art models and take your video where no tripod ever went. Suddenly you are creating a whole new world of smooth, clean professional video. To find out more, in Eastern US call888-311-2463, in Western US 800-311-2463 or fax 310-836-9512 .

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This was the first Snorkel Camera, the prototype of later generations. In 1963, it was probably the first use of video assist, which in that case was and still is an absolute necessity for snorkel camera shooting, as well as for all current remote cameras. We were blind without its aid. All of this was more fully discussed in articles that I wrote and illustrated via photos for The American Cinematographer 1 and the Journal of the SMPTE 2 . Shooting architectural models in 16mm soon lost ground to TV commercials with a new 35mm snorkel system that we designed for The Petersen Company in Los Angeles. My own Snorkel Camera business took new directions into feature films and TV production. A patent filed in 1967 was granted in 19693 • The claims included video assist to look into the camera finder. In the late 1960s, when Roos was supplying some special optics for my new 16mm snorkel periscope, we discussed his 1951 patent that would be infringed upon. We were now using

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pellicles to split the image in the periscope with part of it going to the video camera, rather than having the video camera look into the film camera finder . We immediately had an amicable financial settlement. Several Snorkel Camera generations later, the Kenworthy /Nettmann Snorkel System is a far cry from the 1963 prototype. Mr. Bob Nettmann, President of Matthews Studio Electronics, is now my engineering "partner," and many of its newest features are

products of Bob's engineering abilities and also his inventive mind. ~

References: 1

N. Paul Kenworthy Jr. "Cinematography with the Snorkel Camera", The American Cinematographer, September 1967. Illustrated. 2 N .Pau1Kenworthy,Jr. "ARemote Camera System for Motion Picture and Television Productions," Journal of the SMPTE, March 1973. pp: 159-165. Ill us. 3 U.S. Patent# 3,457, 748.

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developed in France during the latter part of the Twenties. During photography, this cylindrical, "anamorphic" lens would record almost twice as much horizontal information as its spherical counterpart. By optically compressing or" squeezing" the horizontal image by a factor of two, the anamorphic lens was able to record its wider image on the same 35mm filmstock while employing the same motion picture cameras that were already being used by the major studios. To project the widescreen image, existing theatres merely needed to equip their projectors with a similar cylindrical lens that would unsqueeze the image and spread the picture across an appropriately wider screen. Fox called its new process "CinemaScope" and sought to make it a new industry standard. Almost overnight, other studios, especially those with a large backlog of unreleased spherical films, panicked

••••••••••••••••••••• In 1954 ... it [became] possible to make anamorphic prints from spherical negatives.

••••••••••••••••••••• and began to look for other ways to jump on the widescreen bandwagon. Many of these studios simply chose to mask off the top and bottom of the 1.37:1 photographed image during projection, creating the illusion of a wider image. The resulting, and competing, aspect ratios used by the various studios were 1.66:1 (Paramount, RKO, Republic), 1. 75:1 (MGM, Disney, Warner Bros),

and 1.85:1 (Universal, Columbia, Allied Artists). Once they had released their inventory backlog, these studios began to establish this type of widescreen process as a standard by instructing their cinematographers to compose images so that no important action would be lost during projection. By 1956, the studios had decided unofficially upon 1.85:1 as the standard for this masked widescreen method. Another approach to widescreen photography and projection occurred in 1954, when both Panavision and Superscope developed lenses for optical printers which made it possible to make anamorphic prints from spherical negatives. The Superscope system, which had a brief spurt of popularity in the mid-'50s, transformed entire spherical features into anamorphic. The Superscope system was used under such names as Superama and Megascope until 1963, when it was~>

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Page 54

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

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Judy Garland singing with a jazz combo In Warner Bros 1954 remake of A Star Is Born.

supplanted by the introduction of Techniscope by Technicolor. Techniscope was conceptually the same as Superscope, except that cameras using this process needed to be modified to pull down two perfs rather than the customary four. This yielded a 2.35:1 aspect ratio image that was then optically stretched and squeezed in the printing process. In the early 1980s Superscope was revived as "Super 35." Because of the many cost-saving and photographic advantages of this system- spherical lenses need less light and have greater depth of field than their anamorphic counterparts -both Super 35 and its counterpart Super 16 are widely used today in feature film and television production.

Challenging the CinemaScope Standard Soon after the introduction of CinemaScope in 1952, many anamorphic challengers began to appear on the horizon. When it set up CinemaScope as a new standard, 20th CenturyFox thought it had covered all legal bases. Fox intended to own the use of the process and license it to other companies. Unfortunately, Fox soon discovered its rights were limited to the patents that it had obtained from Professor Chretien and from H . Sidney Newcomer, an American who had also

Page 56

The Operating Cameraman

been experimenting with anamorphic lenses in the Twenties. The other basic design patents for anamorphic lenses were considered to be in the public domain. So, as soon as the principles behind CinemaScope were published, a number of competing manufacturers began to announce anamorphic lens systems. One of the challengers, interestingly enough, was Professor Ernst Abbe of France, the original developer of the anamorphic lens. Around this time, Fox's most serious challenger was Warner Bros. Some believe that Fox beat Warners in the race for Chretien's patent. According to one account in Daily Variety, Jack Warner had seen a private screening of CinemaScope long before it was publicly introduced, and had attempted unsuccessfully to purchase a one half interest in the process. Rebuffed, Warner was determined to develop his own process and, to that end, solicited bids from several American and European optical companies, finally making a deal with Germany's Zeiss Optical Company for a system that he would initially call"W arnerSu perScope ." The announcement of this newcomer caused yet another panic among motion picture exhibitors, who were already upset by the seemingly unending stream of technological changes that were being foisted upon them. At the insistence of these exhibitors, Warner shortened the

July-December 1997

name of the Zeiss process to "WarnerScope." Although Warners originally had planned to use the Zeiss lenses on Rear Guard and the Judy Garland/James Mason remake of A Star is Born (1954), the lenses were not ready in time. Instead, onRear Guard, which began shooting in July 1953, Warners used a lens system called "Vistarama" that had been developed by the Simpson Optical Company for Carl Dudley. By September when the Zeiss lenses finally arrived at Warners, the studio tested them by shooting footage of the Hollywood Premiere of The Robe which it planned to use for a sequence in A Star is Born. When Warners reviewed the footage, however, it found, much to its dismay, that the Zeiss lenses had poor resolution and were unsuitable for feature production. Although production of A Star Is Born had begun with the Zeiss lenses, Warnerschosetoshoottherestinspherical three-strip Technicolor. According to the late film historian Ron Haver (who spearheaded the restoration of A Star is Born in the early '80s), when the picture was being restored, the only version that could be located of a scene in which Judy Garland is seen working as a carhop was one that was shot with the W arnerScope Zeiss lenses. In the late '50s, Warners would revive the WarnerScope name for =*>

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three features that actually were shot in the Superscope I Super 35 format. While the production costs were rising on A Star is Born, Warners' treasurer, Albert Warner, who was impressed by the grosses from The Robe, convinced Harry Warner to go over Jack' s head to arrange with Fox to use CinemaScope. Jack Warner was finally convinced by the test CinemaScope footage shot by Milton Krasner, ASC, and decided to scrap the first ten days of shooting and start over. As a part of the new CinemaScope deal, Warners agreed to release the Vistarama Rear Guard, now called The Command, as a" CinemaScope" picture. When the picture opened, critics noticed the images were not as sharp as those shot in conventional CinemaScope. Some critics even noticed that the image was darker near the edges of the screen, an attribute noticed during the test screenings of Vistarama in 1953.

Foreign Rivals Outside of the United States, various foreign film companies began to develop CinemaScope-compatible anamorphic lens systems. The quality of these sys-

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terns was somewhat uneven. One of the most significant systems was developed in France by Professor Abbe, father of the anamorphic lens, and was called CinePanoramic. This process was the basis of the French DyaliScope and FranScope processes as well as other

Director Frank Capra and Frank Sinatra on location in Florida for A Hole in the Head.

