Camera Operator Jan/June 1999

NEW FEATURE ON WORKING RELATION

ALSO THIS ISSUE:

editing bay and camera combined WIDESCREEN CINEMA latest installment CGI operat1ng in he digital domain WESCAM smooth operator EDITCAM

www.soc.org

THE OPERATING C AMERAMAN MAGAZINE

Far Left, Sean Fairburn SOC Below, Dan Auerbach SOC

1 -JUNE 1999

V OLUME 8 , N UMBER J ANUARY

IN THIS IssuE: 3 4 7

letter from the Editor In Memoriam The Camera Operator and the Director of Photography: The total is more than the sum of its parts

34

by B. Sean Fairburn

42 44

Dean Cundey ASC and Ray Stella SOC 1st in the DP/Camera Operator series

2nd in DP/Camera Operator series

by B. Sean Fairburn

10

soc

by B. Sean Fairburn SOC

2nd Annual SOC Aerial Camera Workshop: On the Ground and In the Air

51

"1, Spartacus"

23

62

Northern California Holds Its Own 63

continues for the perfect match of film size, director's dream and theater screen capability.

by Rick Mitchell

From Concept to Composite-Planning and Applying Computer Graphics 70 70 72

Shot-Making: A Team Effort An excerpt from OPERA TINC CINEMA TOCRAPHY FOR FILM & VIDEO

by Bill Hines

Next Generation Filmmaker: Never Too Young to Start Panavision and the Return of Wide Film Widescreen Revolution Part 7: The search

Computer graphics are a fact of life in the film industry today, and this field will continue to grow.

by Bill Hines soc

32

News & Notes Report From Down Under

by Chris Moon SOC

The SOC Crane Seminar and Workshop adds San Francisco as a new location .

by Mike Santy soc

27

distances and zooms- without calling attention to how the shots were taken.

by Stan McClain soc

61

Spend a day at the Los Angeles Crane Seminar and you'll find out why it's so popular.

by Georgia Packard soc

Operating the Wescam Get steady shots from formerly impossible angles,

Combine several camera operators, assistants, aeria l cinematographers and 2 helicopters ...

by Makiko Watanabe and Rob Carlson

18

soc

Member Profile: Michael A Jones SOC Marvin Rush ASC and Douglas Knapp SOC

by B. Sean Fairburn SOC

8

Editcam: The Nonlinear Acquisition Tool Edit digital video in the camera and output first generation film that's all ready for use.

Now you can join the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Advertisers' Index Roster of the Society of Operating Cameramen, Spring 1999

soc january-june 1999

The Operating Cameraman

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C11mer11men http://www.s oc. or I

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SOC OFFICERS

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Stan McClain Phil Schwartz Georgia Packard Bill Hines William Molina Steve Essig Lance Fisher

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The Operating Cameraman Magazine i published semi-annual ly by tbe Society of Operating Cameramen. For adverti ing information and article submi ssions, please contact: SOC Attn Bill Hines

2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070

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or visit us at

PRODUCTION

Lynn Lanning, Double L Design, Glendale CoVER DESIGN

Mark Leins ELECTRONIC IMAGrNG

Lightning Process, Culver City DIGITAL IMAGING

Alan Lum Li Ernie Reed David Rohman Bill Waldman Ben Wolf

Katy Colleen O' Harra Tara, Playa del Rey

Mark Leins Website Administrator Chauncey Chapman Webma ter Harvey Genkins SOC Wear

Co TRIBUTORS

Rob Carlson B.Sean Fairburn Bill Hines Stan McClain

Rick Mitchell Georgia Packard Mike Santy Makiko Watanabe

PHOTOGRAPHY

B Sean Fairburn Mark Leins Bill Hines Stan McCl ain Cathy Kanavy Georgia Packard Mike Santy Indu trial Light & Magic Sony Pictures Imageworks

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The Operating Cameraman

T

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 perfection and scientific knowledge in all matters pertaining to film and video photography.

1

John R Clemens PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

www.soc.org

BoARD OF GoVERNORS

Joe Epper on Sean Fairburn Tom Fraser Mike Frediani Doug Knapp

Copyright © 1998 by the Society of Operating Cameramen

~ ® i a registered trademark.

All rights reserved.

january-june 7999

T Jision, the essential ingreV dient that we as Camera Operators use in our work intrinsically bonds us to children with vision problems. Our organization contributes its full support to the Eye Care Clinic of the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

From the Editor October I , 1998 The previous is ue of Operating Cameraman enjoyed the highe t di tribution of any i sue to date. With Mark Leins ' new cover design, it commanded a better vi ual "rack appeal" at the book tores and it content received much prai e from the members of the Society of Operating Cameramen.

I mu t publicly confess that I did make an over ight in the "Shooting with the Yectorvi ion" article. Throughout my career there are a handful of cinematographer who helped me during my formative year a a camera assistant.

One, who was on my mind when I wrote the article, is Rexford Metz ASC. Rex hired me on one of the bigge t job A trovision was ever u ed on -Airport '79.

We shot for several week in Pari , Toulou e, Arcachon , and later in Utah.

Weal o worked again on a TV MOW ba ed on the war games called Operation Red Flag , which was about our fighter pilots ' training program at elli AFB. Rex also shot some great footage with the Yectorvi ion System of a 747 that had it rear door blown off for the movie Drop Zone, in which I was the 2nd Unit DP. Rex is without que tion one of the finest veteran aerial cinematographers who i in con tant demand, and he too utilize Yectorvision as his jet mounted camera ystem. Sorry for the omission Rex .

The Society of Operating Cameramen wa founded as an organization that i ba ed on the sharing of knowledge. In 1998 we stayed focu ed on our purpose and held everal training event through-

out the year. Our first underwater workhop ( eeOC July-Dec 1998) wa extremely informative and well received, and we didn ' t stop there. In this i ue we cover our 3rd annual Crane Seminar and Workshop at Univer al Studios, our first ever Crane eminar in

Rexford Metz, ASC

San Franci co, and the 2nd Aerial Seminar. These workshops are successful primarily due to several of our Member and Corporate Members who un elfishly donate their time, equipment, and funds . I can think of no other industry which shares as much as ours, and we are grateful to those who make them elves available to our needs.

Bill Hines soc has been updating his book Job Descriptions for Film and Video and ha included a chapter on CGI and how it pertains to camera operator . Bill, the SOC's only Lifetime

january-june 1999

Member, has been sharing his knowledge with SOC members ever since he joined the organization a one of it Charter Members.

Rick Mitchell has written yet another article about our heritage with his contribution "The Wide Screen Revolution (1952-70): Panavi ion and the Return of Wide Film .'

For those of you who have missed out on hi previou articles, contact the SOC for back i sues.

Sean Fairburn, one of our new SOC Active members, has been that very active. Sean write about the Ikegami Editcam, a new camera that utilize rna digital storage in tead of tape or hard drive, and was developed with the Avid editing sy tern in mind. He also bring to thi i ue the first in a erie of article about an ali-important subjectthe relation hip between the DP and Camera Operator. Sean spoke with notable DP and ha gleaned orne remarkable in ight from a few of the masters.

A always, all of u at Operating Cameraman Magazine appreciate your comment and feedback, and we hope you enjoy reading our latest issue.

Fraternally your ,

~

h!celain

Stan McClain Pre ident and Editor

The Operating Cameraman

Page 3

In memory of Stephanie Benson

by Bill Clark, SOC

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She did so much for the SOC We grieve, having seen her then, sparkling alive. We loved her for her friendship, her smile, and her dedication to a young SOC. Stephanie, you will have many friends and loved ones to comfort you on your journey.

And every dark night a soft Arc will light your way.

May the Lord hold you gently in His hands and give you a shining star to make those who have loved you, less lonely.

Stephanie and her husband Mike Benson were among the original founders of the SOC. For the first ten years she was present at every meeting, taking minutes and notes. Between meetings, she attended to phone calls, mailings, rosters, notices, etc, etc. She was there for the SOC at all times, helped immensely and never complained.

She looked happy and healthy at the SOC banquet last April (above), yet died in October. It seems incredibly sudden, and ce1tainly many years too soon for this wonderful lady.

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The Operating Cameraman

In Memoriam: Linwood Dunn It was my good fortune to have had the

opportunity to be able to contact and speak to Linwood Dunn during this the last year of his life. As a film historian it is an unbelievable feeling to meet someone who has had the impact on the industry that Linwood did. He bad more than an impact: he was the walking, talking definition of the special effects industry. One of the most striking things I noticed in conversations with him was that he was not rooted in the past. He always spoke of new technologies and projects with great enthusiasm.

His body of work speaks for itself.

From his beginnings as a Pathe newsreel cameraman to his work on such classics as King Kong, Citizen Kane, Hawaii, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, he was a first rate innovator and set a standard of excellence unrivaled in the industry.

In the 1940s when the U.S. Government wanted to introduce a commercial Optical Printer to the marketplace they contacted the leader in this technology, Linwood Dunn with the re ult being the Acme-Dunn Optical Printer. He received the Technical Achievement Award for this in 1945, the fust of three awards he won from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He won numerous other awards and received accolades from various facets of the motion picture fraternity over his lifetime.

I came into contact with him in regards to a research project I have been doing on the Paper Print Collection of the Library of Congress. In the rnid-1940s january-june 7999

Richard Fleisher directed a series for RKO Pathe titled Flicker Flashbacks.

For some of this series Linwood Dunn copied material from the Paper Print collection on an optical printer be modified specifically for this project.

In one of the last conversations I remember having with him be mentioned to me he had a photo of the original printing head he used for the Paper Print project, and he would send it to me for use in an article I have been working on.

He did warn me though: "I didn't photograph it myself," he said; "if I would have, I would have changed the background and lighting in order to take out some of the reflections." Just like him, a consummate professional to the end. He was truly an original and I feel much richer for having known him.

-Charles (Buckey) Grimm

Remembering Toni Robertson Along with the rest of the Los Angeles and International film communities, the SOC deeply regrets the recent passing of Toni Robertson. A member of the SOC as well as an honored member of the ASC, Toni ' s contributions to the field of cinematography were outstanding. As a representative of Agfa and then later Eastman Kodak, Toni made the dream of filmmaking a reality for countless new as well as accomplished filmmakers .

Whether the request was for her technical expertise or the all too frequent plea for free film, Toni found a way to meet the need, and always with a laugh and a hug. Her clients and colleagues often became her closest friends, and we will all deeply miss her. May her tireless energy and generous heart remain an inspiration to all filmmakers as we fulfill our own dreams, and may we remember to give a helping hand to others, in honor of a woman like Toni.

-Amanda Thompson, SOC

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The Camera Operator and The Director of Photography: The total is more than the sum of its parts Introducing a new series by B. Sean Fairburn SOC, examining the long-standing relationships many operators and DPs enjoy not only to their mutual benefit, but to the benefit of the film as well.

A

tremendou degree of tru t and communication goes into the very important relationship between the camera operator and the cameraman, or Director of Photography.

This relation hip i vital in properly performing each and every hot to at least the fu lle t expectation of the DP

Years of trust and communication have developed into various forms of shorthand that help to speed along a production and increase consistency and quality.

and the Director and oftentime better.

Camera operator often deal with many different DPs in their career,

each with hi s or her own ta te , like , and di likes. Feeling comfortable is crucial where time is often at a premium and changes are sometime made on the fly . DPs know that good operators have their best interest at heart and will perform the shot flawle ly. Oftentimes in this fami ly, known a the camera crew, the senior relation hip i between the DP and the operator, where year of trust and communication have developed into various forms of horthand that help to speed along a production and increase consistency and quality .

The e relationships wi ll be the focu of an on-going series of article in the Operating Cameraman which will reveal not only specific DP & operator team but a hi story or genealogy to show how the kill were banded down . Like John Toll , who operated for Jordan Cronenweth, who operated for Conrad Hall , who operated for Ted McCord and Ernie

Haller, who hot and won the Oscar for Gone with the Wind. Ernie like many of hi s peer in the early days

Sync sound recording is what brought a consistent speed to the film cameras so it wasn't necessary for the DP to operate himselt and jobs were divided as crew size got bigger.

tarted out operating his own camera on hand crank type cameras. Sync ound recording is what brought a con i tent speed to the film camera , so it wa n' t nece ary for the DP to operate him elf and job were divided as crew size got bigger.

Each issue a/Operating Cameraman will feature one or more articles in this series, emphasizing the value of the Camera Operator to the Director of Photography, and the wonderful synergy of this relationship that is a necessary part of making great films and outstanding TV shows.

january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

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The DP and the Operator Part 1 of the series

by B. Sean Fairburn

Dean Cundey Asc and Ray Stella soc

Ray Stella soc and Dean Cundey ASC

D

ean Cundey ASC has a long standing relationship with his former operator Ray Stella SOC. (Ray is now a DP.) "I've worked with Ray for about 26 years, fust as my camera a i tant, then I moved him up when he started breaking things," Cundey said with a grin, "about eighteen year ago. I think it was on some documentaries for World Vi ion or maybe it was Southern Double Cross.

The real benefit of having a good operator is that each position can be given complete attention.

"What I look for in a good operator is an aesthetic sense of the scene and good reflexes with regard to actor/ camera movement and an eye for composition. Ray provides the subtlety to move the camera and knows when to do it without direction . On the set Ray has the sen ibilities to be able to handle the personalities and the pressures that come with dealing with actors and directors who may be a bit more demanding or difficult, and not take it personally. Ray also makes suggestions to improve the shots and communicate with the dolly grip all on hi own to take orne of the creative load off my shoulders.

"From a technical standpoint Ray is Page 8

The Operating Cameraman

also an exceptional Steadicam and remote head operator. He was first a good operator; then he expanded the craft into new areas of expertise. The opening shot of Halloween was done by Ray on Steadicam, and at the time long shots like that just weren't very common.

He came up with some very creative shots for Robert Zemeckis on Death Becomes Her, during the dream sequence, using the remote head and experimenti ng with shots that worked.

He had to develop techniques that worked well for him because operating in these unconventional ways is often

"When I operate as a DP it is much more difficult to fully service the director with regard to lighting and coverage and consistency of the look of a film. " very difficult for many operators.

Spielberg wanted to move the camera in very specific ways on Hook and Jurassic Park and Ray 's skills allowed us to get the shots and move to the next shot quickly with little setup."

Dean points out the real benefit of having a good operator is that each po ition can be given complete attention: january-june 7999

the DP and the operator can each focus on their individual jobs, providing the consistent quality that every film deserves. ''When I operate as a DP, it i much more difficult to fully service the director with regard to lighting and coverage and consistency of the look of a fi lm when on every take I am concerning myself with following actors or if a sandbag or a C-stand is in the shot. I happily give that responsibility over to my operator to do his job so I can do mine. " Dean Cundey and Ray Stella share a very pecial relation hip as picture after picture will attest. Movie goers around the world have enjoyed the work of these two creative technicians over the years.

Some of the highlights of their careers together: Apollo 13 (1995), The Flintstones (1994), Jurassic Park (1993), Death Becomes Her ( 1992), Hook (1991 ), Nothing But Trouble ( 1991 ), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Road House (1989), Big Business (1988), Who Framed Roger Rabbit ( 1988), Project X (1987), Big Trouble in Little China ( 1986), Back to the Future ( 1985), Warning Sign (1985), Psycho II (1983), Halloween Ill: Season of the Witch (1983 ), D.C. Cab (1983 ), The Thing (1982), Escape from New York (1981), Halloween II ( 1981), The Fog (1980), Roller Boogie ( 1979), Halloween (1978).

What do you get when you combine several camera operators, assistants, aerial cinematographers and two helicopters?

