Camera Operator July/Dec 1999

The

Journal

of

the

Society

of

Operating

agile mobile camera platform george lafountaine, asc process revived 0

Cameramer

8, NUMBER 2 jULY-DECEMBER 1999 VOLUME

27

George Lafountaine ASC 3rd in the DP/Camera Operator series

by B. Sean Fairburn SOC 30

An Affair to Remember: The SOC's 11th Awards Banquet

by Georgia Packard SOC 3

5

From Where I See It: Notes from the President

38

by David Robman SOC

44 46

From the Editor: Changing of the Guard

Cartoni, Libra Ill , Technocrane

Washington Monument Restoration Time Lapse Film Proiect

55

by Wayne Goldwyn SOC 22

Job Descriptions for Film, Video & CGI: A Book Review

Mobile Camera Platform: StarrBike 3

by Stan McClain SOC with contributions by Colin Anderson, Brooks Guyer, Russell Ofria SOC, and Mark O'Kane

Presenters 1999 Lifetime Achievement Awards 1999: James Burrows ASC , Dean Cundey ASC , Howard Block soc, Wayne Orr soc, Gary-Olin: Armstrong, Wynn Hammer, Tommy May, Phil Lathrop

by Stan McClain SOC

7

Technical Achievement Awards 1999:

by John Hora ASC 57

Some Technical Problems Presented by the Introduction of Widescreen Processes Widescreen Revolution Part 8

by Rick Mitchell 62 66

77 80

The Puppetoons Technicolor Dye Transfer Technology, Old and New

by Kim Sherwood News & Notes Man With a Mission: The Hollywood Film Institute 1st in the Film School series

by William E Hines SOC 82 84

Advertisers' Index Roster of the Society of Operating Cameramen

!W=

C11mer11men http:/ / www.soc.or I

The Society of Operating Cameramen Home Page

Memben;hip

Event5

Magazine

Site Map

About S.O.C.

MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION RATES: USA $9/year; Outside USA $22/year (US funds only)

• How to Join To apply for A.c1ive Membership, you m..tst be a Canma

EDITOR ran McClain AssociATE EDITORS Lynn Lanning Douglas Knapp Bill Hine Po T-PRoDucno MANAGER Douglas Knapp ADVERTISING/SALES Bill Hines CmcuLATION David Rohman D ESIGN & PRODUCTION Lynn Lanning, Double L Design, Glendale COVER DESIGN Mark Lein ELECTRONIC iMAGING Lightning Process, Culver City PRoDucno CooRDINATOR Kary Colleen O 'Harra Tara, Playa del Rey CONTRIBUTORS Colin Ander on Sran McClain OC B ean Fairburn C John Hora ASC Wayne Goldwyn 0 Rick Mitchell Brooks Guyer Georgia Packard 0 William E Hines C Mark O 'Kane David Rohman 0 Russell Ofria SOC Kim herwood PHOTOGRAPHY B ean Fairburn 0 el on Green Bill Hines 0 Wayne Goldwyn SOC Perer Srarr

2

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : CREDITS

SOC OFFICERS Pre idenr David Rohman lsr Vice Pre idenr Georgia Packard 2nd Vice Pre idenr Steve Essig 3rd Vice Presidenr Ernie Reed Treasurer William Molina ecrerary Michael anty Sergeanr-ar-Arms Lance Fi her BoARD OF Sal Aridi Gary Baum Joe Epperson ean Fairburn Tom Fraser Mike Frediani Bill Hines

GoVERNORs Simon ]a yes Douglas Knapp Alan Lum Li Sran McClain Phillip Schwanz Bill Waldman Ben Wolf

COMMITTEES Membership Sean Fairburn Award Banquet Georgia Packard Corporate Liaison Bill Hines Technical Standards Sreve Essig Chari tie Gary Baum Screenings Sal Aridi Publications: Stan McClain Publicity & PR Sal Aridi Merchandising & Lance Fisher Promotion Srill Open Comm unication Mark Lein Harvey Genkins Diana Penilla

Webmasrer SOC Wear Administrative A i rant

Copyright © 1999 by rhe ~ Society of Opera ring Cameramen

® i a regi rered trademark.

All rights reserved.

The Operating Cameraman Magazine is publi hed emi-annually by rhe Society of Operating Cameramen. For advertising information a nd article submi ion , plea e conracr: SOC Attn Bill Hines

PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone(818)382-7070 or visi r u ar

www.soc.org

r r his society has been established 1. 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.

l

Tision, the essential ingredient that

V 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.

FROMWH£R£ IS££ IT Notes From the President

S

ince the Ia t i ue, a change ha occurred and I have good new and good new . The good new i I have become the Pre ident of the 0 The other good new i that ran M lain ha remained a our Editor. tan ha worked tirele ly for the pa t two year a our Pre ident and a Editor of the magazine. He did an e cellent job. Hi entrepreneurial zeal ha taken him in another direction, o another term a Pre ident wa nor in hi future. That OK. The magazine will keep him bu y! n behalf of the 0 Board of Governor , and the entire member hip, I wi h him the be t.

As I see it In each i sue, thi column will reflect my thought on the current rare of amera Operating from the local arena to it vast international cope. For rho e of u who make our living doing it and to tho e of you who a pire to or ju t enjoy it a a hobby I hope thi column will add knowledge and /or enjoyment.

It was supposed to be funny ..• An intere ring ituation occurred recently. I had ju t ent out my fir t new letter to the member hip after be oming Pre ident. I needed to fill orne pace on one page o I u ed a 3line ditty I had remembered from my day long ago at film chool. It went like thi : "Theater i Life, inema i Art, and Televi ion i Furniture.' I

had alway een it a a joke with the play on the fact that our TV it in our living room a furniture. ot only i Televi ion the livelihood for many of u but it al o act a a place to et our gla of milk and piece of pie whjJe we look for the TV Guide. I only aw humor in rhi "couplet plu one," and wa plea ed that I could fill the pace in the new letter with a little joke.

I made a mi take. What' humorou to me i not alway funny to other . In thi ca e a member who works in the Televi ion world (a I do ... I've been doing itcom for 14 year ) called me and took me to ta k.

He did not ee the humor and took thi to mean that I thought and rhus the official policy of the 0 was, that relevi ion wa omehow inferior to film. I of cour e, explained my rea oning for the joke and all was understood and forgiven.

Our reason for being But it got me to thinking. The ociety of Operating ameramen wa begun 16 year ago to give "the forgotten crew member " the camera operator their due. The 0 ha never been about one format over another. Film may have been around longer but the electronic image ha made it impact on our live in an equal if not more powerful way ince it inception.

LET IT BE KNOWN, ONCE AND FOR ALL, WE ARE TOTALLY EQUAL BEHIND THE LENS.

obody can claim that the image they are hooting i more important than anybody el e' . amera operating can be a ex iring a anything you have ever done. From a computer hard drive connected to a len to a video camera on your houlder or even that film camera on the newe t crane ... the image for everyone to ee i all that matter .

From tho e colleague the highe t budget feature film to tho e of you recording the Little League of the world an image i an image. nd no matter what device you u e or where you how that image .. . either on the fine t creen in the fine t theater, or to Aunt Mabel on the old R A the impact it ha on the viewer i the mo t imp rtant priority. You, the camera operator, provide that impact. With kill, creativity and hopefully, a en e of wonder. Keep it up.

By the way did you hear the one about the three camera operator tn a rowboat ...

The f - top Here

])a.vr;l Rl'h.taM.1 t () c David Robman Pre ident

0

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

3

,__

r--<--I

r!

Engineered to handle a payload of up to 154 lbs., the new VECTOR 700 pan & tilt head features a Thin Film (TF) Drag System which utilizes a 'non-contacting' calibrated system to ensure consistent performance over an extended temperature range from -40째C to +60째C. The VECTOR 700 offers a tailored drag characteristic which combines a high level of control at the start of movement, a seamless transition into whip pan, and instant recovery to the original drag setting at the finish of movement. Incorporating its unique patented counterbalance system, the VECTOR 700 needs no time consuming cam changes to provide up to 120째 of perfectly balanced tilt range for the digital Studio and 08 camera and long lens or teleprompter combinations.

Vinten Vinten Inc. 709 Executive Blvd .

Valley Cottage, NY 10989 Phone: 914-268-0100 Fax: 914-268-0113

Toll-Free Sales: 1-888-2-VINTEN Website@ http:// www.vinten .com Sales offices in UK, USA , Japan, France, Germany & Singapore plus worldwide distribution.

From the Editor

knowledge of filmmaking i quite evident in hi writing and we look forward to many more article to grace the page of The Operating Cameraman for year to come.

At a recent OC Board of Governor meeting I nominated him for the pre tigiou Honorary Membership and the Board of Governor concurred with unanimou approval. ongratulation Rick on a job well done.

Share your knowledge and experiences

Changing of the Guard Thi pa t March marked the end of my two year term a Pre ident of the ociety of Operating Cameramen .

Unlike Randall Robin on I elected not to run for a econd term a it' time for me to refocus on my camera work and other intere t . Longtime OC member David Robman wa elected a the new Pre ident and he not wa ring any time making hi mark on the OC. He immediately tepped in and helped with coordinating thi year' memorable Lifetime Achievement Award and in hi own column within thi i ue and other , he'll hare hi vi ion for the next two year .

Remaining at the post I will however tay on a editor of The Operating Cameraman and I'd like to reflect on my thought for the pa t two year . It' been a privi lege and challenge to help gujde thi magazine to new level of content and circulation and I hope aU of you have enjoyed reading the many article dedicated to camera operating. I'd also like to thank all of you who have either written article or ubmitted information for me to create article on your behalf. Without your continued contribution , we would not have been able to achieve our goal of creating the best magazine dedicated to the craft of camera operating.

Borders, and rown Book the circulation ha quadrupled in le than two year !

A alway if you d like to ubmit an article on camera operating or related intere t plea e contact me.

The do ing date for the January-june 2000 i ue i eptember 15'\ 1999.

Regarding Rick Mitchell

incerely and fraternally

Per onally my favorite reo curring article have been the Wide creen erie written by film hi torian Rick Mitchell. Hi never-ending hi torical

&m h1cet't:Un tan Me lain 0 Editor

SOC WEAR See the complete line of jackets, shirts, hats & belt buckle Write to : Soci ety of Operating Cameramen P.O . Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91 61 0

Mark covers it all I'd al o like to thank 0 a ociate member Mark Lein for creating the pa t three cover . With hi great graphic de ign, combined with new retailer like Barne and oble,

or check the web site at:

www.soc.org

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : FROM THE EDITOR

5

WITH n-tE ARRI LOCPRO 35, n-tiS IS A GREAT SCREENING ROOM FOR YOUR FILM DAIUES.

With the ARRI LOCPRO 35 location projector with synch sound interface,· all you need is an electrical outlet and a darkened room to view 35mm film dailies.

It's also the perfect solution for viewing your special effects.

Now you can view film in even the remotest of locations.

For more information , e-mail us at locpro@arri.com

ARRI• LOCPRO 35

1me Lapse

Film Proiect

by Wayne Goldwyn soc

How do you document the restoration of a landmark that will spend two years under scaffolding?

nearly July of 1998 I received a telephone call from ]a inda Davi of Knight cene In of Wa hingron D , inquiring what it would take to engineer the in tallation of two 35mm motion picture camera y tern at two different camera po ition in the vicinity of the Wa hington Monument. Furthermore, how could u h an in tallation be monitored and facilitated over a time period of almo t two year . Their purpo e wa to document, in a time lap e motion picture film, the re toration of the Wa hingron Monument in Wa hington D .

Thi footage i to be u ed in the Wa hington Monument documentar It tands for All, for the Di covery hannel. Thi documentary i the ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

7

project of Knight cene , Inc in Washington DC, which i owned by Emmy Award nominee Producer/Editor Graham Knight. The do umentary i being directed and produced by Emmy Award winning Producer/Director Brian Leonard, who conceived the idea of the Time Lap e equence.

When I fir t heard about thi idea, I had many que tion requiring anwer and clarification. "There are o many variable to con ider" kept going thr ugh my mind at all hour . Finally I poke to Director Brian Leonard who informed me there would be a three to five month long caffolding pro e 路 followed by a one year period during which the monument and caffolding would be wrapped up in orne kind of lightly tran lucent material much like a co oon, during interior and exterior re toration路 followed by a three to five month de- caffolding proce 路 and finally the unveiling and revealing of the newly re tored monument no later than July 4, 2000. I wa offered a variety of camera po ition at all different angle and elevation , orne on rooftop , orne in rower ; even the ro f of the Lin oln Memorial wa on idered at ne point. All the e lo arion were di covered and couted by director Brian Leonard and hi a i rant, Jacinda Davi . They then ent me a complete erie of phot graph taken from the variou pro peerive camera po ition . Many, many que tion needed to be an wered.

Que rion like: 1. Where i the un ri ing and erring in relation to the monument?

2. Where will the un' expo ure be drifting to over time?

3. During what hour of the day will work be taking place at the monument?

4. Where will the un be during tho e critical work hour ? How early will it ri e? How early will it cro into the we tern ky? What i the earlie tit will et?

5. How mu h on- creen time will need to be acquired ea h day in order to how progre at a good rate for screen pre entation?

6. hould the recorded progre be incremental or gradual? In e ence, hould the camera acquire a lor of

individual frames over a short period each work day, for in tance between 10 a.m. and noon or hould the camera a quire fewer frame per hour pread out over the entire work day providing a more gradual progre ion?

7. How will the camera adju t for varying illumination and change in weather condition ?

8. What are the maximum and minimum temperatures to which the camera ' environment could be ubjecred?

9. What are the humidity variable ? Will the camera' booth in which it ha been in railed ream up

Exterior shot of tower in which cameras are located.

Opposite page: Interior of tower film camera position with Wayne Goldwyn SOC, aka Mr Time Lapse.

and fog the optical gla through which the camera i filming? Will water droplet form on the out ide of the optical gla due to orne extreme temperature differential? Do I need to con ult a thermal phy ici t?

10. How will I deal with the po ibiliries of rain, snow mog, wind, du t, fro t insects, and even bird dropping landing on my optical gla and thu contaminating my acquired images?

11. How will the camera be ecure from theft or vandali m 24 hour a day for two year if placed in a

compromi ing area of the park urrounding the Wa hington Monument?

12. How will I protect the camera from power failure , electrical urge , and brownout ?

13. How will I monitor and ervice the camera in tallation without having to leep next to them for almo t two year ?

Research The fir t thing I did wa to make contact with a friend of mine, Dr Ivan Lin cott, who i a re earcher in the field of a tronomy located at the tanford Univer ity tar Lab. Thi wa in order to under tand and determine where and when the un will be coming and going for the next two year .

Thi alone wa a very intere ting erie of le on . I wa informed by Director Brian Leonard that the work would be taking place at the monument from approximately 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., five day a week. Thi helped me to determine that the camera po ition hould be facing from ea t or outhea t toward the we tin order to gain early morning direct unlight illumination. o the Lincoln Memorial, which face the Wa hington Monument from the we t, wa ruled out a a po ibility becau e it would at best give only three direct hour of unlight per day overlapping with the daily work time at the monument. It wa decided that one camera would be in a rower which faces the monument from the outheast at a height of even torie ; however the rower camera po ition we elected ha a three- tory metal piral tairca e to the tower landing from the fourth floor of a government building.

The tair are about 18 inche wide and there wa evere doubt about ju t how and if we could fit all of thi heavy equipment and camera mounting platform up thi piral tairca e without having to cut things down to fit. The other camera would be located in a pecially con tructed camera booth mea uring approximately 6 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet built on the top of the Wa hington Monument Lodge nack bar at a vertical height of only 10 feet above the ground and about even with the ba e of the Wa hington Monument which i lo ated about ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

9

1,000 feet due east, facing west, toward the monument. This is a particularly low angle wide shot looking up and to the west at a tilt of about 65°.

Thi would require a very wide-angle lens. Furthermore, being that I use Mitchell film cameras, I had extreme considerations about whether I could get the camera' film magazine, located atop the camera, to clear and not hit the interior of the wall of the booth in order to get the lens close enough to the optical gla s in order to queeze the

combination of rigid weatherproof materials and an optical quality glass frame assembly through which the cameras will view the subject, in this ca e the Monument. This assembly would have to be built in advance and would need to be totally weatherproof and be designed to repel rain and snow.

Preparation I finally got a chance to actually use the American Cinematographers Manual to work out many details of

Curt Walheim, Assistant Cameraman, next to lm camera in tower position . images' field of view into the frame without any side or top intrusions creeping into my frame.

How large an optical glass should I be filming through not to have any frame interference? Tests revealed that a 12mm lens would be just wide enough to squeeze the Monument vertically into a 1:85 to 1 frame aspect ratio. This would be optimum for later digital video 16 x 9 pre entations.

Another irnilar ituation exi ted at the other camera position in the tower.

With the added glitch that the only windows in the tower were facing north-south and east-west, but the monument wa exactly northwest, the windows needed to be first removed and then rotated by 45°. I drew plans for what I called " window angle correction assembly," a plan whereby existing windows are removed and stored, and are then replaced with a

10

this project. One of which was to determine exactly what my field of view was with various focal length lenses. As it turned out, a 20mm was perfect for the tower camera position.

However, knowing that I could really only effectively get the lens' front element within, let's say, a few inches of the optical glass, led me to order (3) 1 f' X 14- glass filters as my Optical flats. These glass filters were actually neutral density 1.2 absorptive glass filters. The reasons why I used neutral density filters of this particular value, instead of clear optical glass, will be explained later in this article. With the 1 r x 14'' openings 1 knew it could accommodate a 12mm lens, getting the entire image field of view into the opening without needing to place the lens right up to the optical glass. The third optical glass (neutral density 1.2 filter) was to be kept as a pare glass in

case one of the camera's windows somehow became damaged or broken.

The next thing I needed to know was exactly what is the nece sary tilt factor or vertical angle to the optical center of the Monument.

David Insley OC, a Wa hington DC/Baltimore ba ed director of photography was brought into the project at the request of the director, Brian Leonard. David was brought in to supervise the advance construction of the two camera environment under my direction, and eventually perform weekly reconnais ance and servicing to the camera installations, reporting directly to me. David brought in the project engineer, Lee Carrick, a Washington DC-based machinist, electrician and carpenter. Lee Carrick and David Insley took measurement with a surveyors transit and determined the vertical tilt factor to optical center of the Monument.

With the help of Lee Carrick' assistant, Rob Coughlin they built the window angle correction assembly, leaving me an 11 1;2'' x 14 1;2'' opening in which to retrofit into place, the custom-built optical glass holder or frames. These were made of 3/ 16- steel and were pre-tilted and slotted to accommodate the vertical angle needed to be exactly perpendicular to the light path or parallel to the film plane.

This made it possible to vertically slide the 1 l"x14- optical glas into and out of the frame for regular cleanings and possible replacement, i£ required.

The tower shot required the frame ' filter slots tilted at approximately 80°, and the booth shot required the frames ' filter slots tilted at approximately 65°.

Both frames were built in advance according to my plan by Jim Hole, a highly skilled prototype engineer of J & L Machining in Simi Valley, California, a usual stop for me prior to mo t time lap e experiments and the new time lapse endeavors I undertake.

All factors involved in this rushed preparation had to be anticipated and remedied at once.

Target: Washington Monument Once all preparations were completed, I set out on a cro -country drive in my special camera vehicle

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

named 'The Dozer' (an immaculate 198 Mercury Grand Marqui twotone luxury camera vehi le with a trunk packed like a Rubick' ube), and once again, a on many pa t proje t , I brought along my tru ted a i tant cameraman urt Walheim.

The trip took ix day from Santa Barbara alifornia to Wa hington D where we arrived on Augu t 7 1998 ready for action, with camera on board all other required apparatu in tran it on it way to Wa hington D

Exposure Changes One of the mo t important factor wa how to adju t thee posure for changing illumination condition .

Again the Norris LP , or Light Pri rity antral proved to be the pivotal an wer. Thi device doe not adju t the len iri . It adju t the motor rotation peed per frame or what we call the camera' hurter peed. It doe thi rotation peed correction in Yl,OOO'h -of-a- econd increment , incorporating and communicating with a modified pot-meter which i

aimed at an illumination reference target of choice. In thi ca e the actual Monument it elf wa that reference target.

A the light dim down the orri LP lowly and inver e proportionally lengthens the rime of expo ure for each acquired film frame. A the light increa es to the reference ubject, it speeds up the rotation or hurter peed with exact and gradual proportion to the illumination of the elected reference target.

In thi ca e uch a device i a Lifeaver. I would go o far a to ay the project quality hinged on thi device.

An auto-iri would be va tly inferior for an application thi . It would greatly affect the optical quality by varying the depth of field and would not have the va t amount of range that the Norri LP enable the camera to have.

10 f: top of iri adju tment, or the equivalent range ofT 1.4 toT 45; in other words off the cale or down to a pinhole of light tran mi Ion.

Field of View ln advance, I al o had to de ign exterior hadow boxe or matte bo e in order to bl k out extraneou unlight or reflection of unlight from hitting the gigantic 1 rx14" ND window (optical glass/neutral den ity 1.2 filter ), without cropping the frame in any way. Again, the American Cinematographers Manual wa very u eful. By determining the angle of view of the given len e , l drew plan to full cale and ent them to David In ley and Lee Carrick, who built the e had w boxe to exact pecification .

It wa very cary knowing that once I arrived in Wa hington D with the camera len e and related apparatu it would have to fit perfectly and function perfectly, without any gray area of uncertainty. The matte runnel or hadow boxe had to be optimum in effect without encroaching on ~>

Shot of Washington Monument time-lapse group, standing next to camera booth on top of Washington Monument Lodge.

L to R: David Insley SOC; Rob Coughlin, Assistant Engineer; Lee Carrick, Engineer; and Wayne Goldwyn SOC, Mr Time Lapse." [Absent from this photo is Curt Walheim, Assistant Cameraman to Mr Time Lapse.]

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

11

Interior of booth, showing film camera position.

my frame. Furthermore, they had to repel rain and snow.

An additional aggravation was that an irremovable brick arch overhang threatened to encroach on the tower camera in the upper right comer of frame, as did a brick ledge about 3 feet out from the camera's window which threatened to encroach on the bottom of frame.

After drawing many sketches to scale, I determined that we could just squeeze the 20rnm image in between the two brick frame invaders. It would not just be close, it would be exact, with no breathing room up or down, right or left, or back from the gla s. As

12

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN :

it turned out, the lens snooted right up to the glass from less than ?:' back, and just cleared the possible frame obstructions in the lens' field of view.

In the booth camera position, with a 12mm lens, our shadow box looked like some kind of art deco architectural statement, affixed to a rectangular booth. This was due to the extreme wide-angle lens with the camera tilted up at such a evere angle.

The result is that the shadow box is not actually a box, it is a shadow triangle, narrow at the bottom and flaring out severely as it gets to the top of the image viewing or transmission area outside the booth.

Power and Temperature ext were the temperature factors,

from freezing to 100째F. eed less to say, this is a wide range of thermal travel. After consulting an air conditioning specialist who thought he wa a thermal physicist, we ordered special air conditioning uruts. These uruts were ordered and shipped to Wa hmgton DC from the Hawaiian Island .

(They also know a thing or two about hurniruty in Hawaii, "you betcha!" ) These special 8,000 British Thermal Urut air conditioners were very small, portable, well-designed and extremely expensive, but they fit the bill, as they produce a very dry, very cold, air flow into the camera's environment, completely lacking any humidity or moisture.

Additionally, small heaters were installed for the eventuality of winter.~>

WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

Each camera position requjred the installation of two separate electrical circuit with back-up initial UPS power units, as well as pecial line conditioners to clean the electricity so a not to risk disturbing the sensitive electronjc motors and intervalometers.