Page 58

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July-December 1997

processes used on the Italian" sword ' n' sandal" epics of the early Sixties. An American company, Republic Pictures, arriving late to the widescreen party, purchased rights to CinePanoramic and renamed it "Naturama." An interesting aspect of these anamorphic lenses, which were a separate unit, was that each anamorphic lens was collimated to work with a specific prime lens and camera. The Naturama system, as recently seen on a rare 16mm print of Lisbon (1956), the second Republic film to use the process, appeared to have less of a problem with anamorphic "mumps" than CinemaScope. Mumps occur when anamorphosis decreases as the lens is focused closer. This moniker came from the fact that actors' faces, when photographed in closeup and then projected, appeared noticeably fatter, as though they had mumps. Although directors of the initial CinemaScope films minimized the use of closeups, which executives thought were unnecessary in the process anyway, they soon felt the need for this aspect of cinematic grammar and ignored the distortions, which the public never seemed to notice. Republic's Naturama lenses had a concave distortion which was most noticeable in pan shots and was apparent

in every focal length of lens. By contrast, CinemaScope and Panavision lenses only caused concave distortion in their shortest focal lengths. Although Republic offered to license Naturama to other film companies, it found no takers. Ultimately, Republic amortized its investment by shooting therestofitsfilmswithNaturamalenses.

ClnemaScope In Black & White One confusing name appearing on films of the Fifties is RegalScope, which is really a pseudonym for lowbudget, black and white CinemaScope. Originally, Fox only licensed CinemaScope for "A" pictures shot in color. Yet, once the process had been established, some filmmakers wanted to use the CinemaScope lenses on dramatic pictures about subjects that were better suited to black and white photography. In early 1955, two pictures, Trial and Nicolas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause, started principle photography in black and white CinemaScope. When Fox found out, it objected. As a result, Trial was shot with spherical lenses, while the producers of Rebel Without a Cause elected to shoot the teen drama in color. MGM was particularly rankled by Fox's absurd prohibition on black and white. For a while, MGM toyed with the idea of shooting pictures in color and releasing them in black and white. Finally, in the Spring of 1956, MGM put The Power and the Prize (1956) into production on black and white negative under the photographic supervision of George Folsey, ASC. This time, Fox did not object. Having established the CinemaScope standard, Fox quietly began to modify its strict anti-black and white attitude. Fox made a deal with independent producer Robert L. Lippert for a series of anamorphic low budget "B" films. To distinguish these low budget films from higher class color CinemaScope productions, Fox coined the name "RegalScope" after Lippert's production company, Regal Films. Of course, Regal's films were photographed with Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lenses. Curiously, the first released Regal film, Stagecoach to Fun; (1956),

Frank Sinatra and Eddie Hodges have "High Hopes" In Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, the first film to bear the screen credit "Filmed In Panavlslon."

bore a CinemaScope logo, though the size of the logo was much smaller and less prominent than it had been on "A" pictures. Around the same time, Fox began to break its own color barrier. Without fanfare, it began production on a black and white" A" picture titled Teenage Rebel. The most famous "almost" Regal film was The Fly (1958), which Fox plucked from the Regal program when it decided to jump on the late Fifties sci-fi bandwagon. One year later, when Fox negotiated a new "B" picture contractwithRegal,Regalchangeditsname

to Associated Producers and its pictures were then officially advertised as being shot in CinemaScope. As Associated Producers moved into the Sixties, however, it used the anamorphic process less and less.

Panavlslon's Better Quality Lenses In 1953, Panavision was founded by Robert E. Gottschalk, who had become interested in anamorphic lenses while he investigated wide-angle lenses for underwater use. Panavision first developed a set of variable ~>

Director Frank Capra, Director of Photography William Daniels ASC, and Assistant Director Art Black on the set of A Hole in the Head.

July- December 1997

The Operating Cameraman

Page 59

At Clairmont: the latest model of theAATON-35

ven people who know it's small are surprised when we first show them one. Sometimes they say: "Oh, I've seen the Sixteen, it's the Thirty-five I want to see now." We say: "This is the Thirty-five." They say: "That's the Thirty-five?"

16mmstyle DP Tom Sigel used to own two AATON 16mm LTRs. "I put millions of feet through them, shooting documentaries and television;' he says. "They balanced perfectly on my shoulder; and this AATON-35 is the same. I'm using it for features, but I'm shooting the same way. Once you're tuned in, you barely have to hold onto it:'

No headroom DP Chuck Minsky used an AATON-35 to shoot dialogue for an MCI commercial inside a New York taxi. "We were hoping for a Checker cab;' he says, "But this was a regular sedan, with no headroom. We drove back and forth all day across the Brooklyn Bridge, with two actors in the back seat and me in the front seat, hand-holding."

Nosoundman DP Petr Litomisky recently shot a commercial for Seafirst Bank in a Piper over Seattle. Its four seats were occupied by the actor/ pilot, the director, an ad agency man (feeding the actor lines) and Mr. Litomisky with an AATON-35. "No room for a soundman;' he says, "So we put a Nagra behind the seats and used timecode?'

Getting better "I began shooting with AATON35s about five years ago," says Mr. Litomisky. "Now Clairmont has some; and theirs are noticeably quieter. And I've had no reliability problems with theirs. Even their magazines are quieter; I don't know why." 2 million feet 1st AC Michael FitzMaurice worked at Pytka for about ten years, mostly as a 2nd AC. "They bought an AATON-35 in 1991;' he says. "Since then, Pytka must

have run 2 million feet through it, half of which I loaded myself. The clip-on magazine has a reputation for being difficult to load, but I don't think so?'

Dependable "From 1991 to mid-1994, I wouldn't have said the AATON-35 was dependable. Now it is;' says Mr. FitzMaurice. "From the beginning, we were saying: As soon

as Clairrrwnt gets ahold of them, these cameras are going to become magic. And now they have:'

The modifications With AATON's expert cooperation, we made several changes to one of our first two cameras. To decrease friction, we milled additional channels in the gate. We also reduced the contact area on our magazine pressure pads. We increased the pad's spring tension and we narrowed the film channel's depth. Our claw was set for deeper penetration

and increased spring tension. We suggested that the factory might increase the stroke length; and they did so.

All cameras at Clairmont have all the newest features All these improvements are now built into all the AATON-35s at Clairmont, together with a few more of our own modifications. All our cameras are the latest version of the 35-III. See the new factory features listed below.

Carry-on "We've gone into places where nobody knew we were filming, where a slate would have blown our cover," says Michael FitzMaurice. "I've walked in with the camera in a shoulder-bag designed for a pro Betacam camcorder. Nobody gives it a second look. The whole camera fits into it, with lens and magazine in place. I regularly walk onto airplanes with that bag on my shoulder, as carry-on baggage?'

Camera smuggling "I took the Pytka AATON-35 as carry-on to Brazil and back to the U.S.A. twice;' says Mr. FitzMaurice. "We were shooting Nike commercials to be aired at the Soccer World Cup and we needed shots of the Brazilian players. On both shoots, I carried that camera into Brazil and out again without any of the authorities being aware of it:'

The new factoryinstalled features: A movement heater that reduces lowtemperature power drain; an optional eyepiece heater; easier loop-length forming; a high-def, flicker-free, color video assist with time-code both in the video blanking and visible on the monitor; a user-adjustable shutter, to sync at 24fps with 60Hz and 50Hz lighting and with video monitors; adjustable pitch, for quieter running.

In this photo, camera has video assist, on-board battery, 400 foot film load, 25mm Zeiss Tl.3, shor t finder, two-stage mattebox, follow-focus, handgrip. Whole rig weighs 21.9lbs.