You get the ...

by Makiko Watanabe and Rob Carlson

photos by Stan McClain

2nd Annual SOC Aerial Camera Workshop:

On the Ground and In the Air

T

he SOC held its annual aerial camera workshop this year to a capacity crowd. On Saturday, September 19th, a seminar for SOC members and their guests on aerial cinematography and helicopter safety took place at National Helicopter at Van Nuys Airport. National Helicopter was the I st FBO (Fixed Base Operation) to operate a helicopter for KTLA in the ' 60s and supplied helicopters for the TV

series Whirly Birds and the Batcopter for the Batman series.

A group of about 25 participants with various backgrounds in the field of film and video production spent most of the day participating in thi s seminar with Stan McClain SOC and several others who have experience in the field. Speakers for the day included George Tarub of Tyler Camera Systems, Aaron Fitzgerald SOC of CBS News, Dick Hart and Dale

House of National Helicopter, Russell Ofria of Advanced Camera Sy terns (formerly Continental Camera Systems), and Kent Hughes, Jack Arnet and Mark Leins who are SOC associate members and camera assistant who specialize in aerial cinematography equipment and procedures.

Stan opened the seminar by telling a little about his background, followed by a more detailed speech on the etiquette

At the aerial seminar, the crowd hovered around Russell Ofria of Advanced Camera Systems.

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january-june 7999

between the pilot and the operator and how to make Production aware of the need of an aerial unit.

Stan mentioned that getting into aerial operating could be your way into standard operating job but it could al o limit you to aerial. He encouraged the audience about the po ibilitie of operating opportunities but warned that it' important not to over-estimate one' s ability with aerial . That' not to ay never try, but be humble-e pecially when it come to gyro- tabilized ball mount uch a GyroSphere, Wescam, Spacecam and Tyler' new Sky-Gyro.

Operating a "ball mount" i very tricky and an a piring ball mount operator need an experienced mentor to help him/her George Tarub of Tyler Camera

I SOC Camera Assistants jack Arnet, Mark Le ins and Kent Hughe s under tand how to operate it in typical (difficult) circum tance . It' ea y when everything i on the ground, but when you're in the air and the hot become challenging and complex , that' s when you need to be proficient. Stan ' emphai wa to give us enough knowledge and confidence to ay " Ye " when our fir t aerial operating opportunity with the Tyler or Advanced Camera ari e .

Stan then introduced us to Dale Hou e, chief pilot of National, who talked about afety around the helicopter . He explained that good communication and relation hip between the operator and the pilot were ab olutely critical and that mo t pilot appreciate the extra eye during flight.

Dale al o put major emphasis on the " walk area " around the hip. The tail rotor of the helicopter turn 7 time that of the main rotor. That mean if the main rotor i going 400 rpm, the tail rotor i

wire bridge , bi ll board , etc, e pecial ly near the landing area.

Proper on- et procedure wa al o mentioned. Prior to the actual aerial photography, a meeting mu t happen among the Director, Unit Production Manager, I t AD, aerial DP or operator, pilot and whoever el e may be nece ary (perhap the police) to di cu what the hot objective are, a well a the route, refueling time and location, and an Emergency Procedure arou nd the hip.

Following uch a meeting a afety meeting mu t be held for the crew, repeating the plan. It wa al o noted that an aerial operator or a i tant might have to inform an inexperienced production team about safety and ri k involved.

According to a i tant cameramen Mark Lein , Jack Arnet and Kent Hughe , the a i tant hould clear all =*>

going 2 00 rpm. Therefore, it' crucial to create a habit of never walking near tl1e back ide of a helicopter even when it i not running. Dale al o mentioned that when working around the helicopter, eye contact with the pilot i critical. He reminded u that no one approache the hip without a goahead ignal from the pilot in command.

Per on moving to board the helicopter mu t crouch down a they approach , never going further aft than the rear pa enger door.

Dale al o mentioned that couting the hot on ground i a good idea: watching Rob Carlson a nd Makiko Watanabe, camera for high wire , low january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

Page 7 7

cases from the ship after their use because the main rotor blades create winds in excess of 50mph. A proficient aerial assistant has other duties that are exclusive to an aerial unit, including clearing loose debris from the landing area and keeping a watchful eye on other crew members who sometimes stray into the landing area.

If no scouting has been conducted, the assistant can scout the landing zone and check for any possible risk in the area, i.e. wires, signs, debris.

The ACs agreed that a lot of production companies have no idea how

Stan wrapped up the seminar with these reminders: Design the shot for the helicopter's capabilities and never rush because of the ship ' s hourly rate. Get the shot properly and efficiently. Dale added that crabbing the ship and shooting above 30 Ernie Reed SOC moonlights as a mechanic for knots would cause CBS 2 's FUR system. excessive vibration and undesirable footage and much gear is involved-how many ca es more risk than necessary. and how much weight arrives when they After the speeches, the class got to think they are just getting a few things. experience CBS Newscopter's FUR Therefore it' s important to make the gyro-stabilized video system as well as production manager and/or production mounting the GyroMaster mount onto coordinator aware of the importance of the side of Dale's JetRanger II. Many of having a cube truck or bigger vehicle the eager participants also had the chance awaiting the arrival of the equipment, to go up in the air and shoot some aerial along with a production assistant. The footage of their own. cube truck will also act as weather The "ground school" portion of the protection if necessary. day was extremely comprehensive and The ACs also pointed out the need due to the many people who wanted of an aerial unit to be self-sufficient at all "hands on" experience with Advanced times, which includes having enough Camera Systems' GyroMaster and water and some provisions. It' s al o Tyler' s Major and Middle Mounts, the important to have a qualified grip availseminar was expanded to include flights able to assist in rigging the mount. the following weekend.

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Comments from other participants:

T

he SOC aerial workshop was quite a success for me personally. I was just sorry I was unable to learn about the Tyler mounts on the following weekend.

This workshop enabled me to get a taste of something I've been interested in for some time now.

This seminar gave a very good overview of what is involved with aerial shooting from a helicopter, everything from installation to safety, with great stress on safety.

We had a nice added bonus by being able to check out the Channel 2 news chopper along with its camera operator, Aaron Fitzgerald SOC. He did a great job of explaining and showing what hi job entails as both on-air talent and operator of the FUR system.

I hope we can organize many more seminars such a this one. Not only does it allow us to learn more of the many facets of operating, but is also a great way to meet some of the rest of the membership.

-Steve Heuer, SOC additional comments =9>

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hi latest aerial cinematography workshop wa a fanta tic experience for me! I wa able to hone my kill under the tutelage of one of the true masters in thi exciting field, using tate of the art cameras, stabilizing mount and camera hip . I found the pilot to be extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. If thi weren ' t enough, I made ome great contacts and walked away with ome nice footage to add to my aerial reel. Keep up the great work, SOC! -Peter Bonilla, Director of Photography chief pilot for National Helicopter, spoke about hi side of things. His comments on pilot-cameraman communication were particularly intere ting.

Unfortunately, time was ticking by, and all pre ent were beginning to realize that we would need con iderably longer than a day to get all our que tion an wered . A it wa , we were only able to graze the urface of this huge subject.

We then tarted to familiarize our elve with a number of different ide

F

ir t, I would like to thank Stan McClain SOC for doing uch a good job organizing the Aerial Workshop.

Such an event is a perfect example of why the SOC exists.

I attended the workshop to get ome insight into the method and problems of aerial photography and to get at least a little experience with the mounts. I was not under the illusion that I would leave the work hop with an in tant career a an aerial cameraman, but more in hope that if I was ever on a job that needed just one hot from the air I could pester the John Trapman soc w ith Desiree Horton, helicopter pilot 'grown-ups" to let me do it.

The day started out with Stan talking about all aspect of aerial photography, paying special attention to the safety aspects of flying with camera .

Then Dale House, january-june 1999

mounts that Advanced Can1era Sy tems kindly supplied for the day, a i ted by extremely competent technicians who were able to walk u through the various aspects of each piece of equipment. This segment had to be cut short too, as we were beginning to cut into flying time.

I wa up for the first flight with a Betacam on the Gyro Master Mount. I rode up front for the first half-hour with Dale, while Dan Auerbach SOC tried out the mount. This too was great becau e I ~> had another chance to be iege Dale The Operating Cameraman

Page 15

Simon )ayes and Aaron Fitzgerald SOC

with questions. We then landed and I took over the mount.

I have had the chance many times in the past to play with various side-mounts on the ground. Let' s just say it was quite a 'revelation ' when I got to try one in the air! I was awful. I spent the first few minutes wondering why everything was soft, then the reality of leaving the first assistant on the ground sunk in. Dale helped out a great deal by showing me a bunch of 'moves ' that he would normally be asked to do. By the end of my half hour I had tried a number of shots such as following a car along a freeway , moving around buildings, making a reveal from behind a hill, etc. I choose not to comment on how successful I was at some of these!

Having completed the workshop, if I am presented with the prospect of that one aerial shot, I can now say with confidence: "Yes, I could do that" . ..

Hopefully no one will ask "How well?"

-Simon Jayes

T

hi s year' s second annual SOC Aerial Seminar provided just the right kind of "hands on" training and experience unavailable to operators anywhere since last year's SOC aerial seminar.

The optional airship flight time available from National Helicopter made it all come together after the in-depth discussions and presentations were completed on each of these unique aerial camera systems. Several aerial units, operators, assistants and pilots shared priceless information. These "Wbirly Page 76

The Operating Cameraman

Birds" have been there and done it!

A complete "walk through" for all, from building, installing and system rundown/checklist, to troubleshooting during unrehearsed conditions: When it's just you and this equipment in flightyou can ' t say "Pull over, I gotta get out to check somethin ' ."

Intelligent air safety guidelines and instructions were stressed to remind us to

use our eyes and head at all times and to communicate possible "at risk" situations , in flight and on the ground. These guidelines will go a very long way to getting everyone back home safe with "the shot in the can."

-Tom Faigh, SOC

The SOC wishes to thank National Helicopter Service, Advanced Camera Systems, and Tyler Camera Systems for making the aerial seminar possible.

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Bob Nettmann's video Gyron offers another alternative to gyro stabilized crane rigs.

11

1, Spartacus"

by Georgia Packard soc

Spend a day at the Los Angeles Crane Seminar and you'll find out why it's so popular. photos by Georgia Packard Page 78

The Operating Cameraman

january-june 7999

arly one Saturday morning in May at Spartacus Square, located on the backlot of Universal Studios, the Society of Operating Cameramen' 3rd Annual Crane and Remote Head HandsOn Seminar was held with support from PERA, Camera Local 600, Grip Local 80 and 22 vendors. Like last year, SOC members Tom Fraser and Bill Waldman and PERA ' s Ed Clare organized another great day for the motion picture industry.

Trucks unloaded an endless sea of equipment to set up for the day. Volunteers geared up to assist in seeing people in, placed a stack of safety hand-outs next to the name tags, and set up a line of tables for all of the free goodies. I am always amazed at how it all comes together in time.

I checked where the medic had set up, along with the placement of the honeywagons and the numerou water and food tations. Priorities ... Then I looked over the map to outline a plan of attack so that I could see and get my hands on as many different cranes and heads as possible. SOC President Stan McClain welcomed us with his introduction to the day and defined the assorted activities that were available. Since several Directors of Photography were scheduled to give detailed instructions, I wanted to group my time around theirs. I knew I bad to stay focused if I was going to see everything.

Chuck Barbee demonstrated the Matthews Gm Crane and Cam-Remote head, and showed how it could turn on several different axes off the crane's long reach. The cobblestone street proved a wonderful location in which to work. The crane extended smoothly down the street and around the comer to follow the actor's quick movements.

There was a 30' Telescopic Crane with its 3-axis remote head staring me down. I was open for the challenge- to compare and contrast why I would choose one crane over another for my shot. I snapped away on my Nikon as I made mental notes of the wheels' alignment vs the joystick option and the arm's reach. It wasn't so much what the crane provided, but how it inspired you to use it. Yup- you have to understand in advance how to use each of these toys to your best advantage.

Around the corner Stan introduced

Universal Studios' Spartacus Square provides ample room for participants to safely evaluate the abundance of camera cranes. the Wescam, that beautiful flying white orb with a hawk 's eye view- not to be confused with the smaller Gyron that wa dollying down the side alley . Hi hot reached across a courtyard where two cute stand-ins began their trek up four tair and down the road into the shade of the trees, back into the sunlight, and then got into a Mu tang convertible for their dialogue.

Panavision offered an assortment of remote system and Andy Romanoff guided the Frazier len on the Louma crane. "Over the river and through the woods' in a very impressive way. The instructors made it look so easy to master. I knew I'd have to come back and spend a lot more time by myself - a lot more time.

John Toll ASC (and SOC member) worked with operator Mike Thomas who floated the Wescam mounted on the Akela crane 50' over the crowd with perfection from a tented control de k. An actre walked down the treet under the Wescam ball and got picked up as she crossed Spartacu Square, joining another actor so that they were seen in a tight two shot. She ended her journey at the podium at the top of the stairs of Spartacus Square, where the camera met her in a tight head shot. Very Impressive.

Shotmaker wa well repre ented with their camera car rig, everal dollies and remote heads, the Pegasus crane and Telescoping Enlouva mount. Wait, oh my gosh, wa that Dean Cundey ASC giving a training se sion at Shotmaker?

Yes! People were so generous sharing their time and expertise. As noon approached, it was time to take a break and try one of those Shotmaker hot dogs and a oft drink- scrumptiou !

I reloaded my camera from blackand-white to color and I looked into the participants ' enthralled faces. Mike Ferra zipped out his remote mini camera car between my feet, drawing me over to ftnd out more about hi Ferraflex. Then Mike Jones soc clued me in on Weaver Steadman's new DS remote head, completely digital. Fisher di splayed their 9, 10 and ll camera dollies with their 20, 21 and 22 jib arms along with the

Panavi ion Clairmont, Otto Nemenz, Gunner, Cog well, Sony, Hollywood Camera and Hollywood Rental upplied numerou camera and support systems to complete the rig , along with equipment from Wilcox Sound and Univer al's grip department.

And don ' t forget Kodak's and Fuji's generous offering . Fi lms aren't made by individuals but through a well-supported team effort.

Jerry Hill offered a variety of lens control motor and accessories for Steadicam and cranes. I always get a little anxiou strapping my elf up in a Steadicam rig- yet I am amazed at the improvement from 15 year ago when I took Ted Churchi ll s training in San Franci co. Vi ions of the orange coned ob tacle course danced through my head . Advanced Systems ' Bodycam, Doggicam and Pogocam offered different angles to test my chiropractor's handiwork.

I confess I am relieved to ee how Lo mandy had de igned Denny Clairmont and one of the Moviecams that such a nifty kinny dolly Clairmont Camera supplied for the event. (with curved track!) to shoot through those "Jimmy Fisher." I dashed down the treet treacherous doorway . Birn and Sawyer to see the Power Pod 2 with digital video also displayed their Sierra Dolly and Dual Porta-jib that quickly made my assi t - many companie are upgrading Christmas Wish List. Maybe my Weider to digital to provide a clearer picture.

We've come a long way, baby. weights can do double duty on the =9> january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

Page 79

Chuck Barbee (3rd from left) elaborates on the nuances of remote head operation .

Vector Balancing System and finally make an appearance outside of my bedroom.

I was impressed with Innovision Optics ' Z jib arm and probe lens offering easy access through and behind those Busby Berkeley chorus girls ' legs.

MegaMount had twists and turns with its roll axis, while Swiss Crane outfitted their Swiss jib and Power Pod with a Dutch Plane too. Appropriately enough, they were set up in the Court of Miracles to display their wares.

I used the Super Aerocrane jib arm to locate my friend over at Chapman/

Leonard talking with Bob Primes ASC on the Super Nova with Technocrane.

