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CHRISTMAS PARTY: DECEMBER 15TH
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THE CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS NEWSLETTER VOL. 10 NO.4
DECEMBER 1990
TORONTO, CANADA
ISSN 0820-3431
The Canadian Society of Cinematographers was founded in 1957 by a group of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa cameramen. Since then, over 500 cinematographers and persons in associated occupations have joined the organization. Our members now represent the film and video community in all ten provinces. Our aim continues to be to promote and foster the cause of cinematography and the interests of the Canadian film and video community. We facilitate the dissemination and exchange of technical information, and endeavour to advance the knowledge and status of our members within the industry. As an organization dedicated to furthering technical assistance, we maintain contact with nonpartisan groups in our industry, buthavenopolitical or union affiliation.
CSC Executive
ANNOUNCING A GALA CHRISTMAS PARTY!
The Canadian Society of Cinematographers The Canadian Independent Film Caucus and Toronto Women in Film and Television have joined together this year to hold a Gala Christmas Party for Members, Guests and Sponsors SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15th 8:00PM to 1:00PM CINEVILLAGE, STUDIO E 65 HEWARD AVENUE TORONTO, ONTARlO
·President: ~Robert Hocking esc Vice--President: Joan Hutton esc Secretary: Wang Chow Treasurer: Duncan MacFarlane esc Membership Chairman: Jim Mercer esc Public Relations: Lori Longstaff, Kenneth Post esc Education: John Holosko A wards Chairman: Jim Mercer esc Membership inquiries: (416) 271-4684
Editorial Office and CSC Office: 89 Pinewood Trail Port Credit, Ontario L5G 2L2 Tel: (416) 271-4684 Fax: (416) 271-7360
The CIFC, TWIFT and CSC wish to thank DOUG DALES, CINEVILLAGE and FILM HOUSE for their support! ADMISSION IS FREE!!! SO COME AND ENJOY THE FUN For further information, please call Wyndham at CIFC 962-0624
Editor in chief: Robert Hocking, esc Editor: Jennifer Hietala
The Newsletter is printed in Toronto and is published ten times a year. Subscriptions are available for $75.00 per year in Canada and $95.00 outside the country.
NEXT CSC MEETING: JANUARY 14, 1991
2
DECEMBER 1990
"The beauty of our profession is that you can live a very full life- if you can find enough work. You are in a pivotal point where you witness all kinds of things happening around you. I've worked in a Prime Minister's drawing room. I've worked in really wet and muddy mines and steel mills, etc. You film everything under the sun. As a result, you can get great insights into life as it happens and as it changes. You get to see things that nobody else sees."
The Great White Bear of the North
It was just before Christmas and on this wintry night the Post family were trudging through the snow to visit Aunt Harriet's. Young Kenny Post was being pulled in a sled by his father. Turning a comer, he looked up at a shower of snowflakes glistening against a street light. That was the first visual image that he could remember. Born in Windsor, Ontario in 1922, also in the depth of winter, he learned as a youngster to endure cold, harsh weather. That early hardening experience proved beneficial
when later, as an Arctic cameraman, he had to regularly shoot film in sub-zero temperatures. His reputation spread for this specialty and from 1960 to 1980, he never missed a year being involved in arctic expeditions or other Far North filming. He became known as "Canada's Arctic cameraman". Post's paternal ancestors, staunch Protestants, suffered persecution in a Catholic dominated Europe. They escaped to England and then to New England. In the New World, the Posts,
CSCNEWS
3
clockmakers and cabinet makers, were among the f~mnders of Hartford, Connecticut. During the American Revolution, they found themselves at odds with the free wheeling rebels. Again, they had to pull up stakes, this time after losing all their property. With other colonists in the same predicament they trekked north, later to become known as United Empire Loyalists. During the Great Depression, Ken's father, a carpenter/contractor, Russell Post, had a tough time raising eleven children. Amazingly, Post senior found time to study astronomy. Ken remembers watching him laboriously grinding telescope lenses by hand with the glass slathered with jeweller's rouge and mounted on an up-ended barrel.