Panavlslon's new anamorphic lenses made It possible for Joe MacDonald ASC to shoot a close-up of a "mump"-less Steve McQueen for Robert Wise's The Sand Pebbles.

squeeze projection lenses. The high quality of these lenses, in comparison with Fox's Bausch & Lomb lenses, greatly impressed MGM's research director Douglas Shearer. Shearer joined with Gottschalk in developing a line of high resolution 35mm and 65mm anamorphic lenses . These lenses also eliminated the "mumps" problem so that they could maintain a 2x squeeze ratio throughout the range of focal distances. MGM was one of the first studios to use the new Panavision lenses on Torpedo Run (1958), Party Girl (1958), and Green Mansions (1959). Due to MGM' s contractual arrangement with Fox, however, these films were advertised as having been shot in CinemaScope. At Gottschalk's insistence, the films also bore the separate credit: "Photographic Lenses by Panavision." As one might expect, many film historians have been confused by these dual credits. The first film to give exclusive credit to Panavision was Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head (1959), released by United Artists, a distribution company

that was not bound to a blanket contract with Fox because each of its individual producers negotiated their own equipment licensing deals. Actorproducers Frank Sinatra and John Wayne also became strong boosters of

The Sand Pebbles' camera crew on location In Taipei, Taiwan for the scene In which the ship's crew use firehoses to quell a riot. Clockwise from the top: Director Robert Wise, Operator Dick Johnson, Assistants Roger Shearman and Kenneth Peach Jr, ASC, Director of Photography Joe MacDonald ASC, Operator Paul Hill, along with local crew members Lee, Chen and Brownie.

Page 62

The Operating Cameraman

Panavision, and insisted on using Panavision lenses and cameras on most of the films produced by their companies. By 1960, Paramount, which had resisted CinemaScope (even though it had released a film shot in Technirama) also began filming in Panavision. Although Panavision shot tests for George Stevens' The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), Fox resisted using the obviously better lenses, most likely at the behest of its president Spyros Skouras, who had been CinemaScope's biggest booster. It wasn't until1966, four years after Spyros was deposed following the Cleopatra debacle, that several of Fox's top flight directors of photography began to shoot in Panavision. Charles Lang Jr ASC used the sharper lenses on How to Steal a Million and The Flim-Flam Man .Joe MacDonald ASC used them on Robert Wise's The Sand Pebbles, and A Guide for the Married Man . =*>

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That summer, Fox filmed its very last CinemaScope pictures, to be released the following spring, In Like Flint and Caprice, the latter photographed by LeonShamroy, ASC, who had started it all on The Robe and makes a cameo appearance in the film. Some sources at Panavision claim that Von Ryan's Express was shot with Panavisionlenses at the insistence of Frank Sinatra. Yet while this may have been true for some scenes, there are others in which the anamorphic mumps and other aberrations associated with CinemaScope lenses are quite obvious. In the late Sixties, Panavision modified the Mitchell BNC to make it a reflex camera which Gottschalk named the PSR (Panavision Silenced Reflex). By 1970, Panavision dominated 35mm anamorphic photography throughout the world. With the development of the lighter and more compact Panaflex camera, which was first used by Vilmos Zsigmond ASC, on Steven Spielberg's Sugar/and Express (1974), and a line of high quality spherical lenses, Panavision solidified its position as the industry leader.

Later Anamorphic Systems From the early Seventies on, several companies have joined the anamorphic fray by developing lenses for use with Arriflex cameras. In 1971, Todd-AO licensed a line of Japanese designed anamorphic lenses, primarily for use with Arriflex cameras, which it marketed under the name "Todd-AO 35." The Academy Award winning documentary The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1976) was filmed under difficult conditions with 35mm anamorphic lenses, raising a question as to the validity of complaints about the bulkiness and difficulty of working with these lenses. In 1976, an Italian company, Technovision, introduced a line of Cooke spherical lenses that had been modified for 35mm anamorphic photography. The Cooke anamorphics were particularly popular with Vittorio Storaro, ASC, who used them on Apocalypse Now (1989), The Last Emperor(1988), and the35mm portions of Little Buddha (1994).

In 1981, widescreen buff and equipment developer Joe Dunton also came out with a line of anamorphic lenses which were used by Dina De Laurentiis, who housed Dunton's American headquarters at his North Carolina studio, on films he produced such as Tai-Pan (1986) and Maximum Overdrive (1986 ). Other films using Dunton's lenses were The Black Hole (1979), Invaders from Mars (1986), The Sandlot (1992), Rob Roy (1995), Rumble in the Bronx (released in the U.S. in 1996), and the Malta sequences of Cutthroat Island (1995). In 1989, Germany's Isco Optic developed a line of anamorphic lenses especially for Arriflex, which were given the moniker" Arriscope." The Arriscope lenses were first used by Warner Bros. on Body Snatchers, the second remake of the Don Siegel sci-fi thriller. With today's tightly grained film stocks and high resolution anamorphic and spherical lenses, there are many ways to produce rich and beautiful widescreen 35mm motion pictures. Whether this might have been envisioned in 1953 at the birth of the widescreen revolution is not known. For at that time, each method involved great compromises in image quality: the CinemaScope lenses had mumps and masked spherical images wasted a significant part of the photographed image. As soon as these techniques were launched, industry technicians began to seek ways of improving image quality. Through their efforts, the movie-going public has greatly benefited. Yet, on a parallel plane with the optical improvements in 35mm photography just discussed, some studios chose instead to improve image quality for their premiere pictures by going to a larger negative.

Next in the series: The development of Vista Vision and Technirama. Rick Mitchell is afilm editor, director and historian who currently lives and works in Hollywood.

or The presidential times of Michael Frediani,

What do Michael Frediani and anamorphic lenses have in common? They both compress twice as much into a given space. In Mike's case, it was as SOC president for the past two activity-filled years. On January 24, 1997 there was a changing of the guard within the Society. A new board of governors were elected by the membership and from that select group of men and women new officers were chosen to develop policy and guide the SOC until 1999. Outgoing president Michael Frediani passed the gavel to incoming president Stan McClain who will ably take the lead for the next two-year term. McClain presented Frediani with the Dedicated Service Award CAMMY and stated, "These past two years were perhaps the most progressive we've ever experienced. Membership rose, more members got involved with our several projects and The Operating Cameraman matured into a well-received and respected magazine. Mike wore many hats during his term and pushed the performance by any prior officer to a new level of proficiency." McClain continued, "As our leader he nurtured the Society to its adulthood status. Our adolescent days are now behind us." As Frediani graciously accepted his award he made reference to the inscription. "Gee, it was only a two year term?-it seemed longer," he said with a grin. "First off I would like to give my thanks to all who helped me move this organization forward and note too that none of this would have been possible without the support of my wife Linda and our daughters Nicole and Erica. As I spent hour upon hour

Page 66

The Operating Cameraman

soc

on the phone, computer keyboard and at various SOC functions my family forfeited some of the things that they wanted to do so that I could better serve the Society. I appreciate their love and understanding-they deserve a great deal of credit!" Frediani reflected that he was proud to be associated with the organization and its myriad projects and minutiae. As one of many volunteers who made sure that the

••••••••••••••••••••• The Distinguished Service Award CAMMY was presented to Frediani, "whose outstanding accomplishments in strengthening the Society reflect his extraordinary drive and vision.''

••••••••••••••••••••• Society operated smoothly Frediani's efforts were unceasing. "Although we are a relatively small organization, serving you these last two years has been an adventure, to say the least. I have done my utmost to raise the visibility of our Society and its goals during my term in office. I'm pleased that we were able to accomplish so much while in turn streamlining our operations allowing more productivity in our efforts."

