Camera Operator 2001 Fall/Winter

C AM The Jour n a

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IN THIS ISSUE 2 A Note from the President

by Georgia Packard soc

4 From the Editor's Desk

by George BStephenson soc

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN MAGAZINE Volume 10, Number 2 Fall/Winter 2001

S In Memory of Tracy Langan

7 New Tools and Technology

by Emme Headroom Plenty of hands-on at Panavision

12 News &Notes 12 CineGeor; Open Heart 14 Childrens Hospital Eye Core Clinic 15 Roizman Receives Coreer Achievement Aword 17 Pixie Awords 17 ShowBiz Expo Panel Who said w hat at the Cinematographers Panel

22 Innovative Designs from lnnovision Optics and Rollvision More hands-on opportunities

2S VidSchtik gives you a wireless preview

by Georgia Packard soc

Portable previews

28 Hot Gears changes the way we work

by Georgia Packard SOC This tool makes impossible shots a piece of cake

36 Filming the Turkish Stars - Supersonic Heroes by laurie KGilbert SOC Filming the supersonic team's 50th anniversary

44 '20 Million Pairs of Eyes'- An interview with Larry David Blumenthal

by Georgia Packard soc

Relationship between Director of Photography and Camera Operator: 8rh in the Series

49 Member Profiles Georgia Packard and David E Elkins

S1 Book Reviews Camera Assistant's Manual; Shooting Digital Video

S2 Non-Theatrical Exhibition of Wide Screen Films

by Rick Mitchell The Wide Screen Revolution (1952-1970): 12rh in the Series

64 Roster of the Society of Operating Cameramen

A Note From the President

Society Of CameraOperators Officers

A change for the better We are transforming our name to the SOCIETY OF CAMERAOPERATORS retaining our wonderful logo and SOC initials. The magazine title will not be changing. Hopefully this change will truly clarify and celebrate the art and craft of camera operating that the SOC has always been devoted to.

The times of our lives We have lived through some very interesting times recently w ith the negotiations of the Actors and Writers contracts. Production has had a wide flux of "feast or famine," w ith our clocks still being affected. Hopefully the television schedule will be first to get back on track late this summer, fo llowed shortly by feature films. Yet we have all had to shift our thinking about w ho we are and how we work in the film industry - whether having to travel for a short period of time or relocate to another production location all together.

They say hard times can help bring together a community. I am witnessing our strength here with the SOC w here members are coming together for Camera Operators Workshops, demonstrations and networking opportunities. Ernie Reed made a marvelous SOC Banner which we premiered at our SOC booth at CineGear featuri ng many of our members on a wide variety of camera platforms. Mike Frediani hosted o ur Members Panel at ShowBiz Expo and has also put together a wonderfully

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revea ling video on our relationship with the Los Angeles Childrens Hospital Eye Care Clinic and involvement with Dr Ellen Matsumoto and staff. Panavision hosted not one but two Camera Operators Workshops impressively fi lled with new camera and crane tools on Panavision Stage # 1 in Woodland Hills.

New technology is being embraced and explored for all types of production platforms w hile we sit waiting for the word to "get to work." Our down time has not been wasted as we geared up to the challenge of digital imaging - witho ut forgetti ng the most important component of our artistry, our visua l storytelling. A tool is only as good as the operator who uses it (and the vision of the entire creative team behind them).

Awards Gala We will be in high spirits as we celebrate our Lifetime Achievement Awards Gala Banquet September 23, 2001 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Seating wi ll be limited for this exciting evening! I hope to see you there.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT

PRESIDENT Georgia Packard 1st VICE PRESIDENT & SECRETARY Bonnie Blake 2nd VICE PRESIDENT Ernie Reed 3rd VICE PRESIDENT Allan Lum Li TREASURER William Molina SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Howard Block MAGAZINE EDITOR George Stephenson WEB MASTER Mark Leins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Diana Penilla

Board of Governors Gary Baum Michael Chambliss David Diano Steve Essig Sean Fairburn Lance Fisher Tom Fraser Michael Frediani Michael Jones Douglas Knapp Michael Santy Philip Schwartz Bill Waldman Ben Wolf

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J ision, the essential ingredient Vthat we as Camera Operators

use in our work, intrinsically bonds us to children with vision problems. Our organization contributes its fu ll support to the Eye Care Clinic of the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

Contact the SOC online at

www.soc.org

The Operating Cameraman Magazine Fall/Winter 2001 Editor George Stephenson SOC

Post-Production Manager Douglas Knapp SOC

Design &Production Lyrm Lanning, Double L Design, Glendale

Cover Design Mark Leins

Production Coordinators The Ingle Group, Brentwood

Contributors Michael Frediani SOC Laurie K Gilbert SOC Rick Mitchell Georgia Packard SOC George B Stephenson SOC

Photography Gary Baum SOC Robert Feller Nicole Frediani Laurie K Gilbert SOC Neil Jacobs Mehran Salamati Georgia Packard SOC Copyright © 2001 by the Society of Operating Cameramen

The Operating Cameraman Magazine is published semiannually by the Society of Camera Opera tors.

For advertising information and article submissions, please contact: SOC Attn Magazine PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070

From the Editor's Desk:

S

ince taking on the task of editing The Operating Cameraman I've been encouraged by the overwhelming response and praise the magazine has received, not only from SOC members but from a worldwide readership. This is not a credit to me but to all of our staff and contributors who have continued to strive to bring exciting, informative and in particular, useful information to our subscribers. Being exposed to new and innovative equipment such as Bill O'Drobinak's VidSchtik and Innovision Optic's new inventions can only serve to improve the quality of our work and our value on the set.

Hands-on Be sure to check out the article on Hot Gears. It's a fine piece of equipment with which we should all be familiar. If you haven't used it yet then be sure and attend the next Camera Operators Workshop sponsored by Panavision. Georgia Packard's article fully details the March 2001 work-

shop which was well attended and well worth the effort; thanks goes to all the instructors and participants! We hope to present another workshop in September so look for the dates on our website or in our newsletter.

Missing Tracy Gary Baum SOC has contributed a poignant remembrance of Tracy Langan of Panavision but I'd like to add my own personal note: From my early days as a camera assistant till very recently, Tracy provided me with camera packages (gratis) for "no-budget" projects to help further my pursuits as Director of Photography. I know he did this for the careers of countless DPs and aspiring DPs. A couple of months ago I offered to take him to dinner as a meager thank you but had to cancel due to work. Tracy, I still owe you that dinner, and a hell of a lot more! We all miss you!

Ye&1P 8 Ste;.;.u/l&U&/1, S&cY cdita-,

Subscription Rates USA $20/year Outside USA $28/year (U.S. Funds Only)

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m or email Mike at ferraflex @aol.com

3815 W. Burbank Blvd ., Burbank, CA 91505 • (818) 845-2192 ·FAX. (818) 843-8608

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

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It is with deep sorrow that I must inform you that Tracy Langan, Sales Director at Panavision Inc, passed away on July 4, 2001, after a long bout with brain cancer.

Many of you have known him for many years as a friend and colleague. I personally have known him for over 25 years, since we worked together at Panavision in the late '70s. Tracy was one of those rare individuals one meets in their lifetime who was a genuine good friend.

In 1972 Tracy began his career at Panavision in the Shipping and Receiving Department. He was later promoted to the Camera Rental Department where he worked with long-time friend and Local 600 member, Larry Hezzelwood, now Panavision's Vice President for Marketing and Operations. For the last number of years Tracy worked in the Sales & Marketing Department.

The industry as a whole has lost a friend, and will miss Tracy for his expertise, his personal support and his caring, professional manner.

Memorial services were held at the Canoga Park Lutheran Church on Monday July 8, 2001.

Fraternally, Gary Baum SOC

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: IN MEMORIAM

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New Tools and TecHnology +

obert Primes ASC opened our Camera Operators' Workshop at Panavision March 2001 with an interestng analogy between placing the camera and music: "Yo u have to think about the rhythms of the story and how they dictate what you see and how it is being played out.

Sometimes there is a very simple journey of a character, perhaps even played along one note. At other times you will bring in a more complex composition, adding instruments to build its lyrical phrases. Adding more notes if you will. This translates into the story dictating a static camera versus a long dolly shot or even a crane movement."

Primes continues, "We love to use different toys in filmmaking, but they aren't always the best tool, the only tool.

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By Emme Headroom

PHOTOS BY ROBERT FELLER

Stephen Lighthill ASC, SOC member, demonstrates the Slider.

Rick Gunter ASC (center) tries out the controls of the SuperTechnocrane, observed by Andy Romanoff (left) and Andy Sydney (right) .

Andy Romanoff tries hi s new hand-held TechnoCrane .

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: CAMERA OPERATORS WORKSHOPS AT PANAVISION

7

the refinement of the shot when they step away to dea l with lighting and production. "

The Slider Lighthill continued, "I love this new Slider. It allows for small corrections in getting an over-thesho ulder when the actors haven't landed on their marks .

The operator can make a smoother transition from one composition to another. Rem embe1~ M ehra n Salamati (facing camera) show ing his Hot Gears at the Camera Operators Workshop. we are connecting frames. If you don't pay careful First you have to visua lize what the or combining several different posia udience will see. Next the directo r of tions, where the camera goes affects attention, it ca n be very jarring and photograph y crafts how they will see how we respond to the picture. distracting." it: the lighting, textures, compositi on, Lighthill continued, "Today a lot Panavisio n has provided us with and design. some wonderful pl atforms to work of di rectors are asking to give their with today: cranes, the Fisher doll y, actors greater freedom of movement.

"We pl ay the a udience in order to elicit a certa in response. H opefully the the Slider, and even our own bodies.

It fits if the lighting style is open but director understa nds and builds on it ca n pl ay havoc on the precision of But you have to remember to not impose o r stand in the way of the this. T he crew is ca lled upon to the cam era angles. mu sic's fl ow." " In shooting television, we are orchestra te all of the elements togethforced to deal with shooting pages or er, to be abl e to punctua te Primes concluded, " H ere the SOC and nurture the story to its fullest is teaching yo u to be an instr ument in " the schedule." It becomes a different harmonies. the orchestra.

"Whether placing the ca mera angle Allow the music to fl ow thro ugh you and out onto the screen.

H elp shape this music and you will benefit from its greater energy and spirit. " Stephen Lighthill ASC stepped up next: "The operator has a lot of important responsibilities.

You follow the director of photography, yet you are Bonnie Blake SOC te sts th e Slider rig . asked to lead Ueli Steiger ASC tests Su perTechnocrane .

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : CAMERA OPERATORS WORKSHOPS AT PANAVISIO N

things you are trying to accomplish in the shot. Give yourself time to get the eq uipment into place with "play SuperTechnocrane time" to refine and rehearse so that the magic can evolve. Pre-visualize.

Rick Gunter ASC then led the Then update the possibilities with Society into a wonderful approach for using the SuperTechnocrane. On his new things you discover in your rehearsals." television show Charmed, Gunter Lighthill also stressed safety: " Any incorporates a lot of sma ller, subtler kind of equipment that is moving is camera moves in design with the dangerous. Be alert! Look around and always remember something moving can strike anywhere. The Javelin Crane doesn't telescope; therefore the movement on the post will arc. I have my key grip tether a piece of rope to represent the arc distance which is then a compromise for space. " Working out where the post wi ll go is essential. The operator and technician need to talk in order to refin e the movement and timing in order to get rid of unnecessary camera motion.

"The artistry of the Gary Baum SOC and Georgia Packard SOC with shot design starts with the technical set-up, plus The Slider mounted on a new Fisher dolly. making it safe. Then you can work elements into the shot that blocking of th e actors. " It can add energy and interest to the storytelling.

We aren't always a ble to use flashy big moves to make a point. So I set a subtl e style moving the cameras to counter or extend the actors' movements. To accent and punctuate the scene."

And y Romanoff is developing a hand-held adaptation for the SuperTechnocrane. The SOC had their sho ulders put to the test as Andy worked on a variety of mounting positions. A very interesting concept wa lking arou nd as you control this giant crane- a bit like walking a dinosaur. ballgame and you have to be able to change your style accord ingly."

The

2nd

workshop

Stephen Lighthill ASC opened the Camera Operators Workshop in June for the SOC. "Esta blish clea rl y through the viewfi nder what kind of 2nd

Checking out the SuperTechnocrane.

Michael Frediani SOC wi th The Slider.

you reall y want such as set design/ props/background information. Auto Back Panning Compensation can be a wonderful technical fix, asking the head to center on a certain point to help you execute the shot-a seemingly easy shot can be quite difficult to execute. It helps a director of photography to have the background of operating camera to understand what the job req ui res."

Lighthill reflects, "I hire good operators and then let them refine .

Every decision you make with the camera is something you are saying about the story."

Another look at The Slider We shifted over to the Slider with Stephen: " One of my favori te moves is a close-up moving in on an actor. We can get a similar result here, although a Jimmy Jib would be a lot more flexible. That is one of my favorite pieces of equipment. Yet often we are called upon to execute a shot with whatever piece of equipment we have on the truck.

You have to get

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : CAMERA OPERATORS WORKSHOPS AT PANAVISION

9

Another look at The Sli der.

crea tive and make the shot work the best you ca n."

Aqua Cam Ma tt Brown demonstrated the Hyrdo Head from H ydroFlex " used on The Perfect Storm where the camera was submerged four feet underwater by mistake-it works well as long as you cover the follow foc us and whip attachments. Dealing with wa tet; rain, desert work or boat work doesn't give our units any trou ble. It also is great to use when you go fro m a bove to below the water line during the shot.

"O ur Aq uaCam is remote-operated, fitted with dry suit zippers. O ur

Splash Bags fit pretty much any camera. There is also our Blow System to keep the water from falling on the lens. The great plus here is that it also keeps condensation from forming on the inside by way of an In-Line H ose air flow. The matte box is built into the spinning disc in the front."

Their equipment can be mounted on any platform/crane. H ydroFlex is developing a displacement system which will assist in " tank " work with a motorized weight bucket utilizing up to 4 feet extension (coming in September to a stage nea r you).

Uses for SuperTechnocrane

Matt Brown from HydroFiex w ith the AquaCa m ri g .