First I had to dash back to pick up a video tape and pullout pamphlet on Panavision's Super Technocrane. Super vs regular- it gets very confusing which one to choose.

My only free hand snapped away on my camera as Bob Primes went through the Technocrane Bill Hines SOC and Bob Primes ASC discuss the setup.

The instructors: John Toll ASC, Phil Schwartz SOC, Chuck Barbee, Bruce Doering (representing Local 600), Bob Primes ASC, Dean Cundey ASC, Stan McClain SOC

Page 20

The Operating Cameraman

Michael Jones SOC pauses to pose.

january-june 7999

step by step. What a difference a good Grip can make! A huge platform was built up high so the crane could sit on top where it had the freedom to move 360 degrees parallel to the ground plus reach below the platform line and then crane higher. With clear communications between Bob and his Grip, they positioned the huge arm into place for a smooth gliding reach out to the roving guitarist. I am going to have to get a bigger backyard if I want to play with this at home .. . The crane appeared to dance gracefully with the actors. Bob also expertly choreographed the actors' movements, and I felt confident that I could stand proud at the control desk when I took my tum at the wheels. Primes is a dedicated educator who is very generous with his time and expertise.

Patty Walsh and Tara Summers, who are both SOC associate members and volunteers.

The day flew by, testi ng my SPF-30 under the hot un . Yet I was thrilled to get a chance to re-acquaint and introduce my elf to all of thi equipment. This open invitation by the SOC for anyone and everyone to play on the gear wa fantastic. Where el e could I have practiced my reflexe in uch good company?

As 3 o'clock approached, it was time to say goodbye to tho e who shared their knowledge and equipment, and with my Kodak and Fuji bag filled with a ton of vendor ' information I made my way to the exit. I'll be back next year for ure.

For information on the 1999 SOC Crane Seminar, visit our web page at www.soc.org or contact us by phone (see page 2).

Mike Ferra has an assortment of specialized camera rigs.

Author Georgia Packard SOC learns working dynamics of the SuperTechnoCrane from Bogdan lofciulescu of Telescopic Crane.

january-june 1999

Gary Thieltges of Doggicam demonstrates his equipment.

The Operating Cameraman

Page 21

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Do D

ooDDoo

Northern California holds its own The SOC Crane Seminar and Workshop adds San Francisco as a new location.

By Mike Santy SOC

Photos by Cathy Kanavy and Mike Santy

0

number of vendors and Chuck Schray with a lenny arm mounted on a participants guaranteed Chapman Titan. uccess.

I wondered, after po ed the idea of a San Francisco Crane having made several of these trips, if an and Remote Head Seminar. The enthu ievent of this kind was possible locally. asm and upport of SOC President Stan In January of thi year I went to an SOC McClain, Bill Hine , and the other =*> Board of Governors meeting and pro-

ne of the reasons I joined the SOC was because of the educational program and workshops that it sponsors. Being from a secondary market, however, meant that I had to make travel arrangements to Lo Angeles in order to participate. The effort wa alway worth it, though, because the

Dean Cundey (at the mic) speaks to the assembled participants at the SOC 's San Francisco Crane Seminar. january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

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the beginning, according to the notes I had gotten from Tom Fraser. I found I needed to follow a schedule of events, which had to be put in place a the date approached. Fortunately for me these events had all been determined by the previous Los Angeles seminars, so all I had to do was find the appropriate vendor or supplier and proceed to explain what I needed. At times the list seemed endless, but I had the time, and I really began to enjoy the campaign.

Besides Local 600, Local 16 and SOC members, I enlarged my database of attendees to include San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Jose film and video professionals and students. Joe O' Kane of the San Jose Film commission was instrumental in supplying me with mailing labels for many of his members.

I obtained directories for the Monterey and Sacramento areas, and generated mailing labels for them. I had flyers printed up and distributed them to camera and lighting rental houses, and local schools with film or video programs. I made ure flyers went to local DGA members, Television Academy members, and the AICP. I found a Job Corps Culinary Training School on Treasure

john Guterres with the Swiss jib crane Board members overwhelmed me. They immediately introduced me to Tom Fraser, organizer of the Los Angeles Crane Seminar, who presented me with all of his information, schedules, and lists. He also suggested I contact Ed Clare of PERA, who would become invaluable in helping me convince equipment vendors that such an event could occur successfully outside of Los Angeles. Ed was also instrumental in introducing me to these vendors at events such as the SOC A wards Banquet and Show Biz Expo. These face to face opportunities began to give real credence to an idea which was viewed, quite frankly, with some skepticism.

I began to start a search for a location. Securing a suitable venue was a project I wanted to think about carefully.

I wa looking for an area away from the public arena, with ample parking and easy access for the vendors. I had seen the Spartacus Square location at Universal Studios, which the SOC had used for its crane seminars, and I wanted to find something similar.

I proceeded to call several location scouts I knew and asked for their suggestions. I was pointed in two directions: the Presidio, and Treasure Island. The Presidio, formerly a US Army base, is now run by the National Park Service.

Accustomed to dealing with film companies, they were very helpful , sugge ting several possibilities. I looked at suitable spots and started discussing fees and requirements. At the same time, I was exploring Treasure Island, until recently Page 24

The Operating Cameraman

a US Naval base between Oakland and San Francisco, now run by the City. I found a very unusual, but likely location at the San Francisco Regional Fire Fighting School. This facility, built by the Navy to train personnel to fight shipboard fires, had several multi-story structures, open on two sides, with exterior stairways. The island itself was out of the public flow, and had plenty of parking and easy truck access. It seemed perfect. All I had to do was convince the San Francisco Mayor's office of my intentions.

That turned out to be quite an introduction to city politics. Fortunately, I had the San Francisco Film Commissioner, Robin Eikman on my side.

Without her encouragement and reassurance, I'm sure I would have given up several times.

Steve Lighthill (on right) observing joe Ward, jan Being able to illustrate Sluchak and jan Ruona . my intentions- both to her and to the commander of the Fire Fighting School, Island, which agreed to provide food Capt Mike McKinley - with pictures service for two meals. I arranged for and articles from past SOC magazines power, cameras, video-assist, medics, helped solidify their support. That security, production equipment, insurinformation, and their support, allowed ance - all the details necessary to stage me to present myself to the City as a the event from the lists I had been given. representative of the SOC, for the purCame the dawn. My brother, David, pose of staging an educational event to a who is not in the business, but was curious about what was going to occur professional clientele.

However, securing a venue was only helped me load the van at 5:00am. By january-june 7999

5:30 we were headed into an unexpectedly clear and warm sunrise.

Once on Trea ure I land we placed directional ign and opened the venue. Fir t to show was the catering crew - o we drank a coffee toast to a great day .

By 6:30 the crews began pulling in. Chapman, Panavision Remote, DTC and the rest were all directed to their re pective areas to et up. Shortly after came Stan McClain and volunteer Marianne Davi , Cathy Kanavy and Jean Souders a little weary after an all night drive from Los Angele , but nonetheless excited about the day. The other puzzle pieces started to fall into place: the generator was dropped and power lines were run ; video a i t, remote head, and camera package arrived ; audio was et at the John Guterres and Mike Santy major tation 路 a regi tration area was a embled with SOC and Local 600 About 10:30 Stan decided it was time for books and information. Then the DPs his opening remarks. arrived: Dean Cundey ASC, Steven After welcoming the vendors, Lighthill , Randy Love, and Man Siegel. attendees and visiting DP , Stan emphaWe were ready. sized the importance of programs such as At 9:00 we opened the gate . For the the SOC workshop and eminar , fu t hour or o people wandered about stre ed afety and acknowledged the and familiarized them elve with the efforts of the volunteer who had exequipment and the vendors. Impromptu tended their efforts to make the day a demon tration were taged by some of reality. Then it wa on to busine . the vendor uch a Doggicam and Dean Cundey tarted with the Swiss Giraffecam eager to how off their toy . jib from Oppenheimer Camera and while the crowd gathered around, be talked about the nece ity of choosing the right tool for the job at hand. That choice, he said, also could be used as convincing rea oning for budgeting such tools, since production managers might be reluctant to commit monies for a "one shot" expense.

A way to do that, Cundey said, was to utilize the tool so that it saved production time in camera set-ups. Just the continued use of the crane for ingles, two-shots and over which would allow for quicker camera positioning could help convince production that the value of the tool could be extended beyond its initial use.

The crowd then moved to the Chapman exhibit, where Chuck Schray and Cundey demonstrated the use of a Lenny Arm 2 with a Dean Cundey ASC describing a crane.

Weaver Steadman remote head january-june 7999

on top of a Titan crane. Chuck used thi opportunity to stress the importance of safety and communication while u ing equipment, e pecially in such an unu ual articulated configuration. Cundey then howed how the capabilitie of thi crane were different from the Swis jib et-up, and talked about how it could be put to it mo t efficient u e.

At the SuperTechnocrane station brought by Panavision Remote, the crowd got a chance to try out a telescoping moving system guided by Steven Lighthill, while following actors up and down stair . This challenging tool gave the participants' imaginations the opportunity to perceive new possibilities for creating shots beyond simple panning and tilting.

DTC, a local grip and lighting rental hou e, upplied everal Fisher dollie with a variety of jib arms. Combined with remote head and with camera from Lee Utterbacb and Cine Rent We t, they provided a good deal of interest in their set-up, operation, and function .

Stan McClain had brought a Tyler mount and was giving free "rides' to tho e intere ted in acquiring the "feel" of shooting aerials. Russ Ofria from Advanced Camera had a Continental helicopter mount, MegaMount, and the BodyCam. Craig Peterschmidt, of Picture Factory, brought a Steadicam and an Egripment crane with a remote head.

All the attendees had a hands-on opportunity to personally compare and contrast a variety of currently available camera mount .

By 3:00 it wa all over. The vendor started to di as emble equipment and bead for a well-deserved San Franci co evening. Stan, the volunteer , and I looked over the registration forms and the exit polls. Over one hundred and ftfty professionals and students had attended, and their comments were very supportive. I want to extend my warmest thanks to everyone involved, and e pecially the SOC for their help, guidance, and upport. I would certainly like to encourage other SOC member to con ider propo ing a eminar or workshop. I felt a great sen e of ati faction knowing that I had been able to do omething positive for our film community.

~ The Operating Cameraman

Page 25

Since the dawn of Hollywood ...

Two images from more than 4,710 frames in the opening shot of Contact. This was the longest visual effects shot ever created for a feature film. It ran over 3 minutes and 18 seconds, on a pullback that takes the viewer from the center of our galaxy out into deep space where many galaxies can be seen and no sou nd carries.

by Bill Hines, soc

Fro111 Concept to Co111posite...-Pianning and Applying Computer Graphics

Computer graphics are a fact of life

W

ith computer generated imagery adding its many facets of image creation and manipulation to principal and econd unit cinematography in feature and commercials, it pay to understand the process involved in its preparation and u e in the film we hoot.

For an in ider' per pective, we contacted Steven Ro enbaum, Vi ual Effects (VE) Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imagework , who graciously consented to explain the process and team effort of planning and adding computer graphic to a film. Steve' credit include: The Abyss, Terminator II, Death Becomes Her, Jurassic Park, Indian in the Cupboard, Contact, and Forrest Gump for which he received an Academy Award and a Briti h Academy award.

The Concept Steve explains that there are four tage or pha e in the computer graphic proce . "The fir t tage is conceptual , where the idea for it u e i planned and developed . This starts two to five

in the film industry today, and this is a field that will continue to grow.

months before principal cinematography, with the Visual Effect Supervi or having read the cript, meeting with the Director and di cu ing the particular hots cenes and/or equences in wruch computer graphics will play a part. Of central importance i under tanding the Director' vi ualized concept of how the shot should look in final form. " He goes on to ay that the idea i then developed by the Vi ual Effect Supervisor and his or her staff. Ba ed on the VE Supervisor' s interpretation of the Director' s concept, the CG art department per onnel begin to develop the idea into concrete imagery. From ketche , illustrations and storyboards into artwork done on the computer, the idea is digitized and refined, then presented to the january-june 7999

VE Supervi or for review and comment and then to the Director for further discu ion regarding modification or elaboration , a nece sary.

Pre-Production Once the Director ha given the go-ahead for detailing the conceptual treatment of the modified shot , the Visual Effect Supervisor a ign a crew of digital and traditional arti ts-Model and Miniature Makers, Animatronic Technicians or Puppeteer to develop and control models, miniatures, robot and the like, and Special Effect Technician to handle pyrotechnic , fire, smoke, fog, rain, snow and wind effect .

During thi stage much research and development work takes place. Ideas =*> The Operating Cameraman

Page 27

for looks and for developing special tool and techniques to deliver tho e looks are essential parts of this phase.

A process called "animatic " is used to present a crude trial version of the developing concept. In this preliminary tage, pecial effect elements are created in the computer or trailitionally-using miniatures, models and puppets-to give the Director a better idea of how the effect wiU work in the completed film .

"For example," he says, "with subject matter such as dinosaurs , there are x, y, and z axes of movement to consider. In developing animation , it must be determined how the animal should move, how the skin should fit, look and move over the skeletal structure, and how lighting and shading hould be applied to the animal." Rough workups of the animals and their movements are presented to the Director for preliminary comment and approval.

He goe on to ay, "For overall design con ideration to be included in scenes with visual effects content, working closely with the Production Designer is essential."

Production

showing how computer graphic shots should conform with non-effects shots and element . Negative for each of the scenes requiring visual effects is received by the Visual Effects Editor and digitally scanned and recorded on a computer disk. The resulting digital

''There are often a number of subtleties entrenched in all the computer generated images which we develop and include in a sequence. " images are then duplicated and distributed to each of the various artists who will be working on the film .

The computer graphic process now begins to refine it and put it all together: The CG Technical Director works on lighting and shading; the CG Animator begins tracking the background against which the animation will play; the Compositor gathers and starts compositing the elements together in layers, starting with the background plate and adding forward and frontal elements one at a

view and critique its collective work-inprogress two or three times a day."

During this pha e the photographic and visual effects are put in final form , compo ited, canned to film, printed processed, signed off on by the Director and ent to the Picture Eilitor for insertion in the picture.

Special visual effects sequences are often creened for audience reaction so that they can be modified if nece ary before finalizing the picture.

Throughout the Process Steve empha ize that the Vi ual Effect Supervisor must always be aware of what images are vi ually intere ting to the auilience while trying to maintain the story line and the me age or meaning contained in and carried by the images.

"There are often a number of subtletie entrenched in all the computer generated image which we develop and include in a sequence. For example, Robert Zemeckis, the Director of Contact wanted to ubliminally portray Jodie Foster' s spiritually enlightening journey through a space time warp by relating the effect to entering and moving through a black hole while also incorporating the spiritual message and experience of

During production, the Visual Effects Supervi or is pre ent on the set or production site for con ultation regariling setting up tho e hot , scenes or sequences to accommodate planned computer graphic augmentation. The VE Supervisor also goes into the field with a Cinematographer to shoot second unit plates for use as backgrounds on which to Jay computer graphics. At this stage, operational models and miniatures are developed, refined and shot along with practical effect such as pyrotechnics, water, rain, snow, fog, jodie Foster reaches out on her journey through the space time warp in Contact moke and wind. He emphasize , however, that digital elements such opening the seven boilily ["bodhi ' ly"] time; the Rotoscoper determines what as animation or combining of elements chakras, and doing thi s in a kundalinimattes need to be generated to accommoare not executed until the Picture Editor like progression by progressively comes up with a rough-cut of each CG date the visual effects; the Match Mover projecting chakra color and other sequence approved by the Director. tracks the action and subject movement images onto her body to portray and on x, y, and z axes in order to keep Post-Production background and visual effects in sync; convey to the audience the intense the Painter selects and applies color to feeling of thi rare and enlightening Steve points out that this final phase begin by viewing a Director-approved the surfaces of the computer graphics. journey. To achieve thi urreal effect, we ilid ab tract filtration for cut of the sequence( ) involving visual Steve states, "It is common for the ublirninal affect." visual effects crew to meet together to effects for a sense of continuity and january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

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hot the real hou e at I/24th cale with the arne configuration on a camera move in order to match the tim ing frame

" ... because visual effects work is done in the pressurefilled final phases of postproduction, we are aware that we must know when and what to compromise .. . "

The boy has discovered the 3-inch-tall Indian.