An Incredible round of activities Frediani developed the 1st Annual Hands-On Crane & Remote Head Seminar in January of 1996 (The Operating Cameraman, Spring I Summer 1996)

July-December 1997

which was a tremendous success and raised the Society's visibility in the film community. He credits many SOC volunteers for the success of the event including but not limited to Tom Fraser, Bill Waldman and Terry Harkin. Frediani also co-developed our popular web site with Art Adams in June of 1995, and went on to produce the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet aided by David Rohman and others who spent many volunteer hours behind-the-scenes in order to honor the giants of our industry past and present. Although some wonderful SOC activities had become dormant, amidst other ongoing events Frediani revived the monthly film screenings and the quarterly breakfast meetings. Contacting popular industry-related companies for their sponsorship of these events served to showcase the latest equipment for our members while helping to offset costs. Our 1996 Christmas Holiday Screening of 101 Dalmatians brought together SOC members and their families who enjoyed not only the movie but also toys, prizes, refreshments and a special visit from Santa & Mrs. Claus which naturally delighted the 'kiddies' in the large crowd. We saw the reemergence of the SOC Directory which lists members' names and contact information along with studio related data so =*>

that we can easily contact each other for networking. Aiding the president in this effort were Jim Etheridge, Lance Fisher, Doug Knapp and Katy O'Harra. The Operating Cameraman magazine has grown from a simple newsletter during our formative years to a world-class periodical due in no small part to the efforts of Bill Hines, Randy Robinson, Doug Knapp, Katy O'Harra, Lynn Lanning, Amanda Thompson and all of those who contributed their unpaid time and energy toward bringing you the magazine that you hold in your hands. Frediani relates, "Serving as editor of The Operating Cameraman for the 1995 & 1996/97 issues was one of the most difficult yet rewarding tasks that I tackled during my term." In his ' not so spare' time Frediani wrote articles, solicited articles from published as well as previously unpublished writers, took photographs and then put it all together in a package that would not only please members of the Society but also the advertisers and our international readership as well. "While we only publish twice per year it seemed like a

full-time job unto itself... and I thought the day-to-day operations of the SOC were daunting! I applaud those who have taken over the helm of this magazine and appreciate their efforts, having been there and done that," Frediani stated with a wearied smile. The designated charity of the SOC is The Eye Care Clinic at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Over the years we have contributed nearly $74,000 toward the purchase of the special contact lenses that benefit children in need. Frediani stated, "I would have to say that I am most proud of the fact that during my tenure as president we were able to contribute approximately $10,000 of that total." At the Ninth Annual Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet in July 1996 (The Operating Cameraman, Fall/Winter 1996197), the Board of Governors presented checks totaling $3,750 to the Clinic on behalf of the SOC. By December another $6,000 was garnered in donations from the decorative pin designed by Frediani in May 1996. SOC members offered the commemorative pins to friends and co-workers and deserve credit for our

successful charity drive. "I must add that none of these accomplishments would have been possible without the dedicated members and friends who had come before me," Frediani said in his farewell newsletter. "They truly deserve recognition for laying the groundwork which allows us to continue the tradition of our relatively young organization, dedicated to advancing the art and creative contribution of the Operating Cameramen and our associates." Bill Hines a founding member of the Society who remains one of its most active members says of Frediani, "Mike's productive tenure as SOC president was achieved by total dedication and loyalty to the Society. He gave one hundred percent toward building a stronger, more effective organization. He achieved this by his own example and by encouraging a greater degree of member involvement. His vision, involvement and accomplishments will be long remembered and appreciated."

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The Operating Cameraman

J .

July-December 1997

FUR (Forward looking infra-red) systems have been known as tools of the trade for airborne government and police agencies exclusively, until now. The following scenario reflects how a production company recently came to be the first to use this system for production use. "Breaking News" flashes across the TV screen in the production office. A cadre of news choppers follows a stolen car as it screams along the 101 freeway weaving in and out of the slower traffic. Eventually the car crashes and the driver attempts to flee into the night. The scene shifts to a grainy black and white image carrying the caption "Police FUR Video." The scene is still dark; however the bright glowing image of the running suspect can easily be seen through the undergrowth. We return to the news chopper view as the cops surround the hiding suspect and bring him out into the glare of a Nightsun light. Suddenly the director jumps up and screams, "That's what I want! Except I want the real image to turn into the infra-red image right on the screen!" The DP and his aerial camera crew exchange glances, trying to imagine how to create the impossible. In the pause of conversation, the 1st AC steps forward and begins to share his knowledge of a piece of equipment called the FSI Ultra 4000. ~>

either white against a dark background or black against a light background. A separate Beta or Hi-8 deck must be rented to record the imagery. As with any video recording deck in a helicopter, it should never be placed on the floor or a hard surface as the transmitted vibration will affect the heads and possibly render the recording useless.

Aircraft Type and Installation

Succinctly put, the FSI Ultra 4000 is a gyrostabilized aerial camera platform supporting a dual sensor system incorporating color video and monochrome infra-red imaging. The video imaging is accomplished through a high quality three chip color camera. The infra-redimagingismadepossiblewith FUR Systems Inc's SAFIRE high performance, high resolution, digital thermal imager specifically designed for airborne applications.

The FSI Ultra 4000' s hardware has three basic components The Ball Mount or "sensor platform" is a three-axis design, affording completely gyrostabilized movement within elevation and azimuth. The Field-of-View (FOV) for the system is +1S0 to -8S 0 in elevation and continuous azimuth control throughout 360 degrees of rotation. The Interface Unit is the central point for the FSI Ultra 4000 system, routing the system command signals from the Control Panel to the Ball Mount and returning status information for display on a monitor. The unit operates off ship's power or batteries (28VDC) and distributes power to the other components of the system. The Control Panel is a lighweight laptop unit that provides the main system control. A joystick is used for controlling the dual sensor platform

within the Ball Mount's line of sight, with adjustment controls to compensate for drift. Switches are provided for control of other discrete functions.

The FSI Ultra 4000's software provides the following: The system is menu driven allowing preset instructions, such as default focus, to be carried out "hands off" while in flight. The video controls are standard in that they contain focus, zoom and 2x magnification. The iris is automatically controlled and requires no operator input. TheIR sensor controls provide for much "customization" of theIR image. The system allows for 'electronic zoom' (that is not a' ramping zoom') through three focal lengths. WFOV (Wide Field of View) provides an image of 26째 horizontal by 16.8째 vertical, comparable to a 4Smm lens used in 3Smm cinematography. NFOV (Narrow Field of View) provides an image of so horizontal by 3째 vertical, comparable to a 200mm lens used in 3Smm cinematography. An X2 electronic zoom will display an enhancedNFOVof2.5째horizontal by l.S 0 degrees vertical. Additionally this system features a "polarity control." This allows the heat generating objects to be

July-December 1997

The Bell 206B Jet Ranger or the Bell 206L Long Ranger series is the preferred aircraft for the installation of the FSI Ultra 4000. Best results are obtained by mounting the Ball Mount on the side of the ship, which allows for use of a nose mounted Nightsun light as in a "Police Configuration." However the ball ma y be nose mounted. It is possible to mount the FSI Ultra 4000 to a Hughes SOO or an A-Star AS3SO or Twin Star AS3SS. Installation of the FSI Ultra 4000 should only be performed by a qualified teclmician. Tyler Camera Systems maintains a list of who is qualified to install the FSI Ultra 4000. Side mounting of the Ultra 400 to Jet Rangers or Long Rangers takes approximately 4S minutes to one hour. =*>

The Operating Cameraman

Page 69

Nose mounting or mounting on other helicopters takes at least 2 hours. These times are of course approximate and may vary with each aircraft's configuration.

Set Up and Operation The gyros take only a few moments to get up to speed; however the super-cooled germanium plate which is the heart of theIR system requires about ten minutes to achieve the required temperature for operation. This time can be used for "ground rehearsals" and to review your familiarity with the controls by using the "video mode." Do not become airborne until a clear monochrome picture appears in the IR mode and you are completely familiar with the controls and their responses. The Ultra 4000 is available through Tyler Camera Systems. As with any new and unique piece of equipment, a certain amount of familiarity can only be achieved through practice. If you are going to operate the Ultra 4000, contact Tyler Camera Systems once the equipment is booked and a trained technician will spend time with you and "take you through" the set up and operation of the system.

THE AATON 35111 &OPPENHEIMER CAMERA

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The author, Jacques Arnet, is an associate member of SOC and is an aerial camera equipment technician.