Additionally, a new orris Film Product emergency powersensing switch was installed at each camera position. Tills witch en e when the camera's power supply voltage drops below 24 volts, and switches instantly and undetectably over to a standard 24 volt camera battery as the ource of power for any period of time in which the camera's normal ACto DC power supply is failing to deliver a con tant voltage that is greater than that of the back-up battery.

Thu , I et my power upply to deliver 28 volt to the camera, and if the power upply current drops below 24 volts, the battery is automatically connected and the power supply is disconnected for a period of time until its voltage level exceeds that of the camera battery, got it? Don't make me repeat that one.

Tills is all in addition to back-up in-line AC UPS power systems designed to last for many hours during a possible power failure. Furthermore, each camera position was equipped with a spare motor, pare intervalometer, spare power supply and spare cables.

One day about a month into the project, the power to our entire booth AC circuits was di connected from the main breaker box at the Wa illngton Monument Lodge by contractors remodeling the Lodge and Lodge restroom . The UPS powered all the eqwpment for many hours, and once the UPS-power storage cells were drained, the camera automatically witched to the 24-volt battery. The camera equipment kept working; however the air conditioner, lights, alarm system, video survei llance sy rem, etc were all down for almost a

14

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN :

day, but hey! The cameras just kept on tickrng, and no footage was lost.

Remote System Surveillance

Recording the changing seasons and the changing scaffolding . Still frame images printed from the 35mm film cameras : oblique views from the tower; straight views from the booth .

One way I wa able to avoid sleeping with the cameras was installation of video survei llance cameras at both camera po itions.

These small, low-re olution camera were aimed and framed on the LED controlled read-outs on the orris LPC inrervalometer, the orris motor, cl1e camera's frame and footage counter , and at a digital thermometer. The video camera's signal was routed into an encoder that converted it into an audio signal that can be carried by a tandard telephone line connection.

Con equently, I can sit in my Santa Barbara home viewing the video survei ll ance cameras from a monitor that i connected to my decoder, which is being fed a signal via the telephone line. At any time I can simply dial-up the booth or tower camera po itions and check the footage count, frame count, rnterval time, shutter speed and even the temperature.

Additionally, the ystem ha an audio nlicrophone and preamplifier connected to the encoder, allowing me to audibly hear the operation of the cameras including the motor rotation with each frame taken. I can also hear if the air conditioner is functioning (pretty Stone Age, I know)!

Best of all, I can ee if the darn film camera is on. If I don t see the lights I know I'm in trouble and should telephone Batman, dial 911 or in thi ca e, call David In ley {the Washington DC/Baltimorebased director of photography brought into the project by the director), aka Mr Time Lap e East, a nickname he has earned through his diligence and dedication to the project. Fortunately I have not had to make that emergency call to him, because I have always seen the lights "on" when checking on the video phone; however, I have had to call hill1 for other millor emergencie

WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME lAPSE PROJECT

that l will go into later in thi article.

Optical Glass Windows erring ba k to expo ure time , the orri LP allow you to operate at a maximum hutter peed of 1115 of a econd. o fa ter peed i po ible. U ing imple math it i ea y to ee that with the lowe t peed film (ASA-50/Kodak 5245), I would need to be at ab ut T-32 to hoot n a bright, unlit day and e pect to not over-expo e the film. Thi i why I elected neutral den iry ND 1.2 filter ( ubtracting 4 T- top of light) a my optical flat or viewing window for the cameras. In thi way, I can keep an m etting of around T-5.6 to T-8 to tran mit enough light without having a pinhole a an m erring.

Furthermore, with the 4 top of neutral den ity I could operate the camera with enough Ia k of

apparent depth of field to ornewhat blur or diffu e contaminant uch a dust or particle accumulating on my "optical flat " or viewing wind w . Thi al o help diffu e bug , rain now dew, reflection etc.

I could have even gone with ND 1.5s but I thought 5 stop neutral den iry might be tacking them up with only around 4% light tran mi ion.

Interval Times

In earlier di u ion with director Brian Leonard we talked about the variou po ibilitie for the interval time and amount of acquired fo tage per day. We decided to shoot one frame every 15 minute , giving u at lea t a econd a day of acquired image during each 8 hour work period, with the knowledge that one can alway peed up the a tion in po t produ tion, but al o realizing lowing the a tion down if =*>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

15

Serving Cinematographers Worldwide.

HOLLYWOOD ROME

T E C H N I C 0 L 0 R® THE GREATEST NAME IN

COLOR

WORLDWIDE FILM GROUP HOLLYWOOD PHONE: (818) 769-8500 FAX: (818) 761 -483 5

•

LONDON PHONE: (181) 7 59-5432 FAX: (181 ) 759-6270

•

ROME PHONE: (06) 4 18-881 FAX: (06) 4 11- 1694

•

NEW YORK PHONE: (212) 582-73 10 FAX: (21 2) 265-9089

Interior of tower video camera position lkegomi/Avid Edit-Com.

nece ary, undetectably i technically impo sible to achieve. nother intere ting photographic approach wa that during the almo tone year period in which the Monument would be in a co oon or under wrap rage, would be a rime when no apparent exterior change would be taking place, and any progre made during thi rage would be undetectable to human or cameras.

Brian and I came up with the idea of hooting ound peed (24 fp ) in addition to hooting rime lap e image , once a month during rhi rage of work. The idea wa to run off one or rw 10econd long hot each month, for the period of time the Monument would be in cocoon. The e obtained image would be the original element for a erie of di olve . Thi would allow u to flow through the change of eason : for in ranee a unny, well-lit blue ky, then a cloudy day then rorm cloud then rain then now and then a clearing with blue ky and white puffy time lap e cloud drifting through the frame, around the Wa hington Monument.

Thi equence of di olved image would Ia t about 20 to 30 econd on creen accompanied by a good musical background, incorporating two to three second of film per month with the ound peed image depicting rain and now and the time lap e images depicting the leave turning color, falling, cherry blo om blooming beautiful cloud movement and the eventual regeneration of the green foliage urrounding the Washington Monument. e t we would di olve into the de- affolding rage with time lap e photography e actly like the image

affolding-up proce , ending with everal nice ound peed and time lap e image of the newly re tared Wa hington Monument.

Bonus -

" Video Time Lapse"

Another intere ring addition to our project came by introduction through a friend of mine ean Fairburn 0 , a highly killed, highly experienced camera operator who ha been in charge of field te ring and intr clueing to the film indu try, a new image-gathering tool known a the Ikegami/Avid Edit-Cam a highly complex broadca t quality video camera which record it taken image onto a hard drive computer di k in read of video tape.

Thi camera in addition to many advanced feature i capable of hooting one frame at a rime with any interval and can record up to 30 minute of high re olurion NT Above: The surveillance camera in the video on each di k. tower sends these signals via ean Fairburn telephone, showing the control readwa able to get vid outs on each film camera: footage to loan u an count, frame count, and intervolometer reading. Right: Viewfinder output info from the lkegomi/Avid Edit-Com video camera in the tower. Edit- am to te t ~> THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

17

on this project, at least for the first three to five month stage of the caffolding process. Due to Sean's reputation and accompli hments, Mr Joe Torelli, an Avid executive and designer, agreed to provide and deliver an Edit-Cam to me in Washington DC, in August '98. I once again had David Insley and Lee Carrick build an additional window angle correction assembly to the north-facing window in the tower, thu rotating it 45° to the west. o we in tailed, programmed and started the Edit-Cam rolling at similar intervals to the film camera , with almost identical framing to the 35mm Mitchell film camera shooting out the west-facing window (which was rotated 45° to shoot northwesterly) of the tower. Fairburn, who is very familiar with this video camera, was a constant ource of information and experti e during this initial installation and test period.

The Edit-Cam has an auto-iris, and cannot be used at night unle s I elect a filter that will open the iris to

T-1.8 at night, and give me an iris opening ofT-22 during the day. Other than the range of limitations of an auto-iris, the Edit-Cam is stiff competition for my Mitchell 35mm film cameras. It works great, looks great, and is a definite contender in the future

camera connected. The Edit-Cam's viewfinder di play tells us how many frames it has taken and what the present frame address number i , and the display a l o reads "time lap e" to let you know you are not rolling at 30 frames per second. Ob erving the image of the Washington Monument in the background is also of considerable interest to us. My thanks to Ikegami/ Avid Joe Torelli, and especia lly B. Sean Fairburn OC.

A Couple of Unexpected Problems We Encountered

arena of time-lapse image-gathering equipment.

We were also able to connect the Edit-Cam's viewfinder video output into the telephone video encoder/ switcher, as this encoder can accommodate up to 4 separate video inputs, with a variable dwell timer for each

On 11/10/98 David Insley telephoned to inform me that the caffolding was now encroaching on the area of the orris LPC's reference target (the southeast sides of the Monument) and was putting bright scaffolding reflections, that reflected high level sunlight on varying points of the caffolding, into the orris LPC's spot reference meter, possibly playing havoc with our automatic exposure control.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

II

M r. T i m e- La p s e" ® Since 19X6

35mm STOCK FOOTAGE LIBRARY

....! !

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I 1 1

-

• I

• • • •

I

I

I I

---

•

Clouds & Sunsets Stars & Moon Nature-Scapes Flowers Bloom

• • • •

Night City-Scapes L.A. - N.Y- S.F. -D.C. Zoom-Art® Psychedelic Effects

Contact: Wayne Goldwyn, S.O.C. Phone: 805.966.0707, Santa Barbara

18

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME LAPSE PROJECT

Member of lntemationall'hotographers Guild & ociety ofOperat\ng amcramcn

Po ible olurion A: Repo irian the orri LP ' reference beam to another imilar reflective urface in the vicinity of and ubject to, imilar lighting expo ure a the Wa hingron Monument it elf.

An wer A: OT PO IBLEthere was no reflective urface with imilar height a the Wa hingron M nument thu enabling light condition and time to be ynchronou .

Po ible olurion B: Tele cope the light reference beam in tighter between

the caffolding. In e ence, it worked!

Problem 2: xpo ure y tern for tower camera po ition i being confu ed becau e in the morning, nly ea t ide of Monument i receiving direct unlight. Later in the morning, both ide are getting direct unlight, and then later in the afternoon only the outh ide i getting direct unlight.

Que tion: Which ide of the Monument hould we aim the reference beam at, to avoid radical illumination change , a the hadow hift from one

fa ter when it realize both ide are lit ( eeing almost 50% more light on reference target), it cannot go to a fa ter hurter peed being that it i already at it fa te t rotation or hurter peed. The re ult i a mooth expo ure tran ition or lack of tran irian from 1 to 2 to 1 ide unlit without expo ure variation or stop-down occurring on the hurter peed when both ide become illuminated.

Closing I feel I have given you the reader enough information about this proje t for the time being. Though at thi time the project is far from completion, thi hould give you an idea of ju t what i involved in uch a long-term time-lap e project. As progre continue , I will inform the 0 of the devel pment m a later article following project completion in June 2000.

Thank you for your intere t.

Re pectfully Wayne oldwyn AKA Mr Time Lap e

the caffolding in order to avoid confu ing and unwanted reflection .

An wer B: OT PO IBLEhadow from caffolding would cro into reference ample area of Monument, rhu confu ing light meter and cau ing unwanted expo ure variation .

Po ible oluri n : Diffu e reference beam with proper value diffu er in order to "cur down ' highlight or direct metallic reflection , without everely altering light gray or dark gray object or area of the frame.

Thi olution worked great-the diffu er (now known a the LP diffu ion area extender), took one or two T - top off the highlight but kept the mid and low-range ubject of reference within a half of aT-stop of normal reflective value. It moothed out and ab orbed tho e ca ional high level bright pinpoint of light on

side of the Monument to the other ide?

An wer: plit ea t and outh ide down the middle with reference beam; however re et and ynchronize the orri LP ' reference beam at a time of day when only one ide of the M nument i under direct unlight. et the camera' intervalometer o that it is at its maximum hurter peed {YIS of a econd with only one half f the reference target in direct unlight, and the other half in hade).

Thi way, when both side become lit under direct unlight, the expo ure time cannot increa e, and it remain the arne at it rna imum hurter peed (Y1s of a econd). Thi enable a mooth e po ure control with the arne hurter peed for one or both ide of the Monument lit by direct unlight.

Though the camera want to go

WayneGoldwyn,aka " MrTimeLapse" is a twenty year veteran of the field of motion picture time lapse photography.

He is also the author of an article in the OC's Fall/Winter 1996/1997 Operating ameraman Magazine entitled 'A Time Lapse Primer ' about his early incorporation of the Norris LP or Light Priority Control" as a vital tool for acquiring motion picture time lapse imagery for the feature film i on directed by Oliver tone.

Wayne has acquired time lapse images for three Oliver tone films to date (Natural B rn Killer ixon, and U-Turn) and has had his images used in hundreds of television and commercials and a wide variety of other motion picture presentations such as television station IDs, on-air promos, program openings, infomercials and documentaries.

Wayne has been a member of the ociety of Operating Cameramen and the International Cinematographers Guild since 1990.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WASHINGTON MONUMENT RESTORATION TIME lAPSE PROJECT

19

CONGRAT

ARRIFLEX & The Cameras Used To of Winners of The "GODS AND MONSTERS" Winner: Best Screenplay Adoption Director: Bill Condon DP: Stephen M. Katz

"SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" Winner: Best Director Cinematography Film Editing Sound Sound Effects Editing Director: Steven Spielberg DP: Janusz Kaminski, ASC

We congratulate the creative reams responsible for these award-winning films and thank them for proving the quality and versatility of Arriflex and Moviecam equipment. While it would have been nice if eveyone had used cameras and lenses from Clairmont they didn't.

Bur we salute their accomplishments none the less. And rake this opportunity ro tell you that Clairmont has more Arriflexes and Moviecams than any other independent rental facility in the world. All maintained ro the indu try's highest standards. And complimented wirh the widest range of lense -both standard and proprietaryin the world. For award-winning cameras and the highest levels of service, think Clairmont!

ULATIONS

MOVIE CAM Shoot The Vast Majority 71st Academy Awards "SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE"

"ELIZABETH"

Winner: Best Picture Winner: Best Makeup Actress Director: Shekhar Kapur Supporting Actress DP: Remi Adefarasin, BSC Original Screenplay Original Musical or Comedy Score Art Direction Costume Design Director: John Madden DP: Richard Greatrex, BSC

"ELECTION NIGHT (VALGAFTEN)" Winner: Live Action Short Directors: Andres Thomas Jensen & Kim Magnusson DP: lens Schlosser

ClAIRMONT CAMERA HOLLYWOOD

TORONTO

818-761-4440

416-467-1700

VANCOUVER 604-984-4563

In the past three issues of The Operating Cameraman we feamed a6out sky-diving cinematography, shooting with the o/ectorvision from a .Learjet, c[im6ing Mt iÂŁverest with an J9vfYIX camera, and working with the Wescam in heficopters. ~ rrhere's no dou6t that we need an articfe written a6out the A team Panahead and Arri Geared Head Operators, and we'[[have them, 6ut right now we're on a ro[[ with this ...

Mobile Camera Platform

StarrBike 3

By Stan McClain

soc

Contributions by Colin Anderson, Brooks Guyer, Russell Ofria SOC, and Mark O ' Kane The photo shows StarrBike 3 with a Steadicam TM mount at the

W

hether we're operating the wheel on a Titan Crane, a Model 11 Dolly, or using one of the several remote heads on a jib arm, car, plane, boat or train, we seem to be almost always working with cameras that are somehow mobile in nature. True, there is always a time and place for the traditional locked off shot, but not when it comes to strapping yourself onto the sidecar of Peter Starr's StarrBike3.

One's first conception of utilizing a motorcycle as a camera platform spawns visions of popular high speed motorcycle races, or more recently their u e for broadcasting live TV feed on the Marathons or Cross Country

22

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : STARR BIKE

3

Bicycle races. These indeed are classic examples, but other alternative and creative uses help the operator achieve the director's intended look and feel.

So Operator Colin Anderson's introduction to the StarrBike3 made sense. He was booked to do orne econd unit running shot on the Ron Howard film EdTV. Colin works as a SteadicamTM operator and realizes that he'll be expending Lots of energy, working up a sweat, and wearing down his shoe when it comes to "running" hot , especially when the shots involve running up steep slopes for extended period of time. It's not that Colin dreads this, a it's part of the job, but on EdTV he utilized a new tool that not only made his day

for the mo t physically fit operator who enjoys elf abu e. The teadicam wa mounted in low mode and with the StarrBike 3 it was po ible to get the len ju t inche above the ground. Peter wa able to ride the tarrBike 3 on the sidewalk for preceding and following hots because the entire unit i comparatively narrow.

"What impre ed me wa the acceleration of the bike, o that when shooting a foot cha e, one wa almo t immediately at speed and able to start the shot without wa ring run-up time. The ver atility became really apparent when we were tracking ideways on an 18mm len and minutes later we were preceding the actor on the idewalk on a lOOmm len , " Colin reported.

GyroPro mount

left rear seat, and on the sidecar a jib arm with Libra Ill head.

more manageable but al o left him plenty of tamina to enjoy the entire day.

Steadicam TM mount Peter' cu tom made motorcycle come with an a sorrment of mounting plate for variou camera mount . For the hot de cribed below, he and olin rigged the bike with a cu tom teadicam bracket. Colin rated "I wa immediately impre ed with the peed and ea e which we were able to mount the Steadicam. ' Mo t of the hot involved cha ing Jenna Elfman and Matthew Me onaughey through the teep treets and idewalks of an Franci co, a challenge normally

Brooks Guyer wa brought in to do orne of the action photography on an Acura commercial where they needed a Ronin type car cha e shot. He has pent much of hi career using all form of camera platforms from crane to helicopter . Thi time Brooks' equipment con i ted of Peter Starr' motorcycle and the u e of a Weaver teadman under lung head and the new Gyro Pro which Panavi ion i repre enting. With a full lock up on the ixth Street bridge in downtown Los Angele they had a limited run and a limited time to hoot.

Thing needed to run smoothly to ay the lea t. The pre sure wa on.

"We tarred with the Weaver teadman, mounting it on an off et arm to get the perfect low angle. We nimbly maneuvered between our preci ion driver , zigging and zagging, revealing the picture car a it drove through it ob tacles. Peter i a veteran driver who know camera po ition like a DP. We communicated with each other through hi head et making adju tment on the fly to get the dynamism the director required. After each take we reviewed the hot with the on-board video ystem and managed to atisfy the demanding needs of the director. Next it wa on to the Gyro Pro. It was a new piece of equipment for me yet the bike wa the perfect platform. With the stabilization of the gyro we were able to moothly care the heet metal of the picture car with the long end of the Angenieux HR 25-250 len . At 250mm, it i tough enough to shoot a moving target but at peed reaching 65 mile per hour the task wa monumental. Peter put the bike ju t where needed and we got fabulou footage."

Some of the attribute which have set the tarrBike3 apart from its competitor are it aviation-inspired u pension and its large operating platform. One would think that a sidecar platform would be awkward at be t to hoot from but the de ign is well thought out and can, if o de ired accommodate a camera assi rant too.

With plenty of room to work, Brooks noted "I wa able to concentrate on the image, not the bike.'

Bodycamâ&#x201E;˘ mount Recently Ru sell Ofria 0 u ed the tarrBike 3 for the fir t time, u ing Advanced Camera System ' Bodycam.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: STARR BIKE

3

23

The ubject was a racing bicyclist on a narrow, bumpy country road. They needed various close-ups on the rider and the bike and they had to be smooth. With the BodycamTM attached to the Starr Bike sidecar he was able to get within a foot of the rider's face and then boom down to pick up his feet on the cranks a they circled within inche of the camera lens. The effect was pectacular a the details of the rider's racing shoes streaked across the frame.

speed. With the Gyromaster rigged for side to rearward views we led the racer through the Willow Springs race course. Tl"tis was to be "on the edge" footage and at every sharp turn I heard the wheels squeal beneath me and felt the hard 'G's at the turns and as we vaulted over high spots in the road.

The Gyromaster behaved ju t as we expected even at those extremes. Even during those anxious moments as I felt we might have reached the point

with the camera under-cranked.

"We made several straight runs and some circular runs where we completely encircled the speeding rider for an exciting perspective of the subject. All the while StarrBike 3 performed extremely well and made my job ea ier," Rus ell reported.

Off the road Mark O'Kane also contributed his experiences with the StarrBike.

Like Collin, Mark u ed the Steadicam, but the mobi le camera platform did not have the luxury of traveling on a paved road. Their project was a Pontiac commercial for Octane Film .

The shot involved tracking horsemen at full gallop and the Pontiac car on rough terrain and unimproved roads.

Mark couldn't help but notice how well the suspension system helped stabilize the platform.

"The bike handled the load of the Steadicam, focus puller, driver, and my elf in a rough ituation with excellent control and stability, letting me concentrate on the shot and not worry about compromising safety."

StarrBike 3 positioned the lens perfectly as they matched peed with the racing bicycli t.

Gyromaster mount Russell later wrote, "A month of so after that hoot we installed a Gyromaster Mount on the same sidecar. Thi rime we needed pursuit footage of a motorcycle rider as he raced a tight road race cour e at high

24

of no return, I felt confident that the StarrBike 3 was tracking precisely and was respondjng to the driver's every command.

Two weeks later Russell and Peter wound up at El Mirage Dry Lake where they created footage for a Triumph motorcycle commercial. It was a reenactment of Matt Capri's World Speed record. Using the Bodycam, they sped along at 50+ mph

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : STARR BIKE

3

Even around animals Quite often as operators, we are called upon to work around animals with orne being more domesticated than others. Shooting animals from helicopters at time can be a problem due to their noise, and the fact they look ljke mechanical Pterodactyl.

Mixing up a motorcycle with a herd of horses could al o make for an

brought a wealth of knowledge to the hoot' pre-production.'

You can teach an old dog new tricks Overall we tend to gravitate toward the tools that we're mo t familiar with a a part of our daily equipment ar enal. However tho e who eek out and dare to experiment with new tool and technique tend to create and lead the pack and tool that were once unique become commonplace.

Hopefully, becau e you are a reader of Operating Cameraman you lllook at certain running hot in a whole new light, and when the time i right, have the opportunity to tretch out ide of your comfort zone and utilize thi additional alternative piece of camera equipment.

One of many times Michael Bay has directed and operated on StarrBike equipment: StarrBike 2 with attached sidecar for a Saturn commerci al.

unproductive day but Mark noted: "The tarrBike i muffled well enough that it remained unobtru ive and the hor e performed a planned without po king."

II of the operator noted that the bike' rigging de ign allow quick change between high, low, front and rear mount enabling the camera to be po itioned where the hot would be erved be t without compromi e.

Mark noted: "Thi attribute give the director a lot of room to create hot that be t erve hi storyboard and the lu ury of quickly changing the po ition if the hot doe not meet with lient approval. The director on the Pontiac job reque ted a hot from the hor e rider' point of view which wa about8' abovetheground.Perer quickly in tailed a front mounted vertical po t which put the teadicam arm mounting po ition at the de ired height, delivering a believable and afe POV."

Viewing from below Another job Mark worked on for ognito Fi lm involved tracking along

with George looney a he rode a bicycle as part of a men' wear commercial. 'One hot required u to traver e an ocean pier ide by ide with George bicycle. The pier wa not in good enough repair or wide enough to upport a conventional camera car but Peter and hi bike a compli hed the job quite handily with the talent feeling comfortable with the bike' clo e proximity. The camera wa literally underneath him looking up while he wa riding. The tarrBike offer uch a variety of olution to many tricky production/camera problem that it i a great choice for any tracking hot."

WIRELESS

VIDEO NEW SOLUTIONS for a PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

Safety first

ULTRA-ANT

All four operator noted it wa very apparent that Peter first priority afety. Colins tared "For operator in every a pect of film making involving moving vehicle , afety i of paramount importance. I can honestly ay that Peter and hi tarrBike 3 pa ed ucce fully. It wa a great e perience all round aving a lot of weat and tear . I look forward to riding the tarrBike 3 again .'