He goe on to tate, " A rather cha llenging but fun film to do wa Indian in the Cupboard, where we had ignificant ize difference and a blending of element involved. We had a 6-foot man reduced. in effect, to ju t 3

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inche -a 24-to-1 downsizing. A combination of technique wa u ed, including blue creen, motion control, optical per pective and frame rate variation .

"For example, there i a 5 foot dolly move, arcing around and holding the boy in frame to di cover the Indian ining on the hou e he i bui lding. To make thi compo ited hot work, the boy had to be hot without the Indian in frame. Later, the Indian wa pl aced on a blue tructure 24 time larger than he, and the arcing camera move had to be 24 time the 5 foot length and 24 time a far away and yet completed in the arne length of time a wa the 5-foot dolly move. Thi wa then digitized and we did a 3D camera match move on that. We recorded that match move data and exported it to a traditional motion control data file that then drove a motion control rig which

count and per pective of the previou two camera move ."

He conclude with the ever-pre ent concern of per onnel in po !-production: "We are continually reminded that detai l are our livelihood . But becau e vi ual effect work i done in the pre urefilled final pha e of po !-production, we are aware that we mu t know when and what to compromi e in the con tant concern with produci ng high quality vi ual within the time chedule and budget con traint ."

Finally For tho e contemplati ng becoming computer graphic artist , Steve ugge ts that a de irable backgrou nd wou ld include a knowledge of and faci lity with math, cience, phy ic , drawing, light and hadow , compo ition pixel re ol ution and, not lea t, computer , work tation and computer graphic software.

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The Operating Cameraman

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january-june 7999

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Shot-Making-A Team Effort Excerpted from OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR FILM AND VIDEO by Bill Hines, soc.

S

Weaver/ Steedman , Inc .

1646 20th Street Santo Monico CA 90404 310 829 3296 310.828 .5935 fox

hot-making is the basic procedure used in recording each and every segment, or shot, which comprises a link in the chain of shots from beginning to end of the production, whether on film or video tape.

In general, shot-making involves, for each shot setup : 1) Analyzing the subject matter and the action to be composed and photographed, as well as the terrain and time of day, if applicable; 2) determination of a camera position viewpoint; 3) lighting the subject matter and area to be photographed; 4) selection of the camera and camera support equipment, including the mounting platform or device- tripod, dolly, crane, plane, boat, or body support; 5) specifying the taking lens, optical filters, shutter angle, frame rate, and exposure setting; 6) planning the direction and velocity of movement of the camera in relation to the action to be covered; 7) adjusting the direction and velocity of movement of the camera and subject matter, as necessary; and 8) coordinating the movement of camera and zoom lens sizing with movement and positioning of the subject matter.

Analyzing the Subject Matter. It is important that the Director, Production Designer, Director of Photography and Camera Operator analyze the subject matter and its movement in the context of its setting in order to help determine the most efficient and effective plan of ways and means to present the subject matter to the camera.

The Camera Position is usually determined by the Director in collaboration with the Director of Photography in order to cover the essential subject Page 32

The Operating Cameraman

matter and action; although the Production Designer, through the design of the production settings, can have a marked influence on camera placement.

Lighting the subject matter and its environment is the responsi bility of the Director of Photography. Working through and supervising electrical light-

Shot-making involves great care in selecting and composing elements through the camera viewfinder within the moving proscenium-the cinematic frame.

ing and grip personnel, the appropriate quantity and size of units (coverage), intensity/key (exposure), quality (soft or hard), and balance/contrast ratio (mood) are determined, acquired (within budgetary constraints) and set in place for each shot setup.

Accessories and support equipment considered necessary and appropriate for the production (within budgetary constraints) - is selected by, and put in place under the supervision of, the Director of Photography.

Optical Selection and Settings are the province of the Director of Photography in order to provide and maintain the coverage and consistency of the overall visual effect desired by the Director. january-june 7 999

Camera Movement. Blocki ng of the Actor and the camera i the prerogative of the Director, often in coll aboration with the Director of Photography and frequently with reque ted input from the Camera Operator.

Adju ting and Coordinating Camera Movement. Once camera movement ha been plotted and the mobil e platform tracks are put in place, the Camera Operator ha the re pon ibility of making mi nor adju trnent during blocking and rehear al a to direction, timing, velocity, and placement of the mobile platfo rm, thereby coordinating the work of the Fir t A i tant (for zoom izing and foc u ) and the Doll y/

It is how well we do our job that makes the shot fit seam/essly into the overall product.

Crane Grip( ) (for camera pl atform movement), in order to perfectly blend with the action being pre ented to the camera.

Specifically, hot-making involve great care in electing and compo ing element through the camera viewfinder within the moving pro cenium- the cinematic frame.

The frame i the ba ic cinematic element of fir t concern to the Can1era Operator. It i the frame which provides the parameters within which the element to be photographed mu t appear and be arranged. During rehear al , at every point during progre ion of the action- whether tatic or dynamic, whether the camera is tati onary or movingcompo ition (and focu ) i carefully checked and adju trnent made in order to maintain opti mum compo ition and vi ual effect throughout the duration of the hot.

Each bot, a equential progre ion of still pictures, or frame , mu t be framed to clearly communicate the purpo e and content of the hot in order to help accommodate a eamle juxtapo ition in its placement between and/or among other hot .

The take i the total run length of fi lm or tape-from tum-on and head or tail late to the final frame when the camera i cut.

The tran ition point -the head and tail point at whi ch the hot will be cut and joined to (or vi ual ly combined with or uperimpo ed over) another hot-of each hot are generally at or near the beginning and the end of ilie take. Subject matter, camera angle (perspective) and placement (high, normal or low), image ize, direction of look, and direction, duration and velocity of movement are among the element to carefully con ider and control at the point during the hot for which the tran ition i being planned. Some of the option to con ider are: Matching object ize and/or action, type, elocity and duration路 contra ting an object in movement with one at re t, or a large object with a mall one.

According to Web ter's Dictionary, a tran ition i a change or pa age from one place, tate, tage of development, type, period time of day, to another. Tran ition are i ually communicated by variou mechanical linear technique uch a , the cut, the di solve, the wipe and the fade .

Making the hot mean more than putting it on film or tape.

Making the shot mean making a take during which all the element -performance of ilie Actor the movement of ubject matter and camera, etting adjustment on the camera, ound recording, tunt and/or pecial effect execution-have, individuall y and collectively, been executed in a con i tent, orche trated and directorially acceptable manner.

Although hot-making i what we do and take pride in, it i how well we do our job iliat make the hot fit eamle ly into the overall product. The better and more collaboratively we each do our indi vidual job the better the final product i likely to be.

And, ironically, the le obviou our pecific contribution to the production effort i ure to be.

About the author: Bill Hines, SOC is a film and video Camera Operator, and the corporate liaison fo r The Society of Operating Cameramen.

Both of his books, OPERATING CINEMATOGRA PHY for FILM & VIDEO and the updated and expanded Fifth Edition of JOB DESCRIPTIONS fo r FILM, VIDEO & CGI: Responsibilities and Duties fo r the CINEMATIC Craft Categories and Classifications, are available through the SOC Online Bookstore at www.soc.org , cinema and video booksellers, or through ED- VENTURE FILMS/BOOKS, P 0 Box 23214, Los Angeles, CA 90023

january-june 1999

The Operating Cameraman

Page 33

Edit digital video in the

Written and photographed

by B. Sean Fa1rburn SOC

camera and output first generation film that's all ready for use.

B

eing aware of new technology and being able to fuUy utilize it are two totally different things.

Such was the case when Pete Fasciano, genius and good friend, told me about the EditCam that he was creating for Avid. EditCam is a Digital Disk Recorder using Ikegarni 59 as the camera platform.

Pete said it was like having an Avid on the back of a camera and there would be no need for digitizing in post. It can be done in the field as it is shot and it doesn ' t use tape. Then Pete set me up with shooting a corporate video for the Deacon Jones Foundation on the EditCam. Joe Torelli, a former network news shooter/editor who works for Avid, became my 1st AC and OJT instructor.

At first I was very intimidated by the DNS-1 01 and the complexity of the camera, but Joe asked me to frame up a Page 3 4

The Operating Cameraman

shot and hit Record.

The little red light came on and I was recording, just like a regular camera. Over the next two days Joe showed me the capabilities of the camera. It has features foreign to any other video camera such as: Retro Loop, Timelapse, taking an EXTernal video feed Two sides of joe Torelli on the EditCam . into the camera, editing a Sequence quality of the image. I chose to stretch Play list in the can1era, Deleting unwanted the linlits of the format by purposely clips, and assigning Text information or shooting objects of high detail and Attributes to each clip for the editor to movement with high contrast like find fas ter. All this sounded incredible to Deacon in a white shirt walking next =*> me, but my biggest question was the january-june 1999

to a chain link fence behind an inner city football radium. I covered it a a long hot and stacked up the fence to the left of frame, dollying with him from the ide with the fence in the background.

Major detail and major movement all meant to how the gritty ide of the inner city and to te t the EditCam ability to reproduce tho e image .

During the interior talking head portion I rated the Camcorder at a olid 400 ASA@ 30fp , then cho e to light Deacon Jone like I would if I wa hooting Beta SP or Digi Beta. I took co metic peach into a gold and ilver checkered Iemay for key off axi and projected a Iide with a Dedo onto a china ilk in the right of frame loo ely draped on the back wall with orne maroon accent color to the left of frame and a trong back light to edge him, along with orne top lit trophie in the middle ground. I wa not urpri ed that the camera, an Ike 59, captured the nuance of color and detail , but I wa urpri ed that during playback

from the camera (no playback adaptor nece ary) all the arne detail and contra t and color remained even when parked on a frame.

The ability to delete take or clips after they were hot and determined to be ub tandard was a great help in maximizing our eli k pace. Although an incredible

defensive end, Deacon Jone i not a one-take orator. During lunch Joe created an SPL or Sequence Play Li t of the take we liked and cut them to cript owe could ee right then how well the piece

fit together and roughly how long it wa .

Then we played it back out of the EditCam on the et to the monitor. Once all was hot the footage which lived on the FieldPaks wa taken back to Avid and put directly in the Online ver ion and cut and rna tered. ot until it wa complete djd it touch tape a a fir t generation rna ter.

Almo t four month later I wa given aD S- 101 to demo, beta te t and get familiar with, and for three weeks it at in the box becau e I wa too intimidated by it to learn to do all the thing I had een Joe Torelli do.

Curio ity oon got the bener of me and I pulled it out and crolled through the page of the manual mo t of which I under tood. Then when I got to page 89 TIMELAPSE, I had to try thi feature. I took it out and et it up on orne wonderful El ifio cloud . I et the " I frame every 2 econd" timelap e but I couldn't figure out how to tell it I wanted to record Timelap e in tead of regular recording.

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The Operating Cameraman

january-june 1999

So I called Joe on the cellular and he told me to hit the Shift & Record button on the ide panel. Succe !

To a ideo guy, Timelap e i very cool o I hot and in tantly looked at playback of traffic, moon ri ing through cloud , un et , un on building . It wa instant gratification.

I wa hooked, and thi et off the exploring and experimenting that I've been doing for the Ia t nine month . Holt John on at Ikegarru gave me a new HL-59W with a DNR-10 docked to it and 3- 2.2 gig fieldpack (or media torage drive ) to demo for whoever wanted to ee the EditCam cameraman to cameraman . Wexler Video in Burbank ha 4 unit in rental (mail@wexlervideo.com.

Joel Orde ky director of rental operation i familiar with the capabilitie and configuration ).

Bill Hine a ked me to olunteer my camera work to document the SOC Crane eminar (p.l8), o I brought my Ikegami HL-57 Beta SP with a beta back and the Ikegami HL-59W with the DNR10 EditCam docked to it. My goal wa to

cover it conventionally and to u e the EditCam to timelap e Spartacu Square.

I al o wanted to u e the EXTernal video In feature and Tap off the film camera' video a i t directly into my camera and in tantly playback the hot.

I wa able to take a feed and tap the Panavi ion Platinum & Millennium, Arri Moviecam, Aaton , in cabled and

wirele configuration like Radcam and Ferra' Elmo on a remote control car. I took the feed u ually right out of the monitor that the operator u ed and if the hot turned out bad I would delete it to a e di k pace.

What really wowed me wa not only the ability to tap the film camera but the camera will al o timelap e an =*>

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The Operating Cameraman

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external feed. I took Stan McClain's Wescam on an Akela crane shot and timelapsed it 1 frame every 5 frames.

Stan and I poke of tapping a ftlm camera on a helo or jet flying a timelapse shot and matching the frame rate to show the

(page 88 in the manual) to 10 seconds and pushed the button. Whi le fo llowing the aircraft I was always rolling but only recording the last 10 seconds. If there had been an accident, which no one could predict, I could then hit Record after a crash and start the shot already I 0 seconds in.

This became very helpful when bombing run were taking place. I could shoot where the EOD guys placed the bomb but using Retro Loop start the shot after it had exploded and ensure capturing

it and not wasting any disk pace. When the Blue Angels took to the ky, Retro Loop again allowed me to shoot everything and decide after a maneuver wa done to keep it or loop over it. And ye , as with Timelapse I can Retro Loop an EXTernal feed from another camera as well including PAL. Dan Wolfe of WolfeAir a ked me to demo the EditCam for a few friends at Burbank Airport. On hand were Larry Welk, pilot/reporter, along with Alex Calder, aerial news cameraman ~>

director the exact timing of the course of the hot. Stan said it would be very helpful.

EditCam digital disk recorder is a nonlinear camera, deck, editor, and versatile video playback unit all in the camera.

While working on a corporate video for the defen e contracting wing of TRW, I brought the Editcam to Texas and used it to hoot a timelap e of the command center and to bang out interviews and lots of "B" roll which I later played back to a Beta SP deck to give to the client after consolidating the footage.

A week later an actress asked me to hoot her performing three scenes on stage to give to her agent. I chose to shoot her on the EditCam so that I cou ld al o hoot coverage and edit the coverage into the rna ter hot in camera. Then I played the edited sequence out of the camera into a Beta SP deck to create for her a fu t generation master.

The Blue Angel appeared over Marine Corp Miramar Air Station and I was tasked by CWO Golwitzer OIC Combat Camera Det to shoot the event. I didn't have much disk space available so I chose to use Retro Loop to ensure the footage I saved would be the best and that I wouldn ' t miss a thing. Since the camera i non-linear there i no beginning middle or end to the media. Retro loop a!Jow you to take a chunk of di k space between 5 seconds to 3 minutes and perpetually record over onto itself always maintaining the last preset window of footage.

For instance I set the Retro Loop january-june 7999

The Operating Cameraman

Page 39

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for Sky 9 KCAL u ing the Gyron. I look forward to taking a feed off their camera in the Gyron into the EditCam and flying a timelapse shot around Downtown LA or up the coast or down a freeway.

You don ' t have to think very hard to find many u e for the EditCam and it unique way of recording.

Originally the EdjtCam wa created to help the new community go from the hot in the field very quickly through edit and to ali with the edited equence never touching tape, and to provide additional features that minimize wa te and redundancy of footage, tape and manpower.