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In January 1993, OPPENHEIMER CAMERA become the second independent rental house in the US to offer the AATON 35, and the only one outside of Los Angeles.

Oppenheimer Camera now rents two MTON 35 cameras, both fully updated to the latest version Ill technology. Our customized accessory packages, regular updating, and high maintenance standards, enable discriminating DPs to confidently use the Oppenheimer Camera MTON 35 Ill's. Our MTON cameros hove travelled the US, Canada, and beyond! On The Legends of the Fall, John Toll ASC used one of our AATON 35's in Jamaica. We boiled out a Waterworld camera emergency in Hawaii. For a Bongo Jeans commercial, we sent a camera to the jungles of Venezuela. But most of our rentals go to less exotic environs! Curtis Clark ASC, a fan of the MTON 35, has used our cameros on many commercials over the past three years. Mr. Clark has told us that he always trusts our cameras to be well maintained, and extremely reliable.

Commercial DP Petr litominsky regularly shoots with our MTON 35's. One shoot found Mr. litominsky and our MTON wedged into a 4-place airplane filming talent while in-flight over Seattle. This winter DP Tom Seigel shot Jack Nicholson in Blood and Wine, in Miami. For the entire three month shoot, Mr. Seigel used an Oppenheimer Camera MTON 35. We confidently ship our MTON 35 Ill's to productions across the US. Oppenheimer Camera rents the latest AATON, MOVIECAM, and ARRIFlEX cameras from our facilities in Seattle and Portland. We also feature TYLER MOUNTS, UNILUX LIGHTING, SWISS JIB, POWER POD, and more. We stress well maintained, quality gear, and the finest customer service. When you need a quality camera package in the Pacific Northwest or anywhere in America, coli us.

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Page 70

The Operating Cameraman

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Hitachi SK-2600

Until recently, motion picture production, particularly for television, has always been cyclical. For example, TV programming production takes place during an eight-month period, from midJuly through mid-March. Then pilot season starts and continues through mid-May. Thereafter, on-going yearround feature and TV commercial production continues until mid-July, when another cycle begins. Because of overlapping feature, commercial and TV programming production, the busiest period of the year has usually been August through mid-November. During the past two or three seasons, there has been more product produced than ever before, much of it taking place during the normally slow period between mid-March and midJuly, which has served to provide more work during this normal down cycle. How significant and widespread is this increase in production activity? After years of often severe fluctuations, ten years ago production was beginning to show signs of significant and steady increase. New members were beginning to come into production unions in substantial numbers. They came from film schools and unorganized film and video production. Many had not had the benefit of organized, large-scale production experience. This lack of experience was found to be a problem for the new kids on the block as well as for the old timers. The new kids had been used to performing more than one craft activity, often in a quick-fix, slipshod way, on the lowand no-budget productions they were cutting their teeth on. The old timers, grounded in the specialized and highly skilled craft activity which has always been relied on during major production processes in the studio system, were impatient with the inexperience and insouciance of many of the new hires. Some of the newbies came on the

scene with a know-it-all attitude; some with an I've-done-it-all demeanor; a few with a lack of respect for experience, craft skills and safety; others needing a show me ... show me ... and show me again learning curve; others who cut corners and people, seeking a quick trip to the top for the pay and ego control. They came because there was work and the opportunity to be a part of the production process which produced some of the dreams they had grown up with.

From all domestic sources, production activity in 1995 was up approximately 15% over that of the previous year. However, 1996 proved to be busier yet, production being up at least 20% over 1995. In 1996, film manufacturers sold about 15% more raw stock than in 1995. This checks out, because the film processing laboratories also said their volume increased about 15%. During 1996, production equipment was at a premium. Equipment rentals reached an all-time highapproximately 25% higher than in 1995. The rental shelves were bare. Studio facilities were fully committed and stage space was virtually non-existent. Empty warehouses, airport hangars and abandoned factory facilities were pressed into service as shooting environments

ALookBaek ••• A Look Ahead by Bill Hines, SOC

Butwillfilmand video production be able to sustain this growth? What are the chances that production will diminish or continue to maintain the sometimes extreme cyclical structure of its past? In order to help determine the answers to these concerns, we decided to go to the source with our inquiry in order to compile a composite response.

Status-Quo Vadis? It may be worthwhile to begin with a brief look at the state of the industry which utilizes our services in order to determine its longevity and viability. During the past couple years, while contacting them regarding advertising in The Operating Cameraman magazine, I've had occasion to engage in an informal survey of manufacturers, suppliers and rental facilities to get from these sources an appraisal of how their respective business has been faring compared to past recent years. July-December 1997

for constructed settings. Everything considered, production appeared to be up 20-25% over 1995. Already this year, according to the production reports in the 11 March 97 edition of The Hollywood Reporter, 73 pilots have been ordered by the six networks. Not all of them, of course, will see the light of day, but a healthy order none the less. In addition, there has been some talk about providing programming for the world wide web. That would certainly increase production plans, if that comes about. Feature production appears to be 10% ahead of last year, running at a pace consistent with the past three years. Television programming production will increase because of the expected increased prime time program schedule by UPN and WB. In addition, there is talk of increasing the number of TV programming orders from 22-24 show segments to as many as 32-36 per season. PERSPECTIVES, coNnNuEo =*> The Operating Cameraman

Page 73

PERSPECTIVES,

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •• ••• • Advertisers' Index • •• •• •• Louma LA .. ...... .............. ....... 34 • • Alan Gordon Ent ... ....... ...... ... 54 • • Arriflex .................... ........ ... .. 75 Mole Richardson .............. ..... 67 • Bogen .......... ............ . 19, 21, 23

O'Connor .................. ........ .... . 5

Cartoni ........ ..... ..... .... ....... .... 71

Oppenheimer Camera .. ...... .. 70

Century Precision Optics ..... .. 65

Otto Nemenz ........ .. .. ........... 1 3

Chapman Studio Equipment . 46

Panavision ........ inside back cover

Cine Video Tech .. ........ ........ . 79

Phillips BTS .... .... .................. . 18

Cinema Products ....... ... ...... .. 49

Plus 8 Video ............ ........ ...... 63

Cinematography Electronics . 45

Precision Camera Support ..... 28

Clairmont Camera ......... .. 60-61

Preston Camera Systems ....... 31

Consolidated Film Industries . 32

Reed Exhibition Companies .. 51

Deluxe Labs .. .................. ..... . 25

Rosco Labs ...... ............ .. ........ 15

Eastman Kodak ........... ...... .... 36

Santa Monica Film/Video ...... 38

Ed-Venture ....... ........... ...... ... 29

Schneider Optics .... .............. 64

Ferra Camera Mounts ........ ... 50

Shotmaker ............................ 50

Foto-Kem ... ..... ................ ..... 1 6

SOC Wear ............................ 70

Fuji Fotofilm .............. back cover

Sony ..... ..... ..... ............ ..... 40-41

Fujinon ...... ..... ..... ............. ... . 11

Technicolor ...... .... ............ .... 55

Geo Film Group ..... .... ..... ...... 1 7

Telescopic Crane ........ ............ 6

Gunner (Axis) .......... ...... ..... .. 24

Tyler Camera Systems ........... 22

Hitachi Denshi America ......... 72

Victor Duncan ........ .............. 27

lnnovision .... ........ .. ..... ....... ... 74

Vinten TSM Inc ..................... 33

j L Fisher ........ ............ .... ....... 57

Weaver/Steadman ...... ...... .... 44

Lee Filters .......... ................... 47

Wm. White ....... inside front cover

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Page 74

The Operating Cameraman

July-December 1997

CONTINUED

This alone could increase activity 10% to 15% per year. How much busier w ill this year prove to be than 1996? And 1998 than 1997? And 1999 than 1998? And the year 2000? It's an educated guess, of course, but if the business remains committed to a full range of features, television and cable programming, commercials, industrials, CD-ROMs, music and interactive videos, if syndication continues apace, and if the two additional networks, WB and UPN, continue developing their prime time programming, 1997 should be at least 20% busier than 1996, 1998 should be 10% busier than 1997, 1999 about 10% ahead of 1998, and the year 2000 10% busier than 1999, leveling off thereafter . To meet the demand, equipment manufacturers are busy building more cameras and support accessories, dollies, cranes, lights, grip and sound equipment. More stage facilities are being planned for and built. During the past two years, membership in the West Coast lA locals has increased approximately 10%. It should be noted that the above percentages are based on an informal survey and educated guestimates and are not the result of a dedicated and formal scientific study with hard and fast figures. Nevertheless, the economic health and future of motion picture production appears to be assu red for the foreseeable future . In short, this business should be a healthy place to hang our hats for some time to come.