Brooks commented " I felt ecure at uch high peed knowing Peter wa at the helm. Having thoroughly di u ed the hot before hand, he

High gain Aat panel UHF Directional antenna perfect for video recept1on .

DX-400 Finally! A true -diversity UHFNHF receiver. Four inputs.

Four tuners. Rock solid video reception.

call for dealers and info

323-222-6401 ~·~ custom interface technologies lr..

WI

• d•w••on of THORNSTAR Corp

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : STARR BIKE

3

25

SHOOT HAPPENS.

We wish continued success to all the skilled members of the Society of Operating Cameramen.

FILM

AND

VIDEO

3rd in the series The DP and the Operator

by B. Sean Fairburn, SOC

George La Fountaine Sr, ASC ean Fairburn OC says: Third in the erie on Director of Photography and Operator i with George La Fountaine A C. He and I poke about family itcom , and even more about family. itcom are a family among the crew and George ha been father to many in our indu try that have gone on to do fine work. But to George it' 'Not brain urgery and we're not curing cancer, we're just filling time between commercial . " Although George may not eem to take the work a eriou ly a others over the year he ha learned what i truly important. "Family i the mo t important thing to me and I encourage that philo ophy in my crew a well."

George LaFountaine ASC flanked

by sons George Jr, left and Chris, right.

Here's what George LaFountaine r, , has to say: "The tru t and communication I have with my crew i ba ed on a confidence I have in their work.

"My camera operator over the year become like family to me and we get to know one another very well.

They are con tantly alvaging u able hot out of ill-conceived blocking and direction. They are my eye and ear on the et and their contribution i very important to me becau e itcom are driven by the director o I don't alway have the opportunity to futz A

and tweak the frame of each camera on every hot. I can tru t that the very be t po ible hot i going to found by my operator and that give me time tO put the light where I need it to go, a change are made in script and blocking ometime right up till how time. amera operator need to know that thi kind of work demand a certain flexibility and not to get bogged down witl1 the tre of it all. " ometime I like to te t operators by moving little thing on the et and ee if they notice it and u ually they see it and quickly put it back. It' also

important how an operatOr alvage a shot o they under tand what' important how it fit in and how tO get it.

The operator with me over the year have been great. Guy like George Loomi 0 10 year 路 Jon Kunkle 8 year ; Marvin Ru h 10 year 路 Wayne Kennan 6 year . All very talented operator and other guy include lrv Waitsman, Kenny Dahlqui t Gene Jack on and my on George La Fountaine Jr and Chri La Fountaine.

"Director quality varie and orne may be more talented in one area than other o a good camera operator mu t be tactful in ugge ting how to be t get the hot the directOr want .

We would love to rehear e and block and light each hot until it ju t right every time. But that' not alway the ca e. ometime it' just one big alvage job all around . Other time the director ha boxed in one of the other department and we're waiting for the ituation tO get rectified before we can hoot.

"We are all a big family and we need to get along and re peer each other and be plea ant. It' bad enough we have to work owe may a well be nice to one another. Televi ion i ju t alvage work. It' al o people helping people. New guy coming in may not realize that there i orche trated chao and even though it may eem like thing are out of control, they're not.

You mu t not get caught up in it and panic. If you panic you convey you don't know what you're doing and that' deadly. You must be adept at handling people and be able tO ee through the ituation and come tO an effective resolution that doe n't damage relation hip but build them through the adver ity. Re pect for other department and realizing they have a job tO do a well is important for new operatOr : everyone will work with you or everyone will work again t you-it' up to you.

'I have been very proud of my on and it i a great thrill tO work o do ely with your on becau e, let' face it, the hour are long and if you can pend time at work and time with family together it make life more enjoyable.

I wasn't alway like that. I had to =*>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: DP/OPERATOR PART

3

27

learn that le on the hard way. One evening I came home late and my wife a ked if I planned on attending my olde t on Richard's high school graduation tomorrow? I looked at her and said, " He's not graduating tomorrow.

He's only 11 years old." The rea lity wa my first son had grown up right before my eyes and I didn't even notice.

I was crushed. I could never reclaim tho e years, and it wa too late to fix it.

"After that I quit the business for

28

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN :

over three yea rs and devoted my time to my family and especially to my two yo unger sons, George jr and Chris. I went to all their games. I helped them with homework and became a n active part of their lives. Now Richard wants nothing to do with the business, and I can't change that, but it makes me proud to have two other sons working with me as operators on the same et they would visit as little kids . I still demand good work from them; I can

DP/OPERATOR PART

3

get them the gigs but I can ' t keep them in the jobs if their work is not good.

My relationship with my sons is very pecial because they are also my camera operators. That means more to me than I can describe- they protect me and they are my eyes and ears on the et just like all my other great operators, but as their dad, I am proud to see the talented professionals they have become. If you get the chance you've just got to do it! Working with your kids is a true joy. Don't miss the opportunity to involve your family in your work . You will be far the richer for it.

"Like any proud father it's also great getting compliment on them from other , I love it. To them it's probably getting old but I think that inside it may be a little tougher in that their desire to do a great job mean making dad proud . I can 't know everything and I have four Cameras, four Operators, and four 1st Assi rants who are continually salvaging thing all day long. It frees me up to do other things. I trust them to get the work done. These guys and gals bail me out because I can't know everything. I put Chris and George Jr on the wings with the close ups and they let me know if Bob is getting tired and I make some adjustments or let the director know so he can hurry it up or pick it up tomorrow.

"You love your kids but you don' t always know if you've done a good job with them. Usually when they leave home they' re gone for good and you only get to see them once in a while. So you don ' t often get the opportunity to see the impact you made on their live , their values how they react to others with tact and diplomacy, how are they a human beings and gentlemen in the industry and in their community. Working with my sons on the set gives me that added opportunity to see how I've done as a father. The perception may be that George jr and Chris wouldn t have the job if not for dad , but my sons can't ay ' no' to me. I love having them around, and their work speaks for it elf."

11th Annual Awards Banquet

By Geo rgia Packard, soc

Four SOC presidents: Stan McCla in, 1997-99; Mike Benson, 1993-95; Mike Frediani , 1995-97; David Robman , 1999- 2001 .

cool ocean breeze welcomed the Black Tie guests to the Society of Operating Cameramen's 11th Annual Awards for outstanding Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del camera operators of all Rey. This year an extra half hour was added to the afternoon's "Mixer on types and for a camera the Terrace" so everyone cou ld say assistant ~ Awards the hello and offer their congratulations to the prestigiou Cammy winners.

Board of Governors and the Live music accompanied the easy flow of food and beverages, a charming preview of the evening's elegant President of the SOC ~ festivi ti es. A roaming camera shoulAward for Historical Shot dered by Sean Fairburn OC would creen during the dinner and add to the clean look of the presentation.

The organiza ti on's newly elected president, David Robman, greeted over 330 attendees to the charity event for the Eye Care Clinic at Chi ldrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Dr Ell en Ma tsumoto graciously accepted the Board of Governors' $10,000 donation check: "The Society of Operating Cameramen' generosity to the Eye Care Clinic has spanned a remarkable 14 years ... a driving force behind our visua l rehabiliKimberly Poff and Dr Ellen Matsumoto of tation of infants and young Childrens Hospital Eye Care Clinic accept a children through the use of check from the SOC.

A

Lifetime Achievement

by

30

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : AWARDS BANQUET

contact lenses." A special guest, Kimberly Poff, accompanied Dr Matsumoto. "She was first seen in 1981 for bilateral cataract surgery when she was 13 months old. She required numerous lens refittings, to fit the changing shape of her eyes, and each time the SOC wa there ." A short video clip introduced Kimberly as a sma ll child, and warm applause welcomed the young woman of 17 on tage. "Due to your help, I have been able to test many different materials and powers of contact len es seeking the best vision while keeping my eyes healthy. Thanks to the SOC and Dr Mat umoto' expertise we were successful in finding the appropriate lenses. I am fortunate enough not to have to wear glasse .

This makes my dancing and my everyday life much ea ier.' Tears and applause recognized the ongoing courage and dedication of Dr Ellen Matsumoto and the Eye Care Clinic in helping to support uch active lives.

President Robman introduced the evening's Master of Ceremonies: "This man helped shape my formative years. I would run home from school to watch the afternoon's Popeye cartoon show on KTLA ho ted by him. Later he hosted the Family Film Festival where he would give us

tidbit about the movie ... Hi love of movie wa contagiou . It i , in part why I'm here tonight. Mi ter Tom Hatten. ' Tom took the tage to introduce the pre enter for the fir t award the Hi torical hot. 'For the econd traight year, the ociety ha cho en a hot made famou by it unique camera operating. The film i Or on Welle 'Touch of Evil and the operator wa the late Phil Lathrop who later became a prominent AS cinematographer. The 1957 film' atar, Janet Leigh tepped forward in a gorgeou dre to pre ent the ammy to Phil wife Betty Jo Lathrop beautifully draped in a gold beaded gown. ' Be ide working with Phil, I know Betty Jo from the luncheon of the creen mart et Ladie . ' Phil had recalled what went into making thi hot, "I wa handholding the camera becau e Welle wanted the emidocumentary look. Be au e of the parallax of the 18mm many time I couldn't even u e the viewfinder. I would just hoot blind. It would be a simple hot today but it took u the entire night to light and hoot that cene, and it wa worth every minute.

It wa the Ionge t crane hot ever to date. It wa a great le on in how to

u e the camera to build unbearable ten ion." The audience agreed after viewing the lu ciou black & white hot that lasted a lmo t four minute .

A wonderful achievement on the hapman Her ule Crane by the crew led by cinematographer Ru ell Metty director Or on Welle and Phil Lathrop operating the Mitchell B camera .

Director Bradford May brought up the ammy winner for Mobile amera Platform perator, hi uncle Tommy May. loud ound drifted over from the ending of hi video pre entation, a tool" crew member have a ociated with Tommy ince an ambitiou director literally hot him elf into a corner. Thi clever grip a ked if all hot looking at thi one offending wall were completed before he brought out hi oon-to-become trademark a chain aw . you may have gue ed, the wall lost. Tommy had too many ingeniou camera platform to fit into hi video pre entation one of many creatively edited

by Dayne Jervi . Whether winging a hammer building a 400+ wooden dolly track, creating an "aqua dolly ' or the fir t motorcycle mount to keeping the head of Prince ndrew

afe in the pace hip of 2010 " hainsaw" keep on ripping new and inventively afe camera platform . Peter Hyam had ent a note: "When omeone a k me what it is I love about making a film, one of the fir tan wer that come to mind, i you. Bradford continued "He i more than a grip. He i a true filmmaker." ppropriately the next award was the evening' fir t Technical Achievement Award introduced by Bill Hine 0 . teve Mania "an innovator in optic for hi award winning erie 2000 anon conver ion " paid honor to longtime colleague and inventor Guido artoni for the development of the fir t frictionle fluid modular camera control head y tern. Although we operator tea e each other about creating ten ion or not having plate that interlock, every camera operator gleefully a k for artoni "three tep of drag." And the black and g ld head look pretty ool.

Publici t Beverly Walker pre ented till Photographer Wynn Hammer with hi ammy. Having tarted doing "title ' work on uch film a The Music Man and My Fair Lady, ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : AWARDS BANQUET

31

this talented till photographer has an impressive portfolio. "I can't believe thi . Ye , I did all of those things. But I have no pretensions. I ju t love to shoot." Wynn continued after a moving pause, "Thank you to the Society for recognizing me. No one ever has recognized me. That' the story of the still photographer ...

This is as good as it get . " Academy award winner John Toll A C presented the next Technical Achievement Award. "Cinematographers are constantly looking for innovative tool which allow them to create unique image for the purpose of tory telling. While I was in preproduction on Braveheart, I had the good fortune of meeting ick Phillips and being introduced to the remotely operated camera head which he developed. The Libra is the first multi-axis electronically stabilized remote camera head." ick Phillips, inventor accepted the award with George olan, pre ident of Geo Film Group for introducing the Libra in the U.S. John Finger was cameraman on the hit television show Cheers for eleven years. It was there that he had the opportunity to really get to know

camera assistant Gary-Oiyn: Armstrong. Gary's mother brought him to California at the age of six and he quickly tarred a ucces ful acting career. The audience relished the opportunity to catch rare footage of Gary starting as a tap dancer at age even, winning the "All American

32

Boy" award, working in plays, films, and television shows which include Ozzie and Harriet, Tom Sawyer, King Rat, and on the cross in Spartacus.

Eight Emmys later, camera assistant Arm trong enjoys working on sitcoms and films alike, including many years on the camera crew for director James Burrows.

Bill Hines once again introduced a Technical Achievement Award presenter, Academy Award winner Vilmos Zsigmond ASC. "I have always found cranes to be very important tools to help me tell the story. ow the Technocrane helps me move the camera with even more freedom." An exterior escalator clip from the film Playing By Heart proved the versatility that the telescopic camera crane offers afely since it carries no human cargo.

The inventor, Hor t Burbulla, accepted the award with Simon Jayes, president of Technocrane Ltd. Simon thanked Horst for "coming up with the lunatic idea to go ahead with it ... And for me, although I am quite proud of it, it is only a tool and it is those craftsmen who use it that have made it so special."

Tom Hatten delighted in saying, "With us tonight is one of America's best loved humorists and satirists, still living.' Stan Freberg took the stage with the two minute clock running.

Well, it would take more than two minutes to just introduce the infamous Freberg, let alone have him intro the Cammy winner for Video Operator. Stan personally added a video clip from his work with five

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : AWARDS BANQUET

time Emmy winner Wayne Orr SOC so the editor and I had been given a wonderful preview of joke tO come. " ow in regard to Wayne's disposition. Is he the easiest guy in the world to get along with? o, he is not. Has

he turned into a curmudgeon? o. He was ALWAYS a curmudgeon. And it takes one to know one." Yet no such person arrived when Wayne took the stage to receive his Cammy. 'The Clark Gable look-alike" gave thanks to his creative writing teacher Je uit priest Father Herman Hughes. "'A career in "Show Biz? Me? Wayne Orr from East Cleveland?' In that brief moment, Father Hughes had given me a most wonderful gift; he had given me permission to dream."

Well, no trap door opened up beneath Mr. Freberg's feet, but the power plug was pulled inadvertently by a worker in the kitchen during his time. Stan got revenge by ad-Jibbing with Tom Hatten about the 500 KTLA sheep and sewing sandpaper onto Reginald Gardiner's pajamas.

The presenter for Howard Block SOC, Gerald Perry Finnerman ASC was unable to attend but Russell Carpenter A C tepped in to do the honors. "Russell began his career in the Public Television arena shooting educational, scientific and cultural affairs programs for 20 year . He spent the next 17 years getting what he calls lucky breaks. Those lucky breaks included ... another film you might =*>

When every available light in the city just isn't enough.

Get the shot with Kodak Vision SOOT color negative film . The world's fastest motion picture film, it del ivers the speed you need. To dig deeper into the shadows. To hold the daylight just a little longer. To maximize the depth of field.

All with the sharpness and grain

structure you'd expect in a slower speed film .

Vision SOOT film breaks the barriers, whatever city you work in . We deliver speed. What you do with it is up to you. Now available in 65mm, 35mm, and 16mm.

To order Kodak motion picture film, call 1-S00-621-FILM.

www.kodak.com/ go/ motion

Kodak

Kodak and Vision are tra demarks. Š Eastman Kodak Company, 1999.

+ Are you READY for the digi a revolution?

Get SET with the competitive edge with products and services f om Wexler Video, a d GO anywhere that your imagination can take you!

High Definition Equipment Rentals

------------------------------------------------------- ~

Wexler Video will make sure

you're the first one to cross the line I

HDTV Solutions

One Answer. 0 e Call.

800-Wexler1 (soo-939-5371 >

Camera Rentals

1111 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA 91502

VTR Rentals

Vis1t us at路 www.wexlerv1deo.com

Monitor Rentals

-- _ ---- _ - ------------------------- -

AVID Rentals

.-___. __..-

AIV Rentals

.--.-

Edit Bays

.--~ __..

iF==:;~========

Engmeering Services '

IROADCAST EQUIPMENT I NON -LINEAR I A/ V I ENGINEERING

have een at the local drive-in Titanic for which he won the cademy ward." I was moved when Ru ell read Finnerman' peech路 ' ucce i not mea ured by the laurel you receive nor the money you earn. ucce i mea ured by your ability to hare compa ion, love, re pect and under tanding of the people around you. ' Winner of the Film Operator Cammy, Howie ummed it up well "Being recognized by your peer i truly the greate t award you can receive. ' Tom Hatten introduced the Pre idem' Award pre enter Ray tella for Cammy winner Dean Cundey AS . " teven pielberg on e told me that he thought Dean i one of the top five cameramen in the world. Naturally I agreed ... He i happy to pa that knowledge on to other no matter who i a king the que tion . He ha helped at the Ia t three OC crane and remote eminar . He believe in the to the utmo t and look forward to doing

more with u ."I wa able to find Mr. undey's fir t feature film re ently relea ed on DVD, Where the Red Fern Grows to include in hi video pre entation. He certainly gave u a wide variety of pectacular film to choo e clips and still from, including Je ica Rabbit parting line 'I hope you're proud of your elf and tho e picture you took." We ure are and looking forward to more where they have come fr m. Dean noted that he and Ray have worked together, almo t e clu ively, for 26 year . "Ray and I tarted together and have learned the bu ine together ... If it wa new and untried we tried it. ' He continued "To keep the art alive one of the thing we do i to teach each other. And to learn each other about our re pective art and craft . ' Lance Billitzer 0 pre ented the Governor Award for Lifetime Achievement to director James Burrow who he ha worked with ince a one-day call on Cheers fifteen year earlier. Although Sympathy and the

Devil from the Rolling tone wa not on the band repertory, the man 'who technically combine the che trategy of Bobby Fi her the billiard of Minne ota Fat the daring of Evel Kneivel with the decorum of a gentleman wearing a Brook Brother suit ' took the rage to be honored with the evening' final ammy. It wa certainly worth the wait. Multi mmy winner Jim Burrow ha worked with many in the room and although hi work day are very hort they still account for a lot of our live . "I wa once called the pielberg of televi ion. o I gue that would make teven the Burrow of the movie ... But what the e past honored director ( teven pielberg and Ron Howard) have in common with me i their love and re pect and their appreciation of the pa ion and the ability of the operating camera per on."

David Robman OC and Tom Hatten clo ed the evening' banquet and offered next year' Award a an =*> event not to be mi ed.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: AWARDS BANQUET

35

I per onally would like to thank my Banquet Committee: David Robman, Bill Molina, Stan McClain Kim Sherwood, Michael Santy, Sal Aridi, Ernie Reed, Ben Wolf, Bill Hines, Sean Fairburn, Lance Fi her, and Mark Leins for their many hours of dedicated volunteer work despite having live familie and career to attend. Thank you Dayne Jervis for editing the video presentation , Doug Knapp and Katy O'Harra for printing the Banquet Program and to all that supported and assi ted in making this evening uch an enjoyab le success. ee you next year. And until then, the clean eyepiece chamois is reserved .

36

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: AWARDS BANQUET

Dallas I Fort Worth L FREE 888.758.4826

Central Florida TOLL FREE 888.337.8243

Soutli Florida 305.895.0085

Northern California 510.357.1424

STUDIO EQUIPMENT, INC.

www.chapman-leonard.com

ICA

cliiEVEM

TAWA

d 19

CARTONi ... SuppoRTiNG CAMERAS SiNCE 19}~ Gyro-controlled camera support was invented in 1935 by Renato Cartoni, Cnief News Operator at the lstituto azionale Luce in Rome, Italy and became standard equipment for cameramen all over Europe. The gearcontrolled head first appeared on Hollywood Productions in the '30s.

Among the various inventors and manufacturer of fluid action camera support Guido Cartoni, Renato's son, i considered a pioneer. Continuing in rus father's footsteps, Guido started manufacturing gyro heads in 1948. He set up a prosperous relationship with Arriflex.

During this time Cartoni built a Guido Cartoni, right, holds the Tech Award combined total of 3000 of the plaque for the Cartoni fluid head, presented to him by Steve Manios.

MKII heads for the Arri 35IIC and the Junior head for Arri giving a smooth continuous movement.

16ST. These heads were so ld worldwide under the Arri label. The problem The flujd damping system is therefore uruquely devoted to its function; no with the gyro heads is that they were other effects such as weight counternoisy. Also, pan and tilt movement during a shot was dependent do ely on balance or braking effect are involved.

The sub tantially innovative idea the operator's arm strength. was nighly appreciated by cameramen Guido's aim was to create a camand camera manufacturers. The era support that could perform perCartonj FL4 entered the Arriflex fectly smooth pan and tilt movements, be insensitive to temperature and accessories list, was exhibited in pressure changes, offer variety in the Co logne, Germany at Photokina 1974 performed amount of drag, and free a and sold all over the world as the ideal support for the Arri 16BL. The FL4 combination of pan and tilt intensities head had the possibility of 5 settings, for diagonal shots. In 1972, Cartoni "0' drag and 4 progre sive intensity created his FL4 fluid head that met steps both in pan and tilt. In addjtion, the e expectation using tecnnology this head had locking brakes in pan from the automobile industry. and tilt, a ball base, spirit level, The basic concept: to operate with revolving handle, camera weight two eries of surfaces, one connected to the supporting head body and the compensating springs and a slide plate for camera balance. other to the mechanical part holding During the following decade, the the camera. The e surfaces are sepaCartoni fluid damping system had its rated by a thin film of lubricant fluid natural evolution into the fluid module and rotate one in respect to the other,

38

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 1999

system which is basically the "boxmg" in 2, 3 or more fluid action units built with the interleaved plate sy tern acting in combination. The great advantage of this later system was an easier assembly procedure and a reduction in fluid leakage.

Modularity in the fluid drag system allowing 3 or 7 steps in drag intensity, was coupled with the same modularity in counterba lance-2 or 3 "spring modules" built with 2 steel helical springs coiled and fixed to an annular housing. Each module performed a certain amount of counterbalance according to the spring section and the combination of 1, 2 or 3 different modules gave a range of different progressive reaction power.

In 1988, Gujdo Cartoni gave a further improvement to the module system, inventing and patenting the "labyrinth" module. The new module, built as two eries of concentric circles interleaved with siUcon fluid and leakproof thermo-sealed, contained in innovative plastic components as nylon/fiberglass mix, extremely easy to service and very light-weight. The fluid module system i used in severa l Cartoni fluid heads: Actionpro, Alfa, Beta, C20S, C40S, C80S, Dutch heads and the Multimode head.

To meet requirements expressed by several video operators as to changing the amount of drag while shooting.

Cartoni researched, invented and patented the continuous labyrinth drag. This invention, an evolution oÂŁ the labyrinth module, replaced the series of modules with a single moving module. The two concentric annular elements are moving one in respect to the other, axially, and are activated by an external knob or ring. The fluid

Acl-liEv MEN AwARds 9 9 drag inten ity varies from a minimum amount when the two labyrinths are expo ed to the maximum inten ity when the two portion are totally coupled . hanging the erring during a hot doe nor affect the image tability. The continuou variable drag i u ed in Delta and amma fluid head . The e two model al o feature an inn varive counterbalance y rem ba ed on the compre ion of ilicon cube .

The late r tate of rhe art in continuou drag variation i u ed in the new artoni Omega head. Thi rna i ize upport, uitable for big broadca t camera/len unit and 65mrn cine-camera provide revolutionary control in both fluid drag and counterbalance configuration.

The fluid action y tern i de igned with a central round element compo ed of thin plate mounted in a omb-like trucrure which move following an elliptic track in ide a ring al o compo ed by a erie of thin plate . The movement of the central part allow partial or total overlapping of the two eries of plate and create a variable re i ranee according ro the number of urface involved. The Omega counterbalance y rem surpasse the ize and performance limitation of common reel pring , by a i ring the weight compen arion with steel cable which compre two or more coiled titanium pring placed horizontally in the head pan ection. With thi innovative y tern one can reach a balance weight of more than 200 pound with a head of a randard ize. In addition, the weight com pen arion i equal and preci e throughout the 180° of tilt displacement.