Working hand in glove with Avid 7.0 or newer Media Compo er, Avid X pres 2.0 or ew Cutter 4.1 the EditCam hoots footage on an Avid native FieldPak that is removable and like a big fat di k fits into a DFPA desktop FieldPak adaptor which by SCSI, connect to the drives of the Avid.

The media i then acce sible in its entjrety already in a bin waiting to be edited on the spot or copied to another drive. The FieldPak can then be initialized and go right back into the field .

Recently I was invited to K.ABC to demo and train promotion cameraman Bob Ballew on the EdjtCam. Bob has been shooting for over 25 year tarting in film and working on the much loved "Eye On LA" in the late ' 80 . After going over the ba ic and capabilitie I took Bob page by page through the menu and explained all the option . He hared with me the kind of average hoot day he ha at K.ABC. Shooting piece with a combination of Interview and a lot of 'B' roll along with lip tick and cigar camera hot that he take to a portable Beta deck. I shared how the EditCam cou ld not only take in the lip tick ource in the field but timelapse that source like a car POY hot.

Shooting all your B roll on the EditCam allows your Director to croll through each hot, like tracks on a CD, to in ure he or he got all the coverage needed.

Once it' s plugged into the De ktop FieldPak adaptor, the edjtor ha in tant acces to all the footage on the FieldPak,

never rrussing a single shot due to incomplete digitizing. The footage is delivered with each hot pos e ing an individual clip number, time code tart point, duration of shot, and any text or (A ITRIBUTES) information the cameraman used to flag a shot.

If the director want to create a rough cut for the edjtor, it can be done quickly in camera before leaving the field or during the ride back, and aved as an SPL to review later.

Bob then framed up a hot and hit

the VTR button and recorded hi first digital di k recording. I walked hjm through giving the shot an attribute and inserting it into an SPL, then deleting it from the SPL and deleting the shot altogether.

Bob admitted that it would take a few days to get farruliar with the camera, but couldn ' t wait to try all the revolutionary new feature that he aw .

For more information on the Ikegarru/Avid EditCam contact your Ikegarru ale repre entative, Joel at Wexler Video, or online at <http: www .avid.com/products/broadca t1 camcutter/index.html> or <http:// mckain.ne.mediaone.net/editcarnl> or just e-mail me, B. Sean Fairburn soc, at <rolemodel @earthlink.net> .

I would be happy to come out to give a demo or training, or to have something shot, timelapsed, retro looped or tapped. The EditCameraman.

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his best boy on several pictures, mostly photographed by Conrad Hall ASC. Some of the pictures they worked Director of Photography on included Harper, The Professionals, Divorce American Style, Hell in the hird generation filmmaker Pacific, In Cold Blood, and Cool Hand Michael A Jones SOC was virtuLuke. In 1974, Jones gaffed an Academy ally weaned on a sound stage. His Award winning short, The Bolero. grandfather Clem Geiger, a local 727 For Jones, however, reaching such a Craft service man in the traditional sense, high career level by his early thirties was grew up in the film trades in Hollywood 's ju t the beginning. As he puts it, "I had youngest days. Michael ' s father, Victor become so confident as a gaffer that I felt Valentine Jones and his uncle, Robert E I had reached the peak of my career. I Jones were both gaffers for over 45 years. began wondering what I was going to do Victor Jones worked with some of with the rest of my life." the great cinematographers of all time, It was at this point Jones went into such as Greg Toland on Orson Welles ' commercials in a big way, initially as a Citizen Kane, and Russell Metty on A gaffer for Jordan Cronenweth ASC. It was Touch of Evil and is credited with many great pictures such as The Magnificent Ambersons, The Best Years of Our Lives, Shane, The High and the Mighty, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief Robert E Jones was the gaffer for the original Prince of Darkness with John Alton ASC, the DP who became famous during the B/W days for hi s use of only one or two Lights to light a scene. Alton ' s work is studied today in all the prominent film schools, a way ahead of its time.

The value of thi s lighting environment was not lost on Michael , who began agency producer Warren Deasy who in the industry as a rigger at Warner Bros gave Jones hi s fust commercial behind in the very early ' 60s. Michael enjoyed the camera in a now long-forgotten spot his days at Warners, rapidly progressing for Angelus Furniture. to rigging gaffer on such great pictures as Since then, Jones has worked with My Fair Lady, The Great Race, Hotel, the top West Coast directors, including and the first major studio picture photoNorm Toback, George Gage, Melvin graphed by Haskell Wexler ASC, Who 's Sokolsky, Bob Fi her, Lee Chapman, Stu Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Berg, Bill Tannen, Ridley Scott, Andrew Around 1964, Michael 's desire to Davis, Bob Giraldi , Joe Hainwright, Joe progress to lighting gaffer was overpowPytka and many others. ering. To gain on-the-set lighting experiAs a director of photography in ence, he took a job on the Columbia commercials, Jones was able to apply his Pictures production of The Professionals. vast storehouse of lighting and producThis is where Michael met Harry, in his tion knowledge from feature film s. description, "The Greatest Lighting Man "Lighting is using the proper size Ever!" Harry Sundby had been a cinema- lighting instrument on the right angle," tographer before unions existed; when he states, "and the quality of the light is the unions were organized he chose to the next consideration." work as a gaffer. It paid more than Through his work with Cronenweth camera, due to the long hour worked by and Sokolsky in the early days of experithose in the set lighting department. mentation to find a soft ftlllight, he Jones stayed with Harry Sundby as developed the use of foam core as a

Michael A Jones, SOC

T

Page 42

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january-june 7999

bounce source which is used commonly on every set today. He was following in his father' s footsteps: Victor Jones had invented the quad light- a previously used fill light source - while working with Greg Toland at Goldywn Studios.

With the introduction of soft lighting into commercials combined with his existing knowledge of hard lighting, he was able to apply the two simultaneously and come up with an interesting mixture of light. "My taste runs to using different colors of light to bring out the more subtle tones," states Jones. Constantly experimenting with new ways of lighting, he has done some work with laser light as an alternate source.

His commitment to commercials ended in the early ' 80s with the sale of his successful commercial company Cineman to his partner. This left him free to return to his first love in the motion picture industry, feature films .

Jones ' s credits include such pictures as The Gremlins, Opposing Forces, Mo vers and Shakers, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Lost in Yonkers, The Explorers, Moonwalker, Rocky II, The Frogs, Ruckus, Aitport '79, Batman Forever, The Assassins, Free Willy II, The Crow: City of Angels, Barb Wire, Chain Reaction, and others.

Jones has also worked with cameramen like James Wong Howe ASC, Gary Holt, Lucien Ballard, William Fraker ASC, John Hora ASC, Charles Lang, Thomas Del Ruth ASC, Don Burgess ASC, John Toll ASC, Jack Green ASC, Nick McLean, George Spiro Dibie ASC, Robert Surtees Sr ASC, Leon Sharnroy and many others.

Jones knows that the function of the camera is to create movement in what otherwise might be a dull picture.

"Camera movement," believes Jones, "should not be obvious, because if you start creating gimmicks, you are distracting the viewer from the message of the picture. Any time you can move the camera, you should, but that movement should be dictated or motivated by the action. The camera, after all, is just a recording device. The preparation is the most important thing: to make sure that when you tum the camera on, it only records what you want it to."

The DP and the Operator Part 2 of the series

by B. Sean Fairburn

-

Marvin Rush ASC and Douglas Knapp soc

M

arvin Ru h A C and Dougla Knapp OC are currently hard at work on the et of Star Trek: Voyager. Doug ha been an operator for 20 year and came over from itcom to do orne B camera and occaional A camera operation, then wa brought in full time 4 year ago.

Marvin Ru h: Judi Brown our cript upervi or told me about Doug while we were working on Deep Space Nine.

" If there 's less for me to do with the camera and I can concentrate on the lighting, then we can get more work done in a shorter span of time. " Doug wa working a part of a tight 12-man itcom team and mo tly unavailable. I didn't realize how good he really wa . ot everyone that work in itcom i a good one-camera operator and ice er a. It i a kill that i omewhat pecific and within econd I realized that Doug wa an excellent operator.

Fir t of all I like a dead frame, I like a camera that' not moving unnece arily.

Page 44

The Operating Cameraman

In other word if an actor i moving and you're con tantly adju ting the frame, it' very di tracting. I'd rather let an actor move in the frame and then move the camera when the time come . Doug had an in tant ta te imilar to my own and ha a very mooth manner even in 3- peed. He can handle difficult hot like whip pan in tantly much better than l can. I'm a pretty good operator and Doug' got me beat on almo t everything. I know hi operating will be good.

Heal o can dance, climb around, and camper on a dolly, to perform very difficult or complicated hot . He can move hi body around, get the low angle , get the high angle . r mean he' ju t very ver atile.

OC: What doe it provide you a the DP to have a good operator on the et that you can tru t?

Rush : My tru t in Doug mean I can tum over a hot before it' fini hed . ln other word I can get the framework put in place and I don ' t ha e to tay there and poli h it until it' done. Becau e I know Doug will get it to the right level. I don ' t have to figure out all the problem .

It mean I have more time to worry about other thing . And it' a divi ion of labor. If there ' le for me to do with january-june 7999

the camera and I can concentrate on the lighting then we can get more work done in a honer pan of time.

OC: De cribe your communication with Doug.

Ru h: We do thirty etup a day, probably average twenty-five to thirty . We' ve done that for four year together. In that pan of time we' ve done a lot of hot . I can reference a hot by a how we did together. That kind of horthand happen with anybody that you ' ve worked with for a while.

There i another kind of horthand and that i a tyli tic one. I can for intance ay "Let' do orne non- tandard compo ition here. " In tantly he know what I mean . We' re going to have the rever e lead. We're going to put the actor to the leading edge of the frame looking out of a frame a oppo ed to looking into a frame. Or we might put omebody at the bottom of a frame and have a whole bunch of air at the top or ice ver a. o I can ju t ay "nontandard compo ition" and all of a udden Doug tart looking for tho e kind of opportunitie . I don ' t have to explain what I mean when I want that.

There' o little that needs to be said in any long term relation hip with somebody who is bright. I mean Doug Knapp i very bright. So I don't have to say a lot and explain what I mean. He' al o a can1eraman, he knows how to light and he knows how to shoot. He always understands my problems and what I'm looking at. It' s just a real good team.

SOC: I there a particular shot in your memory that Doug was able to perform

[A camera operator needs] the ability to concentrate exclusively on the task at hand and disregard everything that is not pertinent to the shot.

11

11

that wowed you or that you were very impre sed with, either it con truction or its performance?

used that in conjunction with the eyepiece. So a the camera is in an awkward position, you can ' t get your eye to the eyepiece, you begin the hot on the video finder. Now as the camera i coming around the a i tant reaches up and uncovers the blind for the eyepiece just a his eye goes to the eyepiece.

Having the skill to blend that move o you can eamless ly go from video fi nder instantly to an optical finder, or the other way, are examples of finesse and kill. He gets it and then he just does it. That' someone who' s really gifted, who has complete control of their physical body and their movements.

First is the brain, okay. Having a bright person who can understand visual concepts quickly with limited amount of word , gets it on the same page with almost nothi ng said. Having the abili ty to concentrate excl usively on the task at hand and di regard everything that is not pertinent to the shot. That's the brain.

The second thing is fine motor ski ll s, real fine muscle control to be able to execute what you would like to do

with the frame. Well Doug's got both of those ski ll and that' a great operator.

SOC: Nothing is more satisfying than knowing what to do and doing it. What is hi s personality like on the set?

Rush: Doug i almo t, this ounds like, go hit ound like a love letter. WeiJ it really is in a way, you know. I feel that way. I mean I really adore working with him . He i the mo tea y going guy around. His easy going manner keeps me from getting upset.

We work well together because I think we have a lot of respect for each other. I know I have a lot of respect for Doug and I feel he has respect for my talents. I'm real proud of the work that he' been doing lately as a cameraman.

We've brought other operators in, and it take a little while to get up to speed on the how. I actually have to work harder when the other operator are here becau e I have to explain things more. So when Doug' around I actually get to kick back a bit because he doe an awful lot of the work. ~>

Rush: We have had uch a great relationship that all the great shots over the years fade into memory. I can say that he can do hot I can ' t do. He 's more flexible than I am. So I can put the dolly in a much lower position than i comfortable for me, and he can camper around the dolly and I count on him to do it because director want to set up difficult shots on thi show all the time.

I expect him to be able to pull off difficult shot , work it out. He did one ye terday actually that was pretty difficult. It was very fa t and clo e to camera.

One area he ha grown in i using some of the tool in unconventional ways. For in tance, the standard way to operate a film camera is you look through the eyepiece. But there are application (this being one) where you can ' t look through the eyepiece. In other words, where you really would rather have a hot head, but guess what, you don ' t have one. And yet the shot can be done and so instead you u e the video finder on the side of the camera, the assistant' s video monitor uddenly become the operator's finder. Doug

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When Doug is out hooting second unit, the other trung I worry about is not that the new A camera operator won ' t do good work, I worry that the sty les won' t match. Another advantage of having Doug DP the second unit is becau e he' been on the how for a long time. He knows how thi show looks and, you know, it's a combination of the reality of the set and the lighting tyle. Bill Peet is my gaffer and Randy Burgess is the key grip . We've built a specific look,

1

7he margin for error and the time to correct 1 just isn t there.

Doug 1S work cuts in smoothly with my work.

11

most of which was crafted by my team.

My telecine guy George McCanon time the dailies and that' what they cut the show with, so the margin fo r error and the time to correct just isn't there. I know Doug understands that and hi s work cuts in moothly with my work.

WKRP in Cincinnati which was a great show and I was an operator. Then they left Channel 5 and moved over to the Radford CBS Studio Center and I was offered a chance to leave KTLA . I made the choice ba ed on what I thought was best for my career. I went over to CBS and I tho ught, maybe I can get a chance to spin the wheel on a Worrall Head, on a film sitcom. It took me a couple of years of trying, but doing WKRP and then practicing, really getti ng the skill up.

Then somebody was ick one night on a sitcom and they didn ' t have an operator and Jim Sater in the camera department at CBS Radford asked if I wanted to do a fi lm job. That show wa in 1981 and cal led The Last Resort. I onl y did one episode, but that credit got me a chance to work on Newhart when the how tarted on video tape. George LaFountaine ASC wa the DP. But after the ftrst season, it went to film and the exec producer of that show, Barry Kim, fued the camera operator .

He aid, "We' re going to go to fi lm,

SOC: Sounds like a wonderfu l way to hone the craft. When did you start shooting and on what hows to get to this point?

Rush: Well , I started out at a tiny religious TV station in Glendale a a tape operator director, technical director, and camera operator in 1972. But I loved camera. That's the area where I felt I had the most kill and I certainly was the most interested in.

I wanted to get into fi lm, but I couldn 't find a way in . I did a lot of sports, Dodger , Laker and boxing at the Olympic auditori um, roller derby and hockey. I mean every sport you could possibly name. Track and field , golf, tennis, I think I've done every sport. For about five years I made mo t of my income doing sports because it wa intere ting and challenging.

I tarted working for Din ah Shore when they went on location. And that led to a taff job at Channel 5 doing the Dinah Shore Show when she moved from CBS to KTLA. After Channel 5, I wa also doing a series there called

we' re going to let you guys go." And I went to his office and aid "Barry, li ten .

I've done it. I've done a fi lm show. I only did one, but I did it, I can do it. Will you plea e at least try me. If I don ' t do okay I won t darken your door agai n."

Well , he looked at me and aid, "Fine.

I'll give you a shot."