Bill Hines is an veteran cameraman and the author of two books, Operating Cinematography for Film and Video and Job Descriptions for Film and Video. In 1995 at the SOC Awards Banquet he received the President's Award for outstanding service to the organization.

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Profile

AN ISLANl>E.R's Ol>YSSE.Y A conversation with Ernie Reed, SOC by Phil Bishirjian A profile of Ernie's entry into camera work, along with some career highlights.

OC: How did you get into underwater cinematography?

E.R: It didn't happen right away. As kids in Catalina, we practically lived in and on the water. We all had odd jobs. From the time I was ten years old, I used to deliver papers in Avalon harbor. On Saturdays and Sundays there would be lots of boats tied up and partying all Saturday night. So, bright and early Sunday morning I would put the Sunday papers in a row boat and I would go from boat to boat and shout into the portholes, EXAMINER! TIMES! as loud as I could. These guys, who were really hung over from all the partying, would stagger out all blearyeyed and hand me money, not for the paper, but just for me to go away. I parlayed this into a lucrative routine all the while I was in Avalon. Around 1948 or so, right after I graduated from Avalon High on Catalina Island, I started looking for work. I needed more than the few bucks you could make as a kid delivering papers or diving for coins tossed into the water by passengers on the steamers that came in twice a day. Since I was born and raised there and had acquired some connections, I began piloting shore boats that took folks from ship to shore and back among the moored vessels in Avalon harbor. Then I became assistant harbor master for three years after which I returned to running shore boats. In the process of learning how to dive, there was a mentor I worked with in my earlier years by the name of Harry the Monk. He could do it all Page 76

The Operating Cameraman

and was a good teacher. There were three diving techniques: free divingwithout an air line; Defco-with a face mask and an air hose from above; and full diving gear-Mark V, Mark VII and Japanese Pot-all with a heavy duty water-tight suit and screw-on helmet with air feed and safety line from above for deep and lengthy dives. Then there was poor-man's hard-hat where we used discarded 20-gallon hot water heaters. By cutting off the top third of the tank, cutting a hole for a small glass viewing plate in the side, cutting out arm holes and attaching an air hose to the top, we could go down in up to fifty feet of water to work. As long as we squatted and didn't lean over, the trimmed tank and the internal bubble stayed put and caused no problem. There was no scuba gear at that time. Harry was the key mooring guy that they used in Catalina because he did all the diving without gear. He was a free diver and he could free dive down seventy or eighty feet without air to set a mooring. We'd tie a rope to a large rock and he'd hold onto it and let it take him to the bottom to do his work. Then we'd pull the rock back up ready for his next trip down. He had tremendous lung capacity and could stay down six minutes or so. Once in a while he had me dive with him, but I could only manage to stay down around four and a half minutes max. All the moorings in Catalina are what they call bow-and-stern moorings to keep the boats aligned and not swinging with the wind or tide. The way we set them was with heavy old railroad train car wheels. We'd put a heavy chain though the axle hole and push the wheel overboard from a tug or barge over the spot we wanted to set

July-December 1997

the mooring buoys. Harry w ould then go down and attach the line to the chain in the wheel and we' d attach a mooring buoy at the topside end. This we did for each bow and stern mooring. That's how we set the moorings in Avalon harbor, the Isthmus and several other mooring bays on the leeward and northerly sides of the island. Between that and diving for abalone, I managed to make enough money to think of buying a vessel of my own to live on, since it was (and is) very expensive to rent and live on Catalina. I bought an old tugboat which I laid up in Lovers' Cove, diving to set the moorings myself.

OC: When you were coming up from depth, how did you avoid the bends?

E.R: Well, we didn' t pay much attention to that. The fact was we were only diving to 40 feet without supplied air, four to five minutes at a time. Now if you were down for an hour or so with supplied air it would be a different matter. The best rule of thumb is to take the smallest bubble and follow it up. Scuba gear was just becoming available and a lot of people were coming to Catalina to pleasure dive, spear fish and pull abs (abalone) from the rocks. No one on the island had compressed air for diving at the time. It all had to come from the mainland. OC: Why didn't they have compressed air on Catalina?

E.R: Because they had to have permits for it. They didn't know how to process and refine the air so that it w as pure, so I went to the mainland and examined a system for producing air and just what the filtration system consisted of. Then I returned with some

Ernie Reed and Lazslo Kovacs

large oxygen tanks and a compresser and devised my own system which I could operate from my old diesel tug. I put 40 of those tanks on the outer ring around the "Doghouse" of the tug. The system worked like this: At that time I had what they called a little take-off shaft and when the engine was running, I could engage it with the compressor, run the air through silica gel, activated charcoal and cotton in order to pick up moisture and sediment. By the time the air went through the system, it was really pure and compressed. I had the air tanks hooked up in series so that as one tank filled, I would close its valve and open the valve on the next tank until it filled, and so on until all the tanks were filled. On every trip I made between Avalon and the mainland I would connect the compressor

to the motor drive and fill these tanks. I would supply air to scuba divers coming to Catalina. They would lay up alongside my tug and I'd fill their air tanks from mine. That way they didn't have to bring a lot of tanks over to do their thing. It was sort of a sideline activity for me. OC: How did your segue into motion pictures happen?

E.R: It happened unexpectedly. I didn't get into compressed air supply seriously until this film company contacted me about doing an underwater film. They said, "You have the ideal vessel for this job because the aft deck goes down to near water level. It has all the necessary ingredients that we need, except air!" That's when I said, "No problem," and showed them my July-December 1997

compressed air supply system. The guy told me, "Then we'll rent the tug from you for X-amount of dollars." Well, this was like the biggest money thing that had ever happened to me. So, of course, I went to work and activated the air system on the vessel. They loaded their gear aboard and I took them to a place called Emerald Bay which is at the far northern end of Catalina Island off the leeward side past the Isthmus. That's the clearest water there was. You could look down 60 feet and see bottom. We looked at the location and they thought it was great. At that time underwater camera gear was relatively new and scarce. Except for their scuba gear, it was all homemade stuff that these people were using. There was an old Eyemo camera =*> inside a boxy, home-rigged

The Operating Cameraman

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housing with a small lens port which this guy had built. They were not planning to be diving down more than thirty feet and there's not a lot of pressure at that depth. The camera housing was kind of mickey-moused and had an outside trigger to turn the camera on and a key to wind up the Eyemo to run its 100foot load of 35mm film . They had leased my tug, hired me to pilot it, to supply air and to be the dive master. I would dive with them to make sure that they were all okay and not endangering themselves. They began diving and getting a few scenes shot every day. This went on for about a week and then the weather turned nasty and they decided to take a break and leave. Instead of taking all their equipment back to the mainland with them, they said, "Would you mind if we paid you X-amount of dollars per day to keep the equipment on board the vessel until we return?" Hell, I didn't mind a bit. After a week or so of working with them, I was getting a little more accustomed to their ways and what they were doing. Their underwater camera housing system never had an eyepiece that you could look through. It had what they called an aerial finder which was nothing more than a wire frame that was attached to the topside of the underwater housing so that you could get the framing by looking through this open rectangular finder.

OC: Not a reflex finder?