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Post's maternal forebearers were from Staffordshire, England. With prospects grim for a growing family they decided to emigrate to Canada in 1909. The Taylor family were "Chapel", straight middle-of-the-road Methodists, a personable blend of farmers, butchers, salesmen and talented singers all. There were no luxuries in the Post household and money was always in short supply. Many family activities revolved around the church choir, where all family members took part. With greatest of efforts Cantatas at Easter and Handel's glorious "Messiah" at Christmas were produced. Ken and his brothers did all the stage lighting. The Post's were there when posters or lantern slides had to be made. Ken Post's mother must have been perceptive, as at the time of his thirteenth birthday he received a photographic album from her. The immediate question, of course, was "What do I do with this?" Remembering that his mother still had her Eastman Brownie box camera from her honeymoon, Ken started to make pictures of the family. With a friend who had a similar interest in photography, they built darkroom equipment and a printing box for making contact prints. Resourcefulness was the order of the day since materials were expensive. Ken still has some of those early negatives. At the age of nine, Post started selling cand)' from door to door. There were few indulgences and Ken, like his brothers and sisters, surviving through self help, quickly learned to become independent at a young age. All through three years of high school, Ken held down several jobs. First in the morning, before school, came the cleaning out of a jewelry store, polishing windows 'til they gleamed. After school was the five mile paper route, the perfect exercise to build a set of legs that each cameraperson needs. The paper route led to a job as office boy in the local newspaper, The
Woodstock Daily Sentinel-Review. At that particular time, very few young people went to university and it was certainly out of the question for this member of the Post family. Although had worked on farms in the summer, one thing he knew for sure, work in a factory was not for him. Over the next four years, Post got his education but without the formal sheepskin. In display advertising, he did layout, copywriting and sales, then moved into the editorial department for a stint of proofreading. The real education came as a cub reporter where he had to learn to write and to heft a 4 x 5 Speed Graphic in photographing some of the stories he had to cover. After four years, the pay was only fifteen dollars a week, but Ken says that you could not put a price on the genuine counsel and advice he received from senior reporters and editors. With this on the job training, he learned his grammar, punctuation, spelling, writing and a few unwritten rules. Above all, he learned the importance of recording accurate information even if the writing wasn't exactly up to par. Then came September 1940. The Luftwaffe had targeted London and word came through that the city was on fire. Young men across the country had early volunteered to serve in the armed forces. With the devastation of these German air attacks, there grew in Canada a strong emotional upwelling. Ken joined the thousands of volunteers who responded to the "call". After training at the Photographic Establishment at Rockcliffe, Ken soon shipped overseas, winding up with R.C.A.F. 407 Squadron, Coastal Command. In all Allied air sorties, aircraft carried cameras to record results of the operation. It was on this basis that the intelligence services were able to extrapolate valuable information. After one year and many varied locations all over Great Britain, the next posting was to the Alouette Squadron, one of three Wellington Squadrons sent to North
10 BANIGAN OR , THORNCLIFFE PARK, TORONTO. CANADA. M4H 1E9
4
NOVEMBER 1990
Africa, just as the Africa Corps had been defeated and preparations were under way for the invasion of Sicily and Italy. The months in the desert were not the most memorable for these Canadians, terrible conditions, no food or bad food, lack of sanitation and considerable illness, mostly jaundice and dysentery. Nevertheless, those three squadrons set a record for the number of sorties, surpassing anythingtheR.A.F., the U.S.A.F. or the French had done. Once the Allied troops had a solid foothold in Italy, the 331 Wing was sent back to England. In late '43 the green of the Firth of Clyde never looked so good. Despite many attempts to get transferred into R.C.A.F. Public Relations for that invasion, Ken was stuck in Bomber Command until VE Day.
He returned to Canada when the war ended. It was his intention to get a good education in photography, however, there weren't any established courses available in this country and studying in the U.S. or Europe was beyond his means. At the same time, there wasn't much work available for photographers. Eventually Post found himself running a photo studio in W allaceburg. On that basis, he managed to put himself through a photography course in the U.S. He returned to his home town and opened a studio which he was to operate for eleven years. During that period he "photographed everything under the sun - portraits, weddings, babies, chickens, purebred cattle, trucks, etc." In spite of a gallant effort financial success was not to be had, because serving local families, merchants
and industries was not overly profitable. Post had reached another turning point in his life. Although, Ken shot his first film in 194 3 in the Tunisian desert with a Bell and Howell 70DR, it would be a few years before his next real belt as a newsreel stringer for CFPL-TV, London, starting in 1955. Full time commitment began in Toronto in 1958. As with most newsreel people, you ' re forced to shoot a trim, compact story with 100 feet of film. In the process, you learn fast. You also learn how to anticipate action and capture lively, spontaneous material. Needless to say, you also learn how to make good steady hand held shots. In his own words, he "stumbled into theatre". He was asked to do a reading for a play when he didn't even
.. "'
This photo of Ken was taken in Africa in the fall of 1965. At the time he was working for WGBH-TV in Boston on a social and political documentary "Changing World: Tanzania- The Quiet Revolution". Photo on page 3 was also taken during the making of this documentary. CSCNEWS
5