Innovation ha alway been one of artoni' winning a et · there i a whole li t of "fir r of ir kind : • Fir r flywheel head, 'te tara Vittoria " 1935 • Fir t fri tion-le fluid y rem with interleaved plate FL4, 1972 • Fir t illuminated pirir level C40, 1985 • Fir r 3-a i 7- rep fluid a i ted

head, Multimode head, 1988 • Fir t digital di played reference for drag and counterbalance Delta, 1991 • Fir t erial produced Out h head 40 Dutch, 1991 • Fir r fluid head upporting 200 pound , Omega, 1998 .

Looking into the future artoni ha a election of new project the P50 pede tal with a new hexagonal pneumatic column holding up to 100pound payload , the" igma" fluid head performing continuou fluid drag in both pan and tilt movement with

perfect 180° counterbalance the 'Lambda" fluid nodal head and much more.

Li tening to the motion picture and televi ion pro has been the key rea on for artoni' ucce and the in piration for many of the new project . ince 1948 when Guido was pending time li tening to hi friend the director , DP and camera operator Cinecitta wa his econd home.

He designed a fluid drive for zoom len e e pecially for Roberto Ro ellini in 1958 and a viewfinder exten ion holder for Federico Fellini to look into Giu eppe Rotunno' camera while hooting Roma in 1972. The Multimode 3-axi head wa created for Giu eppe Tornatore hooting Cinema

Paradiso in 1988. Today rhe ource of in piration for new technologie i coming mainly from the United tate .

The American motion picture and televi ion indu try ha reque red and prai ed many of the artoni invention . The fir t production line Dutch head i due to the lairmont brother , an evolution of the 80 Mulrimode to Ed Di Giulio and Max Penner working on the how an project· the outline of the Omega i a re ult of di cu ion with orne! Gangolea of Panavi ion.

At artoni during the 1990 and the new rnillenium ahead, li rening to new idea temrning from the rental hou e to camera operator lead to rhe belief that the be t head are yet ro come, including the" igma."

The Academy of Motion Picture Art and cien e ha honored Guido artoni with a cientific and Engineering Award in pril1992, rating that "The work of Dr artoni et the tandard for one of the mo t popular methods of achieving electable and repeatable vi cou drag u ed in the tripod indu try." artoni pA i a family-owned bu ine with it main offi e in Rome Italy. It employ 35 people. De ign and engineering are carried out by Guido artoni, the company' Pre ident, and hi technica l taff. General Management and Financial department management are handled by Guido' daughter Eli abetta and Beatrice. ales Management i carried out by Guido oro. The ompany is the leading supplier in Italy and export in 45 different counrrie in the 5 continent with a market hare of 10% worldwide. In the United tare , artoni U A a corporation ba ed in imi Valley CA and managed by teve Manios Jr, en ure a top cia di rribution and technical follow-up to the artoni product .

The ociety of Operating ameramen pre ent the 1999 Technical Achievement Award to artoni U A and Guido artoni, inventor of arroni Tripod and Fluid Head .

-Eli abetta arroni

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 1999

39

IEVEME T AWARds

19 9

LibRA Ill } -AXis, ElECTRONicAlly STAbilizEd REMOTE I-IEAd back . It wa too ready drainFrom the very beginning, the ing the energy out of shots. And Libra 's development has been it wa noisy and too big. Bedriven by filmmaker demanding side the Wescam (and later the a better tool. For two decades, the enthu ia m and ideas of Spacecam) served this market well. Ron Goodman of camera professional worldwide Spacecam was a respected have been pivotal in shaping this friend who wa taking hi highly ophi ticated camera system to a very high level, platform. which ick felt sure Ron would But in order to understand achieve. What was needed was the story of the Libra, one has to something different: a smaller, tart with it creator, Australian simpler 3-axis platform that ick Phillip . Ii your image of could be used in extreme an inventor from Down Under is dynamic conditions.

Crocodile Dundee ick will not Thus, the Libra II wa di appoint. He's the guy you want with you when your plane born. Stabilization was now achieved by a direct drive has gone down in the Sahara: sy tern which achieved rate not only will he build you anNick Philips, left, and George Nolan , right, hold the en ing by proces ing ound other plane on the spot, but he Tech Award plaques for Libra Ill, presented to them wave . Ii the camera's orientawill probably know of a great

by John Toil ASC. tion was changed by anything place to eat. and mysteries of the film indu try. As Pre ently based in Los Angele , other than operator in pur, it was an outsider, ick immediately noted ick came to the film busine m a detected and corrected. It was quiet the frustration of cameramen and and it was rugged. For the fir t time a roundabout manner. Starting out in director trying to achieve the action 3-axis electronically stabilized remote the '60 a an aircraft engineer for shots they envisioned. The equipment head could be used without regard to Qantas, he got bored with fixing 747 at their disposal seemed antiquated. and headed to Papua New Guinea. shock, together with whatever degree of stabilization the operator wished.

There he ran a jungle helicopter station His imagination fired, he committed himse!I to applying hi broad engineer- This new concept was not wasted on in support of oil and timber operations. ing talent to creating a new kind of Far from the nearest parts shop, ick Ridley Scott, who requested the Libra advanced remote head. This took the came to rely on hi own initiative to ll ro be detuned for White Squall ro form of the Libra I, used on icholas keep hi fleet of two dozen mi treated better match hi handheld footage.

Roeg's Castaway in the early '80 .

Eliminating the inertial systems u ed in chopper airborne. Life in the triple Instead of using gyros directly to canopy jungle went on for almost ten the conventional approach removed achieve stabilization, ick rea oned year . Then, after a brief stopover in the noise associated with them, thu that electronic rate- en ing and Singapore he found hi way to England, allowing stabilized sync sound shootmicroprocessing couJd achieve similar where he re umed work in the helicoping for the first time. results in a turdier and much lighter ter indu try. As luck would have it, he There was only one Libra II, and it package. Rather than using gyros upplied helicopter upport for The was kept bu yon features and comdirectly to create inertia, he used them Spy Who Loved Me and decided the mercials. The rig al o had a reguJar to measure a change in direction and film bu iness was his new destiny. booking with Harvey Harrison on the compensated with motors. That meant ick freely acknowledges the help Camel Trophy, which really allowed it they didn ' t have to stabilize anything and encouragement of Harvey to shine. Demonstrating a prodigiou directly, and so could be much lighter.

Harrison (later to become chairman of ability to endure arduou workout It worked well and delivered high the B C) a a friend and mentor who over rough terrain, an ea e of operaperformance, but there were drawchooled him in the trange cu toms tion, ruggedness, and simple mainte

40

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 1999

EC

icAL Acl-liEVEME

nance the Libra urvived the jungle of Guyana, Brazil and Borneo. o other y tern would have with rood the tropical downpour the non exi tent road and con rant phy ical abu e. Nick loved every moment of it.

But yet more wa being demanded of the head. Though it wa originally operated with a joy ti k, wheel were now added leading to more acceptance on the et. While working with Paul Laufer on high profile commercial project ar und the world, there wa di u i n ab ut what the Libra I1 lacked. However impre ive it already wa , Laufer wanted a head that could "do it a ll. " ick went back to work and the Libra III wa the re ult.

Aided o n the electronic by Dan Gi llham at hepperton tudio , ick created a 3-a i head u ing thee perti e of a li fetime and the late t technology. It differ primarily from the Libra II in that it i olid tate, and ha two eparate control y rem . The fir t control y tern i a completely updated ver ion of the 3-axi tabilization loop, delivering a greatly improved performan e profile. A econd (a nd entirely independent) digital y rem a llow the head to be u ed for non- tabilized application , up to and including motion ontrol. Ea h of the e y tern i able to back the rher up for increa ed reliability. Even more impre ively, each axi can be ele ted individually. Fore ample, pan a lone an be readied to eliminate backpan on a long rane arm. Or, on a amera car roll and tilt can be tabilized, leaving pan non-gyroed for a POV hot (otherwi e when going around a orner, the camera wou ld point traight ahead). The e choice a re not po ible with any other head. In addition, the head i weatherproof and give ea ier acce to the ca mera. ameramen appreciated the freedom to u e their choice of ca mera and len in a tabilized y rem, and from it intr duction the Libra III wa embraced by the indu try. The initial three head went traight off the ben h onto major production :a te tament to

T

AwARds 999

the integrity and correctne of the de ign. The fir twa Batman and Robin where 2nd unit director Peter MacDonald u ed it on Earl Wiggin flying crane. Nick him elf took the next one onto Contact for Don Burge or hy of new technology Don u ed it on the Lennyarm the upertechno and ju t about everything el e he could think of. The third went onto The Borrowers where, interlinked with the Milo y tern the Libra di tingui hed it elf in motion control.

The aim of the new y tern wa to be even more operator friendly ine pen ive to hip and able to achieve tabilized image with len e up to lOOmm (a lthough many cameramen happily pu h pa t this envelope). Nick ha alway had the design philo ophy that he wa creating 'an arti t' paintbru h," and hi mo t ati fying feedback ha been from operator raving about the ' fee l. " The re pon e and

power of the motor has made beli ever of operator from the m ment their hand touched the wheel . At home on cra ne (u ed to great effect on the Akela by John Toll on The Thin Red Line), marine application (Amistad, aving Private Ryan) and now helicopter ( AA approved in the UK) thi lightweight y tern i equally at home doing table top or on the open ocean.

The indu try now ha a multi -purp e

tool that can be u ed in a variety of role on the arne h t, even on the arne day.

Actually going out on pr duction ha given ick fir thand knowledge of what i needed and what i not. ameramen-DP and operator -are not a hy breed and Nick ha alway valued their feedback. He i at pre ent working on an upgraded control ystem which he in i t i not a new model. Rather, all head will be brought up to thi new tandard. He now feel that the original Libra Ill wa a little too complex and tricky to tune. The wide variety of rane and their differing qualirie , al affected the performance of the y tern. To en ure more con i tent re ult he ha implified etup and eliminated option that no one eemed to need ruse. The enhancement include a more rugged and impler unit with a new controller.

He ha al o achieved a lower power requirement which i alway an i ue for any camera equipment when running on battery power. The Libra Ill i quite beautiful to I k at and if form follow function thi head i an arti tic a well as a technical a hievement.

Libra ill are rented in Lo Angele

by Geo Film Group who introduced the y tern in the U.. and ick peak glowingly of the kill and enthu ia m with whi h George olan ha upported the product. A you might e p ct given i k' hi tor Libra are al o ava ilable out of London and ydn ey. More worldwide I arion are oon to follow. complete y rem including Pre t n mi rowave Fl+Z, alway goe out with a technician. the camera depa rtment hould have no addition to their already high workload.

With the Libra Ill being the ucce that it i , imitator are ure to emerge. But it i a tough act t follow.

A tandard ha been et, and it will be no urpri e to find that the Libra III i the head of choice for the fore eeable future. Well done, i k.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

1999

41

TEci-INicAL Acl-liEVEMENT AwARds 1999 TEci-INocRANE

TELEscopiNG INTo TI-lE FuTURE Germa n native Horst Burbulla's pas ion to become a filmmaker prompted him to construct his first remote-head crane for a film he wa making in the early '80 . "There was a lot of camera movement in the film and I wanted a sort of a norkel-type crane to come in through an open ceiling and into a room," Burbulla relates. "So we built a fairly imple crane with a remote head. I continued developing the crane and by 1983 or '84, we built the fir t tele coping Horst Bu rbulla, left, and Simon Jayes, right, hold the crane, which wa pulled out Tech Award plaques forT echnocrane, presented to by hand and locked in them by Vilmos Zsigmond ASC. po ition. It wa n' t a true production that ha gained the appremoving tele copic crane, it wa more of a traditional fixed-length crane ciation of filmmaker world-wide and has inspired the Society of Operating which could be adjusted much easier and quicker."

Cameramen to recognize with its 1999 He took his idea to Technovi ion Technical Achievement Award the inventor Horst Burbulla and the man in London, who commissioned him to who introduced it to the United States, build several cranes for the company Simon ]ayes of Technocrane Ltd to distribute. In 1984 the first motorized Technocrane was unveiled at the Van Nuy CA. Photokina exhibition in Frankfurt.

Owner/operator Jaye originally Over the next several years, Burbulla worked for Technovision in London during the development and assembly built five more unit for the company of the very first Technocranes. "My before leaving to form Technocrane, which he now bases in Bonn, Germany cUirent crane technician, Derlin while manufacturing cranes at his Brynford-Jones and I ran the crane department at Technovi ion, " recounts facilities in the Czech Republic. " In '92 or '93, ' Burbulla state , ]ayes. "When I told the company that I "we developed the Super Technocrane wanted to buy a crane for myself, a which is, in principal, no different than condition of the ale wa that I had to the older Technocranes. However, the leave Europe. Luckily, however, that uper Technocrane can move 40 or 50 was the best favor anyone has ever percent faster, i 10 feet longer and is done for me. I cho e to move to Lo ignificantly more rigid than the origiAngele , not only because of the nal cranes. ' amount of film production there, but It is the Technocrane's unparalleled also because I did have a reasonable amount of contacts that I could call on flexibility and ver atility in aiding film

42

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 1999

if I rea lly needed to. At the time when I brought the Technocrane over, it wa a sort of heyday in music video , and mo t of the companie in LA had al o used the crane in London where I had worked with them. So my fir t real push was to those companies that had used it in England.

"The fir t person to u e the crane here was Robert Brinkman who ha been a consistent user of the crane ever since. After that initial job I then went down to the set of The Doors and howed the crane to Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson. They ended up keeping the crane on for the rest of the picture. After that, the crane was off and running. ' The crane's ability to telescope-to change it arm length silently within a move by internally rebalancing its counter-weights-allows the device to perform shots previously irnpo ible or ignificantly more difficult. Additionally, with thi customizable arm-length option, the crane allow increased facility and efficiency in it usage, even if utilized at a fixed length for a given hot. "A crane is a very essential tool in a film and can help to make a picture more fluid or larger in scope," tares BUibulla. "With a normal fixed-length crane, you can only swing the arm on a radius. That can Linut the movements or make them a little awkward to execute. Of coUI e you can move the base on a wheeled support, but by having the telescoping option, it greatly simplifies the work of the cameraman and the crew. You can, for instance, tele cope over table or through a window."

"You can do a track-shot without having to lay track " agree Jayes. "If

TEci-INicAL Acl-liEVEME you have a et that ha a lot of fixtu re or pillar where it i n't ea y to lay track, you can ti ll pull off a tracking hot. Additionally even if you do have track, you can rra k in a epara re directi n and achieve a hot that a fixed length crane definite! cannot get. You can tele ope in and out a lot fa ter than you auld ever dolly a fixed-length crane backward and forward-just due to the weight of th crane. I o dollying a huge crane i not very pre i e. ' However, I think the bigge t benefit i actually the crane' fie ibility and ability to ave production time. lot of time we won't actually rele cope during a hot but you can et up a hot o much quicker. You an adju t the crane ro the exact length that you want.

With a fixed length or modular crane, if you want to change the length you have to break the rane down and build it again . ven though people have gotten very fa tat changing their crane over, it till i u ually a matter of 20 to 40 minute a oppo ed to a matter of econd . The ability to wheel aTe hn rane onto a et and then et the length de ired, even if y u leave it at a fixed length during the actual hot i very friendly for the director and cinematographer and fa t f r the pr du er. AI o, becau e you can pack the crane up mall, it' logi tically much ea ier to move around a et, a oppo ed to a 20 or 30 foot crane."

A with any roo!, the utilization of the device i ometime very different from what the de igner intended.

'Everybody eem to develop their own wa of u ing thi equipment," Burbulla ugge t . "In Germany for in tance, we have a I t of talk how where in tead of having i or even cameras, they have ju tone on a Technocrane which they u e ro move to everal different area n the et. On the other hand, we al o have people coming up with orne pretty complicated move for feature and commercial . o I think the u er develop their own tyle for each vi ual application. You ee a imilar u age with the teadicam 1M for instance.

Fifteen year ago, the teadicam wa

T

AwARds 999

ju t a tool for fea tu re fi lms, but now it' u ed in a very broad way on many different kind of project . ' "There are a lot of people out there now who have experience with the rane and know how to be t u e it," add ]aye . " orne of that i due to the fact that the rane work imilarly to a normal crane. There' a gear head controller for the operator, the dolly-grip wing the crane a he would any crane.

The only different job, that of controlling the tele opic movement of the crane, is u ually performed by the crane technician that come with the Technocrane and who i incidentally probably the most experienced individual to do that job anyway. nother rea on i that remote-head crane in general-be it fixed length or notare taking over from ride-on crane .

I think that i becau e the remote head are getting better and more tru tworthy in term of the quality of move and not breaking down, a well a for the fir t time the video tap can produce good enough image quality to be able to remove the operator from the eyepiece. Thi make for afer filmmaking. AI you can move a remote head crane around a lot quicker than a ride-on crane. You can point traight down or hang it over a cliff without fear of omeone falling off. " ow when you combine the Technocrane with other piece of equipment uch a a upernova," ]aye e pand , 'you can get orne really pectacular hot . " Jaye ha done a ignificant amount

of hot-rodding to hi crane a well.

Wi th cu romization performed on virtua lly every component of hi y tern ]aye ha made hi crane quieter fa ter and more ver atile than when he fir t brought it over from London. 'I'm alway looking for improvement . We've put the Libra head on the end for orne camera car work and I ve done orne cu tom modification to be able to put the Kenworthy norkel y tern on the crane a well. There wa orne amazing work in True Lies, for in ranee, where we hung the Techn rane from a contrucrion crane on top of a ky craper for the film Harrier jet equence . By doing o, we allowed a large range of movement-not only panning and tilting, but by being able to tele cope in and out-which enabled u to really get around the plane in a e tremely precariou ituation."

With ver a d cade of u age in the indu try now the Technocrane ha e tabli hed a comfortable fo ting and i rapidly gaining more day-to-day u e, a oppo ed to the toy-du-jour. I think the telescopic crane ha found its place, ' ay ]aye . ' I am a great believer in u ing the right tool for the right job.

Even if the crane i on the et it's rare for the rane to come in and replace a dolly for a dolly hot. And no matter how good video tap are, being an operator my elf, I prefer to look through the len . But if the rane ha ju t completed a hot, and the next hot i a imple dolly move 99 percent of the time we will end up doing the dollytype shot . However I have aid quite often that we hould perhap not u e the crane for a particular hot, e pecially if the hot i , fore ample a critical product hot on a commercial, where you end up locking the crane off with gobo arm and ratchet trap ju t to keep it till for three hour !

'The Te hnocrane i great becau e it keep the option open. It' not nece arily de igned to be the be-a ll and end-all. It ju tenable more compie hot to be made ea ier a well a helping make the unknown po ible." hri topher Prob t

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 1999

43

TI-lE AT TliE

PRESENTERS SOC's 11 Tli ANNUAL

LifETiME AcliiEVEMENT AwARds BANQUET

UNCE BiLLiTZER SOC {photo p.46) After graduating from San Francisco State Co llege with a degree in film production, Lance Billitzer SOC wound his way into the bu ine via the low budget independent feature route. Working for ew World and Crown International Pictures, he wa a grip, electrician and transportation captain before becoming an assistant cameraman.

His fir t union jobs were as econd camera a i tant on the erie How the West Was Won and The Bad News Bears. Lance moved up to first camera as i tant on Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. A one-day call on Cheers turned into a 15-year career working with Jim Burrow .

Lance was promoted to operator his third eason on Cheers, and continue at Paramount on Frasier and CBS on Caroline in the City. His work has been een on Mad About You, Major Dad, and Ned and Stacey.

~-~

RAy STELLA SOC {photop.46)) tarting as a till Photographer while attending L.A. ity College, in 1972 Ray Stella became an Assistant Cameraman for Dean Cundey A C. Since then they have worked together on over 35 film . Ray was the camera operator for Dean on even John Carpenter films, five films for Robert Zemekis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Back to the Future I, ll, & III and Death Becomes Her), Hook and jurassic Park for Steven Spielberg and Apollo 13 for Ron Howard.

Ray ha worked with DP other than Dean, operating camera for Janusz Kaminski on Schindler's List. He has also operated Panaglide and Steadicam on most of his film . In addition he has been the 2"d Unit DP on uch film a Flintstones, Casper Braveheart, and Apollo 13. Ray moved up to Director of Photography in 1996.

~-~

RussELL CARpENTER Asc (p.47) Ru ell Carpenter's first credit as cinematographer were in 1988, for Lady in White, tarring Lukas Haas; Critters 2: The Main Course; and The Wizard of Speed and Time. He oon moved to action film such as Lionheart and Death Warrant, both 1990, both starring Claude VanDamme.

44

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : PRESENTERS

Other action and horror films he DP'ed are The Lawnmower Man (1992), Hard Target (1993), Pet Sematery II (1993), True Lies (1994), Terminator 2: 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996), and The Negotiator (1998).

The Negotiator proved to be his biggest lighting challenge: 20 blocks of the Chicago riverfront had to be lighted for an e tablishing shot. All avai lable lighting resource in the Chicago area were not enough.

Two of Carpenter's non-genre films are The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) and of cour e Titanic (1997), w hich earned him the Academy Award for Cinematography.

~- ~

STAN FREbERG {photo p.47) Stan Freberg burst onto the national cene in 1950 with john and Marsha, his take-off on soap operas. Other hit include The Great Pretender and Heartbreak Hotel, his lampoon of Elvis. Hi biggest hit came when he zoomed in on the TV cop drama and Jack Webb's hit how Dragnet.

His twin-sided spoof became the fastest rising hit in the history of the music busines . According to RLAA figure one million record old in the fir t three week .

Freberg went on radio with his own how in 1957, for which he won a Grammy. He moved into TV with the creation of Time for Beany and won three Emmys. He exploded into adverti ing by introducing humor in TV and radio commercials and subsequently earned 21 Clio , 18 international broadcast award and medal at the Canne and Venice Film Festivals. Mr Freberg is one of the founders of the a tiona I Academy of Recording Art and Science .

~- ~

JANET LEiGI-I

(photo p.49)

Janet Leigh's film career began in 1947 with Romance of Rosy Ridge at MGM. She followed that with solid performances in Little Women (1949), The Doctor and the Girl (1950) and Scaramouche (1951). Her well-publicized econd marriage to actor Tony Curti ended in divorce but produced a daughter who ha become famou in her own right: Jamie Lee Curtis.

Leigh's career continued trong after the divorce: she tarred with Frank inatra in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Paul ewman in Harper (1966), followed by her most famous role in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and it legendary "shower scene."

Among her other movies are Touch of Evil and The Vikings (1958), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), One Is a Lonely Number (1972), The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) and Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998).

Televi ion appearances include several TV movie Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969), Murdock's Gang (1973), Murder at the World Series (1977), Mirror, Mirror ( 1979), and In My Sister's Shadow (1997)-and a gue t starring role in Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975).

Jol-IN FiNGER (photo p.4BJ

BRAdfoRd MAy (photop.49J

John Finger tarred in a bakery and wound up over eeing a tavern. a teenager hoveling bread into oven he heard about and then ac epted a job in the title department at the old DeMille tudio in ulver icy. Offered a 7 per week rai e, he moved onto Paramount and eventually went into filming pecial vi ual effect for mo t of the DeMille pectacular in luding Anthony and Cleopatra and King of Kings. John freelanced a an operator in televi ion on The Andy Griffith how, December Bride, The joey Bishop how People are Funny and The Groucho Marx how.

Hi fir t redit a a Dire tor of Photography wa on Gomer Pyle U MC for five ea on . He went back to operating and worked on Hogan's Heroes, The Mary Tyler Moore how, Rhoda, Best of the West and Taxi. And that led to heers where he worked a Director of Photography for eleven year .