I started on the wi ng camera but then after a couple of weeks one of the operators moved on to a one-camera show, so I moved over to B camera. So in a matter of like four or five weeks I was now the center camera on a three camera sitcom which is a pretty responsible position. I did Newhart fo r 4 years.

SOC: What how did you move up to Director of Photography on?

Rush: Out of the blue the producer Hugh Wil on, the guy who had produced WKRP wa doing a how with Lonnie Anderson at that time, called The Lonnie Anderson Pilot. It later changed it name to Easy Street. And it ran for one ea on.

Well , he called me up and said, ' I got ~>

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The Operating Cameraman

Page 47

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this pilot, do you want to do it?" I said "Yeah." And then I thought for a second.

I aid, "You mean a an operator, right?"

He say "No, I want you to shoot it."

And I aid "Are you sure?" "You can do it can't you?" he said. I said "Yeah sure.

I can do it." (laughter) Literally a bolt out of the blue! Suddenly I'm a Director of Photography.

It ran one season and then I went over to do The Tracy Ullman Show. In the middle of the sea on Hugh Wil on called me to do Frank 's Place. I was not avai lable so he hired Bill Fraker ASC who hot a beautiful pilot. The show so ld and Hugh a ked me to do the series. I wanted to do a one-camera how o I took it. After it got canceled I came to

"I'm expecting miracles done on a daily basis from my operator.

I've got a lot of work to do and I want the shots done right and I want them done early."

Paramount to shoot Dear John for a ea on. It was a little disappointing becau e I wanted to do one-camera.

Then the show finished and I wa asked to do Star Trek: Next Generation, then I moved to Deep Space Nine and now I'm in the fifth eason of Voyager.

SOC: What can you say to operators who, like you were, are trying to get on a regular how, and what do you now as a DP look for in a new operator?

Rush: When I bring in an operator on B camera, I'm looking for somebody who gets it right away, who under tands quickly what we' re trying to accomplish. It doesn ' t matter if he doesn ' t do it my way at first, so long a after I explain what my way is, he doe it that way automatically and without any coaching. In other words, a little bit of coaching and then I'm done talking and now shot after shot after shot he get it. There are very few operator like that, and they are the ones I use, the ones that really please me.

I really like a dead frame and there are very few operators that walk in and have the confidence to leave a frame alone when they don ' t have to move it.

An actor move a little to the left or right and they' re constantly framing that actor.

J hate that o much Tcan't tell you . Tt really bugs me and I hate it when I do it so I don't like it when I see somebody else do it.

Another is ue is, I'm constantly trying to harmonize the background with the foregrou nd. You know, I don' t want something grow ing out of somebody's head. Now I et it up with the econd team, then turn it over to the operator with first team. I'm expecting him to reproduce the frame even though people tand differently or are ubtly different in height, maybe they put their weight on a different foot. I'm expecti ng the operator to accomplish the feel as best he can, at least a good as I did when I et it up with second team, or better. No, I don ' t want him to arbitrarily change it and he's got to have confi dence that I'm going to like what he' goi ng to do. But if it 's

different, and there' method and design to the shot, and if the operator ees that de ign, under tand and applies it, makes sure that it happens, Ire pect that. So paying attention, looking at what I am seeing, not just the surface but eeing the depth of the hot a well, i paramount.

Another aspect I look for in good operating is if an operator can get a print early. The actor get up for take one and the director would like to get it done.

The cameraman certainly would like to get it done. Now the operator has got to get it done. So if you can get a print early, it means more time for me to light the next shot, more setups get done in a day, the director gets more choice . If the director wants to do take two or take three that's his choice, but if our team can give him a print early in the proce , everybody is better. Usually take ones are better. I mean people are up for take one so that performance is often the be t one.

An operator that is constantly rni sing take one, I don 't want to work with. I can't afford to ruin good performances because he can't get the shot early. It ' ~>

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The Operating Cameraman

Page 49

hard to do a dead frame, gamble, always win , and print take one. That' s impossible and that's what I want. I'm being honest, I'm expecting miracles done on a daily basis from my operator- my crew and my elf too. I've got a lot of work to do and I want the shots done right and I want them done early. So that separates the men from the boys. There are some people who can ' t get a shot quickly and there are other guys who can. I've seen it done. They ju t have whatever it takes to get an acceptable print on take one every time or just about every time. That man is worth more money. He' s valuable because he saves you money. Doug gets print take one almost every time. I mean, it' s rare that he doesn't deliver. He wouldn ' t be here if he didn ' t."

SOC: Who are some of the Directors of Photography that you worked under that helped you develop your craft?

Rush: I suffered from one terrible thing, I didn ' t work under very many cinematographers because I worked on the

video side of the business. Lighting in video is often not the stressed item.

Although there are some guys I admire in video that I worked for. Bobby Dickinson was one of the guys that did Solid Gold and I think he's a genius. I mean , he's a brilliant video lighting designer and I learned orne things watching him work. George LaFontaine certainly was a mentor. I learned a lot from him and George Steviaks, whom I worked for quite a bit. But I didn ' t operate for a lot of great feature film cinematographers and watch them work.

I wanted to, but I couldn ' t get the job. I suddenly found myself a cinematographer having not worked for very many others. I really wish I had had a chance because there ' s a lot of things Tdidn ' t learn because I didn ' t get a chance to learn them. I had to learn by teaching myself and learning from gaffers. So I missed out on some things. Brian Reynolds was a lighting designer for me many years ago and he taught me some things. I worked behind the scene

shooting a movie called The River that Vilmos Zsigmond DP'd. I was just simply doing the documentary. I spent about a week in his company and I learned quite a few things watching him work, watching his )jghting and learning how to use and work with practical sources, augment a practical source, and make it look absolutely totally real. I admire his work.

We're a link in the chain This industry has given us a rich heritage of talent from the likes of Billy Bitzer and Harry Stradling Sr on down, so if you ' re not already familiar with who your DP worked under as an operator I encourage you to find out. As camera operators and future DPs you are a very important link in continuing the legacy and tradition of fine craftsmanship since the beginning of filmmaking.

-B. Sean Fairburn

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The Operating Cameraman

january-june 7999

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Operating the Wescam

The History The ubject of operating the gyrotabilized ball mount ha alway been filled with my tique and controver y, a Catch-22 for mo t camera operator who have approached the gyro vendor for the u e of their equipment. But don't de pair. You all recall when the remote head were con idered specialty camera head , and a they became accepted a daily tool of our trade. all of you became proficient at u ing them. I view the gyro- tabilized head a nothing more than a tool of our trade, and with proper training, any competent camera operator can rna ter it. But be patient: the few y tern that are available work even day a week, and everal day of hand on training are nece ary to become

Written and photographed by Stan McClain, SOC

proficient. ln the early '80 , Ron Goodman brought his X-Mount (it wa originally a We cam) here to L.A. and teamed up with electronic guru Howard Pre ton of Pre ton Cinema y tern . Goodman, anned with a wi h li t, worked with Howard to create a new and improved X-Mount and renamed it Gyrosphere.

After completing three ea on of Ainvolf, I received orne board for a commercial and made my fir t of everal call to Gyro phere for the u e of their equipment. A it tum out, [ wa not

january-june 7999

Five photos from a sequence shot with the Wescam for Flatliners, starting out over Chicago's shoreline, picking up a moving Keifer Sutherland, and following him until he pauses to gaze into the rising sun. alone when it came to being pumed, a wa virtually eve1y aerial cameraman in L.A. With the exception of David owell SO and one or two other , everyone el e wa turned away.

Fa t-forward three year (it wa actually a gruelingly low pace) to 1986.

I had ju t tarted up a mall rental company with Dan Wolfe called Pa adena Camera (See "Shooting with the Vectorvi ion Sy tern" in the July-December 1998 i ue of Operating Cameraman).

In a chance meeting with Knox Lea itt, the founder of ISTEC and inventor of the Wescam, we laid the ground floor for a meeting with ISTEC' new owner . Dan, "The egotiator," paved the way and ~>

The Operating Cameraman

Page 57

within a few months Pasadena Camera became the fust Wescam agency in America, followed by CRM Group in Florida. Around the same time, Ron

Not one single camera operator has mastered the feel of a gyro-stabilized camera on their first try.

Goodman left Gyrosphere and created his successful Spacecam Company.

Flying Pictures USA and a small group of investors subsequently bought out Gyrosphere.

Dan and I shared a philosophy that was vastly different from our competition and we attempted to get as many aerial operators as possible to use the equipment. David Nowell SOC was

fourth gyro relates to the vertical axis and helps further stabilize the camera platform when acceleration, deceleration, and G forces from banking and turning an aircraft, boat or high speed insert car are applied to the overall mount. The camera's pan and tilt controls are controlled through a Microforceâ&#x201E;˘ style joystick. The big difference in operating a gyro-stabilized camera and a conventional camera is that the gyro-stabilized camera remains aimed to a point in infinity when the camera platform is moved. So, as the camera platform moves or rotates, the camera remains pointed in the same direction prior to the move. With a traditional camera head, if the camera platform rotates 45° during a shot, so does the camera and a manual back pan is needed to maintain the original frame. There is also a slight delay in the gyro steering, so you have to start your pan or tilt a couple of micro seconds before you want the camera to

Wescam compacts the distance between t he Wind sailboats.

An aerial view from Wind

actually honored with the first job.

Rexford Metz ASC, David Butler, Frank Holgate and I were the next Americans to use the equipment. It was difficult to accommodate everyone, mostly because our one Wescam was working seven days a week. Today, Wescam Inc owns and operates all of their North American 35mm Systems and has recently opened an expansive facility at Van Nuys Airport in California. Currently there are three 35mm systems in California, one in New York, and one in London.

The Mystery All of the existing 35mm gyrostabilized Ball Mounts (Wescam, Gyro phere, and Spacecam) work on the same basic principals that involve three gyros which spin at a high speed that control the roll, pitch, and yaw axes. A Page 52

The Operating Cameraman

eventually add gyro-stabilize to their arsenal of tools. The Society of Operating Cameramen applauds Wescam' courage to stand out from the others.

I feel that it is also important to mention at this time, that with the invention of the Wescam and the spin-off companies that have utilized Wescam technology, there are other companies who have developed additional gyrostabilized platforms. FUR Systems originally released its forward-looking infrared (FUR) system (See "Ultra 4000" in Operating Cameraman, JulyDecember 1997), then later added a traditional video camera to the package.

Police, Military, and TV ENG equipped helicopters are their primary customers.

Bob Nettrnann's Gyron (video system) is in use on ENG helicopters and the Goodyear Blimps; a 35mm system will be released soon. Tyler Camera Systems has yet to relea e its long awaited 35mm Sky-Gyro. The SOC looks forward to the

pan or tilt, and end your move a beat before the camera actually stops moving.

This is the hardest aspect to master.

A point worth mentioning right now is that not one single camera operator has mastered the feel of a gyro-stabilized camera on their fust try. That is the very reason why it is mandatory that you receive proper training prior to jumping in. I hope that this article will arm you with enough knowledge so your training will be more effective.

Wescam Inc is the only one of the three companies mentioned that welcomes all experienced aerial camera operators to use their 35mm equipment and who encourages operators to hone their skills with the Wescam system.

With the Wescam being used on crane arms more and more, I feel that it is important that all camera operators january-j une 1999

introduction of Tyler's and Nettmann' s equipment as they have a great track record of encouraging SOC members to master their existing camera systems.

Attributes One of the facets of aerial cinematography that I enjoy is creating shots that don't call attention to the fact that you're in a helicopter. When I got the call to join John Toll (not ASC at the time) and director Carroll Ballard on Wind, I knew this would be a show where we could place the camera quickly to grab much of the action sequences.

Although both John and Carroll knew that they were going to get breath-taking aerial vistas of the racing boats, I don ' t think they realized that the Wescam, in essence, could be a quick-setup long lens tripod, mounted on a dolly three feet ~>

DVW-700WS

above the ocean. John shot from boat to boat with wide and medium lenses, but the Wescam wa ab le to u e the 250mm len at ea level , which helped compact the di tance between the ail boats. We could get great close-up in errs of the crew as they scurried along the decks, climbed ail and worked the lines. After the first day ' s mshes, they doubled my shot li t. When the film wa cut, all of the low-angle helicopter shots blended seamlessly with John' shots. This application was an excellent example of what can be achieved by using a helicopter and the Wescam as a mobile B camera.

Combined with good chemistry and clear communication from the Director and DP with the operator and pilot, magic can happen. This was one of those jobs where al l of the piece to the puzzle came together.

Much of the magic that entered my len was due to the great camaraderie that developed between Au tralia' premier motion picture pilot, Terry Lee, and myself. We had shot some commercials in Au tralia earli er that year that involved one take hots, ending up on the face of the talent. .. not an easy task.

With a solid two weeks of working with each other under our belts, the setups on Wind were econd nature. Incidentally a a side note, some five years later, after several more challenging projects between us, Terry found himself here at the SOC Eric Burdon Concert, and got married at the venue to hi companion of ten years. I've found that we are all blessed by the friendships we build in our business .. . that ' s just one of the perks that make our craft fu lfilling.

The commercials I poke about in the previous paragraph were especially unique, in that no one had achieved thi kind of shot uccessfully before, primarily due to the difficulty factor. How many of you recall the TV series Hawaii 5-0 ? Remember in the opening credits where the camera would cream acros Waikiki Bay and end up on Jack Lord tanding on a balcony at the New Otani Hotel? And do you remember how utterly shaky it was? By today ' s standards you ' d be fired for turning in work like that, but that was the premise of the National Mutual Insurance Commercials.

Our chal lenge was to create three 60

ALL ONE SHOT For the commercial for National Mutual Insurance,

travels down over the inlet,

gets closer to the buildings, and

moves in to show the man coiling rope,

up close and personal. january-june 1999

second spots where the camera would be floating over beautiful Australian landscape and get close enough to identify the talent towards the end ... but, keep going into a chest high shot, without rotor wash from the helicopter blowing the talent, and hold the tight shot for several seconds.

The Wescam has a feature called the Frame Iris Interlock or FIT for short. It's similar to the Pre ton Speed-Aperture Control, aka SAC. On the e erie of commercials we flew the cour e in real time to get a feel for the time and di stance; thi s covered about 1.75 miles.

Since a ba e peed of 60 mph equal a mile a minute, our ba e frame rate would be 12 fps overall. But we had a little factor George Muskins, our director threw in ... he wanted the Ia t five econd of screen time at 48 fps! (Y ike , another top of focu lost at 250mm with no focus marks! ) The first spot started above some mountains where a saltwater inlet created a bay called Coolangata. Across the bay was a boatyard where a man stood upon a boat in dry dock coiling a rope. All we had to do wa fly from the mountain, over the bay, and to the man . It was on thi job that I learned that the Canadian Wescan1 technician had no experience as a focus puller. He could work magic in maintaining the Wescam and fix any glitches, but hi s training experience was exclusive to working in the Wescam factory, and he didn 't know the difference between an Arri 2C and an Arri 2K. Needle to say, I had to pull focus, zoom, pan, tilt, and engage the FIT with only two hands.

The Wescam's operating console i very u er friendly, and all of the data i displayed on the monitor, so you don ' t have to shift your eyes from the screen to the controls to check the functions.

(There is also an assistant' box with focus and iri control .) With the right hand you (the operator) control pan and tilt, and the left hand controls zoom and focu . You also use your left hand to tum the camera on and engage the ramp for the camera speed change. On thi s shot I preset the can1era speed at 12 fps, then 90 second into the hot I began a ten second ramp to 48fp , and held 48fp for the last five second . In order to make shots like this seamless, the helicopter's speed need to reduce at the arne time=*> The Operating Cameraman

Page 55

as the ramping begins, and the zoom needs to be initiated at the same time, slowly at first, then increasing in rate as the camera begins to over crank. If it all comes together, the final touch is to feather the zoom to a stop before the last five seconds of creen time.