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know what a reading was. Incredibly, he landed the role of Starbuck in the play "The Rainmaker". Acting opened a new world to Post and he became very enthusiastic. He studied acting, voice, movement, etc. "These skills would be very useful should he become a director one day", he thought. According to Post, acting and cinematography share one common principle - restraint. A good actor will only do what is necessary and no more with regard to his performance. What is presented is economical, simple and clear. Photographers should apply the same restraint to their work and keep their techniques as simple as possible. When Post got involved with the theatre, he was well into his thirties. The fact that acting was not a natural gift, forced him to work harder. After completing theatre studies at U.B.C. in Vancouver, he received a telephone call from Dan Gibson. Gibson asked if he was interested in assisting him in doing portaits of U of T graduates as well as working on Lands & Forests films. Post accepted the offer and quickly returned to Toronto. Approximately six months later he was laid off due to lack of work. From there, Post went to work for Fletcher Films, which was located in the RCA recording building on Mutual Street Over
the next two years, he learned a great deal about filmmaking. He explains: "At Fletcher Films I did everything; NV shows, research, sales, wrote, did artwork and stills. I watched people do it the right way and sometimes, the wrong way." When Fletcher folded, Post moved over to CB C to edit film for the National News. Post also had a short stint at Chetwynd Films. Next, Post directed and photographed a half hour film for Consumers Gas. The success of that film became a major breakthrough for Post and he became a bona fide freelance cameraman. He remained a freelancer for the next thirty years. In the early days as a member ofiATSE, Post assisted cameramen such as Bill Gimmi, Fritz Spiess, Reg Morris, George Morita, Jackson Samuels, Don Wilder, Chris Slagter, Norm Allin and Stan Clinton. In some circles, particularly in the union, Post felt he had been labelled as a dissenter and maverick. He believed he was blacklisted because of his outspoken personality as well as his penchant to work with small crews and minimal equipment. His involvement with low budget, non-union shoots earned him a bad name with union organizers. To some lATSE officials, Ken Post was a "hoopy-scoopy" but Post sees little dif-
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6
DECEMBER 1990
ference between being frugal and doing something for an outfit who genuinely can't afford a full budget. lATSE in Canada was a chapter ofLocal644, New York. As a member, it wasn't long before Ken Post became aware of the domination of the Toronto group by the parent authority. He witnessed what he considered arbitrary and unfair labour measures. He worked to encourage local members to acquire their Canadian charter; to little avail. Three attempts were made with minimal support. This venture was labelled traitorous by the New York office. Directors of photography with lucrative commercial contracts were not going to upset the apple cart. Eventually, in protest, Ken Post resigned from that union. When asked what he considered the most significant aspects of his career, Post referred to his early works, the "Mr. Piper" children's services and a Netsilik Eskimo anthropological series. In 1962, Ken was asked to direct and shoot children's stories for a "Mr. Piper" series. Over a period of one year, he travelled the world, 23 countries in all, capturing on film "a day in the life of a child". These thoroughly researched and scripted tales depicted life in a setting far removed from the North American scene. When returning home from these trips, Post was forcibly struck by the contrast in life styles; here, in Canada, everyone was well fed and clothed, wearing shoes, living by comparison, inJuxury. It registered a strong impact on his thinking. Post thrived on the series and of all the six cameramen, he was rated the best for his superior work. In recollection, Ken relates, "I learned that I could be dropped anywhere and make film. It was tough but very stimulating." Unfortunately, the series only lasted one year due to network deceit south of the border, levering and skullduggery which snuffed it out. The "Mr. Piper" series aired before "Junior Forest Rangers" and it was considered the best of children's shows. CSCNEWS
On the "Mr. Piper" series Ken travelled to twenty three countries, directing and shooting children's stories. In Columbia, he found these two boys (in the above photo) fighting in front of a church during mass .
When only the best will do. PS & Cinevillage, 65 Heward Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M4M 2T5 (416) 466-0377; Fax : (416) 466-9612 7
Reflecting on the work of the cinematographer, Ken Post affirms that the craft calls for an inordinate amount of concentration and energy. For those who spend extended periods away from home it's only natural that family life suffers. The long absences have led to many marriage failures. Only the strongest marriages endure. In 1959, Ken Post had the experience of filming in the Canadian arctic with Christopher Chapman. They were part of a group of media personalities, including Pierre Berton, Peter Newman, Peter Worthington and others who were touring the Far North with cabinet minister George Hees. The Diefenbaker government was pushing for the opportunities this frontier might offer. To many, the Canadian Arctic is unknown territory. The work of filmmakers has changed this to some degree. Among little known facts are that in theNorthwest Territories, the land above the Sixtieth Parallel contains one third of the entire country. Most Canadians are unaware that you can travel further north in Canada than you can east or west. The Arctic Circle is located at 60 degrees, 32 minutes north. What surprises many southerners is that places like Frobisher Bay, now called Igualuk, and Pangnirtung are south of this line. In the Arctic, say, at Resolute Bay, a major transportation and communications settlement, no sun shines from November 7th until February 4th. And also, the sun never sets from April 30th to August 15th. Before gas and oil exploration, the population, strung across the vast distances across the top of the continent, numbered in the early sixties only 23,000. To the uninitiated, the Arctic, at its worst is a forbidding territory. The white man, called Kabluna by the natives, is amazed to find that the Inuit have lived as migratory hunters along the Arctic Coast for thousands of years.