The SOC and ASC attendees were in for a special treat with our final speaker, Ueli Steiger ASC speaking about the SuperTechnocrane. " Once you have a crane that can telescope, you never go back," sa id Steiger. "You ca n 'fish' for ideas, look for refinements and execute the changes very quickly. You have to put the camera up there to see what's available. " But it doesn't do it by itself. You

need a rea ll y grea t crew: key grip, doll y grip, operator, and foc us p uller with everybody on headsets! Yes, it can be expensive. But we save a lot of money if we use it for the whole show. I have to explain that to the director and then they sell it for us to Production. " I started us ing one regularly on Soapdish and have used it on all of my pictures since. We discovered that the less people involved in the move-

SOC and ASC attendees at one of the Camera Operators Workshop at Panavision in Woodland Hills.

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THE OPERATI NG CAMERAMAN : CAMERA OPERATORS WORKSHOPS AT PANAVISION

ment, the more control we had.

Communication is the key!

"On Godzilla, we go up from Matthew Broderick to see Manhattan in the background.

We didn't have a rain cover up there, yet we did get rain and wind naturally. So you have to really rely on the piece of machinery. You have to know what you can and cannot do because the Super-Technocrane doesn't like rain," points out Steiger.

"The crane lets you pick up the reverses quickly without having to lay down track. That frees you completely! We travel with a back-up remote system so we can switch motors, etc quickly without stopping production.

"When you come onto the set for the first time, make sure you have the time to get ready without the pressure of everyone being there waiting on you."

Ueli reminded the group how important it is weighing in the crane. "You don't want to sell something you catmot deliver. You have to know your limits. The arm scoping is limiting.

And you can use different speeds on your telescope. Be ready to change your shot, to refine.

Then sell the director the shot."

Crane awareness Andy Romanoff of Panavision Remote spoke about a key factor: Full Pointing Compensation for telescoping and panning. "If the camera drops below the height first shown, the program has a problem. The system kicks into action when you have a lot of backpanning to do."

Ueli Steiger referred us to an example from Bowfinger: "Steve Martin drives up toLe Dome. I had no room to be out in the middle of the street, to lay track or build a platform. So I used the SuperTechnocrane. We set up on the sidewalk in front of the car.

"Steve drives the convertible as we telescope towards him. He gets out and tears the car phone out before crossing around to the trunk where he rips off his ponytail and walks into the restaurant-all in one shot! The SuperTechnocrane really freed us up. You can put the camera wherever you like so it opens up everything!"

The SOC had another wonderful day on the stage, ending with lunch served in the cafeteria where we all discussed the many different pieces of equipment and their uses. We thank JL Fisher, the ASC, Panavision, and Panavision Remote and their people for hosting these two great events!

daytime

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.. nighttime

Could this be the perfect watch for a camera person?

Some directors think so. The YES Worldwatch is the only timepiece that will tell you how much light is left before sundown. Instead of guessing when the beautiful light of dusk comes around, you can plan for it to the minute and get the shot. Likewise, the watch shows time of sunrise so you can catch the early morning rays and since YES has both a sunrise and regular alarm, getting up in time for it is no problem.

YES has a unique display that shows length of day and night while a single hand tracks the sun's path across the sky. Noon on top, midnight on bottom. At a glance you can match your schedule with available light and as YES is pre-programmed for 500 cities worldwide it will keep you on target no matter where you are. It can even be set by lon/lat and a sunrise/sunset calculator for future dates makes planning upcoming assignments easier.

One director pointed out that the symbols on the rotating bezel match his daily production schedule and counting 6 hours until lunch is now a breeze.

Digital display shows hours, minutes, seconds, month, date and day, exact times for sunrise and sunset plus time for second location. Actual lunar phase always shown. Stopwatch with lap time. Aqua blue night light.

Swiss movement. Stainless steel construction. Water-resistant to 300 feet. One year warranty. Call us or visit our web site to learn more and review the entire collection.

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Avariety of camera platforms exhibited at CineGear e had a wonderful cooler summer day on the back lot of Warner Brothers Studio Saturday June 2, 2001 for CineGea r. Ernie Reed and friend created a wond ro us banner for the occasion, filled with photos of ca mera operators and friends of the SOC on a wide va riety of camera platfo rms.

H owie Block, Bo b Feller, and Bill Clark jo in ed President Packard early in the foggy morning to greet people and sell our infa mo us SOCWear and magazin es. The event was well attended by grea t vendors and visitors alike. The exhibiting booths were plentiful and very helpful. There was a lot to see inside the buildings as well as many demonstrations going on o utside.

Our profits go to the Childrens Eye Care Clinic and

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Open Heart season

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OC Members received tickets to an in fo rmal workshop, read and sing through of Open Heart - a mu sica l

by Robby Benson, starring the multi-talented Karla DeVito, Stan Brown and Ro bby Benson which celebrates the many resonating hea rtstrings between us in the co urse of o ur lives.

we are pleased to see such a growing body of contributions.

Georgia crea ted a new pin with a metallic green ribbon in the spirit of promoting local film work.

Gary Baum and daughter Avrah took over for the lunch detail. Everyone indulged in barbecue and sa ndwiches.

Liquid refreshments continued to fl ow for th e remaining part of the day.

The sun finally came out yet the temperature remained pleasura ble. Michaels Frediani and Chambliss joined us from the ShowBiz Expo Panel earlier the sa me mornmg.

The booth was fin ally closed down so that we could all go over and join the celebra ti ons at M olepalooza. It was indeed a day full of celebrations! ~~~

SOC members Georgia Packard , Bill Clark, and Howie Block with the new SOC banner created by Ernie Reed and his buddy.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : NEWS & NOTES

THE ARRIFLEX 435 ADVANCED, THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP.

The remarkable Arriflex 435 has been standard equipment on sets for the past five years. Now the new Arriflex 435 Advanced interfaces directly with all current motion control rigs.

Say goodbye to tunnel like viewfinders , archaic video assists and bulky cameras. The new Arriflex 435 Advanced offers all the creature comforts of a truly advanced camera with the brightest viewfinder in the business and the new Integrated Video System is simply state-of-the-art.

To top things off, the Arriflex 435 Advanced has a new electronics package that makes speed/shutter ramps possible twice as fast as before. Twice as fast! If you 're looking at a motion control shot, step up to the Arriflex 435 Advanced . It's the logical choice.

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CHILDRENI HOIPITAL a,o/·fiiiCIILI/ CILI•R"TIRe 100 YI"RI

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Childrens Eye Care Clinic PHOTOS BY EMME HEADROOM

Giant blocks mark the new entrance to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles .

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he Opening Celebration of the new Gateway entrance hall for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Childrens Eye Care Clinic marked the 100 year anniversary of the hospital with a street fair replete with rides and beautiful handicrafts. Many local community members and services joined the cool May 19-20th weekend. You didn't have to be a child to enjoy the variety of food, sweets, and games available, although it was the youngsters who donned construction hats and had their photos taken in the giant construction crane.

Tours of the facilities were available

A little girl and her daddy celebrate her improved sight.

throughout the day and an information booth was always open. Inside on the donors wall, the Society of Operating Cameramen has a attractive wall plaque in recognition of our contributions over the many years. One of the stained glass window even bears a canny resemblance to our dearest associate, Dr Ellen Matsumoto.

Later in June, Georgia Packand and Mike Frediani visited the Hospital to conduct a series of interviews with several families who have been recipients of contact lenses and health care supported by the SOC's contributions to the Eye Care Clinic. Mike edited the video shown at this year's 2001 Gala Awards Banquet on September 23rd at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

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SocielyofOpntlng Above: The new donors' wall. Inset: The section showing Society of Operating Cameramen.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

2001 Lifetime Achievement Award

Roizman ASCTapped for Camerlmage

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wen Roizman ASC will receive the Camerlmage 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award at Camerlmage, The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography. The award is reserved for cinematographers who have made substantial and lasting contributions toward advancing the global art of filmmaking. The festival will be held in Lodz, the second largest city in Poland home to one of the most famous state Film Schools in Europe. The festival will run December 1 through December 8 under the aegis of the Polish Film State Committee President and local authorities.

"Filmmakers every place in the world have been inspired and influenced by Owen Roizman's innovative cinematography," says Marek Zydowicz, director of the Camerlmage festival. "We will celebrate his achievements and invite the more than 700 students and hundreds of other filmmakers at the Camerlmage festival to join us in acknowledging this great artist whose work has enriched all of our lives."

The first Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Sven Nykvist ASC in 1993 . Past recipients include Vittorio Storaro AICASC, Conrad Ha ll ASC, Haskell Wexler ASC, Vi lmos Zsigmond ASC, Laszlo Kovacs ASC, Gi useppe Rotunno AIC-ASC and Billy Williams BSC.

"I feel honored to join the distinguished group of artists who have previously received this recognition," Roizman says. "Cinematography is a form of expression that has no language or cultural boundaries. I am looking forward to meeting and working with the many talented filmmakers and students at the festival."

Roizman received the American Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 and also

served as the association's president.

He is one of only five contemporary cinematographers with five Oscar nominations. He earned his first nomination for The French Connection in 1970 and collected the others for The Exorcist (1973), Network (1976), Tootsie (1982) and Wyatt Earp

(1994). Some of his other notable credits include The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Three Days of the Cond01; The Return of a Man Called Horse, The Electric Horseman, Absence of Malice, True Confessions, Havana and Grand Canyon.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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Online motion picture makers get top nods with 2001 Pixie Award nominations ilk and Hone)~ 405, The Periwig Maker, and Neto 's Run were among the top online films and animations being considered when the Directors Board of Online Motion Pixure Arts and Technologies announced nominees for the 2001 Directors Board Awards for Excellence in Online Motion Pixure

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California. A clear awards sweep may be in the offing for such films as the high-tech thriller 405, all of three minutes about an American Airlines jetliner forced to crash land on LA's 405 freeway, whose filmmakers Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt were nominated for Best Director of an iFeature, Best Pixure, and Best Technical Effects. Not a bad showing for the clever duo, who made the film on their home computers.

soc WEAR

SOC to be honored Special recognition will go to the Society Of Camera Operators <http:/ /www.soc .org>, one of the top organizations for cinematographers in the film industry. The Directors Board wants to honor them for their extensive contributions to the awards process both this year and last.

Birth of the Pixie

Production, aka The Pixie Awards.

"I'm excited that Checkmating was recognized for two of its strongest features, actress and editing," said the 6-minute film's triple threat writer/ producer/director William Azaroff from Los Angeles.

"The selections process was very difficult," said Sharon Jennings, a member of the Directors Board of Judges and noted sound editor from the San Francisco area. " It was a lot of fun, though, and I think we've discovered some definite new talents. " "It was so close and so technical we were debating the fate of one film," said British Academy of Film and Television Arts award-winning film editor and Board of Judges member Trevor Keates, from Woodland Hills,

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Founded in 2000 at the height of online motion pixure mania , the Directors Board held its first Pixie Awards in July 2000 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, site of the first Academy Awards. The board is composed of award-winning literary agents, cinematographers, actors, writers, directors, editors, and composers professionally engaged in the business of motion picture making.

Awards ceremony This year's black-tie awards ceremony will be held September 17th, again at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. That's the same location and one week earlier than the SOC Awards Gala 2001.

Check out all the Pixie Awards nominees at: www.pixieawards .org <http:/ /www.pixieawards .org>

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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See the complete line of iackets, shirts, hats & belt buckle (not all items available in all sizes)

Write to : Society Of CameraOperators P.O. Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 or visit the Filmtools online store www.filmtools.com or http:/ /store.yahoo.com/ cinemasupplies/

SOC panel members Guy Bee, Denny Hall, Michael Frediani , Michael Chambli ss, Bonnie Blake.

ShowBiz Expo Panel Discussion n Saturday J une 2 the SO C hosted a conference program at the 18th an nua l ShowBiz Expo in Los Angeles. Panelists from the SOC inclu ded Active Mem bers Guy Bee, Bonnie Blake, M ichael Chambliss, Denny H all and moderator Michael Frediani. Camera Operating and the Vision of New Technology brought together various members of the creative commu nity including producers, actors, directors and students to ga in know ledge fro m some of the top members of the Society.

Bon nie Blake, vice president of the Society Of CameraOperators, obtained her BA in English from Vanderbilt University and an MFA in Theatre and Acting from the University of North Carolina, Chapel H ill. Bonnie studied still photography in New York City and later attained mem bership in NABET Loca l # 15 as a camera assista nt. A few of Bonnie's

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credits as camera assistant includes H ow Stella Got Her Groove Back and Leaving Las Vegas. Blake's camera operating credits include Ed, Kate Brasher and Resurrection Blvd to name a few.

N ot surprisingly one of the questions directed towards Bonnie was, "H ave you fo und resistance hi ring you because you are a woman in basically a male-dominated craft? " Blake pondered this and stated in a measured response, "I haven't perceived that I've had difficulty in being hired.

Crew members who I'd worked with previously as a camera assistant rea lized I was a 'known qu antity' in that capacity and so they knew me to be relia ble-that paved the way fo r me when I moved up to camera operator.

H owever I have noticed when I arrive on a new set I get that 'whoa, I've never seen a female camera operator before,' even from the actors. But that wears off and I then find that I fit right in without a problem. " As with any crewmember knowledge and confidence speaks volumes.

Although each of the panelists comes from a different city and background they all shared a common vision-to express their creativity behind the ca mera one day. Both Michael Chambliss and Guy Bee operate the SteadicamTMyet do much more. Chambliss won a scholarship at age 12 to the Chicago Institute of Art and later received his BA in English

and Art fro m Al bion College in M ichigan studying under Rod Serling and Jerzey Kozinski; his graduate work was completed at M ichiga n State Uni versity and the University of M ichigan. Chambliss has received numerous awa rds including CLIOs and a Pea body Award. H e recently worked as the Remote H ead operator on Ocean's 11 and is currently serving as

Those who do not come up through the ranks tend to miss out on necessary experience in the camera department.

DP/Steadicam operator on the feature Scavenger Hunt. Chambliss currently serves as membership chairman of the

soc.

Regarding the Steadicam Frediani raised the question concerning 'instant Steadicam operators'-those young people who are a ble to pull together tens of thousands of dollars to purchase a rig (not including a camera) and then put themselves into the mix with hu ndreds of experienced Steadicam operators. "T he problem in my opini on," stated Fred iani, "is tha t those who do not co me up through the ra nks tend to miss ou t on the necessary experience of learni ng the n uts and bolts of the camera department.