Emmy winner Bradford May (Lady Against the Odds) i the fourth generation of hi family to pur ue a career in film production. Beginning a a econd a i rant in the '60 , Brad moved up to cinematographer on imon and imon. Five year later Brad made hi directorial debut on Twilight Zone.

May ha directed two feature film and at lea t 17 TV movie in the pa t ix year . On at lea t 13 of tho e (including the feature ), he erved a both director and cinematographer.

He wa thee cutive producer and director of the 1990 pilot and erie Over My Dead Body.

STEVE MANios BEVERly WAlkER (photo p.48) Beverly Walker cinema activity range from the ew York Film Fe rival and LA' Filme to publicity and production work for noted director uch a oppola Luca P llack, Redford Werner Herzog Wim Wender , Antonioni and the late Fred Zinnemann. he ha been privileged to work with many di tingui hed till photographer :Bruce David on Danny Lyon David Burnett, an oldin previou ociety of Operating ameramen honoree Elliott Mark and Dougla Kirkland and 1999 Wynn Hammer.

Beverly ha al o publi hed article and e ay in Film omment, American Film and ight & ound. During the mid '90 he owned and operated a gallery of fine handcraft called Carolina. urrently he i director of development for Bookworm, a how about literature aired on ationa l Public Radio.

Jol-IN Toll ASC (photo p.32) John Toll A ha photographed feature films and TV commercial ince becoming a DP in 1989. He won two con e utive A ademy Award for Be t inematography: Legends of the Fall {1994) and Braveheart (1995). For Braveheart heal o won the American ociety of Cinematographer Award and the British cademy Award (B IT ) for be t cinematography. Prior to hi move to DP John worked a camera operator on over twenty feature many televi ion film and commercial with uch di tingui hed cameramen a onrad Hall Allan Daviau Jordan ronenweth, and John lonzo. Toll erve a a member of the Board of Governor of the American o iety of inematographer .

(photo p.Jo;

teven Manio ha been in the motion picture equipment indu try ince 1957. In 1972 Manio purcha ed and a umed control of Century Preci ion ptic where he per onally directed R&D and the engineering department.

Under hi leader hip entury emerged a a leading manufacturer and upplier of pecialized len e optical device and related accessorie . Hi award winning erie 2000 anon conversions including the 150-600mm zoom len was but one of hi many accompli hment .

Mr Manio old entury Preci ion Optic to Tin ley Laboratorie in '93. He currently i pre idem of to-Man Inc, a distributor of film and video product .

VilMOS ZsiGMONd ASC (p.34J Vi lmos Zsigmond A graduated from the tate Univer icy of Theatre and Motion Picture in Budape t and worked a a Director of Photography in Hungary. During the 1956 political upheaval he hot the documentary footage that he muggled out of the country when he e caped to Vienna. The film wa later aired worldwide and thu began his illu triou career.

Vilmo ha Academy Award nomination for The Deerhunter and The River and a tatuette for hi work a Director of Photography on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Heal o received a BAITA ward for The Deerhunter. In 1971, he competed again t him elf for the BAITA Award receiving three of a po ible four n ruination . The e were for Me abe and Mrs. Miller, Images and Deliverance. Hi vi ual ryle for the HBO pecial talin won Vilmo the American inematographer Award for Be t Televi ion pecial, and an Emmy.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : PRESENTERS

45

ames Burrows i one of television's most respected and honored creative talent . Over his distingui hed career, Burrows has been the recipient of nine Emmy , three Directors Guild of America Awards and the 1996 American Comedy Award ' Creative Achievement Award. After receiving his 14th nomination for a Director's Guild of America Award in 1998, Mr. Burrows is second only to George Schaefer for all-time honors.

Burrow ' ucce as the director of television pilot i legendary. The current fall schedule boasts two of hi 1998 effort , Will and Grace and Jesse. ln addition to these how , the current primetime chedule feature even other show - Caroline in the City Dharma and Greg, Frasier, Friends, NetvsRadio, Jrd Rock from the Sun, and Veronica's Closet- who e pilot episodes Burrows directed. Additionally, Caroline in the City and Will and Grace are produced by his company, 3 Sister Entertainment.

Burrows is probably be t known as co-creator, executive producer and director of the critically acclaimed erie , Cheers. The hit show, which aired for 11 sea on , i the mo t nominated series in the Television Academy' hi rory and i in second place for mo t Emmys received . Burrows ha al o received numerous awards for his work on Frasier, Wings, Night Court, and Dear john. For the fir t time in 25 year he returned to the stage this year by directing the BURROWS continued on page 52

J

Lance Billitzer SOC, right, presented to James Burrows.

GOVERNORS' AWARd JAMES BuRRows

.MEAC iEVEMENT ean Cundey ASC grew up in Alhambra on the out kirt of Los Angeles. One of his hobbies in elementary chool was building miniature ets and creating imaginary worlds filled with make believe actOrs and actres e .

In high chool, he discovered American Cinematographer magazine and became an avid fan. undey enrolled at UCLA, where he studied architecture and cinema. James Wong Howe ASC was teaching cinematography while he wa preparing to shoot The Molly Maguires. That' when undey started thinking about becoming a cinematOgrapher.

After graduation Cundey crambled for everal years doing pickup hot and insert , and a i ring editors who were cutting low-budget features.

He craped together enough money to outfit a sma ll van with a camera, orne lense and lighting equipment.

He rented the van to low-budget film producer , and he wa u ually part of the package. At first, he worked as a gaffer or technician.

Cundey finally got a chance to hoot when a cinematOgrapher cheduled tO work on a film canceled at the last moment.

Initially Cundey worked on horror genre flicks with minu cule budget . His breakthrough fi lm wa Halloween, CUNDEl' continued on page 52

D

46

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

AwA ds 999

PREsidENT's AwARd

DEAN CuNdEy, ASC

H

Russell Carpenter ASC presented to Howard Block SOC.

HowARd Block, soc FiLM CAMERA OpERATOR

Lif

ME

Ac

iEVEMENT

ayne Orr' first tilt with a camera came while working at WEW -TV in leveland while a enior at Kent State. H e was you ng and the B&W turret len camera was old, but it was still able to teach him focal length depth of field and len aperture. He graduated in 1965 married and went we t to ABC-TV and a tint a a cameraman.

He moved to CB -TV and became only the second cameraman to be hired by them in twenty-five year . Wayne did ju t about everything at Televi ion City: variety and drama port hand-held color and crane. Heal o entered the' velvet rut," o he left and joined KCET. Public Broadcasting wa fun until the fund withered. Wayne left, for the mall but growing field of freelance. Freelancing culminated two year later with the Ben Vereen Special. Thi how went up against the network and won most of the Emmys including best camera work. Thi Emmy was the first of five won by Wayne. The Ia twa in 1997 for Beauty and the Beast on Ice. Mot of Wayne' work ha been pecial and mo t of the pecials were mu icals and mo t of the special had major star such as treisand, Sinatra, and Barishnykov.

High on the list of Wayne' favorite a signment wa the Los Angele Olympic . Wayne wa as igned to anumber of event and wa able to ee Lougani dive and the American wre ding team win the gold. He fought his way ORR continued on page 53

W

award Block one of the founding fathers of the Society of Operating Cameramen ha given un tintingly of hi time and energy to build and su tain thi ociety. He was Member hip hairman from the beginning of 0 and continued in that role for many year . For the pa t three year he ha been Chairman of the Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet Committee. It is largel y due to his efforts that our pecial event are o thoroughly enjoyed by those attending.

Howie ha been active in all the event of the ociety over the pa t fifteen year , from the picnics to helping man the booth at how Biz Expo in Lo Angele .

Hi effortS go beyond the cope of So iety activitie .

Howie's varied intere t have always included consideration for hi fellow man.

He ha been an active leader in the Boy cout of America for nearly sixty year and now erve on the ouncil Exploring committee. For the pa t ixteen year , he has been involved in fundrai ing for the City of Hope.

And he currently erve a a Tru tee for the International Cinematographer Guild.

Howie served in the Coa t Guard during WWII and is a member of the Coa t Guard Combat Veterans A ociation, the WWII Patrol Craft ailor A ociation and the Veteran of Foreign War .

Following the war, he received an Associate in Arts BLOCK continued on page 52

AwARds 1999

WAYNE ORR,

soc

VidEO CAMERA OpERATOR

Stan Freberg, left, presented the Cammy to Wayne Orr.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

47

G

ary-Oiyn: Arm trong was born in Fort Scott, Kansa , on of Alice-Catt: Arm trong, authoreditor-publi her. Her great-aunt was CarrieChapman: Catt one of four women uffrage leader winning women's right to vote.

Moving to California at age ix, Gary started tap dancing at the age of seven. By age nine he tarred working in motion pictures, in numerous TV kit and show at Station W6XAO, the fir t TV station in Los Angele . At that time there were about 300 TV ets in the LA area. In 1947, Gary won the national All-American Boy Conte tat the Hollywood Bowl. He performed in half a dozen plays on the main stage at the Pasadena Playhouse between 1946 and 1948 and in 1946 did a radio show, The Smith Family on KGIL for about a year.

He started working with hi mother, Alice-Catt: Arm trong, in her publi hing bu ine in 1948. For 22 year Gary worked as assistant ed itor of Who's Who in

Los Angeles County, Who s Who in California, Executive Who's Who, and Who's Who- Dining and Lodging on the North American Continent. amera work came to Gary in 1965, when he got hi 30 days with Columbia Pictures thanks to a show called The Monkees. At 20th-Century Fox, Gary worked on Felony Squad, Land of the Giants and Tora Tora, Tora. He then A RMSTRONG continued on page 52

John Finger, left, presented to Gary-Olin: Armstrong.

GARy-OL)'N: ARMSTRONG CAMERA AssisTANT E

M

â&#x20AC;˘

I EVE

E T

W

ynn Hammer say : It wa my good fortune to be trained at The Art Center School. For more than two years during the 1940s, I had the privilege of tudying with some of the greate t photographer of the century-Edward teichen, Ansel Adams, Fred Archer, Man Ray, Eddie Kaminski, George Hoyningen-Huene, Tink Adam , Arthur Felig (Weegee) and Will Connell. Their influence on me is immeasurable.

'In 1945, when the Army beckoned, my Art Center credit helped get me assigned to the Signal Corp. I spent five months on Shemya Island in the Aleutian , taking picture of nearly every bad thing that happened, from drunken brawl to air crashe .

"After marrying in 1948, I moved to ew York to work in the fashion field and hot for magazines such as Town & Country, Good Hou ekeeping and Glamour. I al o provided picture for two books on trees. After I returned to the We t Coast, the L.A. Art Directors Guild cited one of my photos in their annual competition.

"Though I became a member of the International Photographer Guild in 1953 I earned my living hooting main title and theatrical trailers at ational Screen Service- orne of which now play on AMC televi ion. There, too, I worked with exceptional de igner , among them au I Ba on uch films as The Man With the Golden Arm, HAMMER continued on page 51

48

AwAR s1999

WyNN HAMMER

STiLL Pl-loTOGRApi-IER

Beverly Walker presented the Cammy to Wynn Hammer.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

om May-aka " hain aw" Tommy May-i a third generation Hollywood fi lmmaker. on and grand on of grip , Tommy tarred working in film during college ummer . Hi fir t picture were 20,000 Leagues Under The ea and Auntie Mame. ucce ive ummer found him working on The FBI tory The Music Man, and West ide tory. After college he tarred working on the con truction crew at Warner Bro , where he learned to u e the Bay City crane moving large et piece . Technique for rigging and hoi ring the e enormou objects would later become invaluable in rigging camera and per onnel.

In 1962, Key Grip, John Live ay took Tommy out of hi tudio erring to work on George teven' inerama epic The Greatest tory Ever Told. For a year they worked on that picture in the Arizona heat. His fonde t memory i that "Mr teven let u play football at lunch. The crew ver u the University of Arizona football team, who were till in Apo tie wardrobe. Boy that wa fun.

John and Tommy went to work on The Untouchables and The Greatest how on Earth with Jack Palance, televi ion' fir t color erie . Hi fir t how a Key Grip wa Get Smart, with Don Adam from 1964 to 1967. That led him to keying feature . Friend Art Brooker wa double booked and recommended Tommy to Bill Fraker for Paint Your MAY continued on page 53

Nephew Bradford May, right, presented Tom's Cammy.

ToM MAy

MobiLE CAMERA PLATfORM OpERATOR

fETiME

P

AwARds 999 PJiil LATJiRop

cli.EVEM NT

hil Lathrop' mother worked a a negative cutter at a film lab at Univer al tudio . He had vivid memorie of weekend vi it to the tudio to watch movie being made. "I remember thinking that making movie mu t be a great way to pend your life,' he aid.

"But I never thought that wa po ible for me."

After high hool Lathrop wa hired a a film loader at Univer al tudio . He loaded magazine at night and watched crew hoot during the day. Lathrop worked a an a i rant cameraman and operator for orne 20 year with many of Hollywood' legendary cinematographer , including A member Joe Valentine, Lucien Ballard and Ru ell Metty.

Touch of Evil, directed by Or on Welle wa one of Lathrop Ia t film a amera Operator. The filmmaking, the camera angle the famou 3 1/2 minute opening hot the cri p, hadowy black-and-white cinematography, and o on have be orne the hallmark of film hi tory for pulp/ detective thriller ever ince.

The Perfect Furlough wa Lathrop's fir t feature as cinematographer. It wa a inema cope film, directed by Blake Edward and tarring Tony urri and Janet Leigh.

In 1959, Lathrop collab rated with Edward again, thi time on Peter Gunn an innovative black & white televi ion how that combined high production value with LATHROP continued on page 51

HisToRicAL Sl-toT

Janet Leigh, left, presented the Cammy posthumously to Phil Lathrop. His widow Betty accepted it for him.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

49

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 1997 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award

OATASINATASe

J.L.Fisher Model 11 Dolly

Motion Picture an d Television Equipment For a complete catalog or leasing information, contact us at: 1000 Isabel Street Burbank CA 91506 tel : 818 846 8366 fax: 818 846 8699 email: JLFisher@worldnet.att.net web: www.jlfisher.com

HAMMER continued from page 49

Phil Lothrop, left, with Jack Lemmon, for right, on the set of

Prisoner of Second Avenue

LATHROP continued from page 49

The 7 Year Itch and The Pride and the Passion. Moving over to Pacific Title & Art rudio in 1959, I got deeper into title work with film like My Fair Lady and The Music Man. When thi part of the indu try hifted over ea I returned to my fir t love, taking picture .

"For the next 25 year I worked on more than 40 feature and countle televi ion production . I loved the challenge of picking our or creating a photographic ituation to fit the story. Working with live people wa exciting but unlike white letter on a black card, they had their own prerogative and the power to enforce them. I learned to roll with the punche .

'During thi time I wa al o the Wrigley ompany' official photographer of atalina I land. My work appeared in countle brochure and i today di played at the Vi itor Center in Avalon. Other picture have been publi hed in numerou magazine , in luding U. . amera Popular Photography, Photography Annual and TV Guide."

The 0 recognize Wynn Hammer for the excellence of hi till phorography during a lengthy career in the indu try.

a di rinctive mu ical core by Henry Mancini. In 1961, Lathrop filmed Lonely Are the Brave. The bla k & white movie wa among the first in the 2.35:1 a peer ratio.

Then, in a two year pan Lathrop filmed Experiment in Terror Days of Wine and Roses and The Pink Panther, all directed by Blake Edward .

Over the cour e of his varied career Lathrop filmed orne 65 theatrical feature , working with orne of the indu try bigge t name , including Or on Welle , Francis Ford oppola, am Peckinpah, ydney Palla k orman Jewi on and John Boorman. He earned ar nomination for The Americanization of Emily and Earthquake.

Other notable credit include Cincinnati Kid, Point Blank Finian's Rainbow, The Illustrated Man, They hoot Horses Don't They?, Mame, Portnoy's Complaint and Killer Elite.

During the 1980 , Lathrop filmed eight televi ion movie that earned him five Emmy nomination and two A Ughtweigh~ Gitzo G1380 sertes Pro Video Ruide Heads Award . He won Emmy for Malice in are now available, factory balanced, for afull range of today's lightweight ENG/EFP; portable digital; and new-generation DV Wonderland and Christmas now with cameras weighing from 2.2to 22 lbs.They feature separate pan/tiH nomination for Celebrity Picking Up the variable drag controls with locks for smooth, repeatably accurate Pieces and Little Girl Lost. movements. Asliding platform with buiH-in safety lock facilitates Ro Maell had thi to ay about quick camera mounting, balancing and dismounting. And, all Lathrop with whom he worked a a G1380 sertes heads are designed with a75mm leveling base, perfect for use with our new G1337 Aluminum Alloy or gaffer: " Phil Lathrop taught me more ultra-lightweight G1338 Carbon Rber Video Trtpods. about being a cinematographer and a For more information, see your dealer, gentleman than anyone." contact us or visit our web site.

The ociety of Operating ameramen pre ent the Lifetime chievement ward for a noted Hi torical hot to Philip H Lathrop in recognition of hi extraordi565 East Cles:eniAveooe, Ramsey, NJ 07446·0500 (201)818-9500 • Fax: (201)81S.9m nary work a a camera operator on emat ~.IXIITl • web: WIWI.llogerciiOO.IXIITl Touch of Evil.

ARIVOLUTIDN IN PORTABILITY & PIRfDRMANCI

BogenPOOID~

bogen

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

51

CUNDEY continued from page 46

BURROWS contillued from page 46

directed by John Carpenter. It led to opportunities to hoot Escape from New York, Romancing the Stone and Big Business.

Cundey earned an Oscar nomination for hi work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He earned ASC Outstanding Achievement Award nominations for Hook (1992) and Apollo 13 (1995). Other major credits include Jurassic Park, the Back to the Future trilogy, Death Becomes Her, The Flintstones and Casper.

The President's Award is given at the discretion of the SOC President and is designed to acknowledge those special individuals who have given unselfishly of themselves thereby benefiting others. Dean Cundey devotes a great deal of time to the SOC, lecturing at crane seminars, pre enting awards at banquets, and more. This year both the SOC President who elected him-Stan McClain-and the SOC President who presented the award-David Robman-are proud to recognize Dean Cundey's dedicated work, for both the Society and his fellow man, with this well-de erved award.

highly acclaimed Man Who Came to Dinner at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, starring John Mahoney.

The SOC Governors Award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions and/or achievement of an individua l who has demonstrated dedicated, consistent and en lightened service and leadership for a substantial length of time, in the film or video media .

The Board of Governors is proud to present its prestigious Governors Award to one who has contributed o much to the indu try he serves.

~-~ BLOCK continued from page 47 degree from the New Institute for Film in ew York. Then he began working in the film industry on such films as On the Waterfront, Baby Doll, Ziegfeld, Bye Bye Braverman and numerous others.

When he brought his family to Hollywood, he continued to be in demand, shooting such TV fare as The Rockford Files, Maverick, Baretta, The Hulk and Moonlighting among others.

The Society i proud of member Howard Block' accomplishments and respectfully present the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award for Film Camera Operator to our Howie.

ARMSTRONG continued from page 48 moved to Dove Films, working with Haskell Wexler filming commercials.

After Dove, Gary worked at Universal Studios on It Happened One Christmas, Operation Petticoat, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Gallactica, the TV ver ion of MacArthur, Sword of Justice, Story of Esther, Cliffhangers, Voyagers and Air Wolf At Warner Bros he worked on Scarecrow and Mrs. King; at Disney on Justin Morgan Had a Horse (TV) and Pete's Dragon (fea ture). Gary worked with Ben Colman on Lucan and Mirror, Mirror and with Gerry Finnerman ASC on Moonlighting; the Woody Harrelson film Doc Hollywood and Death Wish II with Charles Bronson.

Gary entered the sitcom arena in 1985 including Dear john, Duet, My Sister Sam, Madman of the People and Working. Gary found two happy homes, being on Cheers for eight years and Frasier for the last ix years at Paramount Pictures.

He also worked on sitcom TV pilots including Roc, Cafe Americain, Down Home, Suddenly Susan, Pursuit of Happiness, Caroline in the City Friends, Hudson Street, The Preston Episodes, Almost Perfect, Style and Substance, Movie Stars and Naked Truth.

Gary wa one of the first Associate member to join SOC. He served on the Local 659 Constitution & By-laws Comrruttee, on theE-Board for 12 years and wa Secretary of Local 659.

The Society i proud to honor thi very talented member Gary-Oiyn: Ann trong, recipient of the 1999 Lifetime Achjevement Award for Camera Assistant.

52

Howard Block

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

MAY continued from page 49

ORR

continued from page 47 Wagon. Tommy went on with Bill to do Monte Walsh a to the podium and got a hot of the tear on the American film he remember mo t for a 400-foor dolly shot down gold medal winner of the eros country bike race while the the length of the we tern town.

Anthem wa being played.

It wa Art and Tommy who developed the use of Thi career of specials made Wayne a world traveler. " peed rail" for rigging camera . The lightweight camera Modena, Italy for the Pavarotti pecial; Tahiti and Moorea developed in the 1960' could now be u ed where camera for Bob Hope pecial 路 Pari Finland and Nova coria with had never gone before. To quote Tommy 'I've put a Anne Munay路 anne for the Film Fe rival路 airo for camera everywhere but on a dog or a cat."

Aladdin on lee; London, Bru el the Dominican Republic Tommy' kill oon had him in demand by and a a de ampo with Sinatra and amana and Heart; Hollywood' top cameramen and director . He traveled and Provo Utah for the Donny and Marie how. around the world with John Frankenheimer and Peter or a exotic but exciting to work were trip to WashHyam . He worked with Harry cradling Jr for eighteen ington, D and Presidential gala tarring with Reagan' in year . Blake Edward made ure Tommy wa part of the 1981 the Kennedy Center Honor and hri tma in Wa hington. crew for .O.B. A Fine Mess The Pink Panther and Blind Date.

A few year ago Wayne di covered the world of de ktop video and non-linear edit y tern . He ha hi own For Peter Hyams Tommy developed a way to put a y rem and Ia t year wa director/cameraman on a proje t Louma rane arm on top of a Chapman Titan crane in the where he did aU the po t video work at home including hi film 2010. ob dy had ever put a crane arm on top of a very fir t matte painting. Heal o wrote hot, and edited a mobile crane and done a hot.

Harry tradling Jr and Tommy were doing Damnation commercial. o, it' Wayne Orr cameraman, editor, writer proAlley and the cript called for POV and reaction hot of a ducer director and Lifetime Achievement Award winner: motorcycle rider. ince Tommy had been riding motorVideo amera Operator, Wayne Orr. cycle for year and rigging camera on anything that moved, it became merely an exerci e of mile and ocket wrenche .

On outhern Comfort, the camera needed to be placed in a lake and floated for a hot fo llowing two men after their boat ap ize . What to do?

Tommy devi ed a rig made of truck inner tube peed rail and powered by an electric ba boat trolling motor.

The ' Aqua Dolly."

For a commercial in hicago, the director wanted to drop a camera 12 rorie from the roof of a building to imulate the fall of a can of ice tea in real rime. Tommy used a wire able Award-winning Aurasoft softlights feature a de ender rig to drop the camera from unique reftector design utilizing thousands of roof level to ju t ix feet from the micro-bubble-mirrors of varying sizes, arranged idewalk. They did four take afely in acomputer-designed pattern, that thoroughly and ucce fully. mix and soften the light without loss off-stop. fter forty-four years in the bu iThe resutt is incredibly smooth, efficient output tha~ unlike "ftat" softlights, maintains realistic ne , Tommy really ha n't lowed depth and dramatic presence.Available in down mu h. He i currently working 600 or BOOmm dia. with interchangeable with ick McLean on Veronica 's tungsten or HMIIightsources to 4kw.