In the early sixties, two individuals, Aeasen Balikci, an anthropologist from the University of Montreal and an ex-Crawley staffer, Quentin Brown, then a producer from Educational Services, Boston, put a series together to produce films showing how Inuit families might have lived before they had ongoing contact with white man. Although the first three shows were shot by Doug Wilkinson and Ken Campbell, Ken Post was brought in the following spring for a five month shoot. At last he was in his element.
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DECEMBER 1990
Anyone who has worked with Ken knows that he doesn't hesitate to help out where required -- whether it's dock building, preparing the evening meal or entertaining. Above, Ken was singing a chance duet of his favourite song "Friendship" If you're ever in a jam here I am ... Some of the assistants may have heard him sing this. By the way, this photo was taken in 1975 at the Newfoundland PC convention "wrap" party.
CSCNEWS
9
EXECUTIVE NOTES Dear Members, This time of year has always been special, as we
On behalf of the Executive of the CSC, I would like
try to arrange our lives so that we can be together with our
to extend our sincere wishes for a happy holiday season with family and friends along with a healthy and prosperous 1991!
families to celebrate or worship according to our individual customs. But for some, this year is truly unique. For Jim Aquila, Jacques Desharnais, John Goldie, Joan Hutton, Maris Jansons, Curtis Peterson and Michael Storey,it will mark their first New Years Eve as full CSC members. Congratulations again from all of us. I feel confident that next year you will be joined by an even larger group of your colleagues. To millions of East Europeans, this year is special in another way. For the first time in their memory, many of them will be able to worship more openly than they have ever done before. In the Soviet Union, churches which were shuttered, or turned into museums, are now open. From outside, you can hear the echo of choirs rehearsing, and those who enter can savour the aroma of buniing candles. In Leipzig, deep inside what was once East Germany, the two dozen surviving Jewish residents worship every Saturday with the aid of a volunteer Christian choir. But with new freedom and hope comes new responsibility and challenges. National leaders wrestle with the problems created by this sudden freedom of action and expression. They try to maintain order by treading the fine line that divides the enthusiasm so necessary for reconstruction and development, from the rebellion that could destroy all that has been gained. As we gather with our families at this special time, we should think of the leaders we meet with our trusty Betacams. Like them, we should try to look to the future with hope, resolve to work hard to achieve the best that we can for our families and friends in our industry, and hope that we will survive our next big challenge in the Middle East as the Gulf region prepares for yet another war. May I wish you all the best for the holiday season, and share in the hope that we all have a prosperous 1991.
ROBERT DOCKING esc President
Greetings from the Treasury Department, bare as the cupboard is! It's time once again for those live saving dues to come in, and none too soon! Your '91 invoices are in the mail, or should be by the time you read this, so please, please send in your cheques before the end of December if you want to deduct the amount for the '90 tax year, and besides that ... we need the money! Just saw a neat little 5" Hitachi colour ccd monitor that Gerd Kurz down at Precision Camera was demonstrating. It can fasten on top of a video camera or even a tripod leg with a new type of bracket they've designed at PCI. The picture is good enough to be able to focus by, and has quite a wide viewing angle. Power is supplied from either the camera or a 12V battery pack. Just the thing for those long interviews that can send one to sleep! Also in the wind is a new 2.4 amp NP type battery system, this should be available soon. By the way, if you are in the market for new equipment and you're not federal sales tax exempt, it seems worthwhile to hold off until the dreaded GST comes into effect so that you can deduct any GST you pay on equipment, against any GST you collect on your services. This of course does nothing for the added headaches and bookkeeping for the GST. Well it's time to thank our Sponsors again. We've lost a couple and gained a couple, so a special greeting to our new Sponsors and a BIG thank you to our old reliables!! Remember to patronize them when you can; without their support we would be in deep trouble. Wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous New Year.