Learning how to load magazines, conduct oneself on the set, make phone calls to the lab and rental houses on behalf of the DP and first assistant, are just a few of the things that help when moving up to first assistant, operator and hopefully DP. A good Steadicam operator in most cases learns a lot from being a good first assistant." Frediani continued, "How lenses carry depth of field; smoothly focusing and zooming with a rapidly

Focus pulling is a Zen art of anticipation and reaction. moving dolly, learning the subtle leans of an actor towards the lens (unperceptible to most people but deadly for focus) and interacting with the operator and dolly grip helps to better understand what they will face as camera operators."

Chambliss adds, "Focus pulling is a Zen art of anticipation and reaction. Seasoned first assistants can manage the department on a 15camera day without a hitch. The best operators will pull off a shot no matter how awry things actually go when "Action!" is ca lled. The DP must balance art, schedule, politics and managerial tasks, and I believe everybody does a better job when they understand the work of the people they are depending upon. But in the same vein they don't have to know it to the level of the specialist. That's the efficient

career management part of the equation."

There are exceptions to every rule.

Guy Bee is one such example.

Entering the Camera Guild in 1991 having worked in a rental house, Bee bought a Steadicam rig along with a friend in order to share the costs. It took quite awhile to get himself established but once he landed the Steadicam/'A' camera job on ER he was on his way. "Guy's work as the Steadicam operator on the first two seasons of ER, in my opinion, raised the bar for all of the Steadicam work that we now observe on episodic television," stated Frediani. "When I was an assistant in the 1980s the Steadicam was seldom used and never to the extent that we see today."

Bee recently gave up his love of Steadicam operating for a career in directing. His on-the-set savvy caught the eye of ER producers, who allowed Bee to direct an episode of ER as well as six episodes of NBC's Third Watch.

Communication skills learned as an operator help me now as a director.

- Guy Bee His camera experience has given Bee a good perspective as a new director.

"As operators we are often in the position to speak with actors so that we can better tell the story through the lens. If we need them to move 'a little to the right or left' for composi-

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18

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: PANEL DISCUSSION AT SHOWBIZ EXPO

tion purposes we must communicate those needs to them without them having to compromise their performance. Communication skills learned as an operator help me now as a director when I talk to them about perform-

You cannot be wishywashy as an operator. ance and backs tory direction," Bee related to the conference attendees.

"As camera operators we can't be indecisive when the director yells 'cut.'

The technology of the video monitors in 'video village' which is often more than 20' from the camera," Frediani adds, "is sometimes a blessing and often a curse. I can't count the number of times when there is a problem with a shot; the director lets the scene play out, yells 'cut' and says "Let's print that and move on." Blake adds, "Well, as an operator you wonder what he or she was watching on that monitor when there was a slight bump during the dolly move. Especially when you're a new operator on the set or filling in on an extra camera you may think twice about it, but you have to speak up right away and let everyone know that you need another one."

The entire panel agreed with that assessment of being a take-charge type of person. "You cannot be wishywashy as an operator," Frediani said.

"Even though there may be many sets of eyes watching the monitor, perhaps the script supervisor is commanding the attention of the director to a missed line in the script, or the dialogue in the headphones breaks up taking the attention away from the action on the screen just as the dolly hits a bad seam in the floor, or a microphone dips into the shot. They don 't always see that which we see."

Before video assist, after the director cut the camera he or she would always ask the camera operator 'How was it for you?' That meant everything from composition to focus to smoothness of the dolly and zoomanything that was burned into the emulsion- and you had better be

succinct with your answer while the entire crew waits for the word to move on. "So the conundrum," stated Frediani ," is that even with video assist and video playback we as operators ca nnot assume that everyone else sees what we see. T he motto of the SO C has always been WE SEE IT FIRST and although others may sometimes

Even with video assist and video playback we as operators cannot assume that everyone else sees what we see. see what we see through the viewfinder we see it best. " Going back to Steadica m use on the set the discussion centered around its use and abuse. Frediani asked Bee and Chambliss if they thought that the Steadicam was often used inappropriately. Chambliss replied, "When you have just done a couple of takes that involve an extremely complex move and then finish on a static two shot for another 90 second s which will be covered in close-ups, you tend to think a bout that."

Bee added, "We are often ca lled upon to do those complex shots that are known as 'one-ers with coverage.'

As a director now I try to use the Stea dicam only when rea lly necessary to move the story along, since I was one of those 'abused' by its over-use in some past situations." Cham bliss related a phone ca ll he received from a director he worked with last year on a film. "H e call ed me and said apologetically that he had to cut into two nice long moves and didn 't want me to be surprised and disa ppointed when the movie came out. So some directors do have a sensitivity to our art which is reall y nice."

"As operators we sometimes feel as if we are tiptoeing through a minefield beca use what we ca n do with the camera sometimes encroaches into the lighting set-up of the DP. We have to do everything we can to capture on film what the di rector needs without

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creating added problems for the DP," Bee said. Denny Hall who recently moved up from camera operator to DP knows first hand that when the direc-

Just as OPs are there to serve the director, so is the camera operator. tor places the operator between the DP and director it can be a recipe for disaster. "Just as DPs are there to serve the director, so is the camera operator.

The only problem I have found is that when the director sells a variation of the shot to the operator while I am lighting the set, suddenly I am confronted with a situation that requires me to alter my lighting-well that becomes kind of challenging to say the least. We all need to understand the parameters of the shot before we commence with lighting the scene, which is necessary to get the day's work done on schedule and on budget. Bottom line is that we must work as a team."

Hall who became interested in production while taking an audio/visual class in junior high school was inspired to get into camera after seeing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on the big screen. Hall's mentors were Conrad Hall ASC (no relation), Caleb Deschanel ACS, and Charles Correll. Hall's advice to those interested in this business includes "Read, read, read. Keep up on the trade publications, attend seminars of the latest equipment and see a lot of movies. For those who are camera operators aspiring to move up-don't be afraid of it-believe in yourself and be prepared, which is the key to success in this business." Hall continues that it is not advisable to play politics, which might jeopardize the welfare of the crew. "Always treat your crew with the respect that they deserve yet don't cover others' mistakes when it's the wrong time. You need to be honest with yourself and others-stick to your guns when you know you are right. That philosophy has served me well."

Frediani, past president of the SOC

20

and former editor of The Operating Cameraman became interested in production while taking a high school media class in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Using a Sony Port-a-Pak camera system he shot and produced the high school news shows that were broadcast on the local cable station KATV. He also worked weekends at the station running it as a one-man-band operating the film-chain, cameras, sound and lights. Frediani related an incident where all of a sudden the Ampex AVR-1 B&W videotape machine suddenly stopped, resulting in 'dead air.' Quickly putting up a ballop card stating the ubiquitous 'We are experiencing technical difficultiesPlease Stand By' he made an emergency call to the engineer who was at home asleep. Immediately the engineer asked Frediani if the bathroom door near the video tape machine was closed-which it was. He then told Frediani that if the door is closed the tape machine won't get enough ventilation from the vent in the bathroom

Find out what could possibly go wrong in any given situationespecially the least expected ones. causing the tape machine to overheat!

"That incident taught me a few lessons. One of which is to find out what could possibly go wrong in any given situation-especially the least expected ones. The other lesson is to use the bathroom as quickly as possiblewhich holds true today in the fastpaced world of production," he said with a smile.

After high school Frediani attended Western Washington State College then relocated to Los Angeles to attend Columbia College in Hollywood where he earned his AA in Broadcasting and his BA in Cinema. After working a 5 year stint at Image Transform in North Hollywood as a film developer, printer operator and negative editor Frediani was admitted into Local 659 in 1978

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: PANEL DISCUSSION AT SHOWBIZ ExPO

as a camera assistant. Expressing the importance of working 'day calls' in this business he stated, "A one day call at the end of the 1978 season on Eight Is Enough resulted in getting me hired the next season as the full-time 2nd assistant. That is where I met Richard Rawlings, Jr who was the camera operator and soon to be DP on

I stayed with ~JR' for 16 years-all resulting from a one day call!

Charlie's Angels. Two seasons later 'JR' who remembered me on Eight Is Enough called me to work with him as a 'B' camera first assistant. A few years later he moved me up to 'N camera assistant and in 1989 moved me up as his operator on Guns of Paradise. I stayed with 'JR' for 16 years-all resulting from a one day call!"

Frediani who recently finished his 2nd year as 'N camera operator/2nd unit DP on WB's Charmed was asked how the new technology affects camera operators today. "In my opinion the technology doesn't really change what we do day-in and dayout. Whether we are operating a camera handheld, on the dolly, on a remote head or a Pogo-cam we are composing the frame with the ultimate goal of obtaining the best images possible on film or tape. As Denny stated we must keep up on all of the new technology presented to uswhether it is film or digital does not effect how we create and capture the action for the audience. Just as the question is often posed 'Can the DP light the sets quicker with the newer HD digital cameras?', the sets still must be lit in a way that creates the best mood and serves the story. That is what producers and audiences will always demand for their money."

Frediani concluded, "This has been true for nearly one hundred years and I don't expect technology will ever change that fundamental principle."

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Julie Klein of lnnovision Optics; Mark Leins, SOC Webmaster and magazine cover designer; Ron Vidor SOC.

Innovative Design~Jrom lnnovision Optics and Rollvision

Mark Centkowski , owner of lnnovision Optics, putting the RadCam through its paces.

L

Ken Robings with his retooled camera, used here with Rollvision .

22

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: INNOVISION DEMO

article and photos

by Emme Headroom

RadCam .

_j

Sarita Spiw ak, owner of Coptervision and Rollvision; Nicholas Nizich, camera technician ; and Ron Vidor flank fellow SOC member Douglas Knapp testing the Rollvi sion control panel , as other attendees look on .

T

he Society of Camera Operators had a wonderful morning on July 14, 2001 at Innovision Optics' Santa Monica faci lity.

After a qui ck brea kfast and networking, o ur devoted gro up ga thered for an orientation of the varied equipment Innovision made availa ble to us.

New tools to try Several new tools were demonstrated amo ngst many of their exciting systems: CAMS digital remote pan, tilt and tracking system with its innovative roll-bar handle; interchangea ble and waterproof Pro be lenses whi ch are ava ila ble for 35mm and HiDeÂŁ cameras inclu ding direct and 90 degree view (with impressive foc us and depth of field ); Mi ni Mover Moti on Control Components for tabletop motion control projects with the ability to add and build specia l platforms depending on your needs;

Z-Jib (or Zero Gravity Arm ) allowing fo r fluid 3 axis moves that standard jib arms cannot achieve; Spintec Rain Reflector which is very lightweight and easy to use; Rollvision's unique 3-axis remote head designed to be mo unted on every surface imaginable including SteadicamTM, cars, cranes, jib arms, bicycles, and the very special Radcam Omni Camera Cars with a top speed of 20 miles per ho ur for high and low angle action.

digital imaging equipment. Thank you Innovision Optics and Rollvision for putting on a great show for the SOC!

Radcam Mark Centkowski took the entire group out into the alley for an exciting demonstra tion of Innovision's new Radcam model that zips and scurries with ease as a wireless remote controlled camera car incorporating a video camera and on-board digital video recorder!

SO C attendees enj oyed the introduction to and hands-on experience with the large variety of film and

CAMS remote camera system , as seen at lnnovision Optics demo.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: INNOVISION DEMO

23

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VidSchtik gives you a wireless preview +

By Georgia Packard SOC PHOTOS BY RON BATZDORFF

L

C

amera operator and SOC member Bill O 'Drobinak has found his new version of a director's finder, the 'VidSchtik,' is very popular and very useful. The VidSchtik utilizes and combines the best of video technologies and motion picture film camera lenses, to transmit wireless color images in any shooting format, with any lens mount desired.

"The VidSchtik grew partly out of my fru stration at not being able to show my directors what the shot was until the camera was set up," recalls Bill y O'Drobinak. "I also wanted to be able to pass it off to a director or DP without being bound to a belt or cable, and yet still allow all parties to

_j

watch what we were looking at. " Without this freedom O'Drobinak found the tool was not as desirable to his DPs and directors. For example, during a dance rehearsal, or any other on e time or fast moving rehearsal, the director would not be able to take the finder from a DP or operator and move quickly to show another angle or thought about the shot. The cumbersome restrictions of a BNC cable, or battery belt and cable, sometimes inhibit that ability.

"I started realizing the potential and creation of such a tool the first time I saw a black & white, cableand-belt bound version of a video viewfinder. I wanted to be able to

Bill O'Drobinak SOC, inventor and Camera Operator using the VidSchtik, sta nding next to Director of Photography Ueli Steiger ASC. Reviewing th e shot on the clam shell monitor on the set of Say Uncle.

walk around anywhere with a viewfinder, and have everyone be able to see a color rendition as I see it through the ground glass."

To most directors and directors of

It is important to see as true a color rendition of the shot as possible when using video assist. photography it is important to see as true a color rendition of the shot as possible when using video assist of any kind. The VidSchtik started out with the Fries Optics directors finder with its high gain color video tap mounted on top, which can accept most desired lens mounts including still lenses. "But that could only be hard wired," O'Drobinak said, "and I wanted wireless transmission."

A mini monitor and Modulus 3000 were attached on either side with veb路o. "With the mini monitor on the finder, you can walk up and down stairs or rough terrain, without having to be blind to your path because your eye is stuck in the eyepiece of the viewfinder. That was a key feature for me." But O'Drobinak fo und that he needed more power than what was available from the Fries video-back power supply on the finder. "I wanted the power to be self-contained, in the finder itself.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: VIDSCHTIK

25

Don Carlson, an assistant I was working with in Chicago, had the idea of the handle actually being the battery instead of the old Fries handle. He had an effects friend machine a 14 volt power tool snap-on battery handle, so that it could screw into the place the old Fries handle came out of."

O'Drobinak then enlisted the help of Hector Moreno at Panavision to help rewire the system to power all three components (the mini monitor, the transmitter, and the video tap) off of the battery handle. With that final modification, the VidSchtik became a complete wireless unit which can be passed off to someone else easily and quickly, is simple to operate, and has a unique rechargeable battery handle."

