T he decis ion to s hoot the D allillo pilot in Super-8 was not an easy one, and the rationale for using the s maller gauge was not as appare nt as you might at fir st th ink. Al in though Super-8 turned out to be a cheaper format , thi s was not its primary value, As Dayan put s it , " The actors' appet ites aren't any smaller when we fi lm in Super-S ." That is, aside from the costs offi lm film and processing, all the other prin cipal production expe nses-food fo r the cast and crew on locat ion , Danino. " transportation, rental ofequip ment (except the camera itse lf) and kibutzcultural ce nter for an inten salaries, etc.-are the same as in sive wee k-long course in film 16mm or 35 mm. production . The participa nt s were The real savings derived from pleasantl y s tartled to discove r the using Supcr-8 were bas icall y un new wo rld ofSuper-8 sound and ex pected. Who cou ld have pre left the workshops in an excited that most se rvices and labor dicted and creat ive frame of mind. would be donated gratis? If Dayan Orall the Super-S activ itie s thai had done the pilot in 35mm, each have occurred in Israel. probably person wou ld ha ve expected to none has been as imponant oras receive payment for hi s or her exci ting as the makingofa pilot for contribution. Ce rtainly the studio N issim Dayan 's feature. D(lIIil1o. that provided the equi pment Dayan's fir st featu re. Light 011/ of (8erkey- Pathe- Humphries) would Nowhere , is cons idered by many have, and if they were paid. then critics to be an important step in why not everybody? But because the development or an indigenous the pilot was in Super-8 , which in Is rae li cinema. He recent ly com Israe l is considered a non-pro pleted the sc ript for DClllino, his fessional gauge, t he studio' s at second feature. and chose his lead titude was. , , " LeI's give the ing actor, Tuvia Tavi . Toget her, poor guy help. Ifhe has to s hoot in they decided to make a pi lot. At Super-8, he must not have any that point , Dayan met with Ar money , so we'll give him the nalda and Lucha , who vol untee red equ ipment free." If the st udio their equipment and se rvices to perhaps the mos t mercilous in do the pilot in Super-8 . Da yan stitution in the film world-was accepted. prepared to provide services for Dayan had done a pi lot be fore. In 1972, when he was searching for investo rs for Ligh t 0111 of No where, he had also made a 10 ~ minute pilot in 16mm con sisting of .-~ two sce nes from the fi lm. At that \ time , he had on ly one short to his c redit. The pilot was designed to convince investors of his abi lity as a director.
"Of all the Super-8 activities that have oc curred Israel, prob ably none has been as important or as excit ing as the making of a pilot for Nissim Dayan's feature ,
ble ways of the Middle East. Thedonation of equipment was absolutely crit ical in view of Day an' s insistence on thoroughly pro fe ss ional quality results, He de manded , for example , that the lighting be capable of producing the same qualit y in the Super-8 reversal fi lm that he would obtain in 35 mm Eas tman color negative . One of the scenes s hot at night required 40 kilowatt s of lighting. Dayan could neve r have affo rded to re nt the large amount of light ingeq ui pment necessary forthe project. D(ll1il1o is intended to be a political thril ler with ele ments of science fiction. It projects future development s in t he Israeli society and government. The lead role. Danino. is a siml?le, frustrated laborer, a typical member of the neglected , underpri vileged sector of Is rael. He li ves in a small town where he s pends most of his time engaged in petty crimes and purs u ing married wo men. Ten years ear lier, he had served in the army as the driver of Colonel Dov Lavie, who now heads a secret intelli gence sec tion of the government.
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I mounted on top ofa prof~ional came ra do lly.
Numerous lighting problems hlld to be solv~d in th is §(~ o~ where Dllnioo holds th e chief of police host age in an old fllctory,
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nothing , how could the actors and crew refuse to work on a volunteer basis? And so, quickerthan you could say "act ion ," Dayan ob tained the free services of some of Israel' s leading profess ionals . A small restaurant in Tel-A viv even provided free d ri nks for the pro duction. Such are the unfathoma
Since lhe acton; were nude and th~ CII merli crew kepi to II mlnimum , V~~r had no h~lp follo wing focus in the love SC1'nes.
Lavie' s task is to monitor the ac tivities of the "troublesome" ele ment s, to prevent s trike s and pro test demonstrations and all o ther attem pt s to c hange the status quo. Lavie en li sts Danino to perform a special ass ignment. The in tell i
gence section has identified the
princi pal source of unrest in the
society as Mitraini, who is a member of the Knesset ( Israel's parliament). Although currently a member of the governing party , Mitrai ni is attempting to establi sh an opposi tion party to combat so cial injustices , which he fee ls are tolerated and even encouraged by the established ruling part y, SUPER·8 F1LMAKER