'E.R: No, not a reflex type. With this finder setup you were only framing approximately. Because of the 30% magnification factor of water, you needed the widest lens you could get. There was no focus or exposure control on the underwater housing, so you preset everything. You used a 25mm lens because it was as wide as you could get with their rig. It was kind of like shooting a documentary, or stock footage. OC: So what happened next?

'E.R: After a few days, they call me up and say, 'What's the weather like?" I tell them the weather's still lousy. Page 78

The Operating Cameraman

The water is still churned up and visibility is really poor. They said, "Why don't you hold unto the stuff and call us when the weather turns halfway decent?" Then the cameraman calls me independently and says, "If you see anything, just take the camera down. It's all wound up. Go ahead and just pull the trigger and rewind it, like you saw me doing. Just keep it in the wire!" Hey, that sounded pretty simple, like I'd been watching him, you know, following fish and stuff like that.

OC: Those were pre-union days, I presume.

'E.R: Oh, hell, yes! Way pre-union days! Anyway, I figure, well okay, fine, I'll try this. So I waited for the water to clear up a bit. Well, it finally cleared up a week later, so I got a great idea. I go to Emerald Bay and start looking the situation over and I think maybe I can make something happen here. I find a dead seal on the beach, so I take the carcass down in about 25 feet of water. There I chain it to the bottom with a stake. Then I get in the boat, put on the scuba gear, and wait to see what might happen. Pretty soon I see a little activitya few sharks coming in, mostly blues and sand sharks. Of course, the water begins to boil like crazy because now they're after that seal carcass like you can't believe . Well, I get into the water with the camera housing and down below the boat and I'm close enough where I can feel the water roil and I roll a few feet of this frenzy. OC: You were down there with the sharks? E: Right. I'm on their level and fairly close-ten or twelve feet awayI was back just far enough to include all the action in frame . But they're not paying much attention to me with that seal bait at hand. They're in such a frenzy that they're hitting on the carcass and hitting on one another. I thought, "Boy, this' s unique!" Anyway, I move around a bit and make several takes until all the film runs through the camera, then I return to the boat. I called the people to tell them that the water has cleared up.

July-December 1997

When I pick them up at Avalon, the first thing the cameraman says is, "Did you roll off some film?" I say, "Yeah, I did." So they unload the camera and send the footage to the lab for processing along with other stuff they shot that day. Well, the producer comes over a week later all red-faced and excited and says to me, "My god, this is stuff I haven't seen before. This is astronomical!" Right away I say, "I didn't do it!" He says, "Ernie, take it easy. I know you did it. The cameraman told me. It's great footage. I'll buy it from you." He said it was unique because as the camera moves underwater there's no horizon line because you're not seeing the surface of the water and so you kinda dutch-angle the stuff, but it wasn't because I knew what I was doing. Anyway, the producer told me that he'd pay me for the footage since the only way he could or would legally use it is to pay for it. So he hands me all this money and I'm in awe because they're already giving me X-amount of dollars for the tug and me, and this is way above that. Of course, it opened my eyes. I said, "My god, if this is the kind of money you can make doing this kind of thing then I'm in the wrong business."

OC: What did you decide to do?

'E. R: They were pleased enough with my work with them that they told me, "After this film is done, come over to the mainland and we'll try to get you into the studios." Well, everyone says that and what they try to do and what happens are two different things. Anyhow, I was hooked. I sold the equipment that I had on the little island (Catalina) and came over to the big island (the mainland)-and proceeded to starve to death! Well, while trying to make connections, I went through the money that I made selling my equipment, tug, and everything else. I said to myself, "I'm gonna learn this business from the ground up, even if it kills me." So I started sweeping floors and gofering for the independent stages like the F K Rocket Company, Flagg Films and other small indies. I joined the Association of Film Craftsmen, Local 531, NABET, and

stayed busy as a gaffer and camera assistant, doing mostly commercials, with a low-budget feature coming along now and then. In so doing, I did and learned nearly every facet of the business in the little film and TV studios and small, low and no-budget independent features that I worked for and was ready for any film opportunity that might present itself. Then a company called FilmFair picked me up as a gaffer and got me into lA TSE local 728. After I had worked for them a while, they asked me, "W auld you like to proceed into something else?" Well, my whole reason for getting into the film business was to get into camera. They said, "You have the knowledge and experience to do the lighting, so we'd like to see what you can do with the camera." They handed me an Arri and film and said, "Go shoot some stuff. This is what we'd like to see." I said, "Fine, more than happy to do it." And I did. Well, they were impressed with what I shot. So they said, "We're gonna get you into lA local 659," which was the major camera local at the time. I didn't see much chance of that happening, so I said, "Okay, fine. I wish you a lot of luck." They said, "No, no, we'll get you in. We're big enough." FilmFair was a big company with stages inNew York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and was probably the biggest independent commercial company there was at that time. They had people on staff which I worked with like Vilmos Zsigmund, Lazslo Kovacs, Jordan Cronenweth, Jimmy Crabe, Woody Omens and John Hora, and I even assisted James Wong Howe, who came by to shoot a commercial at FilmFair. I became their staff camera operator and I could double doing inserts because it was legal for them to upgrade me to DP as long as I worked with a camera assistant and the work was done in their studio facilities.

OC: How long were you with FilmFair?

'E.R: Twenty-three years. They would let me go out and do other

shows when they weren't busy . Consequently, I would go out and do other things like I Spy and You Asked For It! On ET: The Extraterrestrial, I worked the second unit. I did all the bicycle stuff that was done without the principals.

OC: Did you ever get into underwater work again?

'E.R: No, I went into surface stuff, becauseinunderwateryouhad to have quite a bit of money to get into a piece of equipment that would be advantageous to use. That was when US Divers was making the aqualung and accessories. I had been underwater at that point for twenty odd years.

OC: Looking at your credits, what was a pivotal point in your career?

'E.R: Well, I Spy was very unique because I would go to different countries and all the stuff that I would shoot was different. It was really a fabulous experience. And of course, the business that we're in is so unique. People would say, "What business are you in?" And you would tell them, "I'm in the motion picture business." And immediately their eyes would light up and they would say, "Can you tell me some stories about the stars and your movie experiences?" Filmmaking to them was the elixir of life. OC: You've traveled to exotic locations and worked a lot in the studios. Which do you like more?

'E.R: It really doesn't make much difference to me. Location stuff is probably more interesting because you can devise a better shot because of the surroundingsthatyouhave,

whereas, in a studio you're kind a committed to the constraints, the parameters, that you have to deal with. I guess exterior and location stuff allows for more variety.

OC: So, being an SOC member, what advice would you want to pass on to other members?

'E.R: To the younger generation coming into this business, I wish each one luck and hope they have the enormous amount of fortitude it takes to stay in this business when work sometimes gets scarce. And that they become aware of the benefits of union affiliation, such as pension and health and welfare hours which accumulate with each union job. You don't think much about these things when you' re starting in the business, but you sure appreciate the benefits when you or your family get sick or injured, or when you're ready to retire. ~ Note: After interviewing Ernie Reed, I had a new-found sense ofappreciation, not only for his dedication, but for his contribution to the craft over the past fifty years.- P.B.