Nancy Meyers, director on What Women Want and Disney's remake of The Parent Trap, loved to be able to watch on a large screen monitor the

complete shot before any equipment was set up or the SteadicamTM was even built! And with everyone on the crew being able to watch, and videotaping capabilities allowing the obvious rep Ia y of the shot, everyone knew immediately where to begin their work, allowing them a little more time to set lights, ready costumes, set-dressing, and continuity while the camera movement was set up and refined. Every director that I've used it with has loved it!"

Steadicam and hand-held shots are easy to show and practice, especially with the occasional demand of numerous, intricate rehearsals. Being able to do physically difficult shots without having to deal with the complete weight of the camera over and over again can be a bonus. This lightweight tool doesn't beat up the operator. "You can put it anywhere! Under the seat of a car or on the dash, up against the wall, and all before we

Director Bruce McCulloch uses the VidSchtik to line up a shot.

shot as seen by her DP, Dean Cundey ASC, or operator Bill O'Drobinak.

The VidSchtik can send a video signal from the view-finder unit to a monitor of any size, anywhere. "During the filming of What Women Want, I was able to show Nancy a long tracking shot (moving up and down stairs and around corners with the actors through a large multi-level atrium in an office building set), while she sat comfortably in her chair at the big screen monitor. She saw, in col01; the

26

physically commit to the shot where a wall may have to be removed or we would have to build a special camera platform. Plus I am able to show all different kinds of options to the director without them having to be physically near where I am."

"On Black Knight with Director of Photography Ueli Steiger ASC, we were shooting in a life-size castle built on a back-lot in Wilmington, NC. I was able to show Director Gil Junger a shot from high up in one of the

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: VIDSCHTIK

castle towers while he was down in the courtyard at the other end of the castle. It worked really well as a tool to help everyone become more efficient and more precise. And it allowed us to sometimes see what a

Once you use it as a view finder, it is so convenient that you just take it for granted. high crane shot would look like before bringing in the crane."

Production time can be more efficient with the use of the VidSchtik.

Bruce McCulloch, the director on Tom Green and Jason Lee's new movie Say Uncle, stated another use -location scouting. "It really helped me to find locations. I could send out the operator with the clam shell's recording potential and review with the department heads what we saw with very specific detail. For the wedding scene - does the concept of the shot work? How many extras do we really see? How much set dressing do we need? This really helped in the early planning stages too when I was comparing 1.85 versus 2.35 ratios. I was able to methodically plan my shots and keep the visual look more consistent."

"Without having to wrangle wires, I can show the director the inside of Tom Green's van while he sits comfortably in the parking lot with the director of photography," cites O'Drobinak on the Say Uncle set.

Depending on the use, the powerful battery handle runs the VidSchtik for days, sometimes weeks, before needing a fresh battery. "We seldom swap out the battery," O'Drobinak states.

Ueli Steiger ASC recalls the unit was built during their shooting of Just Visiting with actor Jean Reno in Chicago and England. "Once you use it as a view finder, it is so convenient that you just take it for granted. It lets the camera operator show many potential camera angles to the director easily and efficiently. It is a great

tool for communication! We can tape a rehearsal, running from angle to angle, to show the scene's coverage. It is a quick tool, easy to use and easy to change lenses and angles. This is where a picture can truly say a thousa nd words.

"It takes a little more time to set up in the beginning so we assigned an assistant to deal with it. The "Finder" needs to be ready at call time. And once you get used to it, you find yourself ca lling for it all the time," enthuses Steiger. "A good crew anticipates, always. That's why we have such a good crew. The VidSchtik is interchangeable with all of the lenses we carry, even a zoom, so we are able to look at what the shot would be like without having to actua lly lug the camera there, even the VPs (Variable Prime lenses). It is more precise than a director's viewfinder to show the director what the camera will see. It is

and make it safe."

A hard-wired unit with a black & white viewing system has been available for a few years, but not with all of the capabilities of the VidSchtik.

With the wireless VidSchtik, an operator can drive down the street inside a moving vehicle, setting up a shot that the director can watch from a monitor either in hand or from video village. It allows communication of the vision, and approval of the shot before any rig or camera is placed, in places where wire bound finders would not suffice.

"I'm just glad it helps me communicate my ideas better and makes my work more efficient," O'Drobinak says. The VidSchtik is a tool that takes a Director's Viewfinder to the next level of technological proficiency.

Inventor Bill O ' Drobinak SOC holding the finder unit VidSchtik with the digital clam shel l and receiver.

very specific, plus I can have the director sign off on the shot before I have my crew build the camera platforms

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : VIDSCHTIK

27

28

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOT GEARS

Hot Gears

changes the way we work + 3-axis Hot Gears within confines of moving car.

by Georgia Packard, SOC PHOTOS COURTESY OF

MEHRAN SALAMATI

L

_j

On Ali, Michael Mann takes the wheels as Ji m McConkey looks on .

" It's so responsive. It's real sweet. Hot Gears simplifies set-ups with precision and doesn't even make the director even wait one minute, " shrugs Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki ASC. "The director, Michael Mann is very visceral and quick to respond. The hardest part of using a piece of equipment is ed ucating the director on how to use it, getting them to use it as part of their natural vocabulary. Now Michael can't keep his hands off it!"

Hot Gears is an award-winning two- or three-axis digital control system which allows the cameraman to turn a standard gear head into a simple remote system in a few minutes.

Because of thi s, it allows production an opportunity to position a camera where it might be physically impossible for an operator to maneuver the camera, stepping around on a moving dolly or working within tight spaces.

We tracked down Camera Operator Gary Jay on the Mohammed Ali set of Director of Photography Lubezki. Gary was very enthusiastic. "If you try cranking slowly on other remote heads, the ca mera actually doesn't move. This microprocessor reads where your hands are." Gary confessed, "You don't have to go through the contortions of doing the shot the way we usually do. It's the low ones that really kill me. Here I can sit back and let the dolly grip take it on."

A special bracket was built so that the camera can be put on the jib and crane to give us a 90 degree tilt down angle on the overhead.

"We used leaded weights for the back to make

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOT GEARS

29

it easier." Lubezki added that he would also like to see a pan-bar available for when he operates the camera.

These points have been addressed with the construction of a three-axis Hot Gears and a three-axis pan-bar capability. Additionally, a new PC link has been developed to allow the reworking of multiple moves and saving them into a PC file. This allows one to retrieve the moves at anytime.

Motion control made easy!

David Merrill, the key grip, noted another reason for wanting to use Hot Gears. "It makes the shots much easier by taking the operator out of

It makes it really easy to do all kinds of moves.

Simple and accessible. It has a great impact on the visuals. I really love it!

Precise camera control/ operator safety on insert car mount.

human body out of the equation. Soft stops gives me limitations so I don't go beyond the shot in a heated moment of passion. We are doing a lot of fight sequences and it is really easy to overshoot my edge of frame when everyone's adrenaline is crank-Michael Mann, Director ing. Especially when dea ling with the line of fire . It's the way I want to stunts! " work. I'd ca ll it the 'safe head.' No " It's extremely precise. When you more having to build a platform for stop on the wheels, you rea lly stop the operator on a car shot. We put the camera. It is so important to be the camera on a hostess tray with the accurate. We used it all the time in the boxing ring scenes. We even started assistant and operator safely on the insert car." designing all kinds of new shots with Jim McConkey, SteadicamTM it," declared Lubezki. "The recordplayback feature allowed us to make operator on the feature film, is used last second changes and still get the best results. There is a high degree of reliability while only a small amount of our personnel will be going to o ur locations all around the world . It makes me feel a lot more secure. And like a Steadicam, it opens up a whole new avenue of choreography."

"Michael Mann really likes the memory functions," concluded Emmanuel. "He is very specific 3-axis Hot Gears underslung on Aerocrane. about the compositions he finds while setting up. Now he can comto changing from one camera platform to another very quickly. He pare it to the other times he composes the in-between shots and he will not noted the system "allows you to remove the operator to a safer dishave lost any of his options." tance plus it changes the ratio on the Michael concurred, "It makes it gears which gives me better control really easy to do a ll kinds of moves.

Simple and accessible. It has a great on the head. It frees me up to achieve impact on the visuals. I rea lly love it!" better compositions and takes the

30

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: HOT GEARS

"It's a simple set-up. Just one cable," says Robert Primes ASC about using Hot Gears on a recent Hi-Def short entitled Forgotten Valor directed

by Lane Nishikawa. "Hot Gears gives me a remote crane and remote control with an easi ly affordable configuration which allows us to carry it all the way through the production. It is available to use with a good jib, letting me design all kinds of visuals as if I were using a more expensive crane for longer shots. This ultimately gives me more creativity. I am a big fan!"

Forgotten Valor's operator Ian Dodd agrees that the set-up is fast and easy.

"The repeatability of our shots is guaranteed with being able to dump the shot into a laptop memory. Our

Emmanuel Lubezki ASC

multiple pass shot records the operator's move and then plays it back in motion. I can perfect the move as the camera crew rehearses so when we bring talent back to the set we burn only the best on film. Tight spaces or otherwise places where the shot wouldn't be possible are no longer a problem. We have used the Hot Gears with a hood mount and a side mount from the insert car to get that standard two-shot through the window.

Plus we can pan back to include the backseat person!"

Dodd points out that he usually operates on the same gear, regardless of the lens choice, "and I use the similar speeds as if I was on the dolly operating. It is not difficult to use and the results are beautiful! The Director of Photography can design a huge amount of clever shots with a fast set-up. It is so versatile."

Primes commented that his small

How's that for versatility.

Hot Gears is light and easy to move. A very agile device."

We caught up with Aaron Pazanti SOC on another feature, The Panic Room photographed by Conrad W Hall.

"Hot Gears made us do so much better. It allows you to put the camera anywhere with a 360 degree view without having to walk around the dolly. It makes it so much easier because you don't have to physically make that difficult move."

For this feature fi lm, the camera

The crew rigged special weights to counterbalance the camera to allow tilt downs and precision operating.

"You can really put the camera exactly where you want it to be."

Aaron continued, "We have extended the dolly 8 feet with rigging, underslung the camera on the remote Hot Gears and we can do 60 degree tilt ups after scooting right along the floor. We are getting so many more interesting shots with this system. Like skulling on Sports of Young Bob Primes ASC and lan Dodd.

Americans or insert car shots and stunts, Hot Gears keeps you out of harm's way." rental cost on this $85,000 budget short was a good investment. "I was Lisa Guerriero, second assistant, asked to shoot a scene where soldiers agreed that the equipment was really walk by in rea l time and then cross helpful in all of their tight corners.

"We were able to do a great the same location as ghosts. shot underneath the sink, For us to recreate this in CGI seeing the whole room. It was cou ld cost a lot of money so I had to get creative and come quick to set up- we keep up with a better solution. I Hot Gears pre-set up on the cart, so you just plug-in and decided to use the Hot Gears go. This production has a lot and the crane together to get of 180 degrees and 360 even more out of our motion degrees shots. Aaron just calicontrol set-up. It worked perbrates and goes. David fectly! This one multiple pass shot of the soldiers walking Fincher seems to really like it past the gravestones is really an because it goes so well with the kind of shots he sets up, $85,000 shot in and of itself. including having us use it to We will see all of that producre-shoot some earlier shots." tion value up on the screen. I am very happy with that!"

"Hot Gears is a precision piece of equipment that Aaron Pazanti SOC and Bob Primes ASC setting up on the Bob Primes ASC also phoworks each and every time. chase boat for the sculling scene . tographed a Sports of Young Americans production where You use your own camera head, then attach all of these great his camera 'crewed' with a racing was often being placed just above the accessories when you need them. We shell 25 mi les per hour in the water. A floor or under a sink in the production's marvelous camera was rigged on an outrigger four-s tory set with an plank where there was no room for exterior of a New an operator to work. "It was a big dilemma as to how we could get the York street attached.

"David Fincher, the shots we needed safely. I didn't want to have to shoot from a distancedirector, is very precise. I need to be able from the shore or from another boat. to stop on a dime, We rigged the Hot Gears so that my placing the cross-hairs operator Aaron Pazanti SOC followed in another boat. We got beautiful in a certain spot. Hot close-ups in their boat and were able Gears allows me to to go from the rowers' close-ups to pinpoint my end their padd les coming through the marks, especially water and then pan all the way back with the soft stops to their instructor. It was affordable feature that helps me and we got wonderful shots! 12 to 15 fi nesse the end of my pan."

Sculling in Sports of Young Americans. camera angles in only one pass !

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: HOT GEARS

31

The Panic Room starring Jodie Foster, with Director of Photography Conrad W Hall.

carry it for the whole show," says Director of Photography Conrad W H all. "For it to get past Da vid 's scrutiny is really something. It passed Fincher's cri teria of motion control, exacting and precise. There is no slop so the tool gives us 100 percent simulated perfection! Only the best or nothing! " Conrad remembered a very complex shot they were able to execute: "We rehearsed the shot 45 times while lighting, with camera movement and dollying before the actress got o ut of make-up. We perfected the

Hot Gears mounted between the headlights of the insert car for POV.

camera shot and then the Director chose the one execution he wanted to use. Jodie Foster came in to run through the complex shot for her moves and we selected the take from the Hot Gears' programming. Then we stepped away and had a cup of coffee! This a llowed us to do the take on film very efficiently. You get the precision once and then send the camera to that exact spot each time.

The production company loves it! " David 's visua l style is very precise and challenging, using numerous elements in each camera shot. Hot Gears

â&#x20AC;˘

2nd AC Lisa Guerriero holds the slate in

32

The Panic Room . Hot Gears is at the right.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: HOT GEARS

delivers the camera opera tion with the smallest amount of fuss, all owing the Director to spend time and concentrati on with his actors and their perfo rmances- as it shou ld be," says H all. " Plus you have the choice of what camera equipment you wa nt, then add on this incredible tool. You are not required to switch out equ ipment, to compromise and use a lighter weight or smaller dimensioned camera.

"O n Doctor T and His Women for Ro bert Altman, we had very long crane shots across the Book Depos itory and grassy knoll. This is the perfect piece of eq uipment to maintain precision and control. We used the heck out of it! " Pazanti likes soft limits on the pan fea ture. "It lets me concentrate on tilting and my head room wi th the actors. The bl oop light on the recordplayback feature allowed us to match multiple takes on the show so when I had a tilt-down with Jodie running down the hallway, we were able to continue the shot through the floor to show the destruction Forest Whitaker's and Dwight Yoakum's characters were up to. This is a Hitchcockian thriller that wi ll keep eve ryone on the edge of their seats!"