DUNCAN MacFARLANE esc Treasurer
JIM MERCER esc Membership Chairman
10
DECEMBER 1990
LETTER FROM THE HAGUE
When I was asked to give my impressions of the Photokina regarding sound, I was a bit reluctant for two reasons; I don't write much and I don't know if cinematographers are interested in the concerns of the sound recordist. However, in my career I have worked with many of you, especially in the documentary and commercial fields, so I'll try to make it interesting. I was first drawn to the Nagra and Stellavox booths at Photokina and saw what were announced as their digital recorders. Nagra showed only a mock-up box with no innards and the Stellavox was inoperative so I could not make any comparisons or tests. I did obtain the specs and, with few exceptions, have found them to be true in past performances. I do tend to favour Stellavox as I have worked with one for the longest time and know it well. I deliberately chose the Stella early on as it was considerably lighter to carry around and also I truly find the sound, the tone, the warmth if you will, a bit fuller and rounder than the Nagra. But I admit that the weight factor was indeed crucial. I never could understand why I always had to defend the Stellavox, some how people identified film sound with Nagra. Still, I don't ever seem to have had complaints about my sound, so I still rather work with the former. Stellavox never CSCNEWS
took off in North America, but here and in France and Italy you seldom see Nagra's. Bob says it must be the same reason why Sony Betacam took off in North America, while theM system is prevalent in many European countries. No reason, they just had a better sales force I think. Anyway, Stellavox has come out with Stelladat, the long awaited R-DAT recorder. Long awaited, as the- now available - R-DAT recorders (Sony et al) miss the most important section; a full range confidence playback head and an intemal editing option, so it can be stringed to a computer. It also uses the NHK time-code standard that, unlike SMPTE, is driven by software so future standards can be encoded. You may perhaps think that far-fetched, but with true double-system video/sound recording, an AVID editing system (or any other foreseeable editing system) is much easier with an accommodating time-code. It uses the standard R-DAT format (44.1 and 48khz) as proposed, I believe, by SONY. Therefore, tapes made on such machines are again, compatible, all the way to the index level. Such indexes are very useful in locating precise start and stop functions and filenames. On an electroluminescent panel level monitoring is as a bargraph, selectable for common VU, Peak, Peak with Hold, VU with Hold, with 15dB headroom. Also, because of chip technology, all buttons and 11
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switches (and inputs) are waterproofed (at 1 7/8" per second) you have in excess so the usual limitations ofR-DAT tech- of 3 hours stereo on a 5" reel! The only nology (great sensitivity to temperature drawback is the standard time-code, but and moisture variations) are avoided. as Nagra was only showing an empty One particular innovation I found box, I'm sure that changes will be forthwas the Stellavox Remote Service Soft- corning as the market commands. ware which enables you diagnose faults, The real question is this: Will if any, by plugging the recorded in PC. It the film community standardize on 1/4" doesn't even take a large PC, a small tape or the R-DAT fonnat? Still, a truly professional DATA portable one is sufficient. It also suggests possible repairs on the spot. This is system is welcome as all amateur DAT really the best news yet, as any sound recorders are or will be, equipped with recordist can vouch, Murphy's Law in- SCMS, Solo Copy Management Sysvariably strikes in the most remote areas. tem, a straight copy protection idea that But maybe it is overkill. I always trav- profoundly affects copying original elled with a back-up recorder, but I have material, such as CD's. Without SCMS never yet had to unpack it. digital recorders have been prohibited in I was very disappointed that I the consumer market and that is the reawas not able to try this recorder out. I am son that you haven't seen a DAT W a1kstill not a fan of digital sound. I maintain man, for instance. Again, the SCMS chip that CD sound still has a rough edge, is a Philips invention that cannot bP. compared to the old LP's, even if Philips " engineered out" as was the case witn has introduced the one-bit D/A convertor the earlier copy-protected DAT' s. These chip, the SAA7321GP Bitstream, which were often used by professionals and eliminates cross-over distortion and bit- modified. True professional machines like glitches. Somehow it is too bright! While Stellavox has opted for Stellavox and N agra are sorely needed, the existing de facto Sony R-DAT stan- and their expected price is, anyway, out dard, Nagra has gone it alone, building of sight for the consumer. their system around regular 1/4 inch tape. For all this, I'm really not sure This is very smart indeed, as it continues where it all will end. Recording sound is the mechanical precision N agra standard still straight forward, continuing the same of conventional tape transport and the trend for the last sixty years. However, ability to choose the best speed/record- reproducing that sound is another thing. ing ratio. There are many indications that sound For instance, a CD has a true 16 reproduction techniques for the corning bit word length. To be sure that head- HDTV, and for future cinemas, is changroom in unpredictable field conditions is ing to a startling concept: true sound irnallowed for, you should have an 18 bit aging. This entails encoding (digitally) word capability, as R-DAT has. But, due intensity and direction, novel loudspeakto theN agra fonnat, they can ensure a 20 ers and other material, so that the viewer bit word sampling ratio and that may well or listener is brought into the exact focus be a deciding factor in location recording and environment of the original sound for the sound recordist. It is difficult wherever he sits! The buzzword is ''spatil enough to control actor or sound effect sound''. Some advances in that directim levels, without getting into digital break- have already been made, among others by our own David Lee. His invention is, up, due to insufficient headroom. An extra 4 bits per sample takes I believe, now standard with some stucare royally for other data, such as User dios. Bit Data, Audio Sample Validity and In Europe, especially here in more. And with the very low tape speed Holland, there are some innovations I'm 12