Terry became my AC by calling out the distances as we approached the man on the boat and he knew his end mark to the inch. I might add at this point, that it

is necessary to bury your head in the monitor during a shot like this, in order to keep track of all the camera functions that are displayed on the screen. To shift your attention at a crucial moment can result in a framing error. Since we were originally shooting at 12 fps, I needed an 85N6 for the Eastman 5248, and my overall exposure was T8.5 at 24fps, Tl1.5 at 12 fps, and T6.3 at 48fps. The depth of field (250mm, T6.3 , and a 50'

distance from camera to subject) at the end shot was a comfortable 4'. Needless to say with all of the possible variables we were prepared for several takes, and we even shot orne more for in urance.

But when we watched the dailie , take three proved to be the charm. Last year Terry and I shot our 11th spot for them.

The real hero of the day was the We cam itself, as without all of its attributes, all we would have gotten is the Hawaii 5-0 shot. With the Wescam 's floating stability, combined with all of its control attributes, we were able to execute the shot as it was presented to us without compromise.

While working for Jan Debont ASC on Flatliners, pilot Dirk VahJe and I were called upon to create a similar shot that started out over Chicago's shoreline and picked up a moving Keifer Sutherland as he Dave Arnold, Wescam tech, and Dan Ruddert, pilot, readying the Wescam for the Dirigible hopped over a three foot tone commercial for lexus. Š Stan McClain wall and gazed into the dawn '

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The Operating Cameraman

january-june 7999

ri ing un. This was a bit clean background plates for the easier because no ramp was model dirigible to be placed involved, but we still had to against. With the 8mm-video deck rolling and capturing all the data, bury the zoom (wide open at the 15° of tilt down was recorded T3.9) with the helicopter as along with the actual image on it came to a hover. In es35mm negative. Next up was the sence, the viewer did not car's POV as it exited the rear of feel that the len was zoomthe airship and creamed down ing, but rather continuing in the CGI road to the field below. for the clo e-up.

This time the 50° angle of tilt was The Wescam operator' s monitor looks like somerecorded , along with the various thing out of an F-16' s heads camera speeds and ramp peed we u ed. This data helped both up display. In the center i Russell and the boys at Digital the ground glas image, Aerial closeup of an Apache helicopter during an aerial Domain considerably by eliminaturrounded by the digital dogfigh t scene in Firebirds. ing the guesswork that can be read out of the system. involved in matching the combined Uve Item included are fp , camera mode land where its rear cargo door opens, a (cry tal , variable, or FIT), lens length, action with models and CGI. magical CGI paved road roll out to the hot clock, ramp clock, footage , iri , Another attribute of the Wescam is fields below, and the Lexus drives out of the blimp, down the road that is u focu s, and indicator that how the its ability to create and capture great camera' angle of tilt and pan. pended in air, to the farm below. aerial chase sequences. I was hired as the 2nd unit DP on a picture titled Firebirds, Thi s last September, director Zack Rus ell Carpenter ASC was the DP which involved several aerial battle and he needed plates that would be used Snyder of HSI cal led upon me to shoot scenes with the Army Apache, Cobra to composite the blimp and car against. orne plates for his Lexus commercial and Blackhawk helicopter and a orted This is where the Wescam's digital titled Dirigible. The spot' s concept display came in handy. First we needed reveals the blimp flying over vast farmbad guy copters. Prior to the =*>

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invention of the Wescam, aerial battle scenes rarely included sustained long lens air to air shots. This was due primarily to the inability to hold a 250rnrn lens steady for extended periods of time. You' 11 note that in car chase sequences, the use of long lenses will compact the distance between the vehicles making them look a lot closer to each other than they really are. On Firebirds, we utilized several long-lens air-to-air shots that

the operator has to manually pan the camera in the direction of the turn, but the horizon stays level. For this particular shot, a nose-mounted camera would have been the correct tool. Now that the Dutch Head is common, especially in commercials, you'll get requests for Dutch angles, and again, the equipment is not designed to alter the horizontal axis. Although I discourage the practice, you can purposely dislodge the vertical reference and create a horizon at an angle, but the input to the panning and tilting are effected with unde irable results. Rule of thumb: Know the shot's requirements before you report to work, know the equipment, and use all equipment fo r what it was designed for.

Closing

Each boat has a Wescam aboard.

Over the years a few of the SOC operators and DPs have come to rely on the Wescam as a tool of their trade. They include Aaron Fitzgerald, David Nowell, Phil Pastuhov, and new member John Trapman. Now granted, this is not a huge list, but it's a start in the right direction.

Adding together these plus veterans like David Butler, Frank Holgate and Rexford Metz ASC, several newcomers in film, and those who operate all of the hundred video Wescams worldwide, it's easy to see that the Wescam is used by more operators than all other gyro-stabilized units combined. Wescam does face a challenge however: in the near future there will be more equipment vendors to

dramatically increased the suspense. We were also able to use the long len es to clearly establish both Nicholas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones as the real pilots of the aircraft.

The most noted attribute of the Wescam is its steadiness, which is very apparent in wide-angle scenic shots.

For years, films have used wide aerial shots for opening and closing credit sequences, but since the introduction of the Wescam, virtually all scenes like these are now shot with gyro-stabilized cameras. The actual credits themselves act as registration points, and when imposed over non-stabilized images, the unwanted motion in the background becomes very apparent and distracts from the credits themselves. By today's standards, perfectly stabilized backgrounds are the norm in credit sequences.

Don 't forget that the Wescam is used considerably in conjunction with virtually every crane manufacturer now, and is commonly used on the Shotmaker and Titan camera cars. It's also a great tool to be used on water when mounted on a Wesca m aboard a Shot maker car. camera boat, thus eliminating virtually the entire choose from and the company that embraces the existing roll, pitch, and yaw motions associated with shooting on water. seasoned work force and has sound and reliable equipment will Limitations ultimately become the most popular and successful. I feel that Wescam will continue meet that challenge.

On one of my very first Wescam jobs, the Production Company called and gave me a time and place to report to. I had asked for boards and requested a phone call with the director, but was assured by the young production coordinator that all I had to do was show up with the helicopter at a point About the author: Stan McClain 's background is in aerial cinematography, along the California Coast. Once there, the first thing the director wanted was a seagull 's POV as it flew along the coast. starting as an assistant in 1972. He's been a DP since 1986, The only problem is that the Wescam and its spin-offs are works primarily on 2nd units and commercials, and continues with his aerial cinematography. He's a member of Local 600 's designed to keep the horizon level, thus when the camera is looking forward, and the helicopter banks around an obstacle, Western Regional Council, a DCA director, and President ofSOC. Page 58

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Report from Down-Under SOC member Chris Moon lives in Australia. The Operating Cameraman contacted him to ask what he is in volved in. He sent this reply:

O

n the work front 1 have been bu y, till working for the Au tralian Broadca ting Corporation. l am the mo t highly graded cameraman in the State and am re pon ible for training junior taff, a well a hooting on the mo t complex program we produce. l have lectured at two Univer itie over the pa t year and al o work a a cour e lecturer for the Au tralian Film and Televi ion School.

In January of thi year I wa cho en to train taff at the ational Televi ion of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. I pent two weeks in the country teaching Cambodian to hoot documentary film . My interpreter were excellent cameramen in their own right, one being a combat cameraman for Reuter and the other an operator trained in Ru ia, with five year ' experience hooting feature in India. It wa a fabulou experience topped off by a trip to photograph the amazing ruin of Angkor Wat. I wa elected ecretary of the locaJ ACS (Au tralian Cinematographer Society) branch Ia t year and, a a re ult, was entitled to a eat on the Federal Executive of the ACS. I wa ub equently elected ACS pokesper on on Moral Right and have ince conducted interview and written a number of article on thi i ue. La t year 1 appeared, on behaJf of the ACS, before the Senate Legal and Con titutional Committee arguing theca e for cinematogra-

pher ' moral right . l wa al o the author of the ACS ubmi ion to the Parliament on thi s issue.

In February thi year I wa elected Pre ident of the South Au tralian branch of the ACS and ince election have worked to make the branch active and financially ecure. The highlight of the year o far wa convincing John Seale, ACS, ASC, to fly to Adelaide for a film creening and di cu ion group. The night wa a fabulou uccess and, through orne carefully negotiated

pon or hip deaJ , we have the financial re erve to en ure the e night are a regular event on our local calendar.

La t week I wa told that a documentary propo al l ubmitted orne month ago ha been funded, o I will be working on that within a few week . I am writing and directing the film , a half hour about the effect of the fir t World War on the people of South Au traJia. It' not a big project, but enough for now! Jam trying to tudy creen writing in my pare time and have a couple of cript in rough form- but I think they may have to tay that way for the foreeeable future!

I am till a Union delegate and have been required to travel inter tate on a number of occa ion to be part of ationaJ negotiation . I have recently been given carriage of the i ue of occupational health and afety by the Union and have been econded to the ABC Health and Safety Ri k Unit to over ee the introduction of a comprehenive et of afety guideline for crew .

I have argued long and hard for the introduction of comprehen ive safety guideline o I am plea ed to be involved o clo ely with their introduction even if it doe add to my already bu y chedule.

- Chri s Moon , SOC Adelaide, South Au tralia

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This lens will do.

This might be a little too large just now.

Ne~t '-eW\eratioW\ FilMMaker:

just a minute till I fix the focus .

Never too '10VW\9 to start

This Eyemo is the just the right size.

Ready on the set.

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The Wide Screen Revolution (1952-70), Part VII:

Panavision and the Return of Wide Film

70mm frames allowed a much wider panorama, as this enlarged strip of film from The Big Fisherman demonstrates.

by Rick Mitchell

The search continues for the perfect match offilm size, director's dream and theater screen capability.

I

n the previous in tallment we covered how 70mrn, which Fox in particular had experimented with in 1929-30, wa revived by the de ire of Michael Todd, who had put Cinerama on the map as the first theatrical special venue format, for a similar format that eliminated the flaw e pecially the vi ible join between the three panel , in the Cinerama format. He turned the project over to Dr Brian O ' Brien of American Optical who developed a format u ing a 65mm negative with an image five perforations high, printed on 70mm po itive, the extra 5mm for the

magnetic stripes for six channel stereophonic ound . The proce s wa named Todd-AO and demon trations of tests early in 1954 cued industry interest in origi nating widescreen films on a larger negative. The subsequent hi tory of Todd-AO and 20th Century-Fox ' experiment with CinemaScope 55 were covered in the previou in stallment.

Camera 65 Exactly who came up with the idea of combining Dr O ' Brien ' 65/70mm format with anamorphics to really achieve Mike Todd 's "Cinerama out of january-june 1999

one hole" i a matter of some confusion.

Some ources credit Douglas Shearer, head ofMGM ' s Research Dept with coming up with the idea and approaching Robert Gottschalk of Panavision about it.

Gottschalk is also credited with the idea; having exhausted the market for 35mrn anamorphic projection lense , he wa looking for new projects for his company.

What i known is that Shearer was greatly impres ed by Gottschalk' len e , finding them uperior to Bau ch & Lomb' and the Super cope len es. In the Fal l of 1954 MGM and Panavi ion entered into a joint venture to develop not on ly a new 65mrn filming proce that would yield higher quality 35mrn relea e print but al o improved anamorphic lenses for 35mm cinematography.

In the interests of tandardization, the only change in the basic 65170mm format was the use of anamorphic element in the photographic and projection lense . Though some source have li ted the amount of squeeze as l .33x and this queeze ratio wa initially ~> The Operating Cameraman

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considered, a 1.25x squeeze was the only one used in actual lens development, applied by pri m on the left and right sides of the lens. The aspect ratio was 2.75:1, the widest format ever used for theatrical presentation.

Though the industry was alerted to the work Panavision and MGM were doing when the fust press reports on CinemaScope 55 came out, MGM did

70mm. After anno uncing that the second Camera 65 film would be Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest (1959), MGM did put Ben- Hur into production in l 958. (Hitchcock, who disliked the wide screen, elected to go with Vista Vision, which he preferred because of its greater sharpness over standard 35mm masked to 1.85:1.)

Apparently very few theaters around

show production The Big Fisherman (1959). Lee Garrnes ASC was quite proud of his work on this fi lm, for which in some cenes he used as much as 10,000 footcandles of light to get extreme depth ; others have called it one of the most beautiful color film they have ever seen.

Unfortunately, the photography was all the fi lm had going for it. It is currently being restored in 65mm by Disney

the world, including a few Cinerama hou ses, were actually able to show BenHur at its full 2.75: I aspect ratio. Most used an unsqueezed 2.2: 1 70mm extraction made optically from the original negative. For general 35mm release, Technicolor made some "lenerboxed anamorphic" prints which reproduced the full Camera 65 image; a few similar prints were reported to have been made on Raintree County. All subsequent 70mm reissues of Ben-Hur, including one in 1990, were from an unsqueezed 2.2: I internegative, the loss of picture information from the sides noticeable only in a few shots.

archivist Scott MacQueen.

Otto Preminger next chose the process still known si mply as Panavision 70 for his production of Exodus (1960), photographed in Israel by Sam Leavitt ASC; then Robert Wise cho e it for West Side Story (196 1), photographed by Daniel L. Fapp ASC. In 1962, MGM dropped its exclusive rights to Camera 65 and Panavision renamed that process Ultra Panavision 70, choo ing to use Super Panavision 70 for the non-anamorphic version. Under that name it was used on what i probably the most famou film in the process, David Lean 's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), photographed by Freddie Young BSC. As the '60s progressed, Super Panavision would be used increasingly over ToddAO for 65mm production.

A scene from The Big Fisherman.

not officially anno unce the new process it called MGM Camera 65 until a year later, when it was announced the ftrst fi lm in the process would be a remake of Ben-Hur. Later they decided to postpone that subject for a Civil War epic, Raintree County. Technicolor was then the only lab in Hollywood equipped to handle 65mm and 70mm film , and would do the laboratory work.

However, Raintree County has never been shown theatrically in 70mm! At the time of the picture's schedu led premiere in October 1957, the few theater in the country equipped for 70mm were tied up with Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days and committed to follow it with the third Todd-AO ftlm South Pacific.

The success of the 70mm versions of the e two films aw a major increase in 70mm in tallations around the world in 1958, but because Raintree County was a fai lure in its 35mm engagements, no thought was ever given to reissuing it in Page 64

The Operating Cameraman

Super Panavision 70 Tn 1958, Panavision, which had provided camera lenses for South Pacific, announced the avai lability of a new nonanamorphic 65170mm system it had developed. Fir t to u e it wa producer Rowland V Lee for his intended roadjanuary-june 1999

The last gasp of Cinerama Throughout the '50s Cinerama continued to produce its two-hour

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"The Dancing Princess" from The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. King jim Backus beams fondly as Russ Tamblyn in disguise dances with princess Yvette Mimieux. Photos on these two pages are from the roadshow book for the movie.

Cinerama process, most notably reducing travelogues, to increasingly diminishing shown in Cinerama theaters while many the filming speed from 26 to 24 fps so returns. Although dramatic productions of the design aspects of CineMiracle 35mm anamorphic prints could subsehad been announced for the processwould be incorporated into refinements quently be put into general release. To Paint Your Wagon in 1953, The Story of in the Cinerama process. inaugurate the new venture, MOM cho e Lewis and Clark in 1954, and even a In 1960, MOM entered into a joint two projects, one based on a series of remake of King Kong in 1956-none had venture with Cinerama to make dramatic Life Magazine articles on the settling of apparently gotten past the press release films in the process. As when 20th the American West, the other a fantasy stage. Flaws in the process prevented Century-Fox took over Todd-AO, Hollytype film to be produced

by George Pal. easy adaptation to dramatic filmmaking. wood brought "refinements" to the Attempts at dealing with story type elements had The Cinerama camera had many been introduced into some adventures making Brothers Grimm. of the later travelogues.