Aaron says, "I own two systems myself. I never have any problems with over-correcti ng or drift, plus I get digital precision. Mehran Sa lamati developed a new power system for me

The Camera Assistant's Manual

Driven: Operator Jacques Martin is ready to shoot a Formula One car in sa fety.

with constant voltage w hich allows you to keep the system on-line all the time. We tape the rehearsa ls and play them back for David to give any correcti ons needed. Then David gives me the 'Go for that! ' and we do the take. That really gives me peace of mind."

David Fincher likes the memory func tion to be able to compare severa l different composi tions. "That's a grea t function. It's a rea lly cool too l.

We put the ca mera into some strange spaces that we co uld not put a person into, but now we don't have to take a chainsaw to the set." David adds, "It gives us a grea t fee l to the shots."

Ca mera Operator Pazanti ad mits th at he wo uld rather look through the camera when he is operating, but "if I have to use a remote, then I do it for the shot. The dolly grip likes it too because it gets th e operator off of the dolly and gives them less weight/ cab le/and pipe-rig to wrangle. Isn't it abou t making it easier on everybody without compromi si ng the work? !"

"I'm so impressed with th e unit," concl udes Conrad. "It's obvious that Mehra n has field tested thi s device and gotten feedback from crew members. Hot Gears serves a variety of on-set functions.

"What I love a bout thi s is that it brings the remote to the ca mera, lets you finesse the moves and yo u don't lose anything to the controls. Now that's a novel concept! " Contact H ot Gears at (818) 7802708 : Website at www.hotgears .com

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Driven : Operator Jacques Martin sets up Hot Gears in a Formula One car.

An article about using Hot Gears on Star Trek: Voyager appeared in the january-June 2000 Operating Ca meraman.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : HOT GEARS

33

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Mini PL Lens

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The Revolution modular lens from Cine Magic has created quite a stir in the industry by virtue of taking multi-axis filming technology to the next level. It's the world's first periscope system to allow live panning of the objective lens while maintaining a level horizon. But that's just one of the Revolution's many features. Others include the use of relay lenses that transmit only aerial images (which eliminates the "phantom dust" that's prevalent on systems which utilize internal field lenses) , and objective lenses that are capable of extreme close focus.

But that's not all. Clairmont Camera has taken this innovative lens system and added its own special features.

So when you get a Revolution from Clairmont, it's far and away the most versatile lens package in the industry.

We Dare To Compare There will obviously be comparisons between the Cine Magic Revolution and other lenses of this type. We at Clairmont Camera honestly believe that our modified Revolution is equal or supe1ior to any competitive designs on all counts. Here's why:

Synchronized Horizon Tracking Easily the most useful capability of the Revolution is being able to pan on an optical center, instead of an arc.

And to ensure that both vertical and horizontal movements are synchronized, we motorized the functions and worked with Preston Cinema Systems to develop a highly sophisticated controller for us. Howard Preston and his technicians did a masterful job, and the end result is a unit that provides cinematographers with total control of the shot.

Mini or Arri PL Mount Lenses The Revolution system comes with eight very compact objective lenses (9.8mm to 60mm). They are especially well suited for commercial work, as you can get very close to the object and have a depth of field comparable to any other periscope/snorkel lens.

Recognizing the different requirements for big screen use, Clairmont Camera also offers you the Revolution with an Arri PL mount. This, of course, lets you use the lenses you've come to prefer for feature films.

You can also use zoom lenses with the RevolutionT" -small17-35mm Century zoom lenses or Optar 25-80mm zoom lenses.

We've Moved the Rods On most cameras, lens support rods are attached at the base. However, we found that in extreme close-up work the rods would often get in the way and prevent optimum camera positioning. So we developed special supports that eliminate the problem and provide more clearance for tabletop photography. Another Clairmont advantage!

More Filter Options Instead of having a drop-in filter located at the back of the lens, our Revolutions have a screw-in 40.5mm filter in the mount and can also hold one or two 2x3 11 filters in front.

The filter holder is equipped with a removable sunshade.

The "Phantom Dirt" Mystery You've probably heard horror stories about these mysterious specs of dirt that show up at the most inopportune times and ruin shots. Not with the Revolution.

There are no internal field lenses for dust to collect on.

Only aerial images are transmitted, effectively eliminating the problem.

Anamorphic Friendly You can use our rear-mounted anamorphicizer or an anamorphic taking lens. Our lightweight Clairmont anamorphic lens is especially well suited to the Revolution.

It !~~ine~~!r~ft

feature-for-feature the Cine Magic Revolution with exclusive enhancements by Clairmont Camera is unquestionably the most versatile snorkle-style lens you can use.

More and more cinematographers, directors and producers are discoveiing the myriad of creative (and costsaving) advantages of using the Revolution. For example, think about what you can do with a conventional camera/lens setup and a Power Pod ... then, consider how much more the Revolution is capable of. Let your creativity soar to new heights!

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by Laurie Gilbert SOC

PHOTOS COPYRIGHT LAURIE GILBERT On the side of the plane: the pilot's name and the official name of the Turkish Stars: Turk Yildizlari. DOP Laurie Gilbert and Turkish camera assistant Alpers discussing a shot.

36

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : FILMING THE TURKISH STARS

stanbul, Turkey: legendary world metropolis, capital of t 1ree empires, the true ga teway of East and West and home of some of the most famous spies in history, including, most recently, the "reluctant" ones like Jackie Chan. At sunset the spires of some of the most spectacular mosques in the world dominate the skyline of this truly glorious city.

Amongst these spires stands the Galata Tower, a pinnacle that claims a unique identity in the evolu tion of human endeavour. History records that it was from here that the firs t man succeeded in fl ying with manmade wings, and actu ally lived to both tell the tale and claim the beer.

150 years before Pilatre de Rozier and the Marq uis d'Arlandes soared above the French countryside for the first time in an untethered hot air ba ll oon, a Turkish scholar called Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi strapped on a pair of artificial birds wings, trusted his fate to his God and jumped off.

He successfully "flew" across the Golden Horn tributary and landed on the other side of the Bosphorus River, some 1500 yards away, in Dogancilar Square in Uskadar. <http://digilander.iol. it/kola pilot> Since the success of that historic day, the Turkish people are justifiably

proud of their contribution to the aircraft, rather than the usual six. conquest of flight and none more so They are the youngest supersonic aerthan the Turk Yildizlari - the obatic team in the world, and along Turkish Air Force who are the second with teams such as the "Blue Angels" and the "Thunderbirds," undoubtedly oldest air force in the world and who celebrate their 90th anniversary in one of the best.

2001. In recent years they have taken In anticipation of their 90th anniversary celebrations, the public the famous quotation of Kemal Attaturk, the founding fa ther of modrelations department of the Turkish ern Turkey and adopted it as their Air Force commissioned a series of films to be made on their aerial supermotto - "Istikbal Goklerdedirstars. The series included documenThe Future Is In The Skies."

In any Air Force, the pilots of its taries for international television aero batic team represent the very best of the best - they are chosen from the 'Top Gun' combat aviators that are the pride of their nation.

Their role is both public relations and recruitment an d they proudly represent their country internationally in air shows and similar international events.

Only six aerobatic teams in the world perform this activity DOP Laurie Gilbert Filming hand-held in flight. with supersonic jets and only one of these teams - "The release and a Turkish drama aimed at Turkish Stars"- performs with seven school child ren. The Istanbul-based production company owned

by Ahmet Selim Kayacik, a renowned Turkish photographer and aerobatic pilot himself, won the tender.

Ahmet's brief was simple: shoot the most dynamic series of in-cockpit television films possible, to demonstrate the extraordinary flying skills of Turkey's fi nest supersonic pilots, and give the world the best of Hollywood from central Turkey!

From his own flying experience Ahmet fully appreciated the extreme environment that the cinematographer was going to have to operate in and he went searching the "web" for an international aerial expert to work with in Turkey. From the home page The crescent moon and star of the Turkish flag are combined into the logo for Turk Yildizlari . At of Aerial Cinematography left, an XM 1 camera with one of the specially constructed mounts built by Air Force engineers.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FILMING THE TURKISH STARS

37

Dot Com in Hollywood, Ahmet was a ble to locate Si ngapore- based aerial DOP La urie K Gilbert SOC, who eventu ally flew directly to Turkey fro m his previous project in Hawa ii. He travelled wi thout a support team or assistance of any sort, for what was ultimately to be a 45-day shoot.

The budget of the project wasn't exactly DOP Laurie Gilbert in cockpit of camera ship "Top Gun," but within lenges and this would dictate the reason, there were no impositions placed on the production team as far choice of both equipment and camera positions available. as either equipment or film vs tape format decisions were concerned. The 3. Undoubtedly the biggest challenge budget did "suggest" however, that would be the extreme gravity the most cost-effective solutions to forces on both the equipment and any problem should originate from the aerial cinematographer during inside Turkey, where possible. tight aerobatic manoeuvres. An W hen the DOP arrived in Turkey, increase of six times the force of gravity on a normal film camera he spent almost a week with the definitely has the potential to Turkish Air Force analysing the genuine extremes of what he was being interfere with film transportation asked to do. In the high-octane world and registration. In a professional video camera, there was a similar of a supersonic pilot, the expression "6G" symbolises a fam il iar degree of potential for problems with the system that transports the tape persona l discomfo rt at the top of an aero batic loop. In the world of a proacross the recording hea ds. Highspeed turns, loops, rolls and dives fess ional aer ial cinematographer, it represents almost impossi ble working also create severe vibrations withconditions and extreme photographic in the airframe of the aircraft and these vibrations would also challenges. "6G" is six ti mes the fo rce of gravity - th at is the sort of force that drives an Arrifl ex camera onto the floor of the cockpit and takes all the blood that was mea nt to go to the ca mera man's hea d, directl y to his feet.

Pi lots wi ll nonchalantly tell yo u they do it every day.

As he analysed all these elements the DOP realised that, apart fro m language and cultural differences, there were three key challenges that he wo uld have to overcome to produce the extremely high standard of air to air materia l req uested: 1. He would need almost unlimited access to the F5a and F5 b military aircraft operated by th e "Turkish Stars," especially during the initial pro blem solvi ng and camera mounting period.

2. The small physical size of the Two Canon cameras mounted in the camera cockpit space created its own chal-

38

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FILMING THE TURKISH STARS

adversely affect camera mechanics and image stability.

The space limitations in the cockpit and long duration of each training flight suggested videotape as a recording medium, rather than film. There was a great temptation for the production company to use lipstick cameras and mini recorders, but the DOP was adamant that these cameras would never produce the quality of images that a larger, three CCD chip camera could achieve.

After considerable research into the equipment availa ble for rent and sale in Turkey, it was decided that the aerial content of the films would be shot on two different Canon PAL Mini DV cameras - the XLl and the GMl and two of each of these models were ultimately purchased for the video production. The reason that Canon was chosen was primarily beca use of the reputation of its wide-angle, interchangea ble optics and the proven effectiveness of the patented antivibration device built into each lens.

With a tape length of 60 minutes, a resolution of 500 lines and their small, lightweight body size, the cameras seemed to be an ideal solution to a difficult problem in an impossible shooting environment - but only IF they could survive the extreme G forces!

The real worry for the DOP was

ship .

not whether the CAMERAS could survive these forces in the cockpit, but whether HE could survive them! The Turkish 'Top Gun' pilots all seemed to be on the right side of forty and

extreme, face distorting pressures the DOP was enduring.

The DOP may have had a few problems but the camera passed with flying colors- probably because its

Formation From Camera Ship.

the "downside" of his experience meant that the DOP was definitely on the wrong side. Within a couple of days the Turkish Air Force was to call his bluff and subject him to the ultimate survival test.

They rightly believed that anyone flying in the cockpit of one of their aerobatic supersonic jets has to be able to handle the environment and be fully trained to cope with any emergency. The DOP had to pass an extensive medical examination in a Turkish military hospital before he was even eligible to receive gravity training and something they ominously called cockpit ejection training.

"Do I get any of that blood BACK?" he was heard to mutter at one particular stage of the hospital proceedings.

After receiving a positive grading in all his medical tests, he fo und himself being strapped into the centrifuge capsule that would eventually teach him the reality of what 8.6 G actually feels like - "Bloody horrible - I want to go home NOW!" This access to the centrifuge also allowed an evaluation of the production cameras and a brand new Canon GMl was mounted inside the capsule to film the

mechanics and tape size is so physically sma ll, the effects of the G forces are proportionally less. Significantly, the anti-vibration facility built into the lenses of the four production cameras handled everything they encountered in both the centrifuge capsule and subsequently in the cockpits.

Once the DOP Canon XL 1 above the pilot's was fully trained to survive and to operate professionally in-cockpit, the real job of making the film began. Four aeronautical engineers from Ankara were assigned to work with the camera team at the air base in Konya - the Antalya home of both the Turkish

Stars and also the legendary Whirling Dervishes. The engineers took one look at the cameras and said they were too heavy - the film team said the cameras stay, get different engineers! The engineers scuttled back to their drawing boards and workshop in panic for a rethink!

Eventually the problems were solved with imagination, creativity and Turkish engineering excellence "Problem Yok" they always said no problem - and the solutions gave the DOP access to seven different camera mount positions in Whiskey Alpha, his twin-cockpit F5b camera ship, as well as the "handholding option" in the back seat. Polarising the lenses immediately revealed all the manufacturing stresses in the Plexiglas, but unwanted reflections from the back cockpit dials were controlled instead with small black drapes and black gaffer's tape and ultimately the DOP had an extremely sexy, black cockpit to operate in!

Each day, a formation of up to seven F5a aircraft wo uld take off into the cloudless blue skies escorted by Whiskey Alph a and Ahmet, the director/photographer in his second F5b

head on specia lly built camera mount.

camera ship. A sma ll portable monitor was mounted inside the aircraft to all ow the pilot to view the image from the side-facing, aerial 'tracking shot' camera and within days, the superstar pilots were flying the locked-off cameras with the creativity

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FILMING THE TURKISH STARS

39

Side mounted mid camera in camera ship (XL 1 Camera).