Closet and i often out doing 2nd Unit For more information, see your dealer/grip house, contact us or trouble- hooting ituation on or visit our web site. feature . The man nicknamed for hi tendency to remove et wall with a ga aline-powered beaver till love "to play."

Thi well-de erved recognition for lifetime a hievement a one of the be t mobile camera platform operator in the bu ine goe to Tommy May.

IHIN "SOfTLIGHTS" ARIN'T SOfT INOUGH

(!fliT~

by

If1

li li

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

53

From the front lines to the srudio, Philips LDK I00 Series cameras ddiver unbeatable flexibility and superior digital signal processing, for picture performance second to none. All in a future-ready design concept that makes the LDK I00 today's best investment for tomorrow's imaging world.

For the full picture call us at 1-800-962-4287 or visit our web site www.broadcast.phlllps.com

Book Review JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR FILM, VIDEO, & CGI, 5th Edition by john Hora, ASC

B

ill Hine i a man who e brain eem to have been dedicated to the pursuit of categorizing and delineating procedure , proce e and relation hip with extraordinary detail.

With thi fifth edition of his job Descriptions for Film Video & GI: Responsibilities and Duties for the Cinematic raft Categories and Classifications Bill ha gone where no man ha gone before.

For many year I per onally have u ed the original 1 ' edition not only to e plain what it i I think l am uppo ed to be doing, but a l o a an authoritative reference for legal purpo e . Few people looking in from out ide the film bu ine can a rually under tand the collaborative nature of the craft or the individual job re ponibilitie and their pecific function . nd o job Descriptions for Film, Video & GI can be an invaluable tool when working with an attorney or accountant, or dealing with theIR .

The indu try has become much more complex in thi Ia t decade. Thi revi ed and e panded edition of hi cia ic work now cover more than 250 craft in 21 craft categorie , including GI and new computer/ electroni cia ification . A thorough and careful reading of the entire work would erve a a full cour e in the tru rure of the "below-the-line" world of film production with the exception of the bu ine world of accounting and tudio management. lear organizational charts precede ea h category. The chart for the ompurer Graphic Category for example clearly e plain the complex tructure of thi new and developing field. bibliography i provided covering the individual craft categorie .

For tho e who have arrived

IEsci~~lod for

Fl , VIDEO & CGI

.......

-

H...... SOC

through the well- tructured traditional guild y tern thi publication i a welcome refre her cour e with which you can find your elf urpri ed by information that you ju t never knew.

For the many newcomer from either a le s tructured background or from allied field in computer video televi ion broadca t and the re t thi i both a primer and an e entiat reference ource.

For tho e approaching a new career the ' areer Guide' detail the recommended educational requirement and the gl ary erve to familiarize one with the world of ' hop talk" a well a technical term though I would argue with orne given definition uch a tho e of "anamorphic ' and "clutching. ' I wa thrilled to learn the meaning of group loop babble,' a ondition that I thought wa limited to Union meeting . ltogether thi 342 page book i a must-have no matter whether you are an old pro or ju t arriving on the cene.

Video Tripods and Heads For the serious cameraman

IWlefller )W choose llle 3191 VIdeo ,..... with ~loaded spille lips Of llle 3190 with spiked feet, )W'/1 get a ManlloUo l7fpod with a sophlstkated ~ and with llle fNiures that haYe become llle standalll frx today's - - • OUistandlng slret!ltth with double tandem legs • Qulck·actint S~~e-loddllg leg locks • 1()()rrn balllel'eller • Precision machined, /tigll quality castings Mil tlln's • ,., ltud ,.r.ct fot )'011' l'lfiUirlmMis, • 3066 - designed frx cametaS up to 22 /bs., this head offers oulstimlnt tlllSiliJio1SSe value.

• 316 - capable of supporting cametaS up to 35 lbs., this head feallles an adjustable coooterbalance sprint 100/15Crrrn ball and smooth effM/ess opetalion.

• 510 - Nl advanced 3·step drag system, zero free. wlleel setting and a rerum to center variable balance spring adjustment 360" pan and +75" to •7ff tilt control with effoltless statts and stops. l'ki~ 8 lbs. and can handle cameras up to 19/bs. (Model 510) Of 23 lbs. (Model 510 ·10).

With Manfrotto Video Tripods and Heads )W'/1 have llle perfect combination frx llle job )W want to do and all at a price that's amazingly affordable. For mOfe lnfomlation, L____:::::..._---' see )Wr dealer, contact us Of visit our web site.

Bopn Pfroto Colp., 565 East ()es(:efl( Avetxle, Ramsey, NJ 07446-0506 120lJB18-9500 • Fax: (20l)Bl8-9ln • e mal: ~com • web: www.~.com

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BOOK IUVIEW

55

STANDARD

TIME. For 85 years, we've been proving that timing is everything.

So wherever you shoot, you can rely on us for top-notch , around-the-clock service.

Hollywood. London.Toronto.

some

Technical Problems esen

by

e lntrodu tion of

Widescreen rocesses

This series of articles has presented an overview of the various processes and techniques introduced for the creation of widescreen theatrical images. ~

While the effect of the development of these

processes on cinematography and projection has been documented here and elsewhere, scant attention has been given to the problems they created in the areas of photographic effects, editorial, and the laboratory.

~We

will deal with

photographic effects in this installment.

O

bviou ly no change from tandard procedure were involved in pherical film compo ed for rna ked projection or the Super cope/ uper 35 pr ce , e cept for the optical extraction from the cut negative to a queezed printing element in the latter ca e.

By 1953 the u e of optical printer wa tandard for variou type of work requiring the making of a dupe negative (in the late '20 and 30 uch work wa often done on contact printer and even via bipacking in the camera)路 until 1956, when Ea tman introduced the fir t multilayer color intermediate to k yielding a po itive or negative image uch work for color fi lm wa done exclu ively from black-and-white eparation to a pecial internegative rock that had been introduced with Ea tman olor negative in 1950.

Mo t optical printer were actually et up to reproduce the full aperture (perforation-to-perforation ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART

8

57

horizontally) rather than the Academy aperture frame (reduced to retain the arne frame shape while allowing for the addition of an optical track) and required no alteration for anamorphic negatives. Printer heads designed to operate horizontally with the eight perf pull-across were inherent in the designs for both Vi ta Vision and Technirama with optical work in the latter format being done by Technicolor in its various international plants.

Optical printing in 65mm wa not o easily accompli hed. For orne 90 year 35mm negative and intermediates have been provided with Bell & Howell perfs which were designed to work with the regi tration pin in Bell & Howell and Mitchell camera and optical printers and provide the precise registration necessary for composite work in which the various elements can't appear to move in relation to each other. Early optical printers were built around the Bell & Howell 2709 camera, the first to be designed with preci e registration pin .

However, 65mm negative has . always been given Kodak Standard (KS) perfs, like print stock. While orne amazing campo ite work has been done in 65mm, most notably Linwood Dunn ASC's five- and sixway composites for the climax of

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), such work was generally a trial-and-error proce with the best results achieved by doing as much compositing as possible on the original negative, as was done for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 20'h CenturyFox and MGM, the two studios which did the most 65mm work had 65mm printers developed for their optical departments while Dunn's Film Effects of Hollywood did 65mm optical work for other Hollywood studios, Technicolor again doing it for European companies. In the '60s, Pacific Title in Hollywood had a setup for doing titles in 65mm.

An area of campo ite photography in which an immediate problem aro e was the combining of actors photographed on a tage with backgrounds shot on location or in miniature. Since the development of improved techniques for rear projection in the early '30s, thi technique had become standard in the United States.

The ability to use fairly large screens with the three-strip Technicolor process was made possible by Paramount s development of a triple head projector, in which the images from three interlocked prints of the background were superimpo ed on the tran lucent screen to create one bright image.

Preparing to film a scene in Around the World in 80 Days with 65mm cameras.

58

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : W IDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART

8

Cit~;;~C:'oiiE YOU SEE IT WITHOUT GLASSES!

While anamorphic rear projection was no doubt tested in 1953, the poor projection optics of the time coupled with the lo of light through image spread, not to mention the problem of finding three perfectly matched anamorphic projection lenses for use on a triple head projector, caused the industry to continue to work with 35mm full aperture spherical plates, only a horizontal portion of which could be used if the full width of the background wa to be reproduced, as was done in such films as The Robe, How to Marry a Millionaire, etc. The use of longer lenses on both camera and process projector-and ultimately improved optics for both- oon minimized some of these problem , though rear projection in anamorphic films was never satisfying.

Vista Vision was very quickly adopted for rear projection work using horizontally projected plate the horizontal process projectors later becoming the basis of horizontal projectors used briefly in theaters.

Composite work u ing the larger frame background was very successful and Paramount would continue to use Vista Vision for rear projection work even after they had phased out using it for production. Fox reportedly used orne Vista Vision plates on the CinemaScope production The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956), and in the late '60s, during the industry's infatuation with front projection, William Hansard developed a portable front

projection unit which u ed Vi ta Vi ion plate . Although there wa one poor rear projection hot in Around The World in 80 Days u ing a 3 mm pherical plate, it would rarely be u ed on 65mm film and no 65/70mm pro e s projector would be developed until the late '60.

However after MGM became involved in inerama, it u ed a pect of that format to develop a wide reen rear projection y tern which it ailed "laced proce . " Plate would be filmed in Ultra Panavi ion, then opti ally un queezed and plit into three ection printed on tandard 35mm film. The re ultant print

wa u ed include the Ultra Panavi ion production Mutiny on the Bounty, The Greatest tory Ever Told and Khartoum. In 1968 Tom Howard of MGM' Briti h tudio developed a 65mm front proje tion unit apparently only u ed on The Battle of Britain.

The alternative to rear projection wa the u e of traveling matte ornewhat primitive y tern applicable only to black-and-white having been developed in the 20 and ub equently virtually pha ed out by the popularity of rear projection. Improved traveling matte y tern which could be done in olor, particularly the well known blue creen y rem, reappeared in the '40 and ultimately

Rehearsal scene: Director John Ford (center) explains to his players how he wants a scene done in the Civil War era of Metro-Goldwyn-Cinerama's How the West Was Won . â&#x20AC;˘a. They are Carroll Baker as a pioneer mother, and her two sons, George Peppard sitting, and Claude Johnson right; Andy Devine in Civil War uniform watches from behind the huge Cinerama camera.

were u ed in three triple head projector et up horizontally with the frame edge overlapped producing a bright and wide image.

The rear projection cene for How the West Was Won were hot by thi method. pparently the hot were et up o the overlap in the plate would corre pond with the plit in the final three panel extraction; in the re tared 65mm material they are often quite vi ible. (They were al o quite vi ible when the movie wa originally hown in theater .) ther film on which thi technique

became o popular in England they were u ed there even on bla k & white film and TV how . In Hollywood however, while MGM and Paramount exp rimented exten ively with them (practi ally all the campo ire hot in Annie Get Your Gun (1950), caramouche and The Greatest how on Earth (both 1952) being done by blue reen, with even a 3-D blue creen hot at the end of Kiss Me, Kate! (1953)) they were not widely adopted reportedly for rea on of di ati faction with the amount of time it took to get compo ite and the

expen e of doing optical retake to get rid of the dreaded matte line .

For anamorphic production however, while rear proje ti n ufficed for cene where the ba kground wa only a mall portion of the total image a in cene of people riding in car , cene involving a more vi ible background cau ed Hollywo d to rea e it argument again t traveling matte ver u the expen e of taking tar and a full production crew on location.

Fox did an intere tinge periment for Untamed (1955) for which the principal actor traveled no further than the tudio' Malibu ranch in read being compo ited via blue

creen into background hot in outh Africa e pecially for that purpo e.

Thi technique wa al o u ed for orne cene in Fox' remake of The Blue Angel (1959). (Fox' low budget The Fiercest Heart (1961) would be deigned around Untamed' outh African footage.) Other ignificant early Hollywood anamorphic film u ing notable traveling matte work were Hell and High Water (1954), Rebel Without a ause (1955), and The pirit of t. Louis (1957).

Blue creen wa , of cour e readily adaptable to Vi ta Vi ion (The Ten Commandments 1956), Technirama (Paris Holiday, 1958 and The Music Man 1962), and even Techni cope (Tobruk 1966), but it would be a problem for 65mm be au e of the registration problem cited above. ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART

8

59

Blue screen work in 65mm was done with varying degrees of success in Ben-Hur (1959), Cleopatra (1963), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and The Battle of the Bulge (both 1965), and Star! (1968) .

In the mid-'80s, for its 3-D theme park films Magic journeys (1983) and Captain EO (1986), the Disney Optical Department reduced blue screen elements shot in 65 mm to Technirama for compositing in 35mm eight perf and optical printing to a 65mm internegative.

While Vista Vision, and to a lesser degree spherical 65mm, was a boon to miniature work, the fact that the shortest focal length CinemaScope lens was a 35mm and needed to be topped down to at least f5.6 to get any depthof-field created some problems in that area, although by the mid-'50s, in the major studios at lea t, the miniatures generally were o large the word was omething of a contradiction.

However, inserts and subjects

requiring close focus were a problem in the early days of CinemaScope. In some instances, subjects were designed squeezed or photographed as stills with an anamorphic lens, then filmed spherically. Although an anamorphic macro lens had been developed by the late '50s, some of the insect shots in The Fly (1958) and the lizards in journey To the Center of the Earth (1959) were shot spherically, then blown up and optically squeezed; in the latter film some such shots were compo ired with anamorphic blue and split screen shots of the actors.

For The Lost World (1960) however, the lizards were shot with 150mm anamorphic lenses stopped down to f16, a technique also used for miniatures on Fantastic Voyage (1966).

Panavi ion developed a wider range of anamorphic lenses, which eliminated some of the problems in photographing miniatures for films like None But the Brave (1965), and Tora! Tora!

Tora! (1970). Most of the ships seen

in Around the World in 80 Days were miniatures, as was the collap ing railroad bridge.

One area combining the problems of miniature work and rear projection were films combining stop motion animation with live action as popularized by Willis O'Brien in the silent Lost World (1 925) and King Kong (1933 ).

While O 'Brien had pioneered the use of a combination of miniature ets and miniature rear projection, hi protege Ray Harryhausen refined thi to a technique of his own based exclusively around rear projection which he u ed in a series of low budget film made in the '50s and '60s. Although spherical plates could be used more easily with miniature rear projection, the minimum 5 ft focus of CinemaScope len e was one of many other problems encountered in doing such work in the anamorphic format . ~> Right: Two production stills from

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Manufacturing • Sales • Rentals • Expendables Corporate Office: Tel. 213·851-0111 Fax. 213·851·5593

Studio Depo,.

Tel. 213•851•0111 Fax. 213•851•7854

E-mail: info@mole.com

E-mail: depot@mole.com

937 N. Sycamore Ave., Hollywood, CA 90038-2384

900 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood, CA 90038-2232

STUDIO DEPOT. EXPENDABLES

http://www.mole.com

60

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART

8

Pal's creation brought him to Hollywood

The Puppetoons A group of out tanding performers, evolved from a long line of cigarettes, starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-MayerCinerama pre entation of George Pal's The Wonderful World of the Brothers Crimrn. The actors, known a the Puppetoons, portrayed the do-gooder Elve in "The Cobbler and the Elves" fairy tale equence of the film and share acting honor with no less a per onage than Laurence Harvey.

Their story began in Germany in 1931. Their creator George Pal later Producer/Director of Brothers Crimm- wa a disappointed young architect who had just graduated from the Budapest Academy of Fine Art into a world where building was at a standstill. Because he had to eat, Pal turned to his second love, cartooning.

"Among other things, I drew advertisement for the Hau Neueburg brand of 'Ober t' cigarettes,' Pal aid.

His fertile imagination soon tired of drawing endless cigarettes; thus he hit upon the idea of lightening his burden by u ing the actual cigarette as an actor, cau ing it to move via stopmotion photography. The idea caught on and literally wept the Continent. " oon we gave faces to tobacco leaves and had them narrate the commercial ,"he miled. 'Then our cigarette sprouted arm and leg and heads. Thi was but a step away from the 3-dimen iona l doll -and thus the Puppetoons were born." In a short while the Puppetoons were stars in their own right.

"We couldn't compete with American-made short subject ,"Pal explained, "but we did make commercial films with what we call today 'the oft sell.' In other words we filmed little Storie that carried a subtle adverti ing message. As an example, we became to Horlick's Malted Milk what Popeye is to spinach. And we did a

62

similar stint for Philip Radio."

In 1938, executives at Paramount Studios saw the Puppetoons and decided that they hould take up re idence in America. Pal closed his studios in Budapest, Berlin, Prague,

Paris and Eindhoven (The etherlands) and set out for the land of his dreams -Hollywood.

Here the Puppetoons flourished.

They not only appeared in their own little dramas, but al o educational films for Shell Oil which were shown in schools for more than 30 years.

They also won for their creator, the first of six Academy Awards.

During World War II, along with there t of Film City, the Puppetoons "joined up." They were well represented in various branches of the Armed Forces.

"We made numerou training films," Pal said. "Through Puppetoon short subjects, and others using the Puppetoon technique , GI were taught to hand le new tank and PT boats, to

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCRÂŁEN REVOLUTION, PART 8

conduct attacks and landings."

Although this select little group had its own tar , among them a chap named Ja per and a scientific young fellow dubbed Micro Metalurgy, Pal had on his drawing board, a design for the ultimate in Puppetoons- a boy named Tom Thumb.

"For 18 years I dreamed of making a motion picture based on the tory of 'Tom' as written by Wilhelm and jacob Grimm," Pal said. "But always I pictured Tom' as a Puppetoon. Then I joined forces with Metro-GoldwynMayer and met Russ Tamblyn. He was

such a perfect choice that we used our magic to shrink him to size."

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Crimm marked the return of the Puppetoons, as such, for the first time in a number of years- but they made their comeback in grand tyle.

They danced, they sang, they acted and they smashed across the catchy Bob Merrill hir tune, "Ah-oom."

And so George Pal's Pupperoons wrote a new chapter in their Academy Award winning history. Strangely enough they have never displayed the slightest resemblance to their forebears despite the fact that they offer a "perfect blend," have no tobacco ta te, are completely atisfying - and when they're "up front" -they count!

Edward a our u ed miniature anamorphic rear projection for the fir t uch film to u e top motion The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956), animation being done with both articulated puppet and replacement figure (a Ia George Pal Puppetoon ) by Jay Baylor and Henry Lyon. pherical plate were u ed by Gene Warren, r for Kronos (1957) and Wah hang for Dinosaurus! (1960) the latter borrowing a leaf from O'Brien' bo k by extending the image where nece ary with miniature foliage and a miniature ky backing. For his only experience with anamorphic , First Men in the Moon (1964), Harryhau en cho e to compo ite primarily by blue creen, a method of work with whi h he wa not happy. David Allen later did top motion work in Panavi ion for hi uncompleted 1978 ver ion of The Primevals and for The Day Time Ended (1979).

One of the great might-have-been wa Merian ooper' announced remake of King Kong in three panel

Cinerama in 1956. uppo edly Willi O'Brien had worked out a method for adapting hi technique to the proces but unlike the footage Winton Ho h A had hot for the concurrently planned remake of Grass which till e i ts, it ha never been confirmed if O'Brien actually built any equipment or hot any te t. In 1961, Wah hang and Gene Warren animated the Puppetoon ( ee facing page) equence for the three-panel The Wonderful 路 World of the Brothers Grimm while Jim Danforth did the dragon for "The inging Bone" equence. One camera wa u ed in a variation of the equential expo ure technique of cartoon : the action fo.r one panel would be hot then the camera hifted to the proper po ition for the next panel. (Optical compositing for Brothers Grimm wa done by a combination of plit- creen blue creen and roto coped traveling matte under the upervi ion of Robert R Hoag A .)

In 1963, Willi O'Brien, who had done orne con ulting work on the

inema cope remake of The Lost World died while doing top motion work in 65mm for the clima of It's a Mad Mad, Mad Mad World. The author i not aware of any top motion work being done in Vi ta Vi ion prior to 1960 though the top motion main title for The Music Man appear to have been hot in Technirama. In recent year Phil Tippett ha done top motion work in Vi ta Vi ion for the tar Wars film and Randall William ook in 65mm for Ghostbusters (1984), there ult to be reduced to a 35mm anamorphic internegative for intercutting with original footage.

Ub lwerks and Peter Ellen haw at Di ney u ed Vi ta Vi ion for compo iring orne of Ellen haw matte painting in a variation of a technique pioneered

by Willi O'Brien and developed to a high art by Linwood Dunn A : miniature rear projection into a large matte painting on which camera move could be done. Ellen haw and hi taff would rear project print of the live action which had been fla hed to lower

Please contact

Jerry Giacalone 805/496-02 9 Ron Veto

818/344-5284 Patent Pending Design: Cranston & Bain

Phola Ron Veto Stage and SlarCam Cour1lesy Of Hollywood Cemera818/972-6000

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART

8

63

the contrast for duping purposes, with the moves programmed by an early motion control device.

In the mid-'60s, matte artist Albert Whitlock used a variation of this technique: Whitlock would film the live action and painting in Vista Vision, then incorporate the move during the optical reduction to the format of the original photography.

The interior of the Indian temple through which Cantinflas is pursued in Around the World in 80 Days is

obviously a painting. Whether it was composited latent image, by glass, or Shuftan techniques has not been confirmed. Two glass paintings, their joins hidden by a miniature statue, were used for a panoramic shot in Cleopatra .

Matte shots in Ben-Hur and Mutiny on the Bounty, photographed in Camera 65/Uitra Panavision, are notable in that both incorporate camera moves, but the paintings appear to have been photographed

with spherical lenses, resulting in a fattening of the elements in the painting when the final shots are unsqueezed in projection.

As has been noted, Walt Disney shot his cartoon feature Sleeping Beauty (1958) on a Technirama format sequential exposure negative, as was his company's 1985 cartoon feature The Black Cauldron. Lady and the Tramp (1955) had been shot both CinemaScope and spherical, though only the former version was released theatrically. Disney as well as MGM, UPA, and Terrytoons also made cartoon shorts in CinemaScope.

UPA did animated credits in Technirama for The Vikings (1958) and animated credits were done in 65mm for Around the World in 80 Days; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. Art Clokey of "Gumby" fame did Claymation type animated credits for Dr Coldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965), shooting them with a telephoto anamorphic lens.

The Widescreen Revolution's effect on the post-production process in the editing room and the laboratory will be covered in the next installment. ~

Widescreen Film Festival in October The Fifth Annual Widescreen Film Festival is set for October 21-24 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. Unlike previous years in which the Festival was held over two or three weekends, this year's Festival will last for one weekend, but will also be the kickoff for a series of monthly Friday night screenings at the Carpenter Center which will alternate between Widescreen (anamorphic and 70mm) films and those in other formats .

This year's film program has not yet been set. Previous years' programs have run the gamut from The Big Trail (1930) to an advance screening of last year's John Carpenter's

64

Vampires, and presentations in 70mm of such films as Ben-Hur, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady, 2001, and Far and Away.

Unlike other festivals, the Wide Screen Festival has a lways highlighted the creative contributions of those behind the camera, not only inviting them as guests for specific films but also putting on seminars organized by the Art Directors, Cinematographers, and Editors Guilds as well as the Directors and Writers Guilds.

The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is a perfect venue for such a program, a large auditorium with stadium seating, a huge screen, and a state of the art sound system. These

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN REVOLUTION, PART 8

films are presented in a manner in which they haven't been seen since their original release, if then, and is well worth the trip to Long Beach for this unique experience.