• It was mounted inside a "drum" Several attempts were and rolled down a hill to made during this time to simulate the gyrating universe duplicate Cinerama on a as seen through the eyes of Russ Tamblyn. smaller scale, the most • It was mounted on a sled to technically successful of absorb the shock of the which was CineMiracle, cobbled streets. introduced by National • It was strapped upside down Theaters in 1955. Thi beneath a coach where it caught the thundering hoofs" of a team process also used a camera of spirited horses. with three movements and • It was bolted to the helm of three projectors but with the an ancient paddle-wheeler latter in a different configuand dipped its eyes in the ration, the side machines Rhine River.

• It was mounted on a thirty-foot shooting into mirrors which scaffolding inside the famous offered greater control over Regensburg Cathedral. the blend lines. It also • It was strapped to a swing where meant all three projectors it sailed back and forth above the could be placed in one snapping jaws of a dragon.

• It was mounted on a platform booth. Only one film was slung beneath a helicopter where made in the process, Windit floated over the famous Rhine jammer (1958) before it was River Valley. purchased by the Cinerama (information from the roadshow book) Corp. Windjammer was The Cinerama camera setup for a scene in Brothers Grimm.

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The production of How the West Was Won and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm was a trial-and-error effort which con tantly revealed the flaw in adapting the Cinerama proce to dramatic films. The former was begun fir t, though relea ed second in the United State . Becau e of concern over dealing with the problem posed by the three-lens camera, te ts were al o done using Ultra Panavi ion. (MGM and Robert Gottschalk had made test extractions from the negative of Raintree County to a three-panel This scene from "The Singing Bone" episode of Brothers Grimm features Terry-Thomas print as early as 1957.) Ultimately as the cowardly knight and Buddy Hackett as the brave squire. about 25 % of 65mm footage, a con ervative estimate, wou ld be was supposed ly also made available in used though a great deal more was vanishing points in each panel when the this format, and protective separations apparently shot. In addition to scenes camera was foc used on subjects 25 ft or were made from the cut three-panel involving rear projection, which wou ld closer to it. This was particularly noticenegatives, which meant the footage from have been impos ible in the three-panel able in Brothers Grimm which had more 65mm al o had the dividing lines, in fact process because of the enormous anglescenes on soundstage ets than in more visibly than in the three-panel of-view of the 27mm lense most of the H TWWW as well , becau e more than one footage in the action sequences involving footage. In the early ' 80s, reduction focal length lens was u ed. (The fisheye internegatives from 85 % of the original camera movements other than dolly or distortion was created when Cinerama' 65mm negatives shot for the picture crane hots was shot in 65mm. Addition27 mm lenses focused on subject clo e were cut into the rna ter 35rnrn anamorally the daytime Civil War battle footage to the camera). Ultra Panavision ' s ea ier phic internegative. wa taken from the cut negative of adaptability to the production of dramatic The ucces fu l u e of Ultra Raintree County. Apparently no 65mm films led to it adoption as the "si ngle Panavi ion footage pointed out the future len 'Cinerama process in 1963. wa hot for or u ed in Brothers Grimm. direction Cinerama was to take, much to (In the three-panel prints and the proThi created a problem in projecting the annoyance of Cinerama puri t then gram for the Cinerama presentation of the image onto deeply curved creen . and now. The images lacked the roundHow the West Was Won there is a credit Where Cinerama' ide projectors could acknowledgi ng that "Certain cene were nes of tho e from three panels ' 27mm be positioned in a more direct relationlense and the maximum angle of view of ship to the sides of the creen, the image photographed in Ultra-Panavision"). its shortest lens wa only 92째 compared to from the si ngle projector hit the sides at For general relea e, a composite three panel ' 146째. Ultra Panavision interpositive, pos ibly in 65mm in the an angle, resulting in a horizontal stretch eliminated the problem of eparate Ultra Panavision format since the picture of the image at tho e points. (In theory, ~>

The raft is caught in the rapids of the Ohio River in How the West Was Won. january-june 7999

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Bligh dances with a Polynesian woman in Mutiny on the Bounty. This picture is from t he roadshow book. this should not have been a problem for films shot in Ultra Panavision as they already had a slight squeeze built in at the sides, but it may not have been sufficient to solve the problem.) The solution was to borrow a trick from early Todd-AO and correct for this by introducing a varying squeeze at the sides of the image in the print. Prints were thus

made to order on optical printers, tailored to the screen curvature of specific theaters. Like American Optical, which made the corrected 70mm prints on Oklahoma!, the Cinerama Corporation made its own corrected prints using special optical printer lenses made by Harry Neilson and Jim Beck.

Five films were specifically shot in

Ultra Panavision with the intention of being roadshown as "Cinerama" presentations: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Hallelujah Trail, The Battle of the Bulge and The Greatest Story Ever Told (all 1965), and Khartoum (1966); Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) were also shot in Ultra

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Panavi ion but not hown a Cinerama road how . Later thi print correction process was al o applied to films shot in nonanamorphic 65mm so they could be pre ented " in Cinerama": Grand Prix ( I 966), 2001: A Space Odyssey and lee Station Zebra (both 1968), and Krakatoa, East of Java ( 1969), the last "official" Cinerama pre entation.

The Technirama production Circus World (1964) and Custer of the West ( 1968) were al o roadshown in 70mm as Cinerama pre entations. Corrective printer len e for going from a Technirama negative were not ready when Circus World opened and it wa shown uncorrected with no objections drawn apparently from patrons or Cinerama executives; it's uncertain if corrected prints were ub equently made or if any were made on Custer, which wa not hown in 70mm in the United State .

Dimension 150 1963 had completed the adoption of new wide screen/wide film techniques

for use in theatrical production and exhibition. One of the final ignificant developments was the Dimension 150 len y tern, a series of high quality lenses, inclucling one which had an 150° field-of-view, developed for use on 65mm cameras by Dr Richard Vetter and Carl Photographing Grand Prix (from roadshow book).

William . The camera lenses produced the harpe t images of any lens system (1970). The patent rights were later developed for motion pictures to date purcha ed by Todd-AO and Dr Vetter and there was a companion sy tern for joined their taff. exhibition involving equally sharp lenses The WideScreen Revolution peaked in the mid- ' 60s. It not only brought for all formats with optical correction built in to allow for di tortion free about change in production and exhibiprojection onto the deeply curved creen tion, but also affected editorial the which wa part of the system. Only two laboratory, and vi ual effects, which will be covered in the next in tallment . feature were photographed with the Dimen ion 150 len e , u ed on Todd-AO cameras: The Bible (1966) and Patton

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The Cinematographers Peer Group co-chairs are Isidor Mankofsky ASC and Robert F Lui ASC who

can provide more detailed information (contact at 818-754-2800).

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Tiffen filters are available at dealers and rental houses everywhere . Or, for more information, contact us on either coast.

Helping Create the World 's Greatest Images 90 Oser Ave. • Hauppauge, NY 11788 • 800.645.2522 • Fax 516.273.2557 • www.tiffen.com 3500 West Olive Ave., Suite 810 • Burbank, CA 91505 • 800.593.3331 • Fax 818.843 .8321

!JWster of tfze Society of Operating Cameramen ACTI VE CHARTER Parker Bartlett Paul Basta M ichael Benson Howard Block Jerry Ca llaway M ike Cheva lier Sam Drummy Joe Epperson Ron Francis Bill Ga hret Peter Hapke Bi ll Hi nes Bob Keys Norm Langley Ed M orey Lee N akahara Jay Nefcy Rik Nervik Leigh Nicholson John Nogle Dan Norris David Nowell Wayne Orr Michael Scott Hal Sh iffma n Roger Smith Michael St Hilaire Ra y Stell a joseph F Va lentine Ron Vidor ACTIVE Art Adams Derek M Allen Lee Al lison Sa i l Aridi Ted Ashlon jr Bi ll Asman Jo hn H Atkinson Dan Auerbach Paul Babin Christopher J Baffa Vincent Ba ldi no Gerard Ba nales Stewart Barbee j eff Barklage Tom Barron Ga ry H Baum Guy Bee Tim Bellen Ri chard Benda jeb Bergh Joe Blaisdell james Blanford David Boyd Billy Bragg Michael K Bucher Robin Buerki Susa n A Campbell Robert Carmi chael M ichael W Chambliss Loui s Chanatry Joe Chess Jr julian Choj nacki Gregory Paul Collier john A Connell Tom Connole jo hn A Corso Iva n Craig Richard Cull is

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Michael L Culp joseph C D ' Alessandro Edward Dadu lak Rocky Danielson Richard W Davis M ark T Davison Ray de Ia M otte Eric DeB iackmere David D iano Troy Dick Sean Doyle David Emmerichs Steve Essig j ames Etheridge Brant S Faga n Tom Faigh B Sean Fairburn David B Fang Yuen Randal Feemster M ichael Ferris Kenneth Ferro Lance Fisher Aaron Fi tzgerald Eri c Fletcher Howard Ford lan Foster Thomas Fraser M ichael Fred iani M ike Freeman Michael Richard Fri ft Rusty Geller M ichael Genne Wayne Getchell W illiam G ierh art Allen Gonza les john Goode Lee Grover john Gunselman Anette H aellmi gk Den ni s Hall Chris H ayes David Haylock Steven F Heuer Sea n Higgins Ronald High Charl es M Hill Jr jeffrey Hoffman Joachim Hoffmann Robert Chapma n Horn e Casey Hotchki ss Gary H uddleston Phili p Hurn David Insley Levie Isaacks Simon )ayes Tom Jensen Michael A johnson Steven Jones jacques jouffret john H joyce David judy M ark D Karen Michael Karp Douglas H Knapp Rory Robert Knepp Robert Kos itchek Kris Krosskove Brian Lataille Ken Li bby Lynn Lockwood Thomas Lo iseaux

George Loomis All an Lum Li Kenji Luster Vi ncent C M ack Heather MacKenz ie Paul S Magee james M ann Jamie M axtone-Graham Stan M cClain Donald M McCuaig Robert L Mehnert Anastas N Michos Robert Mill s Will iam E Mill s Wi ll iam M olina Lawrence P M oody Douglas R M oore Robert Moore Denis Moran Don Mui rhead Sean M urray Wi ll iam R Nielsen Jr Tames P Nyerges W ill iam O ' Drob inak Russell Ofria Lucio O livieri Ra fael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Packard Charl es Papert David Parri sh Ph ilip Pastuhov Aaron Paza nti Eri c G Petersen Mi ke Pierce Peter Pilafia n Robert Presley Ma rtin Bob Prins Bern ard Reilly Randall Robinson David Robman Andy Romanoff Peter Rosenfeld Michael Roth Andrew Row lands James Rush Tom Sanders Michael Santy Richard J Schaefer Phili p Schwa rtz Floris Sij besma Osvaldo Silvera jr Jamie Sil verstein Chuck Schuman Guy Ski nner Sandy Spooner Stephen St john Michael Stramisky David Stu mp Bria n Sweeney james H Sweeney Bill Swinghamer Gene Talvin Taj Teffaha Richard Tiedemann john Toll , ASC Tsuneyuki Tometaka John Trapman Pernell Tyus Robert U ll and Paul D Varrieur Edward Ventura

The Operating Cameraman

Bill W aldman Victori a W alker Wi lli am W ebb Bill Wi lliams M cKeen "Mi ck" Worth en El izabeth Ziegler ASSOCIATE Gary Armstrong Mark Ashley Chuck Barbee Bonnie Blake Peter Bonilla Sa thish Chandra Bramhan M aja Broz Bruce Card ozo Kirk Chiswell Ed Clare G reg Collier Richard Crud o james A Dennett Ronald Deveaux George Spiro Dibie, ASC Patrick Michael Do lan Kevin Downey Paul Duclos Bert Dunk, ASC Gary Eckert Michae l Escobosa John C Flinn Ill, ASC M ark Forman Peter F Frintrup Richard Garbutt james Garvey Harvey Genkins W ayne Goldwyn Wynn Hammer Chris Hood Kent Hughes Carrie lmai Chris Ishii Ryan S jackson Thomas Patri ck Johnson Frank E Johnson, ASC Kurt jones Mi chael A jones Cath y Ka navy Francis Kenny Mi chael Klimchak Robert La Bonge George La Fountaine, ASC Thomas Lappin Lee David Laska john Le Bl anc Mark R Leins Al an J Levi M ark Levi n ll ya Lie-Nielsen Roland J Luna Richard M arks Dr Ellen M atsumoto Ray M cCort Nick M cl ea n Sr joh n McPherson, ASC Charl es Minsky K Adriana Mod lin Richard Mosier Joshua S Narins Sol Negrin, ASC David Paone Andrew Parke

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Eric "Jetson " Pfoutz Ted Po lmanski Serge Poupis Udo Ravenstei n Richard Rawlings jr, ASC Bill Reiter Marvin Rush, ASC Carl Martin Schumacher Sr Bob Seaman George W Singer Jr jan Sluchak Joseph Solari Tara Su mmers Craig W W alsh Patty W alsh Brian W atkins Haskell W exler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Pol C Wright Noel Adrian Wya tt Tony Varlet!

WAllen York David R Zera Vi lmos Zsigmond, ASC

Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ru ttencutter Lou Schwartz Phil Stern David Sutton Sven W alnum Ben Wol f

CORPORATE A RRIFLEX CORPORATIO Bill Russell CONSO LIDATED FILM INDUSTRIES Adam Ch uck CLAIRMONT CAME RA Denny Clai rmont DELUXE LA BORATO RI ES Richard L Thomas EASTM AN KODAK COMPA Y Curtis E jones john L Mason FUJI PHOTO FILM USA M ark M urphy FUJI NON HONORARY John Newton Bruce Doeri ng GEO FILM G ROUP Wil liam A Fraker, ASC George Nolan Ron Kelley jl FISHER COMPANY Kathl een Kennedy j ames L Fisher jerry Lewis Dennis Knopf A Linn Murphree MD LEO NARD STUDIO EQU IPME NT David M yers Leonard T Chapman Jay Roth Charl es J Huenergardt Steven Spielberg MATIHEWS STUDIO Frank Stanley, ASC ELECTRON ICS George Toscas Ern st " Bob" ettmann OCON NOR ENG INEERI NG LABS RETIRED Joel Johnson Bern ie Abramson OTIONEMENZ Eugene Ashbrook INTERNATIONAL Rupert Benson Jr Karl Kresser Bob Berry PANAVISION AI Bettcher Tracy Langan Vee Bodrero PANAVISION DALLAS Don Burch Ben Hogan Phil Capl an PHOTO-SON ICS Bruce Catlin Conrad Kiel Bill Clark PRECISION CAMERA SUPPORTS Cliff Concialdi Rick F Gunter jim Connell SCH NEIDE R OPTICS Don Cropper Stan W allace Robert Feller SHOTMAKER COMPANY M ike Ferra Ed Carlin Gera ld Perry Finnerman, ASC SONY ELECTRON ICS jerry Fu ll er jeff Cree Jerry Good TECH NICO LOR Gi l Haimson Kim Sherwood Lutz H apke TECH NOCRANE LTO Gary Holt Simon )ayes Capt j ohn W Hussey VINTEN Bi ll Joh nson Ken Schwenk David Kurland W ILLI AM F W H ITE LIM ITED Joseph Longo W ill iam F Whi te Steve Lydecker Owen Marsh Bob M arta Michael M cClary Emmanuel M etaxas ROSTER C URRENT AS OF King N icho lson D ECEMBER 1 2, 1 998 Ern ie Reed