Turkish Stars Formation .

DOP Laurie Gilbert and Turkish Camera assistant Alpers filming cockpit controls.

Ali , Turkish camera assistant, mounting camera .

40

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : fiLMING THE TURKISH STARS

hearted. But the significant of true Hollywood camera amount of dust and loose professionals. The images cockpit debris suddenly that the Turkish Star pilots appearing from nowhere both conceived and created meant an alternative solution themselves, were absolutely had to be devised. astonishing!

At subsonic speeds, the Half way through the shot might have been possilocation shoot in Konya, a ble with a Wescam mounted Phoenix dolly/crane crew either in a fast attack heliarrived with their rig from copter or on the 'tailgate' of Istanbul. For the next three a C130, but both these airdays the little Canon cameras craft flew too slowly to keep tracked and 'flew' around the up with the supersonic F5 20 ft bronze statue of a jets. The solution suggested symbolic hero aviator at the by the Turkish Air Force was main gate and then followed a KC135 - a Boeing 707 a team of real hero pilots as modified for use as a mid-air they nonchalantly did the refuelling tanker. This airmacho "Tom Cruise walk" craft is fitted with a probe to their aircraft, at sunset. which projects from the The director also asked that underside rear of the aircraft one of the F5 a aircraft be and during the mid-air towed to an immaculately DOP Gilbert with Phoenix Crane filming Pilot statue in Konya . docking process, this probe clean, brand new hanger and is 'flown' by an operator then used the tracking jib looking through a specially modified, would have taken one look at the arm to shoot a whole series of 'flying' downward facing window. The storyboard and immediately refuelled camera team had a critical look at the Lear Jet and loaded up the one of these aircraft and although the Vectorvision, but Turkish Stars window itself was very small, they Supersonic Heroes was being shot in believed that they could overcome the a different world devoid of these space limitations and gratefully luxurious facilities! accepted the generous offer of this The DOP and his pilot originally rather large camera ship. tried to provide this sequence by flyThe final solution was for the ing the cameraship upside down and KC135 to fly low (1000 ft) over both filming the formation below them Istanbul and the Turkish countryside through the clear top of the canopy Canon XL 1 mounted behind pilots head - not exactly an exercise for the faint and actually be the lead performer in on specia lly constructed mounting plate. packshot studies of the photogenic red and white supersonic machine.

The Canon 300mm F2.8 lens was particularly useful on the Canon XLl camera to shoot dynamic long lens, sunset material of the planes taxiing, taking off and landing with the assistance of their drogue chutes. On the XLl, this particular lens becomes the 35mm equivalent of a 2100mm focal length lens - a very serious 'Top Gun' lens indeed.

The original storyboard required a high-angle shot looking down on the seven aircraft formation as the Turkish Stars flew over Istanbul, the Bosphorus River and other nationally significant backdrops throughout Turkey. My associates in Hollywood

DOP Laurie Gilbert filming from Phoenix crane into cockpit.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FilMING THE TURKISH STARS

41

Formation seen from underneath Boeing KC 135 camera ship. what became an eight-a ircraft for mation. From his position in the belly of the KC135, the DOP was a ble to film as the seven F5a jets followed his camera ship like cygnets following a very large swan . The system worked so well that the camera tea m was ab le to produce high angle, tight shots of the for mation with an ever-changing background. In fact some of the most dramatic material in the final film was shot from this otherwise tota ll y empty Boeing 707 as the expa nded for mation fo llowed the Mediterra nean coastline of Turkey at sunset.

Forty-fi ve clo udless shooting days later, the team had 50 rolls of some of the most dynamic, supersonic air to air material ever shot.

One fina l and memorable incident symbolised the bond that had been created between the Turkish superstar pilots and the filmmakers. On their last day in Konya, the camera crew said their goodbyes early in the

42

morning and climbed into their coach fo r the ten-ho ur drive back to Istanbul. Just before one PM they pulled into a well-kn own roadside restaurant fo r lunch. The DOP noticed the camera assistants talking

excitedly on porta ble phones and then within seconds, the unmistakable shape of three supersonic jets approaching the restaurant, flying no higher than 300 ft above the surrounding wheat fields. T hey made three very low passes over the astonished diners (one American tourist was heard to exclaim afterwards that he almost wet himself!) before igniting the afterburners and disappearing into the clear blue skies of An atolya . The superstar pilots of the Turkish Stars were saying "Goodbye & thank you! " to the camera crew in their own very special way.

When he left Turkey after seven weeks of extreme challenges and even more extreme soluDOP Laurie Gilbert SOC with Canon Xll and 300mm tions, DOP Laurie K 2.8 mm Canon lens.

Gilbert SOC had received

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: fiLMING THE TURKISH STARS

100% co-operation from the Turkish Air Force High Command in both Ankara and Konya. He also had the privilege of working with Ahmet Kayacik and the very talented staff of Kayacik Photo and enjoyed some of the warmest and most generous hospitality of his professional career. He now wears the name that the superstar pilots of the Turkish Air Force gave him- "Nure Gilbert- Turkish Pilot" -with considerable pride.

Š2001 Laurie K Gilbert SOC Author's Background: Laurie K Gilbert SOC is an award-winning Director of Photography who provides global cinematography services from his operational base in Southeast Asia. Over the last 25 years, he has shot motion picture material for both cinema and television, in more than 35 countries.

Boeing KC 135 Mid Air Tanker Camera ship and formation: the seven F5a jets followed the camera ship like cygnets following a very large swan.

E mail: laurie@limage.com

Home page, Laurie Gilbert L'Image Cinematography: http:/ /www.limage .com Home page, Turkish Stars:

http:/ /www.hho.edu.tr/ turkyi ldizlari/homepage . html Home Page, Aerial Cinematography Dot Com in Hollywood: http:// www.aerialcinematography.com

Product info

Award for Turkish Stars and Laurie KGilbert SOC

Canon XL 1 Mini DV Camera available at Otto Nemenz

t the inaugura l Asian Technical & Creative Awards in Singapore, a 50 minute video of the supersonic aerobatics of the Turkish Stars took joint top award for cinematography in an event that attracted 1000 entries from 13 countries.

In his acceptance speech in front of an audience of hundreds of industry spectators in the Hard Rock cafe in Singapore, Director of Photography Laurie K Gilbert SOC paid tribute to the dream, the vision and professionalism of the late Ahmet Kayacik, director, photographer and pilot extraordinaire and his remarkably talented team.

He also stressed that the quality of the radical imagery contained within the film was mostly due to the extraordinary flying skills of some of the finest pilots anywhere in the world - the supersonic heroes of the Turkish Stars!

The segment of the film that was shown received a standing ovation and everyone who had anything to do with it, should be justifiably proud of this significant award.

The second video Turkish Stars- A Star is Born has been accepted at both the prestigious New York and Los Angeles Independent Film and Video festivals, as well as the AEGIS awards in Hollywood and the Prix Danube festival in Croatia.

A

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FILMING THE TURKISH STARS

43

when analyzing that shot. In West Side Story there is so much to admire a bout DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY & the camera operating. And that was CAMERA OPERATOR shot before our current "days of fl ash" 8th in the Series where every conce iva ble toy is at our disposal-Pogo-Cam An interview with Larry David Blumenthal on Rollerblades to simulated helicopter shots from a Stra da crane. I thin k the director of photography's credo ought to be 'I want you to see this.' Meanwhile, the operator might be thought of as saying to the viewer 'Now watch this!' T his portrays an important distinction, because the operator is the Larry David Blumenthal actu ator, or conduit, of the storytelling for PHOTOS COURTESY OF LARRY BLUMENTHAL the enti re audience. This is why the ca mera operator is so important! " Larry has spent many years as a director of photography, working in a variety of fo rmats and venues. "I have of the control and the art of what an the greatest respect for the opera tor, " w hen I entered the business, I think the director of photogra- operator creates has been diluted with no matter how large or small the proph y was given more considera- the preva lence of the video assist. duction. I have even cut some of my tion by the producers. H e or she was Even so, I still think that camera own wage to bring in an operator on often deferred to regarding important operating is one of the best jobs in the some shoots so I don't have to be disdecisions. The producers wo uld ask business." Blumenthal cites a time tracted from doing that job approprithe DP a bout the visual approach and when he was impressed by watching ately. The operator has an opportunity an operator's work on the screen: selection of the crew. As a result, betto see what I may not see, so I now Elliot Davis' work on St. Elmo's Fire . ter relationships were cultiva ted since have two sets of eyes ava ilable to me. often the same crews would work on Everyone will have a slightly different many projects together, allowing a track. That is why I look for operators The operator has an short hand to develop along with a who don't necessarily see it the way I gro up intuitiveness," states Director do. By this bracketing of artistic peropportunity to see what I of Photograph y Larry Blumenthal. spectives we can find somewhere in may not see, so I now " Before the video assist beca me the middle a truth many can agree commonplace, the strengths of the with.

I will listen to the operator: Is have two sets of eyes opera tor were relied upon. You had the shadow a problem ? Is the highlight available to me. to go to the operator to affirm and distracting? In my view, communicaget approva l that the sense of compotion with the operator should never siti on and clarity of vision seen as an "There was this huge monster master contain an element of "Who are you extension of the director of photograshot where the main characters were to question the Maestro's adornments? phy's style had been accomplished in wa lking and talking. They looked like " Of course, I hire people I know little dots in the frame in the lower the shot. N ow, the director of ph otogwell and have good communication raphy and operator are being held with. What I tend to look for in an right hand corner. I thought it was a hostage to an increasing entourage of curious yet stimul ating choice of operator is that he or she has a rather 'monitor-baters' which makes inherent framing si nce the fra me moved diagofeminine visual sensibility. Perhaps that respect for the operator's judgement nall y as they wa lked di agonally. T here is why you often see women operators almost impossible. was something subtle a bout the art of on my shows. I think they bring a opera ting that opened up for me "I think it is a shame that so much natural sense of design and texture RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

...

..

44

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DP/OPERATOR

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[II]

which conveys a subtle influence on the visua l line. This is not to be confused with a sexual connotation, but rather I am discussing the esoteric creativity of the universal feminine

Deborah O ' Brien

process. A similar difference can be seen in the contrast of masculine classical music with music of a curve-linear or feminine essence. For example, Beethoven and Stravinsky, though extremely beautiful and sensitive, are distinctly masculine in their utterance -while the music of Ravel or Debussy has a more feminine voice.

This difference also exists visually in cinema. There is a kind of rhythm to the art of operating which may have little to do with whether they are male or female.

"I long ago identified the job of operator as being essentially feminine in its process. This idea may surprise some, but let me explain. The divine masculine is connected to the spark of origination or inspiration. But it is the divine feminine which is at the process of collection and nurturing into manifestation. To me, it is clear that the director and the director of photography tend to use masculine activities of creating ideas or concepts out of the nothing. 'What are we going to experience?' and 'What can it look like? ' When the operator arrives on the set, the lighting is there, the blocking, the acting ... all the stuff which must be collected, ga thered, and channeled through a lens to the audience. Yet, all operators are unique individu als colored by their own special and varied attributes. Deborah O 'Brien has a wonderful strength of character, an

46

interesting candor factor (she first identified 'monitor-bation' as a fast spreading disease in Hollywood), and brings in her background as an award-winning still photographer.

Vito Giambalvo wears his cultural identity with pride and passion and brings an energized musicality to his work. In contrast, the soberness and infamous "pregnant pause" of Bill Whitman has gotten us all out of more jams than anyone can know. There is a rare quality to that communication skill. I truly appreciate his keen intelligence and extensive experience.

"By the way, Bill Whitman and I have an interesting bond by way of absence of a mutual friend and comrade. Years ago, John Goode SOC, Bill and myself would sit around together as operators. You couldn't find three more different men, yet our strength was our awareness of this. It was a huge loss when we lost John Goode.

John and I were very good friends, colleagues and compadres long before I became a DP. When I moved up, he never had any envy. He embraced my move forward as if it was his own success. 'It is about time they discovered who you are,' said John. " Larry continues, "He was my biggest fan, the ultimate cheerleader. Within the confines of budgetary and time constraints on a project I would try to lay my signature on the set so that when John came to operate he might notice

John Goode SOC and Larry Blumenthal

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DP/OPERATOR

it - we had unconsciously created a game with him discovering a lighting gag, the laying of a strike on an object in a particular way, or the creation of an ambient light into a fill. I always wanted to surprise him again and again, like a child trying to please a parent. To my great delight he would invariably find these little mysteries.

Our relationship worked both ways in that we were both parent and child.

These lighting pieces weren't always apparent to everyone else, but I would put them there for John. I still do.

John Goode wasn't a bashful man. He would frankly embarrass me to the hilt with praise: 'You have been wasted all these years as an operator. You light naturally, like the 'old school,' with separation for black-and-white. You have respect for your crew and they appreciate it. Since you come from there, production also respects your knowledge. When you say you need something, they tend to believe it must be so."' Blumenthal recalls, "What John Goode gave to me as a human being blurs the line between friendship and professional commitment in such a glorious way. He made me learn that being committed to something you love is in itself an infectious act of pure friendship. Hopefully it is a disease that will always be in an infectious state. Being totally human is about being totally responsive to your passion. John Goode lived up to his name.

"I have a special compassion for sitcom operators where the creativity is less defined because the product is so much more formulaic. With three or four operators there is less freedom to make the director's choices.

There is more center punching.

Even in this venue I hope for the artistic tendency to try to play the frame as a proscenium, a sense of the world beyond that space. Therefore you might cleverly lead an actor in, or perhaps allow an actor to exit an extreme boundary of the frame instead of center punching him out. There are always artistic activities going on through points A and B as more of a slalom, and less of getting

straight from point A to point B. As an operator, I knew I was often deemed irreplaceable by production simply because I always had a little bit of storytelling going on in my operating. Storytelling within the story telling is a plus. Deborah O'Brien is really good at doing exactly that. She has found her own quantum on that, so I don't have to second guess her. She just sort of makes it happen, maybe not even in the way I might have foreseen. It's like I have a melody, and she is singing in harmony, no discordance, all within intuitiveness of what I hoped for in the scene, within the same key. Jolm Goode was also great at this and could always hum a few bars visually for me. He was such a jazz lover, and he had a sensibility so much on that divine feminine energy. Operator Vito Giambalvo is an obvious example of the indomitable creative spirit. They can bat him away, kick him or gag

Bill Whitman

him, but he will survive to have the audience singing and laughing in five minutes. It is his nature. He brings that ebullience and joy into his work and he expects no less from his crew or his director of photography.