Specific details about this year's Festival and the monthly screenings will be availab le in the local press closer to the date or can be obtained by contacting: Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts California State University at Long Beach 6200 Atherton St. Long Beach, CA 90815-4500 Phone: (562) 985-7000

~

Tl G~ !a oegrees ot Ditterence ueads clearly set the worldWide 5 . c,att\era . tandilrd . i( ~\\}\(\ "·'\ tO 90 degree tilt range* and our u· Wlfh Ou 1 ~o . g a fw 90 1lfinit 1 ts~ oCP s \~c\u&~ £\ward winning counterbalance system. s ery_ildfi.Jstq ~\}te; (\ert\~ . fl .d h o, do.,.., 'bJe,, \e?J: a ~ca: "-asing or rentmg a w ead. Go fuJI til . ., t g0 . p~ ·~\ ~ -pUICll t With li.Jst , \\: , 1 vJ"-en "' ..,0 r\d's finest name in camerCl h Oc0 ,., Piirt \I'Ja, 1' lle v" eilds.

•'11or..

%e

Demonstration units available upon request.

Contact us for a free catalog of OConnor's camera support products.

Full 90" to 90" tilt range.

Widest selection of interchanget~ble components In the Industry.

OCONNOR. YOUR BEST MOVE. 100 Kalmus Drive

Costa Mesa, CA 92626 USA

http:! / www.ocon .com

E-mail: sales(aocon com

714 979-3993

COURTESY OF TECHNICOLOR COLLECTION

66

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN :

DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

Ready for the Milennium

C NIC Dye Transfer Technology,

Old and New

By Kim Sherwood

The e day color film i so much a part of our world that we naturally expect color to be beautiful and vibrant. But achieving color film didn't happen by a cident, and it certainly didn't appear by magic.

The History of Dye Transfer The fir t Technicolor pro e wa an additive two color proce which u ed a pri m divider camera. The camera e po ed two frames of film at the ame time through a ingle len one en itive to red and one to green.

The black and white negative were converted to bla k and white po itive and run on a pecial projector with two aperture and two len e equipped with red and green filter . The two images, one red and one green, were then regi tered on the creen. The fir t a nd only feature u ing Proce s #1 wa The Gulf Between in 1917. However, it proved di appointing becau e of fuzzine and fringing of the picture, and projectioni t had difficulty with the regi tration. Thi proce i the only one not directly related to the Left: Two Technicolor camera crews with their 3-strip cameras prepare to shoot a scene for Dive Bomber, 1940-41 .

present Te hnicolor Proces #6.

Meanwhile, the company was bu y developing a new proce that would overcome the shortcomings of Proces #1. By 1920, company founder Dr Herbert Kalmu and hi team unveiled a major improvement that became Technicolor' first ubtractive color proce . The new proce u ed the ame camera a Pro e #1. Two matrix film were printed from the arne two negative , and then proce ed a gelatin relief , meaning the picture image wa etched in gelatin.

The two relief , one containing green information and one red information, were cemented back-to-back in regi ter and then floated over bath of the re pective dye (magenta and cyan) and dried. Proce #2 was u ed on the film Toll of the ea derived from Madame Butterfly and tarring Anna Mae Wong. It wa Technicolor' fir t commercial ucce .

The cemented two-color process was u ed in about two dozen fi lm , including MGM' 1926 ver ion of Ben Hur. That year Dougla Fairbank contra ted the company for hi big budget epic The Black Pirate.

At the time, Fairbank ' name wa a bigger box office guarantee than any

color system. He wa happy with the 'gloriou natural color " by Technicolor, which merited billing on the one- heets for the movie.

Unfortunately, evere technical problem aro e from the thick double film and it wrned into one of the company' bigge t headache . It warped, cupped and cratched in projector . At thi point it became imperative to come up with another proces , one with both color component layer on one ide of the film, instead of one on each ide.

In Technicolor Proce #3 a twocolor dye transfer proce s wa adopted and the ru h to color film officially began. It wa 1928 when the fir t feature motion picture u ing Proce #3, The Viking opened in ew York City.

Proce #3 used the technology from Proce #2 in a far different way.

Thi ubtractive two-color dye tran fer proce u ed the two dyed gelatin relief from Proce #2, but tran ferred the dye in register to a third fi lm (the blank). The re ult wa a two-color dye tran fer print which wa a ingle thickne film. The groundbreaking development won ub tantial acclaim and resulted in a harp increa e in production. During that period Technicolor al o accommodated the addition of sound with a silver oundtrack. Warner Bro produced fifteen Technicolor feawre in 1930 =*>

A rival's failure The earl iest attempt at " natural color" motion picture photography was Kinemocolor, which involved mounting filter wheels in front of the lenses of the camera and the pro jector, record ing two frames w ith the values, in block-and-white, of either redorange or blue-green . {Attempts to do all three colors were tried but deemed impractical since the camera hod to be cranked twice as fast as it was .)

The process reportedly worked all right for fairly static scenes but fast motion would cause color blurs.

Technicolor' s Processs # 1 encountered the some problems that plagued, and by 1915 hod sunk, Kinemocolor.

-R.M.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

67

Early color attempts Efforts to add color to motion pictures are as old motion pictures themselves.

There have been two methods of doing this: adding "color" to developed black & white prints and achieving color prints via various methods of color photography.

The first technique was used primarily during the silent era . As early as 1894, some of the films made for Edison 's Kinetoscope were hand painted, such as Annabelle the Dancer. Artists using magnifying glasses and single bristle brushes added tints of pink, blue and/or yellow to her billowing dress on each frame . This technique fell into disfavor a decade later as the number of prints required of each film increased but as late as 1924 was used to add a gold tint to selected items in original prints of Von Stroheim ' s Greed.

Around 1905, the French Pathe company developed a method of adding color stencils. In a process too complicated to describe here, special stencils conforming to each item to be colored in a reel of film were cut and used to dye the appropriate sections of the print. Based on surviving Pathe color prints in the UCLA archives, the technique worked quite well.

By the ' 20s, the most common method of adding "color" to films was by tinting and toning . Prints would be immersed in chemical baths which changed either the silver image or the base to certain colors. Sometimes both processes would be used for a two-tone effect such as for a forest scene, where a green tint could be added to the image and a blue tint to the base for the sky. This technique was phased out with the introduction of optical sound because some of the tones created problems with the sound track and also because it necessitated printing separate sections of track w ith each separate section of picture . However, printing selected films on a sepia toned stock continued to be popular into the early '50s .

-Rick Mitchell

68

Pilot Frank Clarke and filmmaker Paul Mantz check the Technicolor three-strip camera mounted on their plane before filming a dogfight for Men With Wings . alone, eleven of them in full color.

By M ay of 193 2, Technico lor completed its development of the first three-strip ca mera, a nd it was expensive, costing more tha n $3 0,000 at a time w hen wage were less tha n 50 cent a n hour. It required the use of Technicolor Process #4, essentia ll y the three-col o r process for w hi ch Technico lo r became kn own as "Th e Grea test arne in Color. " The three-strip ca mera was deigned to expose three negati ves at a time through a single lens. The ray of light that passes directly thro ugh the prism beamsplitter reaches a green filter that only allows green light (or a green image) to reach the film behind it. The ba lance of the light is refl ected o nto a bi -pack conta ining two negati ves, ernul ion to emulsion. The front film a bsorb blue light and filters o ut red rays, w hich pass through to register on the rear film. After processing, the lab has three bl ack and white negatives which contain the blue, red and green records of information from the original scene. ow the three-color dye transfer process emerged after much resea rch

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

and development. The laboratory printed three matrix film proces ed as gelatin reliefs fro m three black and white nega tives, dyed and tra nsferred them to a blank. The re ulting threecolor dye tran fer pr int offered the most accura te rendition of a color scene avai lable. The three dyes are magenta, cyan and yellow, corresponding to the green red and blue informatio n records.

It worked great for cartoon , o well in fac t, that Roy Disney signed a two-year exclusive contract w ith Technicolor to make his cartoons in colo r. Flowers and Trees was the firs t o f twelve Sill y Symph onies cartoons made by Di ney for United Arti t using Proce #4.

An 0 car-winning comedy short film called La Cucaracha produced in 1934 was the firs t non-cartoon feature to use the new proces . For the firs t time there were deep, rich blues blue skies, blue water and blue co tumes. Soon to follo w in 1935 was Beck y Sharp, the first fea ture length film . It was not a financial or critical blockbuster, but as with anything new, the color was a focu s fo r critics and =*>

::CARTON I:: CARlONI U.S.A. Toll Free: BBB路CARTONI 2755 Alamo St., #103 Simi Valley, CA 93065 Tel:805/520-6086 Fax:805/520-6949 Email: cartoniusa@aol.com CARlONI S.p.A. Via Giuseppe Mirri, 13-00159 F\oma Tel:39.06.4382002 Fax:39.06.43588293 Email: cartoni@cartoni.com www.cartoni.com

Don 't miss

ShowBiz Expo

Acquire new insights and spark your imagination!

ShowBiz Expo Los Angeles June 23-25, 2000 Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles, CA

ShowBiz Expo New York Fall , 2000 Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York, NY To receive your FREE Attendee Information Package call Today! .rl(-')

~) ....!(_.A,.~~)~~

. ...J,. -.i

~

...J:_) ~,. .::..;;

Or visit our Web site at:

www.showbizexpo.com ÂŁ--. Reed

--~ ~

ExhibitiOn

Compan1es

llrMml &,......, Cootacts 383 Main Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851

Code: LA24

Bi-packs Since most of the problems occurred in projection, the answer was to have what was essentially a single stra nd successive frame color print.

Technicolor took one approa ch .

The other approach wa s to photograph the film with two negatives running face-to-fa ce in bi-pa ck, the fro nt negative recording the red-orange image and carrying a red dye so tha t the rear film recorded the blue-green.

Prints were made on a double emulsion stock and dyed the proper color.

This approach wa s adopted by Prizma Color, a rival to Technicolor whose experiments went back to 19 14 and which in the late '20s evolved into Multicolor, which in 1932 beca me Cine-Color. The same principles were used by CFI for its MagnaColor process, which in 1947 it renamed TruColor.

Based on a rare 16mm CineColor print, this technique worked surprisingly well, especially on exteriors.

- R.M.

filmmakers alike.

By 1936 the major tudio began to look more favorably on full color Technicolor. However The Hollywood Reporter dated ugu t 11, 1936 li ted 45 production in progre by Hollywood tudio and only one hooting in color. Many of the tar of the period had re ervation about appearing in color. But Dr Kalmu knew the sy tern worked and it was up to Technicolor to prove it.

The pu h for more color movie began in earne t. Technicolor cameramen teamed with tudio cameramen to operate the 3- trip cameras more efficiently. The laboratory provided color con ulring for et , wardrobe and makeup. New development re ulted in improved lighting. Re earch and development re ulted in a faster fi lm with better color rendition le grainine and harper definition. All of thi new had an immediate impact on color cinematography. The turnaround did not happen overnight, but each event lowered production co t furt her and the craft took an impre ive step forward .

The rudio lowly began to u e

Technico lor on their big fi lm and audience responded, hawing a preference for color movie for the first time. olor became an integra l part in uch film a The Wizard of Oz and Cone With the Wind. Both picture were nominated for Academy Award in 1939, the year Technicolor received a tatuette "for it contribution in ucce ful ly bringing th ree-color feature production to the creen. ' In the '40 the popu larity of color meant big profit for the studios and public reaction to Technicolor wa extremely favorab le. Becau e of the way a number of performer at each tudio appeared in brilliant Technicolor, with their look and

ta lent they became a major contributing force in elling the Technicolor proce to the public. " olor by Technicolor" became a elling point on many movie one- heet and the name ecured a strong foothold becoming a standard demanded by movie goer .

There were many variation of the blank film and the dye tran fer through the year because the blank u ed in the '30 wa very poor. There wa no mordant in the blank film to lock down the dye, o the dye were diffu ed. ot on ly wa the image not harp but not enough dye wa aborbed into the blank. To get a good black, a ilver image wa u ed to upport the three dye . At the same =*>

From Kodacolor to WarnerColor In 1928 Eastman Kodak developed a two color 16mm reversal film it called Kodacolor and by 1935 had developed a three color reversal stock for 16mm and 8mm called Kodachrome. In the late '30s Technicolor successfully made 35mm blowups from Kodachrome footage by blowing it up to 35mm separation negatives from which it could make printing matrices. As a result Eastman, in a joint venture with Technicolor, made a special 35mm Kodachrome stock called Technicolor monopack. Though the results were not as good as that from original three strip negatives, it made possible 35mm color photography with regular cameras, especially Eyemos, and was an a id to aerial photography. In the post-war years location photography for films like King Solomon 's Mines and The Black Rose were done with Monopack. In the late '40s Ansco introduced a 35mm reversal stock which was used for at least three features . The prints are made on a reversal print stock and tended to distort the colors as well being very contrasty.

During World War II , the German Agfa Company succeeded in developing a multi-layer color negative and color print stock, After the War, their patents were d ivided between Eastman and Ansco, each of whom made their own improvements; Eastman 's most significant

one: a techn ique of masking with in the dye layers wh ich resu lted in truer color reproduction in the prints. Both companies announced their new color negative stocks in 1949. CineColor was the first Hollywood company to adopt Eastman's negative, using it as an orig inal to add the third color though they continued to print front separations onto double coated stock. CFI followed suit in 1951 .

(CineColor's first film shot on color negative was The Sword of Monte Cristo; films shot on color negative were then advertised as being in SuperCinecolor, except Invaders From Mars for some reason . After finish ing out a contract for two-color films with Monogram, the company changed its name to Color Corporation of America and was bought out by Techn icolor in 1954.

CFI's first TruColor release shot on Eastman negative was Havana Rose (1951 ).) That same year MGM set up its laboratories for Ansco negative; its first Ansco film was The W ild North (1952) .

Warners labs adopted Eastman negative, wh ich it called WarnerColor. Its first film was The Lion and the Horse (1952) and that year's Springfield Rifle has the first color shot for a dramatic film ever made with a handheld Arriflex . MGM and Warners were the first to make contact release prints di rectly from their chosen type of negative instead of from an intermediate.

-R.M.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

71

Changing times In 1968 Eastman introduced its Color Reversal Intermediate (CRI) stock which yielded prints virtual ly indistinguishable from one from the original negative.

Movielab, the successor to Pathe, made a CRI of a cut negative with all the scene-to-scene timings printed in, which they could then print on one light at a high speed. The result was comparable to a print off the original negative and could be mode at a speed and price better than that charged by Technicolor for volume dye transfer printing .

Soon Deluxe was also release printing from CRis. At that time there had been a drop in the number of release prints ordered, which raised

time, however, the silver image desaturated the color rendition to some degree. By the mid '40s there was mordant wnich attracted the dye.

More dye could go in, so the heavy densities could look heavy without the use of a silver key.

In 1953, the first real significant use of color negative and color positive came about a the result of an Eastman Kodak invention. The abiJjty to do automatic masking enabled the use of

The end of an era The last documented use of the threestrip cameras for live action photography was in 1954 for Allied Artists' The Rose Bowl Story and Universal's The Island Earth and Foxfire released the following year; the last film shot three-strip to be released was MGM's Invitation to the Dance (1956} which had begun production in 1952.

Animated cartoons were, and ore, still shot on a sequential exposure negatives each frame three times through the appropriate filters; and as noted in an earlier installment of the Widescreen series, 13 of the three-strip cameras were modified for horizontal photography and used for VistaVision and later Technirama -R.M . photography.

72

questions about the economic viability of the dye transfer process. Technicolor began printing trailers and some release prints from CRis also. In 1973 they decided to phase out dye transfer printing and move all their operations to their North Hollywood plant, which was then not set up for it.

Gordon Willis ASC asked them to keep the plant open to do dye transfer prints of The Godfather Part II and Disney ordered a run of prints on Swiss Family Robinson for a 1975 reissue. After that the dye transfer machines in Hollywood were shut down, and those in London and Rome were shut down in 1978.

(Contrary to reports elsewhere, it was the dye transfer equipment from Technicolor London that was sold to China where it was used until 1991 .)

color negative, which incorporated three dyes in many layers on a single negative. Th e Robe was the first major film done in multilayer color with a color negatjve. This development required the Techrucolor process to learn to print matrices from a color negative as well as from three black and wrute negatives.

There was a major change in the matrix stock during tills time that resulted in Tecnnicolor Process #5.

Between 1954 and 1955 the lab changed the mordant used in the blank again, and the pictures were much sharper than ever before with good densities. Process #5 was used until the dye transfer process was discontinued in the early '70s.

Technicolor' s new Process #6 Dr Dick Goldberg, a photoscientist whose career has spanned the growth and change of Tecnrucolor processes says when the laboratory gave up the dye transfer process, it gave up its uruqueness and became just another lab. During that period the lab was not required to have the technology and photoscience that was crucial to bui lding a process unique in the world. Two decades passed and then in the early '90s, Tecnrucolor took a bold step. Believing that it was time for Tecnrucolor to

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

return to its roots, the company instituted new research attempting to achieve a dye transfer process superior to any before, and incorporating all the latest advances in photoscience and eng1neenng.

By working closely with Kodak to move in this direction, a new matrix stock emerged and Techrucolor decided to go forward with a new dye transfer process. Old principles and applied new technology are providing exciting results, producing heavy densities that are better than ever.

Goldberg says the superiority of the new Process #6 is demonstrated in the shape of the characteristic curve in the shadow in the shoulder region (between the face densities and the heavy densities). It shows good delineation; that is, the eye can more readily discern folds in the blacks. The small variations in density are more discernible by dye transfer (because of the characteristic curve) than they are by any other color process or multi layer.

As a result, the pictures are very sharp,

The reason to return to dye transfer printing The one ind isputable benefit of dye transfer is th at its dyes ore more stable than those used in color positive print stocks, at least unti l the la st fifteen years. The germ of the revival of dye tra nsfer was planted by Martin Scorcese in the hu llaba loo he ra ised over the fad ing of color positive prints in 198 1. Techn icolor, initia lly resisting the return to dye tran sfe r because of economics, took a bold stance and began its research to not only revive its dye transfer printing, but to improve it so that it will be wi dely used .

the grain is much better and the color rendjtion looks better than ever, although dye transfer color rendition has always been exceptional because color separation is great in dye transfer.

However, because the colors are all separate and don't mjx, registration is very challenging. But Tecnrucolor has learned how to master the registration, so it is controlled to two 10,000s of an inch. =*>

HDW-700A

DVW-790WS

CAMERA & SUPPORT SYSTEMS

The ARRIFLEX 435 System plus all your ARRI needs available at GEO Film Group

GEO Film Group also covers all of your specialty needs, including: Pogo Cam System ---------------~ Helmet Cam System 1-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ . Eyemo Packages · - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Power Pod Plus System · - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hot Head II Plus System · - - - - - - - - • Libra Ill Three-Axis Stabilized Remote Head

GEO FILM GROUP, INC. 7625 Hayvenhurst Ave. #46, Van Nuys, CA 91406 U.S.A. Phone: (818) 376-6680 • Fax: (818) 376-6686

The myriad factor that combine in the new proce al o include cu tomized equipment with the ability to run at a much higher peed. Thi will provide greater efficiency when the laboratory goe Lnto rna production .

The company i pre ently in a tran ition period with the new dye transfer.

The new and improved process i a Technicolor original, and now at the turn of the century, the timing is right for everal ba ic principle to come together to produce motion picture with tone cale color rendition grain and harpne the like of wnich urpass the quality of earlier ver ion .

Development of the new dye tran fer pro e i well underway at Technicolor' orth Hollywood plant.

In 1992 Pre ident Ronald W Jarvi rein tituted re earch and development of a new dye tran fer proce s, ultLmately to yield what i called Technicolor Proce s #6.

Today dye tran fer i a imple yet very precise proce in which dyes are ab orbed into the image relief of the ernul ion of matrix film printed from the original negative. ext, dye tran fer prLnting of the dyed matrices is done in perfect regi tration on a pecial "blank" printing film treated with a pecial chemical to control the ab orption of the dyes and define their preci e po ition .

Several factor have contributed to the uperiority of the new dye tran fer print including breakthrough during the Ia t 40 year in the manufacturing of film with increa ed photographic peed and reduced grain. In addition

Technicolor u ed the opportunity to incorporate new principle into it new cu tom-built dye tran fer machines, which has re ulted in improved quality and efficiency. ample print made on the prototype equipment u ing prototype film rocks and a new dye ource are exhibiting color rendition and tone cale qualitie beyond comparison to anything of the pa t.

Along with the new development in dye tran fer, Technicolor i building the tronge t team for thi kind of work. Led by Pre idem Ron Jarvis, thi team i committed to Proce #6, in pired by a trong belief that it i compelled to do o, becau e of Technicolor long hi tory of leaderhip and quality and it commitment to it goal of improving the vi ual experience of movie audiences around the world.

Kim Sherwood is the Director of Marketing at Technicolor Worldwide Film Group. he joined the company in june 1998. Also a freelance writer, she has contributed articles on a variety of entertainment industry topics during her career, which includes four years in the motion picture film laboratory business.

Rick Mitchell provided the commentary in the sidebars throughout this article. Rick has contributed several articles on the history of widescreen cinema for Operating ameraman Magazine and is a Film Editor/Film Director/Film Historian. He's Historical Technical Advisor to American inematographer, an Official Historian/Member of the Executive Committee of Cal tate Long Beach's Wide creen Film Festival (seep. 64), and is an Honorary Member of the ociety of Operating Cameramen.

Ferra Re~Mini Cam System Reflex Eymo Hand Held or Video Assist Standard or Low Slung Mode ALSO AVAILABLE Stunt Eymo Packages 5" Eymo in a 6" tall Crash Housing Infrared remote ; crystal and constant speed

For All Your SPECIAL CINEMA Needs WRITE, CALL OR FAX MIKE

jFerra Camera MountsFAX : (8 18) 843-8608 (8 18) 845-2192 •

1'

3815- ~ West Burbank Blvd. • Burbank, CA 91505

THIS HELICOPTER CAMERA SYSTEM IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT IN SIDE CAMERA MOUNT TECHNOLOGY IN 25 YEARS! THE EXCLUSIVE PATENT PENDING HANDGRIP DESIGN MAKES THE CAMERA ARRANGEMENT MORE CO MPACT AND INCREASES STABILITY FAR BEYOND THAT OF ANY OTHER MOUNT LIKE IT THIS DESIGN ALSO ELIMINATES ANY NEED TO LEAN WAY OUT TO FOLLOW THE EYEPIECE , GIVES GREATER FREEDOM OF PAN AND TILT AND MORE COMFORT TO THE OPERATOR

CALL US TO ARRANGE A TES T FLIGHT - WE'LL TRAIN YOU

ALSO AVAILABLE - THE MEGAMOUNT TWO AXIS NOSE MOUNT COMING SOON - THE NEW ISOLATED BELLY MOUNT ADVANCED CAMERA SYSTEMS, INC.

16117 COHASSET ST., VAN NUYS, CA 91406 818-989-5222 www.advancedcamera.com

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DYE TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY

75

Take Tvvo -

Crystal Avvards

0SVALDO SILVERA JR SOC,

of Miami Florida, hot a pot in Abingdon Virginia for First Bank and Trust Co and won the Communicator Cry tal Award of Excellence.

Another spot shot that he did for MTV Latin America won the Award of Di tinction in the same award competition.

The Communicator Awards give recognition that the work they are producing i out tanding and

Covering the Shot

Cinematographers Guild Names Winners of Annual Short Film Showcase The International Cinematographer Guild ha announced winner of it third annual hart Film howcase competition. hart films by Cynthia Pu heck (One Hand Left) Ken Gla ing (Everyday) Todd A. Dos Rei (Fortunate Son), Philip Hurn (Rebirth), Jay William (The Boy with the Flip-Top Head ), Hi ham Abed (Mi Abuela) Ed Gutentag (Cosmos Tale) Frederick Iannone (Descent) Richard antu (The Dog People ), WILLIAM MOLINA SOC (Reducing Stanley) and Rodney Taylor (Grind) were howca ed at the Director Guild of America on May 2, 1999. " The e impre ive films were photographed by camera crewmember who are the next wave of undi covered talent " ay Guild ational President George piro Dibie, A C. "They are repre entative of the va t pool of talent being nurtured by our Guild.'