DECEMBER 1990
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going to explore, and if you are interested, I will tell you more in the future. It's a pity that the Canadian Sound Society is sort of dormant. Patrick, are you listening? The Photokina is indeed very impressive. As I wasn't too interested in following Bob with his obsession for esoteric hardware, I struck out form yself to look around. Sure enough, when listening to a camera salesmen I heard all the time the same story, this here camera, that there camera, only a few dB's, nearly silent, this here dolly, that there crane, look at the specs, nearly silent. Well, "nearly" is not enough for the sound person. How many times did I bury the Arri SR, the Aaton, the whatsoever fully guaranteed silent camera under tons of blankets, coats, sweaters, pillows, once even two boxes of baby nappies to kill that infernal tick-tick-ticky-tick. How many tons of fluorocarbons in the WD-40 were released to smother that squeak from the dolly! I really think the three biggest troubles for the location recordist are: camera noise, boom shadows and wrongly designed neck mikes. The first has never been solved, with maybe the exception of a well maintained old Arri 16BL. They were quiet! Boom shadows? A good cameraman always solves that. They understand and appreciate that the mike has to be close enough for an adequate pick-up. The (very few) cameramen I worked with who couldn't accommodate the soundperson, usually didn'tlast too long -- as cameramen, that is. But neck mikes! Under the best of circumstances they sound dead, too close. If sound should equal the perspective, it is always the wrong sound, except in an extreme close-up. In a wide shot it sounds funny, as you would naturally not walk around that close to the voice. But everyone, every director, and many a cameraman, wants you to use neck mikes. Neck mikes are fine when worn in plain view, but not when they are hidden under layers of clothes and taped to the body. None of the neck mikes I'm familiar with are designed to be worn under clothes and, as a result, they always sound somewllat muffled. This is then compensated for in the mix by turning down the low end. I think it would be much more logical to design a mike with a pronounced sharp edge that, when muffled, becomes a FAX (416) 74 1- 1894 normal sounding mike. Is that too
much to ask? What I really would like to see is a neck mike with a variable curve, so it can be applied according to the circumstances. Oh yes, with very low surface noise too, while you're at it. Pie in the sky! Sennheiser has come out with a new generation of condenser mikes that replaces the 416 and 816 series with the MKH 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70P48. These are equipped with a switchable roll-off filter and switchable pre-attenuation. Both these factors would very nicely fix the neck mike problems, up to a point, but no, there is nothing available in that vein. Still, I swear by Sennheiser and am still using the same 416 that I bought 16 years ago. And if I were to upgrade I'd still choose Sennheiser. And while I'm still quite attached tom y trusty Shure mixer I might perhaps buy the new M8 Sennheiser mixer. That is, if the dollar goes back up again as the present Deutschmark rate is absolutely prohibitive. Funny thing though, for years I used the Audio Research (English) mixer and that one used German made Rowenda sliders. I had them replaced by Penny & Giles. Guess which one Sennheiser now uses? that's right-- P&G. At the Neumann booth I saw a mike I had not seen before, the 1LM 170i. This one, used mainly for studio work has a 140dB sound pressure ceiling and a useable 126dB range. This makes it a very useful mike for extreme sound levels. It also is a true transformerless mike tso the usual mismatches are avoided. I could go on and on but I'm sure I've put you to sleep already if you stayed that long with me. Therefore, here a synopsis on how I'm doing, so far. As most of my friends know, I've always wanted to work out of my home in Holland. I thought for a while that I could keep up my Streetsville home, but it was not to be. Too expensive. So I sold in December last year and am quite happy right here in Holland. I brought my kittycats too, but my favourite, Flufje, a rather mixed up breed I acquired on an
NFB shoot in Labrador, got into a trauma with the overseas flight and is still somewhat paranoid, but recovering. I do miss Canada too. I didn't realize how many friends I really had and I'm sorry that I won't see you too often. I have secured a place I can stay in Toronto, so I'm still seriously looking for work in excess of a week, so I can afford to move there for a while. And indeed I have already worked out of here for some Canadian producers who had to work in Europe. Saves them a lot of money too! I don't (yet) work for Dutch producers. The pay here is significantly lower, however, given the way the dollar is now, it is becoming more and more attractive. A funny thing here is that many Dutch films are co-productions, especially for the American video market. The dialogue is in English, but because the actors are European, only a guide track is required, with subsequent post-production with American voices. They also prefernotto waste time recording actual sound effects so everything is foleyed in. As a result, sound recording is often accomplished by technicians just out of schools or friends of the producer who knows how to point an electret, on a W alkman. And if you look and listen for it, you can often recognize the same effect used in different films. What I am very surprised and pleased with are the many Canadian productions showing up on television -Danger Bay, T&T, Hitchhiker, Captain Power (big hit), Street Legal and many documentaries such as Women of the World. Well, I think I'll close for now. My very best wishes for the New Year to you all!!