"When you work as a DP on a gratis piece, it is then that the real truth and beauty of your co-workers' relationships with you become apparent. I like to believe that when I call my friends to this kind of work, that

out of mutual respect they jump in to place. I like to consider what every one has to say- after all, anyone help shield me, to not let me jump knows how to watch a movie. We are into the chasm alone. They trust me, all experts! It is called 'visual primacy' and that my intentions and care for and we begin learning it the first day them are real." Larry shakes his head.

Mama sits us in front of a television "Too often in this business uncaring set. As a filmmaker, it is dangerous to detachment has become a key to sucbecome elitist and assume that others cess- it is also a key to inhumanity. have nothing important to say. You It's much like 'Corporate Conscience,' pay the price as a lodger in the world really, so I don't buy into it. We spend of 'Corporate Lack of Conscience.' so much time on set that to not have a life there, or not be in touch with life there, is to have no life at all. If you truly love what you are doing then you must truly love those around you. It's not pie in the sky stuff.

What I am saying is that sometimes we don't live our lives sharing of ourselves, spreading the Vito Giambalvo SOC wealth of appreciation. In my life, I try to give that to people freely- with no expecta"Art may be created by the artist, tions. It is the same thing for me on but art is for everyone. Music as well. the set, playing it like it is. Any piece Music and art are mirrors of life. Both reflect and cultivate what is going on of celluloid must always be taken in in life. It is extraordinarily interminconsideration for every drop of sweat and devotion that was given in order gled. Camera operators dwell at the very center of an interesting distinction to put it on the screen. Herein lies the that is integral to the very essence of conflict between visionary thinking vs. why film and music are the most corporate thinking-- the struggle is exalted of all art. Cinema and music between true imagination and oxyare not static but temporal arts. They moronic 'Corporate Conscience.' rely on the fabric of time for their very "In my reality, everything is conexistence. The other Fine Arts are nected." An example comes from locked in time, capable of only when Larry pulled his first crew together as a DP. "I gathered everyone inferring movement or duration. But cinema and music have a beginning, a for my first little talk and said, "I middle, and a finish. Until they are want you (each crew member) to be once again re-performed or replayed, more of who you are. I don't need to they no longer exist. They can only go up and show you how to do it. We reside in the realm of memories and will work it together. I am looking for impressions. Cinema and music more creative ways to work. Here, as require the utmost of an audience- to your Chief, I will not be a King. I give up the most precious thing we know that I am beholden to my crew. possess, a piece of our lives to experiI am happy to listen to all perspecence them. And the eyes of an auditives. Yet understand, once I have ence are the eyes of the camera operamade a decision I will have to stand tor. The operator literally flies the with it." There is a quote that Larry visual plane for 20 million people with works by: "If I am successful, it is little bits of their lives on board. It is because I stand on the shoulders of quite nearly a sacred responsibility! " giants." He acknowledges, "I am very aware of this. Everyone deserves to feel that they are a significant part of the larger whole. Everyone has a

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: DP/OPERATOR

47

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Georgia Packard soc

G

eorgia Packard began a career in still photography with Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Sherri Hise at the Center of the Eye in Aspen, Colorado.

At an early age she graduated to moving pictures, studying the relationship between documentaries (i.e. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions), portraitures and the inspiring landscapes of New Mexico, Aspen, and San Francisco, places she once lived. Georgia is fond of rock climbing and skiing in Colorado, white water rafting and hiking throughout Idaho, Montana, California and the Four Corner States.

Packard received a Masters Degree in Film in London circa 1981, and has traveled throughout the world in the course of her filmmaking. After shooting a feature in Bogota, Colombia she

returned to her native San Francisco in time for the Actors Strike. Timing is everything ... After working three years as a camera technician in a rental house, Georgia struck out on her own, freelancing with awardwinning Ci nematographers Emiko Omori, Stephen Lighthill ASC-SOC and others traveling internationa lly on

documentary and feature film projects.

The American Film Institute provided her with an opportunity to relocate to Los Angeles. She continued working as a camera assistant while operating on her 2nd year AFI film Hearing the Light starring Stephan Burns. Georgia then went on to win the Academy's Cinematography Internship at Warner Brothers Studios.

Apprenticing on such shows as Beauty and the Beast with Roy Wagner ASC and Designing Women with Ed Rio Rotunno provided a unique experience in television. When the IATSE doors began to swing open, Georgia stepped in with her qualifying days as a camera assistant for Leonard Smith and Vince Martinelli. Eventually, Director of Photography Ric Robinson gave Georgia a shot at operating camera on several short films, music videos and a local feature film. Following this experience she was able to make the transition to camera operator in Local 659 (now Local 600) .

Georgia continues shooting documentary films, and operating additional camera for The Huntress and Charmed television series.

Among her other credits are: My Wife and Kids with Daymon Wayons, and recent features, Trader Ed and the Holy Grail, Now Chinatown, Say Uncle with Tom Green and Jason Lee, Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg, Austin Powers II: The Spy That Shagged Me, and Punks.

Georgia is an active member of the camera union IATSE 600 and is currently serving her 2nd term as President of the SOC.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: MEMBER PROFILES

49

David E

Elkins SOC n 1968 at the age of 14, while editing the fam ily 8mm home movies, David E Elkins SOC had no idea he would one day have a successful career as an assistant cameraman and camera operator.

He graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1976 with a degree in mathematics. Originally Elkins planned on a career teaching mathematics or possibly working in the computer field . These plans changed dramatically in 1980, while he was recovering from major surgery: He decided it was time to do something new and different with his life. On June 16, 1980 he packed up his car and headed for Los Angeles.

During the first few years in LA he worked in the retail field while trying to decide what it was he really wanted to do. Living so close to Hollywood his interest in the film industry just got stronger. Having read scores of magazines and books on filmmaking he felt he would benefit from attending a film school. David enrolled in Columbia College-Hollywood concentrating on the study of cinematography, and graduated Cum Laude in 1985 with a degree in fi lm production.

His first professional film job was working in craft service on a low

I

budget feature film where many of his college classmates were crew members. Then he became 2nd AC on some second-unit shooting for the film. That job led to other jobs as a second assistant and his career was on its way. He continued to work as a second assistant for approximately two years. Elkins joined NABET Local 531 in late 1986, and started to work more as a first assistant around the same time. In 1989 he became a member of the International Cinematographers Guild as a first assistant cameraman.

David has assisted or served as camera operator for many exceptional cinematographers including John Schwartzman ASC, Victor Goss ASC, Marvin Rush ASC, Randy Sellars, Mark Woods, Richard Clabaugh, Anthony Palmieri and many others on commercials, music videos, television series and feature films. His credits include The Wonder Years, Star Trek : The Next Generation and Gabriel's Fire for television, music videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coolio and the Beastie Boys, commercials for McDonalds and Life Savers, feature films Waxwork, Claire of the Moon, Red Surf and many more.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : MEMBER PROFILES

While working steadily as a first assistant cameraman, David was asked

by Columbia College Holly-wood to develop a new course to train students in the craft of becoming an assistant cameraman. During the time he was preparing and then teaching the class he compiled an extensive collection of notes detailing all of the responsibilities of the job. While showing these notes to some of his colleagues it was suggested that he try to get them published.

He sent a copy of the notes to Focal Press in Boston and five weeks later received a contract in the mail to write what would become The Camera Assistant's Manual.

Elkins' Manual has gone through many stages since first being published in 1991. It is currently in its third edition, has been translated into Spanish and has consistently been a best seller for Focal Press.

The book is used all over the world by beginning filmmakers as well as working professionals. (See review on next page.) As a result of the success of the first edition, the publishers asked Elkins to write another book for their Focal Handbooks series. This book, Camera Terms and Concepts was published in 1993.

David is currently employed as a Filmmaker-in-Residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking where he is the chairman of the cinematography faculty. (See Operating Cameraman June-July 2000.) He continues to work as a camera operator and also does l sr AC work when the opportunity arises, and splits his time between North Carolina and his home in Connecticut.

Check out his web site at www. thecameradepa rtment.com/ elkins

for his complete resume and list of credits.

Book Review

The Camero Assistant's Manual

By David EElkins Focal Press

T

soc

his is Elkins' third edition of The Camera Assistant's Manual and as such is testament to a successful publication. My question is, where was such a manual when I was a fledgling loader/2nd camera assistant? There would have been one less flashed roll (unexposed, thank God!) and one less dropped center core, that's for sure!

Elkins has fulfilled an invaluable role in providing students and neophyte camera assistants with this nuts and bolts manual. He delves into areas that heretofore could only be learned in the school of hard knocks, i.e., onthe-job. But then there's that Catch22, how does one get the job? He even covers that topic from resumes to interviews. From a step-by-step technical guide to the psychology of on-set behavior, Elkins spans the gamut of learning how to become a camera assistant in the film and television industry.

Following his manual closely can avoid reinventing the proverbial wheel in countless situations. In time all good assistants develop their own

working systems that function best for them but Elkins' manual offers a standard by which one can learn. He points out that flexibility is key and one must learn to adapt to the ways of one's superior. The Camera Assistant's Manual is chock full of technical information, diagrams, charts and tables in its 394 pages that pertain specifically to the working duties of the camera assistant.

At first I admit I was bothered by what seemed to be a fair amount of repetition from chapter to chapter. On further reading I realized the wisdom of his ways. Repetition of orders and information is paramount to clear concise communication amongst crew members. A good Assistant always repeats the T-stop or filter pack, lens focal length etc to the DP when given this information by the DP. The apparent redundancy in Elkins' style si mply reinforces this all-important aspect of the camera assistant's job responsibilities. Better to check and double check rather than let something fall through the crack, possibly resulting in disaster. Speaking of checking, Elkins' numerous "checklists " during prep and production for the 2nd and 1sr AC are priceless.

Again, most of us have had to learn this from other camera assistants through trial and error, ultimately developing our own system.

I'd like to touch on one area in his chapter on focus-pulling which he overlooked. Though specific knowledge of depth of field and lens characteristics is critical, it's equally important to understand that focus-pulling is an art. Developing a sense of timing and feeling the nuances of a scene or an actor's movements can only be accomplished with experience and that takes time. This is what separates a technician from a craftsman.

Although The Camera Assistant's Manual is specifically aimed at individuals just beginning their careers as camera assistants, there is much useful information for the seasoned assistant as well. One can never know it all and with new equipment and technology coming online every day, upgrading one's knowledge and expe-

rience is mandatory. Because of this fact, I'm sure we can look forward to a fourth edition of The Camera Assistant's Manual when deemed necessary. In the meantime glean all you can from this one.

- George B Stephenson SOC

Book Review

SIOlTNi DliiW.

OKMI, ...,Dit.-~

JON FAU ER, A.SC

Shooting Digital Video Jon Fauer ASC Focal Press

E

verything you always wanted to know about digital but were afraid to ask-and more. A very comprehensive guide to "pro-sumer" digital imaging with almost every imaginable camera package available. Wonderful historical context is given for all formats-including film's earliest 9.5mm!

Each chapter is filled with detailed technical comparisons, photos and illustrations, How To 's, Do's and Dont's, Never The Same Color, Flicker facts and comparisons that take the reader all the way through the editing process on the computer.

Small projects are never talked down to. In fact, creativity and imagination are essential to get any digital project off the ground.

Don't let being a "film artiste" keep you from reading this great book.

Rating: 5 bags of popcorn-good fun and a satisfying read!

- Georgia Packard SOC

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BOOK REviEWS

51

The Wide Screen Revolution (1952-1970}:

Non-Theatrical Exhibition of Wide Screen Films

by Rick Mitchell

n the last installment of this series, it was announced that the next would deal with 16mm and 8mm anamorphic filmmaking. Researching this format took longer than I expected as I desire to complete as definitive a work on this subject as possible. As a result, I've decided to expand what was to have been the introductory section, dealing with the history of non-theatrical feature exhibition and how it was impacted by the Revolution, into a full article.

In the early 1930s, after the introduction of optical sound to 16mm, Bell & Howell started a rental library with films licensed fro m Paramount and Universal. 'B' films from companies like Grand National and Mascot were also available from smaller independent libraries that sprang up during this time.

As it did with production, World War II caused a reassessment of 16mm as an exhibition medium.

While military bases installed 35mm theaters which ran current features at

I

52

night, 16mm prints and portable projectors with generators were shipped to the front or flown to ships at sea to provide entertainment for the troops .

The Armed Forces Motion Picture Service was set up to get prints from the studios, which it continues to do to this day.

Non-theatrical exhibition really took off after the war, with the involvement of four major companies in 1948. Two years earliet~ Universal, fo ll owing its merger with International Pictures, had entered into a joint venture with J Arthur Rank for an international distribution company to be called United World Films.

Though nothing ever came of this project, Universal applied the name to the non-theatrical subsidiary it set up.

In addition to its own fil ms and the pre-1948 Paramount pictures added when Universal was bought by MCA, United World Films would handle non-theatrical distribution of Rank films in the United States into the 1960s.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

More significant was the involvement of the Encyclopedia Britannica in non-theatrical feature film distribution. They already had a division making educational films and in the early 1940s had entered into a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make 40-minute versions of classic novels filmed by the studios in the 1930s.

These were made available to elementary and high schools. As a result of the industry connections made, Encyclopedia Britannica was now able to set up what would become the best known American rental library: Films Incorporated, with titles licensed from Warner Bros, RKO, and most importantly, 20th Century-Fox. There appears to be no official record of how much revenue the studios got from the non-theatrical market but it was apparently enough to cover the costs of making the 35/32 dupe negatives and prints. To placate theatrical exhibitors' fears of competition, these films could only be

shown in situations where no admission was charged and, except for 'shut-in' situations like prisons and mental hospitals, could only be rented two years after the film's theatrical release. By this time the 35mm version would be playing the very bottom rung theaters and the 16mm rental rate was 2-3 times what those sites were paying.