The hart Film Showca e was then creened at the Tribeca Film Center in ew York City and featured at The American Pavilion at the Cannes International Film Fe rival in May. ub equent creening will be in hicago and Orlando.

highly regarded by their peer .

Entrie are judged again t a high tandard of excellence rather than against each other.

The Crystal Award of Excellence i given to tho e entries whose ability to communicate put them among the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is pre ented for project that exceed indu try tandard in quality and excellence.

Congratulation , Osvaldo!

MARK FORMAN an A ociate Mem-

The competition i open to all Guild member who are not rated a cinematographer . The film must be 30 minutes or le s. orne 80 hart film were judged ba ed on the cinematographer ' artistic contribution and craft man hip to the telling of compelling stories.

"Judging was done by Guild members who truly under rand the art and craft of cinematography,' says howca e Chairman Rob Ko itchek Jr. " It is comparatively ea y for fe rival juries and critic to recognize the talent of actor , directors and writer , but great cinematography tend to be much le obvious to people who aren't in this field."

"A number of former competition winners have already advanced in their career and are now hooting important film ," ays Dibie. "This howcase is more than an important outlet for undiscovered talent. It is also a source of hope and in piration for other young members. It is one of many program we sponsor to help members make strides in their careers."

ber of the OC, i on the cover of the April i ue of Videography Magazine.

The photo how Mark Forman using the new Sony DSR-500W DVCAM mounted on the Advanced Camera ystem Gyromaster helicopter mount and Bodycam y tern.

Mark e-mailed the OC: 'I have enclosed a copy of the cover of this month's VIDEOGRAPHY. I feel proud that they have done thi for me. It ha been many year of work to achieve another fir t in my career."

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

77

Rick Mitchell and Hydroflex honored at meeting

SOC President David Robman , right, presents the Hydroflex Corporate Affiliate plaque to Scott Green, Corporate Affiliate Rep.

SOC President David Robman , right, presents an Honorary Membership plaque to Rick Mitchell.

Ride the Wave to the 21s' Centu ith RemoteAqllaCamTM

AT WoRK 011: Message in a Bottle Deep Blue Sea U-571 CastAway

Superior Schneider grads are another Hollywood sign recognized around the world.

Cinematographers around the world realize that the fine optical glass filters introduced two years ago by Schneider Optics have helped raise the standards of filmmaking . With lens and film stock performance at an all-time high , you need filters that are technically equal to modern lens and film quality. In today's intense creative climate you need graduated filters that are creatively exciting, in unique and useful colors.

Schneider graduated filters provide the sophisticated coloration of our Storm Blue, Paradise Blue, Sapphire Blue, Coral , Gold, Amber, and Neutral Density - new hues that are designed to combine better with sky, trees, grass and skin tones - plus an NO gray that is reallv grav.

All more unique, more useful , and more appropriate in today's Hollywood. All with lens-like purity and standardization so consistent that you can safely mix A and B

camera sets mid-production or replace a filter without having to return the full set for custom matching.

These are the only graduated filters made with Schneider's high level of precision.

One hundred percent fine optical glass, diamond cut, ground , polished and individually interferometer tested to ensure image-perfect performance -- even when used singly or in combination in front of the longest lenses.

Available in 4"x 4", 4"x 5.650" Vertical and Horizontal , and 6.6"x 6.6", in soft- and hard-edge blends, NO attenuators, and a variety of strengths. All edgesealed for added durability with reduced edge reflection and flare .

For a brochure showing a full range of filters that are as good as your best lenses, see your dealer or contact Schneider Optics.

Schneider ®iJI8 285 Oser Avenue, Hauppauge, NY 11788 USA • TEL: +1 516 761-5000 • FAX: +1 516 761-5090 email: info @schneideroptics.com • http://www.schneideroptics.com.

C Hollywood Chamber of Commerce c/o CMG Worldwide. Inc.

Do D

ooDDoo

Film School Series

Man on a Mission De-mystifying the process of movie-making from A to Z

by Bill Hines, SOC

D

ov Simens is a man on a mission.

The mission: to demystify the business aspect and the process of making motion pictures. He's a man

UCLA Extension about deal-making, financing, pick-up and pre-sale deals and then proceeded to go broke during the ensuing three years in an attempt to produce a couple of book properties he had optioned rights to.

But he was determined to learn the business and succeed, so he began as a production assistant on several no-pay/low pay indie productions, graduating to production manager and then to line producer on several better paying low-budget one-week/ two-week/three-week productions, several of which were for Roger Corman.

Two years later he asked UCLA Extension if he could teach a class there in the Dov Simens watches the action at the 35mm methods of getting highshoot. quality results with lowbudget finances . The classon a tight schedule: to share with room response was receptive and others in as condensed a presentation appreciative. Thereafter he was asked as possible the essential basic steps and

by USC and NYU Adult Education to requisites that are needed to plan, teach the material, which he did on finance, produce and market a motion several occasions.

His basic approach was to present picture. He's also a man on the move: the most practical and useful informadetermined to reach and train as many tion about the business end of filmpeople as possible, throughout the making in the shortest period of time. world, who are interested and intent After refining the information during on making motion pictures. The university classroom presentations for vehicle: The Hollywood Film Institute.

2 years, and with the positive response Simens entered the business of making films in 1980 when he sold his he received from the students, he felt bookstore business and came to Holly- that the bare-bones material was now wood to seek fame and fortune. He in place and ready for effective and took a couple classes in filmmaking at efficient presentations on his own.

80

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOLLYWOOD FILM INSTITUTE

He had developed the material into a two-day film school. He decided to create and take on the road weekend, week-long and month-long crash courses for adults who just wanted the bare facts, the nuts-and-bolts information about the basic business facets and without any historic, rhetorical, anecdotal or artistic embellishments.

Four years later, in addition to his two-day filmmaking crash course, he had developed four two-day, week-end master crash courses: 1) directing, 2) screen writing, 3) financing/dealmaking and 4) a hands-on demonstration of an actual 35mm shoot with student participation, during which the final product is screened for all to see and to analyze their individual work contributions as part of the collaborative process of filming.

Simens found that not onJy firsttimers, those new to the business, but also those already experienced and in the business were taking his classesthe neophytes to learn and appreciate the business aspects, those in the business to gain a greater understanding of the business end of filmmaking or to hone their producing, writing or directorial skills.

His basic purpose in each of his condensed courses is to demystify the business aspects in the process of making a movie. To do this, he presents thirty-eight steps (the 38 checks to write-how to pay, what to pay for, who to pay, when to pay, how much to pay) to get a movie made during his two-day filmmaking crash course.

He goes into the need and procedure to favorably negotiate terms and costs of services and equipment provided by vendors, technical production personnel, the writer, director, actors, editor, film lab, sound transfer andrerecording, and other post production servtces.

Since time is money, he emphasizes that the amount of money needed and raised equates to the size of crew hired, production equipment rented, duration of the shooting schedule, amount of footage ordered and shot and the post-production finishing costs. In short, the more money in the budget, the better the cast can be, the larger and more experienced the crew

Instructor-Cinematographer Arledge Armenaki (wearing SOC cap) leads a class through the two-day 35mm production shoot. can be, the better and more plentiful the equipment, the longer the hooting chedule, the higher the hooting ratio and the more time that can be allotted to the po t-prod uction proce . According to imen , 'Time i much more preciou in the film industry than in any other indu try becau ewe have to bring people together in uch a relatively hort period of time to in tantly make our product. o the more information I can give our tu dent on how be t to utilize that time and information the more co t-effective they can be.'

Of cour e when planning to make a low-budget movie it i e entia! that the creenplay i written to accommodate a limited budget. In general, a reali tic low-budget production hould, for logi ti al rea on , have a very limited number of location -one i be t, wruch will accommodate both interior and exterior -the fewer move the better; present-day, not period-type etting , et dre mg, prop

and wardrobe; a mall and wellrehear ed ca t-the maller the better a ma!J and competent crew· bare camera, lighting and grip equipmente entia! · working in ambient/ available light when po ible-avoiding exterior rught hoot . minirruzing et construction et dre ing, tunt and pecial effect · maintaining a low hooting ratio-not more than threeto-one-in order to con erve film/lab cost and po t-production time· and no special optical effect or computer generated imagery to deal with. imen point out that ' Effective in tant filmmaking require the addition of a great cript along with the application of basic production and bu ine knowledge, and some money.' Once combined the proce can begin. I upply the information to phy ically make it co t-effective.

Whether or not it i ucce ful will depend on how great the cript i and on how much dedication and talent one bring to the proje t."

STORY STRUCTURE. The compre sed HFI cour e in creenwriting deal with the o-ca!Jed "Hollywood formula ' of vi ual torytellmg-three act (a beginning, rruddle and end) compo ed of 40 to 60 cene , pitting the good guy( ) again t the bad guy( ) prinkled throughout with ever-tougher urpri e , te t and outcome cuJrrunating in the final major confrontation andre olution to the tory. AJthough the plot line i important, imen tre e the importance of believable dialogue and a well-developed middle ( econd act) in a ucce ful creenplay.

FINANCING/DEAL-MAKING. Tru era h cour e deals with the ource one can tap for production money and how to go about it, a well a negotiating the be t deal po ible with direc-

tor , performer technician , equipment and expendable vendor , production and po t-production ervice and facilitie , including marketing and di tribution.

DIRECTING. During a two-day week-end, the variou a pect of a director' re pon ibilitie are covered by everal practicing director including cheduling prepping a production board, ca t-ing, rehear al , eliciting performance prepping the cene toryboarding, blo king and hooting.

Live actor and camera equipment are employed.

EDmNG AND POST-PRODUcnON.

HFI doe not teach hand -on editing but doe explain to budding producer and filmmaker the busine end-how the po t-production proce work and how to co t-effectively deal with, direct and produce the procedure compri ing the po t-production proce . According to imens, the three un ung heroe of filmmaking are the cinematographer the film editor and the ound editor.

VALUE OF COURSES TO EXPERIENCED CRAFTSPEOPLE AND FILM-

MAKERS. The bu ine of filmmaking make the proce of ucce ful filmmaking po ible. The individual craft employed in filmmaking need to have the kill to make their contribution to the final product. According to imen , ' Tho e craft people intere ted in making a film hould know every facet of the bu ine a pect in order to uccessfully produce the film. ' In other word the more you know about the bu ine the better off you are. Thi approach keep the option open .

TRAINING PURPOSE. imen empha ize that hi purpo e i to teach the ba ic tep-by- tep proce of filmmaking not the refined art and craft of film-making . He feel that it i the bu ine a pect of filmmaking that make filmmaking po ible and viable.

He and hi in tructor strive to get thi ba ic information aero to rudent .

STATE OF THE BUSINESS TODAY.

Two 35mm cameras used on the production shoot with Arledge Armenaki, center.

A ked about his apprai al of the motion pi ture bu ine , imen feel that the digital revolution ha already happened· that digital i here to tay; that smaller crew will be working on maller budgeted movie · ~>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOUYWOOD FILM INSTITUTE

81

and that since the business is economically driven, the bottom line is, and will continue to be, cost-effictency.

Plans for HFI. Fina lly, what does Sirnens plan for the Hollywood Film Institute? "What the filmmaking community needs is a one-stop film resource center, a faci lity and forum for abovethe-line fi lmmakers. I am bui lding such a facility in Santa Monica called T he Biz. It will serve above-the-line needs in the movie industry- books, production scripts, production forms, agreements, releases, check lists and sample budgets. There wi ll be a computer access work center with appropriate software to use for script writing, budget preparation and graphics.

Non-linear editing rooms along with projection and shooting faci lities will be available by year's end."

With Simens' vision and boundless energy and enthusiasm, it could be a forum that attracts to it fi lmmakers worldwide.

Advertisers' Index

Mole Richardson ......... .............. 60

Advanced Camera System ........ .75

Mr. Time Lapse ....... ................... 18

Arriflex ........ ..... .. ... ..... ........... .... 6

Oconnor Eng ineering ... ............. 65

Bogen ...... ............... ..... 51, 53, 55

Otto Nemenz lnt .. ... ... ... .... ........ 29

Cartoni ......... .......... ................. 69

Panavision ........ .. Inside Back Cover

Century Precision Optics ............ 28

Panavision Remote Systems ........ 76

Chapman Studio Equipment ....... 37

Phillips BTS ............................... 54

Clairmont Camera ..... .......... 20-21

Photo-Sonics .......... ................... 15

Custom Interface Tech .. .......... .. .. 25

Plus 8 Video ........ ......... ... .... ..... 13

Deluxe Labs .............................. 56

Reed Exh ibition Compan ies .... ... .70

Eastman Kodak .. ... ... .. ..... .......... 33

Ron Veto ....... ... ... ..... ...... ..... ..... 63

Ed-Venture Films/Books ........ ...... 82

Schneider Optics ...................... .79

Ferra Camera Mounts ............. , .. 75

SOC Wear ............................... .. 5

Foto-Kem .................... ..... ..... .... 26

Sony ...................... .................. 73

Fuji Photo Film ... ... ... .... Back Cover

Techn icolor ............................... 16

Fuj inon ..................... .... .............. 8

Tyler Camera Systems .. ............ .. 83

Geo Film Group ................ ... ... . .74

Vinten Inc .. .......................... ... .... 4

Hydroflex ................................. 78

Wexle r Video ............................ 34

J L Fisher ...... ............................ 50 Wm . Wh ite ........ Inside Front Cover

~

Discover the Secrets ~ Know Your Craft ~ JOB DESCRIPTIONS for FILM, VIDEO & CGI, sth ed.

DEsc~~A1oN~ for

FILM, VIDEO & CGI "1 1!.

---------oooo~

•I I"

Responsibilities and Duties for the CINEMATIC Craft Categories and Classifications, 5'• Edition

f

Will. _ E. Hines, SOC

..,

• COMPLETE • COMPREHENSIVE • CLEAR • CONCISE "Your work is simply authoritative! There's no other source like it!"

-Prof Bruce Kawin, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado "I recommend this handbook to members of the Alliance and to those working in the industry." -Thomas C. Short, lnt'l Pres IATSE

JOB DESCRIPTIONS for FILM, VIDEO & CGI is the original and authoritative source for the responsibilities and duties of more than 250 film, video & computer graphics craft classifications.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS for FILM, VIDEO & CGI, 5th edition is available at cinema and video booksellers for $27.95, or order direct from ED-VENTURE FILMS/BOOKS, P 0 Box 23214, Los Angeles, CA 90023 for $30.45, including shipping-California residents add $2.30 sales tax. Another book by William E. Hines, OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY for FILM & VIDEO is $24.95 at bookstores; or $27.45 plus $2 CA tax when ordered direct from ED-VENTURE. For more information, contact EdVentrFim@aol.com or call (323) 261-1885.

[II] -=-'

82

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOLLYWOOD FILM INSTITUTE

!Rpster of tfze Society of Operating Cameramen CHARTER Parker Bartl ett Paul Basta M ichael Benson Howa rd Block jerry Ca ll away Mike Cheva lier Sam D rummy Joe Epperson Ron Fra ncis Bi ll Gahret Peter H apke Bi ll H ines Bob Keys Norm Langley Ed Morey Lee N aka hara jay Nefcy Rik Nervik Leigh Nicholson John Nogle Dan Norris David Nowell Wayne Orr Ernie Reed Michael Scott Hal Shiffman Michael St Hil aire Ra y Stella Joseph Va lentine Edward Ventura Ron Vidor

Joe Chess Jr julian Chojnacki Ma rcis Cole Gregory Collier John Connell Tom Connole John A Corso Ivan Cra ig Richard Cull is Michael Cu lp Joseph 0 ' Alessandro Edward Dadulak Rocky Danielson Richard Davis Mark Davison Ray de Ia Motte Eric DeBiackmere David Diano Troy Dick Glenn DiVincenzo Sean Doyle Simon Duggan, ASC David Elkins David Emmerichs Steve Essig james Etheridge Brant Fagan Tom Faigh Benjamin Sea n Fairbu rn David Fang Yuen Randal Feemster M ichael Ferris Kenneth Ferro La nce Fisher ACTIVE Aaron Fitzgerald Art Adams Bret Allen Eric Fletcher How ard Ford Derek Allen Lee Allison Hou man Forough Sal Aridi Jan Foster Thomas Fraser Ted Ashton Jr David Frederick Bill Asman John Atkinson Michael Fred iani Da n Auerbach Mi ke Freeman Da niel Ayers Michael Frift Rusty Geller Paul Babin Christopher Baffa Michael Genne Vi ncent Ba ldino W ayne Getchell Gerard Ba nales W ill iam Gierh art Allen Gonza les Stewart Barbee Lee Grover Jeff Barklage john Gunselman Tom Ba rron Gary Baum Anette Haellmigk Dennis H all Guy Bee Chri s Hayes Tim Sellen David H aylock Richard Benda Steven H euer jeb Bergh Mar Andre Sea n Higgins Berth iaume Ronald H igh Lance Bi llitzer Charl es Hi ll, Jr joe Blaisde ll j effrey H offman Joachim Hoffmann James Bl anfo rd Richard Bolter Robert Horne Casey Hotchki ss David Boyd Bi lly Bragg Gary Huddleston Michael Bucher Ph ilip Hurn Robin Buerki David Insley Levie Isaacks Susan Campbell Robert Carmichael M ichael Jarocki M ichael Cha mbliss Simon )ayes Louis Chanatry Tom jensen

84

THE O PERATING C AMERAMAN:

Michael Johnson Steven jones jacques Jouffret John Joyce David j udy Mark Karen Michael Karp W ayne Kelley Glenn Kirkpatrick Douglas Knapp Dan Kneece Rory Knepp Robert Kositchek Kri Krosskove Brian Lataille Joshua Lesser Michael Levine Ken Libby Lynn Lockwood Thomas Loizeaux George Loomis A ll an Lum Li Gregory Lundsgaard Kenji Luster Vi ncent M ack Heather M acKenzie Paul M agee James M ann Jami e Maxtone-G raham Stan M cClain Donald M cCua ig M artin M cl nall y Robert M ehnert Ana stas Mi chos Robert Mill s Wi lli am M i ll s William Mo lina Lawrence Moody Douglas Moore Jeff Moore Robert Moore Denis Moran Donald Morea Chris Moseley Don Muirhead Sean Murray Michael Negrin, ASC Willia m Nielsen jr Ra ndy Nolen Ra ndy Nolen Tamas Nyerges W illiam O'Drobinak Russell Ofria Lucio O livieri Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Packard Charles Papert David Parrish Phi lip Pastuhov Aa ron Paza nti Robert Peebles Eric Petersen M ike Pierce Peter Pilafia n Robert Presley Ma rt in Prins Bern ard Reill y Randall Robinson David Robman And y Romanoff

SOC ROSTER

john Flinn Il l, ASC Mark Forman Peter Frintrup Richa rd Garbutt james Garvey Harvey Genkins Wayne Goldwyn Phil Gri es Wynn Hammer Robert Hayes John Hill Chris Hood Kent Hughes Carrie lmai Gregory Irwin Chris Ishii Ryan jackson Thomas johnson Frank johnson, ASC Kurt jones Mi chael Jones Cath y Kanavy Francis Kenny Douglas Kirkland Michael Klimchak Robert La Bonge George La Fountaine, ASC Thomas Lappin Steva n Larner, ASC Lee Laska john Le Blanc Mark Leins A lan Levi M ark Levi n llya Lie- Nielsen Roland Luna Richard M arks Dr Ellen M atsumoto Ray M cCort Michael McGowan Nick Mclean Sr john McPherson, ASC Charles Minsky K Adriana Modlin ASSOCIATE Richard Mosier David Adelstein Gary-Oiyn: Armstrong Joshua Narins Sol Negrin, ASC Mark Ashley John Newby Chuck Barbee David Paone Bonnie Blake Andrew Parke Peter Bonilla Eric Pfoutz Chris Boyer Ted Polmanski Sathish Bra mhan Serge Poupis Maja Broz Udo Ravenstein Bru ce Cardozo Richard Rawlings j r, ASC Kirk Chiswell Bi ll Reiter Ed Clare Brian Reynolds Greg Coll ier Edward Ricci Robert Coli ins Marvin Rush, ASC Richard Crudo Carl Schumacher Sr james Dennett Bob Seaman Ronald Deveaux George Singer jr George Dibie, ASC j an Sluchak Patrick Dolan joseph Solari Kevin Downey Owen Stephens Paul Duclos Tara Summers Bert Dunk, ASC John Tea l Gary Eckert Ronald Turowski M ichael Escobosa Craig W alsh Rudy Fenenga jr Peter Rosenfeld Michael Roth Andrew Rowla nds james Ru h Tom Sanders M ichael Santy Richard Schaefer Chuck Schuman Philip Schwartz Alicia Sehring Floris Sijbesma Osvaldo Silvera jr Jamie Silverstein Guy Skinner Mike Spodnik Sandy Spooner Stephen Stjohn Michael Stramisky David Stu mp Bri an Sweeney James Sweeney Bill Sw inghamer Gene Talvin Taj Teffaha Richard Tiedemann john Toll, ASC Tsuneyuki Tometaka John Trapman jeffery Tufano Daniel Turrell Pern ell Tyus Robert U lland Paul Varrieur Bill Waldman Victori a W alker Willi am W ebb Kit W hitmore, CSC Brian W ilcox Bill Williams Ian W oolston-Smith M cKeen Worthen W arren Yeager Elizabeth Ziegler

Patt y Wa lsh Bria n Wa tkins Haskell W exler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Calvin W ood Pol Wright Noel Wyatt Tony Yarlett WAllen York David Zera Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC HONORARY james Burrows Dea n Cundey, ASC Bruce Doering William Fra ker, ASC Ron Howard Ron Kelley Kathleen Kennedy Jerry Lewis Rick Mitchell A Lin n Murphree MD David Myers Jay Roth Steven Spielberg Frank Stanley, ASC George Toscas LIFETIME Bill Hines RETIRED Bern ie Abramson Eugene Ashbrook Rupert Benson Jr Bob Berry AI Bettcher Vee Bodrero Don Burch Phil Caplan Bruce Cat lin Bill Clark Cliff Concia ldi jim Con nell Don Cropper Robert Feller Mi ke Ferra Gerald Finnerman, ASC Jerry Fuller Jerry Good Gil H ai mson Lutz Hapke Gary Holt Capt john Hussey Bill johnson David Kurland joseph Longo Steve Lydecker Owen M arsh Bob M arta Michael McClary Emmanuel M etaxas King Ni cholson Arnold Rich Sam Ro en Frank Ruttencutter Lou Schwa rt z

CORPORATE ARRIFLEX CORPO RATI O N Bill Russell CFI Adam Chuck CHAPMAN & LEONARD STU DI O EQU IPMENT Leonard Chapman Charl es Huenergardt CLA IRMONT CAMERA Denny Clai rmont DELUXE LABO RATORIES David L Hagberg Ron Koch EASTMAN KO DAK Curt is jones john Mason FUJI PHOTO FILM USA Mark Murphy FUJINON INC John Newton GEO FILM GROUP INC George Nolan HYDROFLEX INC Scott Greene JL FISHER COMPANY james Fi sher Dennis Knopf MATIH EWS STUD IO ELECTRO N ICS INC Ernst " Bob" Nettmann OCONNOR ENGI NEERING LABS Joel john on OTIONEMENZ INTERNATIONAL Karl Kresser PANAVI SIO N DALLAS Ben Hoga n PANAVISION INTERNATIO NAL LTO Tracy Langan PHOTO-SO NICS INC Conrad Kiel PRECISION CAMERA SU PPORTS Rick Gunter SCHN EIDER O PTICS Stan Wallace SH OTMAKER COM PANY Ron Riddle SONY ELECTRO NICS jeff Cree TECHNICOLO R Ki m Sherwood TECHNOCRANE LTO Simon )ayes VINTEN INC Ken Schwenk W ILLIAM F WHITE LIMITED William Whi te

ROSTER CURRE T AS OF jUNE 20, 1999