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DECEMBER 1990
CARROTTOP CORNER A friend from Melbourne, Australia called
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me recently and said that the industry was so dead that he's decided to look for work in Canada and the U.S.! Given the situation here, I didn't encourage him. For example, there was plenty of competition in the gaffer and camera departments when interviews for Chestnut Avenue were in progress. There must have been ten people lined up in each category. As it turned out, Robert MacDonald is the focus puller for DOP Barry Gravelle. Chestnut Avenue began shooting in mid November for five weeks. They will shoot mostly in the studio. Lucky crew -it's a small cozy film set. Chestnut Avenue's shooting six shows which will be directed by six women. Counterstrike is still continuing their series, Miklos Lente esc is OOP with Brian Gedge operating, Mitch Ness on the focus and Jane Davis is second assistant (see photo next page). Paul Mitchnick has been doing most of the second unit work. The "wrap" christmas party will be in December and there's a possibility that the show will continue in February. Counterstrike airs on US cable and is scheduled to air in Canada in February. Christopher Plummer, Simon MacCorkindale, Cyrielle Claire and Stephen Shellen are the series regular actors. Peter Benison esc recently DOPed a feature in Gaspe with assistant Ernie Kestler. Look for their "story" in the next issue! Richard Stringer esc just finished a half hour drama for the Inside Stories series by New Moon Pictures called Dance to Remember using Toronto talent, but shot in Winnipeg. Richard and his wife, Carol, will be enjoying their Christmas holidays in Mexico. Degrassi High shot their last show in October followed by a huge wrap party. After many
Randal Platt esc (operator) and Marvin Midwicki (focus puller) on set at
Maniac Mansion Christmas show. Photo Marni Grossman/Atlantis.
years, the popular tv teenage series has come to an end. Phil Earnshaw was DOP in the entire series and Colleen Norcross his focus puller. After the holiday season Colleen plans to vacation in Thailand.
Paul Sarossy filming the musical-flying sequence in Masala CSCNEWS
IS
Brian Hebb will DOP To Catch a Killer, a35mm feature to be directed by Paul Lynch. Julian Chojnacki will be operating, David Niven focus puller and Cudah Andarawewa the second assistant. Filming scheduled to start in January. Paul Sarossy recently wrapped The Adjuster, Atom Egoyan 's latest feature. The Adjuster was Paul's first encounter with Panavision Anamorphic which proved to be a "compositional delight", During the summer, Paul shot Masala, a musical-comedy feature set in the East Indian community of Tor.onto. Lothar Bahr has been workng as a trainee on ''Car 54'' and some dailies for Dog House. He's probably looking for more work ... just like 70% ofthefilm community. Cathy Robertson will be shooting a docu-drama funded through an Ontario Arts Council grant on family violence in the new year. Camera assistant Gary Brown has been working in Alberta with DOP Ken Gregg esc-- a CBC promotion for the 1992 olympics. I was driving along Front Street recently and saw a film crew setting up. Naturally I had to stop to find out which production it was! It was Ron Stannett esc on location for Top Cops the B-D unit. The show is to wrap December 14th ... just in time to make the CSC Christmas Party! Michael Soos is Ron's focus puller, Andrew Potter is second assistant and Josie Sheppard, the trainee. Christophe Bonniere is the DOP for the A-C unit on Top Cops assisted by Joel Guthro. Between both units they put out four shows per week! That's all the news for now. A special thanks to Brad Creasser for taking time to write. I really appreciate hearing what others are up to. Also, thanks to Joanne Smale for the article on Tony Wannamaker and Peter Wronski's adventures in Moscow. Best wishes for a happy holiday season!
Colleen Norcross (operator) and Judy Lindo (second assistant) (Photo: Janet Webb) on episode of Degrassi High.
LORI LONGSTAFF
Counterstrike crew shooting in the rain. 16
DECEMBER 1990
CANADIAN FILM CREW HELD BY KGB IN USSR A Canadian film crew making a documentary for TV Ontario tested the limits of new democracy in the USSR when they found themselves under arrest by the KGB. Producer-director Peter Wronski, making a documentary film called Mondo Moscow, requested permission from authorities to fllm the notorious Kuntsevo Estate, the former private mansion of dictator Joseph Stalin. Located in suburban Moscow, it was the scene of Stalin's drinking orgies and it was there that the dictator mysteriously died in 1953. The massive estate surrounded by a private forest and twelve foot walls, has remained sealed by the ¡ KGB for nearly forty years. Permission to view the area has been given only to select visitors and it has never been photographed. "Not only were we denied permission," says Wronski, "but we were told that nobody knows where the estate is exactly located. Eventually we determined the general area. It was in a zone where exclusive hospitals and rest homes are situated for Kremlin ministers and party elite. Old people that lived in the area showed us the gates that led to Stalin's private home. His estate was enclosed by a wall that stretched for about six kilometers.'' Frustrated, Wronski and cameraman Tony Wannamaker, along with their Soviet crew, decided to take a direct approach in; they tunneled under the wall and crashed the estate with the camera filming. After crossing Stalin's private forest unseen, they suddenly came upon his mansion. "It was a very beautiful, two storey home, painted a deep green that blended in with the evergreen forest,'' says Wronski. Within seconds, the crew found themselves surrounded by barking guard CSCNEWS