SociÂŁty ofOperating Camera:men- Jufy 1997 Marc A Cole John A Connell Tom Connole Freddie Cooper ACTIVE CHARTER john A Corso Ivan Craig Parker Bartlett Richard Cullis Paul Basta Michael L Culp Michael Benson Joseph C D' A lessandro Bob Bergdahl Edward Dadulak Howard Block Rocky Danielson Jerry Cal laway Richard W Davis Mike Chevalier Mark T Davison Steve Conant Ray de Ia Motte Sam Drummy David Diano Joe Epperson Troy Dick Ron Francis Glenn DiVincenzo Bill Gahret Sean Doyle Peter Hapke Alexis DuPont Bi ll Hines Wayne Kennan, ASC David Elkins David Emmerichs Bob Keys Steve Essig Norm Langley james Etheridge Ed Morey Brant S Fagan Lee Nakahara Tom Faigh Jay Nefcy Jerome Fauci Rik Nervik Randy Feemster Leigh Nicholson Michael Ferris john Nogle Kenneth Ferro Dan Norris Lance Fisher David Nowel l Eric Fletcher Wayne Orr Howard Ford Chris Schwiebert Houman Forough Michael Scott Th omas Fraser Hal Shiffman Roger Smith David J Frederick Michael Frediani Mike StHilaire Michael Richard Frift Ray Stella Rusty Geller joseph F Valentine Michael Genne Ron Vidor Wayne Getchell William Gierhart ACTIVE Allen Gonzales Art Adams Bret Allen John Goode Anette Haellmigk Derek MAllen Lee Allison Dennis Hall Terry Harkin Aldo Antonelli Chris Hayes Sail Aridi David Haylock Ted Ashton Jr Steven F Heuer Bill Asman Sean Higgins John H Atkinson Ronald High Dan Aue rbach Charles M Hill, Jr Paul Babin Gary Hoffman Christopher J Baffa jeffrey Hoffman Vincent Baldino Gerard Banales Joachim Hoffmann Stewart Barbee Robert Chapman Horne Casey Hotchkiss Jeff Barklage Gary Hudd leston Tom Barron Philip Hurn Guy Bee Tim Bellen David Insley Richard Benda Levie Isaacks Simon jayes Bob Berry AI Bettcher Tom Jensen Michael A Johnson George Bi ll inger Ill Frank E johnson, ASC Joe Blaisdell james Blanford M ichael Jones David Boyd John H Joyce Billy Bragg David Judy Mark D Karen Garrett Brown Michael Karp Robin Buerki john Kiser Robert Carmichael Michael W Chambliss Douglas H Knapp Louis Chanatry Dan Kneece Robert Kositchek Joe Chess Jr Kris Krosskove Julian Chojnacki Robert La Bonge Dana Christiaansen

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Brian Lataille Henry Lebo Mark Levin M ichael Little Lynn Lockwood Thomas Loizeaux Patrick Longman George Loomis Donald Luczak Allan Lum Li Gregory Lundsgaard Kenj i Luster Heather MacKenzie James Mann Jamie Maxtone-Graham Stan McCla in Donald M McCuaig Ron McManus Larry Meachum Robert L Mehnert Mike Meinardus Anastas N Michos Robert Mills Wi lli am E Mi lls W illi am Molina Joseph Montgomery Lawrence P Moody Christopher Moon Douglas R Moore Jeff Moore Robert Moore Denis Moran Donald Morea Don Muirhead Michael Negrin , ASC Chuck Nickl in William R Nielsen, Jr Randy Nolen Tamas P Nyerges Wil liam O ' Drobinak Philip Oetiker Russell Ofri a Lucio Olivieri Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Tornai Packard Charles Papert David Parrish Aaron Pazanti Robert H Peebles Mike Pierce Peter Pilafian Robert Presley Bernard Re il ly Kenny Rivenbark Herb Roberts Randall Robinson Rick Robinson David Robman Andy Romanoff Peter Rosenfeld Harvey Rubin james Rush Seigo Sakamoto Michael Santy Richard J Schaefer Chuck Schuman Philip Schwartz Christopher Shaun Floris Sijbesma Guy Skinner Michael D Smith john Sosenko Sandy Spooner Stephen StJohn Scott E Steele Michael Stramisky

David Stump Brian Sweeney James H Sweeney Bill Swinghamer Gene Talvin Amanda Thompson Richard Tiedemann john To ll, ASC Tsuneyuki Tometaka Daniel Turrett Pernell Tyus Robert Ulland Paul D Varrieur Edward Ventura Bill Wa ldman Victoria Walker Wi ll iam Webb David West Bill Wil liams Christopher Wissinger McKeen Mick Worthen Elizabeth Ziegler Richard Salvatore Ch ristopher Tufty

ASSOCIATE Gary Armstrong Jacques E Arnet Chuck Barbee Phi lli p Bishirjian Peter Boni ll a Richard Broun Maja Broz Joseph Ca ll oway Bru ce Cardozo Kirk Chiswell Greg Collier Richard Crudo Egor Davidoff Christopher Dawson James A Dennett Ronald Deveaux George Spiro Dibie, ASC Patrick Michael Dolan Kevin Downey Gary Eckert Michael Escobosa Robert Feller Rudy Fenenga, Jr Dan Feller john C Flinn Ill, ASC Mark Forman Peter F Frintrup Richard Garbutt James Garvey Harvey Genkins Jeff Goldenberg Wayne Goldwyn Juergen P Gottschalk Bud Gray Phil Gries Wynn Hammer John Hill Gary Holt Chris Hood Gregory Irwin Chris Ishii Thomas Patrick Johnson Francis Kenny Douglas Kirkland George La Fountaine, ASC Stevan Lam er, ASC Lee David Laska John LeBlanc Mark R Leins Alan J Levi

July-December 1997

Roland J Luna Dr Ellen Matsumoto Ray M cCort Nick Mclean, Sr John McPherson Ri ck Mervis Charles Minsky Ka rin Mod lin Ri chard Mosier Joshua S Narins Sol Negrin, ASC John Newby Richard Nezvadovitz David Paone Andrew Parke Norman Parker Jetson Pfoutz Ted Polmanski Serge Poupis Udo Ravenstein Richard Rawlings j r, ASC Bill Reiter Brian D Reynolds Tony Rivetti Parker Roe Marvin Rush, ASC John Savka Carl Martin Schumacher Sr Bob Seaman George W Singer Jr jan Sluchak Owen Stephens Kevin J Stolpe Tara Summers John Teal Ronald Turowsk i Roy H Wagner, ASC Craig W Walsh Patty Wa lsh Brian Watkins Haskell Wexler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Tony Yarlett David R Zera Vi lmos Zsigmond, ASC

jerry Fuller Jerry Good Gil Haimson Lutz Hapke John Hussey Bill Johnson David Kurland joseph Longo Steve Lydecker Owen Marsh Bob Marta M ichael McClary Emmanuel Metaxas King Nicho lson Ernie Reed Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ruttencutter Lou Schwartz Ph il Stern David Sutton Sven Walnum Ben Wolf

STUDENT Bramhan Sathish Chandra

CORPORATE

ARRIFLEX Bill Russel l CFI Michel Papadaki CLAIRMONT CAMERA Denny Clairmont DELUXE LABORATORIES Richard L Thomas EASTMAN KODAK Curtis E Jones john L Mason FUJI PHOTO FILM USA H A " Hap" Parker GEO FILM GROUP, INC David Nowell J L FISHER COMPANY James L Fisher Dennis Knopf HONORARY LEONARD STUDIO Stephanie Benson Leonard T Chapman Bruce Doering Charles J Huenergardt W illiam A Fraker, ASC MA TIHEWS STUDIO Ron Kelley Ernst "Bob" Nettmann Kathleen Kennedy O 'CONNOR jerry Lewis joel Johnson OTIO NEMENZ A Linn Murphree MD David Myers Karl Kresser Jay Roth PANAVISION Steven Spielberg Tracy Langan Frank Stan ley, ASC PHOTO-SONICS, INC George Toscas Conrad Kiel PRECISION CAMERA RETIRED Rick F Gunter Bernie Abramson SCHNEIDER OPTICS Eugene Ashbrook Stan Wallace Rupert Benson Jr SHOTMAKER INC Vee Bodrero Roy Atlas Don Burch SONY ELECTRONICS Phil Caplan j eff Cree Bruce Catlin TECHNICOLOR, INC Bill Clark Adam Chuck Dick Colean TECHNOCRANE LTD Cliff Concialdi Simon Jayes Jim Connel l VICTOR DUNCAN, INC Don Cropper Frank Marasco Linwood Dunn, ASC WIL LI AM F WH ITE Mike Ferra William F White Gerald Perry Finnerman, ASC