dogs and armed KGB officers. "The first thing they said to us,'' recalls Wronski, "was 'you have violated special territory.' I went into my 'naive Canadian' mode and pretended not to know what 'special territory' means. I told them I was making a documentary about gypsies and saw them go into the estate. Did they see which way the gypsies went and if not, could they please show us out? The KGB replied very politely that nobody is being shown out and would we please accompany them to the guard house.'' At the guard house began a very tense session of questions and answers, phone calls and telexes. Wannamaker cooly kept the camera rolling, probably the first Canadian to fllm his own KGB interrogation. ''llle situation was made worse,'' says Wronski, ''by the fact that we were not carrying any identification. The only person who had any kind of ID was Wannamaker -- he had a media pass issued by the Metro Toronto Police (Wannamaker works at City TV). He insisted that the KGB call Interpol for a reference. At that point the KGB realized that we were either insane or complete idiots, and our gypsy story might be true. They sent out a squad of guards to search for the gypsies.' '
The situation became tense when KGB demanded the videotape that Wannamaker shot. ''At that point, our Soviet crew were bolder than us,'' says Wronski. ''They immediately jumped to our defense citing new Soviet laws on the freedom of press and refused to hand over the tape. After another round of phone calls, the KGB amazingly backed off.'' "They tried very hard to make us confess that we knew all along that this was Stalin's estate," recalls Wronski. ''For some reason this was very important to them. Even after they let us go and escorted us to our van which was waiting outside the grounds, they kept saying, 'Just between us, tell us, you knew where you were, right?' We stuck to our gypsy story till the end.' ' After about four hours, the crew was released. ''As we were being escorted off the grounds, one of the guards commented that what we did was the craziest thing he had seen in all his years on duty there. It was going to be a long time before he'll stop talking about this day.'' Mondo Moscow, with its exclusive footage of Stalin's estate is scheduled to air on TV Ontario in 1991-92.
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LETTERS
Dear Lori, Greetings from the West Coast. I thought I'd drop you a line to bring you up to date on what some of the esc members in Vancouver are doing. Enclosed is a photograph from the TV movie To Cast a Shadow for Cannell Films Ltd. and CBS, of the camera crew including Laszlo George esc, Attila Szalay and myself, Brad Creasser. We just completed a four week shoot in and around Vancouver for this movie (which has had a title change already to Always Remember That I Love You ) that will air Sunday night, December 23rd on CBS. It stars Patty Duke, Joan van Ark, David Birney and Richard Masur. This shoot was the first opportunity form yself and Attila to work with Laszlo, which was one of the best expe-
-PANAV/5/DN C::: ' A
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riences of my career. We in Vancouver welcome Laszlo and his family to the west coast and look forward to working with him again, especially Attila and I. This was also the first chance for Attila and I to work together on a show other than day calls, since moving here in the summer of 1989. As you may remember I was Attila's assistant in Toronto for three years and now the old team is back in action and things went very smoothly. Attila has been a busy man here, he has been working on the British feature K2 as the main unit operator, then the crew went up to Mt. Waddington and to Pakistan for six weeks, so in that interim period Attila slipped in this tv movie. He returns to K2 this week to complete the film as they head to Whistler for four weeks, tough break Attila. Laszlo begins · work on a pilot for 209 Hamilton Drive next week and has many offers for other projects. I may be doing 'B' camera on that shoot for ten days alongside Paul Birkett and Brian Murphy. I did a movie for CBS earlier this year (July and August) in Calgary called Blood River, a western starring Wilford Brimley and Rick Schroeder. Paul and Brian were 'A' camera and myself and operator Rick Mason were 'B' camera. It
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was a tough five weeks in the foothills of the Rockies and many nights shooting in boats on rivers. It will air either this month or in February. Well, Lori, if you choose to include these stories and photos in an issue of the Newsletter, please feel free to clean up my sentence structure, I'm a focus puller, not a writer! Thanks for the hard work on the Newsletters. It's nice to keep in touch with what's going on back in T.O. My best wishes to all my friends in T.O. Don't forget about us in the West! Sincerely, Brad S. Creasser First Asst. Cameraman "ate munce ugo i cutn't evn spel fokuz pulir ... an now i ar wun"
Dear Brad, Thanks very much for your letter and photographs!!! Lori
Filters
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DECEMBER 1990
Camera crew from Blood River in Cranbrook, B.C. August '90. From left to right: Brad Creasser (first asst. "B" camera), John Kuchera (grip), Rick Mason (operator), Fran Kramer (trainee), Carey Toner (dolly grip), Shirley Dalke ("B" camera, 2nd asst.), Brian Murphy (1st asst. "A" camera)
Camera crew from Always Remember tbat I Lave Yvu for Cannell Films and · CBS. From left to right: Stephen Black (trainee), Laszlo George esc (DOP), Attila Szalay (operator), Brad Creasser (1st assistant) and Derek Grieves (dolly/crane grip).
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