By 1953 the non-theatrical market had become important enough for 20th Century-Fox to take it into consideration as part of its CinemaScope campaign. For Bell & Howell, manufacturer of the majority of the 16mm projectors used in schools, 20th Century Fox had Bausch & Lomb develop a combined prime and anamorphic projection lens. It was the only such lens to ever be developed for smaller gauge use and is still considered today to be the best anamorphic lens ever developed for 16mm projection. Unfortunately, it only came in four focal lengths from 50mm upward, which created some of the problems with showing anamorphic films in small rooms.

More intriguingly, according to several magazines, on July 31, 1953 an anamorphic lens of Bell & Howell's own design was demonstrated at the National Audio-Visual Convention using specially shot material and reduction footage from The Robe on a curved Radiant 8 x 20 ft screen. The projector reportedly was a Bell & Howell 202 modified to play the sound in two-track magnetic

stereo! (Bell & Howell had introduced the variant of its standard optical sound projector with magnetic recording and playback capabilities the year before.) According to the articles, this projector used two 50mm tracks sideby-side. However, according to articles

The 16mm 18 prints of Camera 65/Uitra Panavision films like 'Ben-Hur' show more of the overall frame than 35mm prints. that appeared later in Variety and the American Cinematographer, this screening occurred a year later, using clips from Demetrius and the Gladiators which, along with Fox's other CinemaScope pictures, was supposed to be made available to the non-theatrical market in 2 track stereo beginning that Fall. Illustrations of the projector showed a standard Bell and Howell 200 series with its doors closed and no closeups of the sound head, though a schematic for a proposed 16mm stereo system was published in the Cinematographer in 1953. As I found no subsequent mention of this projector or 16mm stereo releases, some years ago I asked a longtime Bell & Howell engineer if he knew anything about it. He said he'd never heard of such a projector!

16mm anamorphic prints of the first CinemaScope pictures officially became available in the fall of 1955 with Films Incorporated's release of Fox and Warners' initial features and shorts, Universal's early CinemaScope features and shorts becoming available the following year. The Fox and Universal films were IB printed by Technicolor with the matrices made from the full aperture negative rather than from the Academy aperture, which was standard procedure for making reduction prints and dupe negatives. After the introduction of Eastman's 5253 color intermediate stock and the initiation of production of anamorphic films in black-andwhite in 1956, other laboratories began making 16mm anamorphic reduction negatives and prints using that standard Academy aperture setup, which meant the top and bottom of the frame would be cut off. In the 16mm Technicolor prints all the image exposed in original photography would be seen, unlike in the 35mm prints, where the left side of the frame would be cut off by the magnetic and later optical sound tracks. Technicolor would continue to make the matrices for its 16mm anamorphic prints from the full aperture negative through 1957. By 1961 however, it had reverted to the practice of making the matrices from 35mm anamorphic photography fro m the Academy aperture; its dual and single rank matrices from Technirama and 65mm originals would be made from the original cut camera negative with an attempt to fit in as much of that original image as possible. For example, the 16mm IB prints of Camera 65/Ultra Panavision films like Ben-Hur and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World show more of the overall frame than 35mm prints.

16mm anamorphic releases heightened the debate about how wide is too wide. It is extremely rare today to have the opportunity to see one of the initial CinemaScope pictures projected at 2.55:1; even rarer to see a Camera 65/Ultra Panavision film projected at 2. 7 5:1. (It's difficult enough to see a contemporary film projected at 2.40:1!) Thus it's hard to understand

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

53

20th Century-Fox, American International, and Republic were the only companies that did not release "adapted scope" 16mm prints of their films; Columbia's were initially only available that way for rental in the

Engineers at the then Fox-owned DeLuxe Laboratories developed the first pan/scan printer head which could extract from eight different positions in the frame.

United States. The similarity in look to 16mm prints of hard matted spherical films has led to some confusion about whether or not certain films were originally shot anamorphic or in one of the other wide screen formats that yielded 35mm anamorphic prints.

Frequently such films have ended up on supposedly definitive lists of anamorphic and wide screen films.

'Adapted Scope' might have become the standard for showing wide screen films on television had it not been for an FCC ruling that the entire 4:3 frame had to be transmitted; this ruling was rescinded in the 1980s.

The first CinemaScope films shown on TV-Gentlemen Many Brunettes (1955) and The Ambassador's Daughter (1956), part of a package of post-1949 films United Artists put into syndication in 1958-had their images extracted from the center of the frame with an empty, often out-offocus frame if the subject was on the left or right. This same technique was followed when other studios began releasing their early CinemaScope films to TV in 1960. As this approach proved unsatisfactory, a method was developed for extracting either the left, center, or right, but only on a cut. This meant several seconds of empty frame if the subject entered the area after the cut or left before the next one.

In the Spring of 1961 20th CenturyFox negotiated a deal with NBC to

sell some of its films for a network movie series, Saturday Night at the Movies. The deal was contingent on Fox coming up with a better way to present CinemaScope films on TV. Engineers at the then Fox-owned DeLuxe Laboratories developed the first pan/scan printer head which could extract from eight different positions in the frame, move from one to another on a cut, and move across the frame during a cut.

The second CinemaScope film, How to Marry a Millionaire, was NBC's premiere film. While the networks used 35mm prints, 16mm prints from the pan/ scan negatives would be used in syndication and such prints were also made available to the nontheatrical market. After 1980, the spherical versions of anamorphic films were more likely to be pan/scanned than "adapted."

In 1956 MGM, then on the verge of signing its first nontheatrical contract with Films Incorporated,

experimented with an alternative method of dealing with the width problem. At that time, as 2.66:1 was considered too wide for most nontheatrical situations, lenses with a 1.5x squeeze had been introduced, resulting in an aspect ratio of 2.0:1 (a subject to be discussed more fully in the next installment). MGM tested the possibility of unsqueezing the image by 5% and bringing in the top and bottom frame lines for a picture closer to 2.35:1 without the loss of information at the top and bottom of the frame when projected through 1.5x squeeze lenses. Warner Bros also struck some prints of this type which were apparently not put in wide nontheatrical release, though some were put into TV syndication later.

16mm anamorphic prints have been made from films in every format discussed in these articles, and except for three panel Cinerama, in Super 8 during the last twenty years. Superscope and its variants, including Super 35,

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

55

the complaints about CinemaScope being too wide, until one watches a 16mm (or Super 8) anamorphic print on a small screen. As noted above, the width of the 35mm frame was reduced by the sound tracks and further reduced in many instances by the installation of individual theaters.

16 and 8mm projectors have fixed apertures of 1.33:1 which when expanded 2x yields a ratio of 2.66:1, wider than 35mm magnetic-track-only anamorphic

These became known as 'adapted scope' prints, though today they're often referred to as 'letter-boxed.'

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'"'·" and three-panel Cinerama, slightPric~:s do not include the rental cost of the CincmaScope bookings • Prices do not inclutlc the rental cost of the= CincmaScopc bookings Price's subjt·ct to chan.1~e without notice ly narrower than Camera 65/ Ultra Panavision. On screens fAMO~U • Screens may be purchased sepa rately or under CinemaScope package plans (sn charts ). A complete line of Da·Litc Cincma.Scope and Regu10 ft wide or larger this width is D a-LII e Jar screens is sold by Films In corpo rated. Our representatives will be happy not that objectionable, but most SCREENS to help you in your selection.

16mm situations had neither -· 'i - ~ screens that wide or room to I Cine-King Model C move the projectors back far I Scenic Roller Wall and Ceiling Wall and Ceiling enough to get an acceptably large ,, ,, image. As noted earlier, the focal f;utens to the= wall or and is Sturdy construction and easy operation lengths of the lenses Bausch & ·f0'1:% whit e headed tripod by rope and puUey . . . . may be hunfi: on wall or from ceiling. with ca5ing equipped with Lomb developed for Bell & handle for NOTE: All screeiU are designed Cor They can also be used for rcgu\u motion picture= projection.

Howell were too long for use in close-in situations. The other anamorphic lenses made available 150 I ClnemaScope Packare Plans were actually adaptors that went in front of the prime lens and A page from a Films Incorporated catalog showing the lens adaptors available for rent. could not be used with lenses shorter than 38mm without into a reduced area of the frame. In presentation in the United States, these vignetting. On small screens the March 1954, Panavision and unsqueezed versions were to be anamorphic image does look like an Superscope had introduced the first presented in a compromise aspect elongated mail slot! (These adaptor optical printer lenses for unsqueezing ratio of 1.70:1. While the author has lenses were the foundation of 16mm anamorphic footage and vice versa. found no evidence of any and 8mm anamorphic cinematograAt first these lenses were used to elimCinemaScope features being released phy and will be covered in more inate the necessity of making two verthis way in the United States, it detail in the next installment.) sions of trailers. At the time it was became the primary alternate method While Fox's CinemaScope films also suggested they would be used to of releasing anamorphic features in would only be available in anamormake unsqueezed versions of features 16mm until the early 1980s. With phic prints until 1962, Warner Bros available to foreign markets and thick frame lines at the top and botinitiated the approach most other bottom rung theaters which couldn't tom of the frame, these became companies would follow in releasing afford or weren't able to put in known as 'adapted scope' prints, their anamorphic films in 16mm: an CinemaScope. Because masked though today they're often referred to unsqueezed partial extraction printed projection had become standard for as 'letterboxed.'

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

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for the military. However, by late summer 1954 when White Christmas was released, masked projection had pretty much become standard and as Technicolor printed a hard matte into the 35mm reduction prints, cinematographers saw no need to keep things out of the overall frame that shouldn't be there, like lights, microphones, dolly tracks, etc. These things would later show up not only in 16mm prints, but in 35mm TV network prints that were similarly extracted.

Unfortunately, most of the printing

image resolving characteristics between the Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lenses based on Henri Chretien's origina l designs, the Cinepanoramic lenses developed by Ernst Abbe (1950s and 1960s European anamorphic films, Naturama), and the Panavision lenses. While 35mm prints off the original negatives would be best for such comparisons, I have been able to do so using 16mm anamorphic prints and, allowing for variations in lab techniques, there are differences. It is also easier to discern the higher quality of images from 65mm and Technirama negatives, even in a Super 8 print.

Full-size is better While those of us lucky enough to live in the Los Angeles area have ample opportunity to see all types of classic films in 35mm, sometimes 70mm, and after Summer 2002, in three-panel Cinerama, most serious

internegatives made from Vista Vision libraries were not as persistent. The originals through the 1970s were major reason was that the "Adapted extracted this way. Even new 35mm Scope" and pan/scan versions rented prints for theatrical reissue were made more frequently. As a result, new from these negatives because it was anamorphic prints or replacement cheaper than going back to the origifootage for damaged sections, usually nals and making new correct ones. the head and tail of reels, would be In 1983 when Universal got the ordered only on the most popular titles rights to some key Alfred Hitchcock and as the anamorphic versions became unprojectable, they would not films, the interpositives and 16mm internegatives for The Trouble With be replaced.

Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) were all made from the full width Vista Vision negatives or separations, as have recent restorations of Vista Vision films made by other companies.

Films Incorporated would continue to order anamorphic prints on all appropriate subjects it distributed until it went out of business in 1998.

However, after the 1950s, Teenage Caveman starred Robert Vaughn, Darrah other non-theatrical Marshall and Leslie Bradley.

students of wide screen films in other parts of the world will have to rely on rental prints or the kindness of strange film collectors.

Going, going ...

A caveat: as noted in the article, few 16mm anamorphic prints were made after 1981, either of new films, or new prints of older films. As a result, except for surviving Technicolor IB prints, all other color prints were made on Eastman or Fuji stocks which are subject to dye fading! This is a loss of first blues, then greens, leaving various shades of red and brown, the amount of dye loss dependent on when the print was made. (The same problem exists with 35mm color positive and 70mm prints made before 1982). While prints struck in the late Fifties are totally red, brown, or pink, many prints made over the next twenty years retain varying amounts of green

and blue, often enough to be watchable. Thanks to home video, audiences over the last twenty years have become less tolerant of imperfect prints than in previous decades, but this is often the only way to see many anamorphic and 70mm films on the screen today. While one can mentally fill in the missing colors, one cannot always determine what was outside a pan/scanned frame. In looking at 16mm anamorphic prints of films from the mid-1950s to the mid1960s, one often finds interesting and innovative uses of the wide frame, especially in B pictures, that are worthy of study. Last year, a rare anamorphic print of the Fox B film Plunder Road (1957) was shown on the giant screen of the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Had it not been announced in advance, I doubt many in the audience would have known it was a 16mm print!

-Rick Mitchell

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

57

are the most difficult to find anamorphic prints on since it was easier and cheaper to make direct reduction printing elements from the spherical negatives. In their 1959 rental catalog, the now defunct Ideal Pictures (which had the rental rights to the Allied Artists and mid-1950s RKO pictures) published a special box in which it claimed it had anamorphic prints on all of those companies' CinemaScope and Superscope titles.

While anamorphic prints of the CinemaScope pictures have turned up over the years, none of the Superscope films did until the mid-1970s when Kit Parker Films paid to have a dupe negative struck from the squeezed British fine grain of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). In its catalog Kit Parker listed anamorphic prints of several RKO films that actually were not released squeezed in the United States but apparently were in England, including Fritz Lang's While The City Sleeps). In the mid1960s when United Artists started its non theatrical division, all of that company's anamorphic releases were

listed as being available squeezed.

However persons who attempted to rent squeezed versions of their two Superscope films, Vera Cruz (1954) and Desert Sands (1955) were unable to do so, raising questions about

A "SuperTechniscope/ Super 35" version of 'Silverado' (1985) was apparently made for the military since it was not available in anamorphic from any non-theatrical library. whether or not such prints were ever made.

The author has run across a squeezed print of the RKO/Warner "WarnerScope" film The Naked and the Dead (1958) (also a pan/scan print!), one of American International's "Superama" Teenage Caveman (1958)

made for the Spanish speaking market with subtitles, and one of the "SuperTechniscope/Super 35" version of Silverado (1985) apparently made for the military since it was not available in anamorphic from any non-theatrical library. Super 8 prints of Independence Day (1996), made in England, were held up because initially there was no squeezed interpositive to make the 16mm internegative used to strike the prints.

A note about Vista Vision: though Paramount did not sign a nontheatrical contract with Films Incorporated until 1963, provision had been made for 1.33:1 presentation of Vista Vision films in their original specifications. As indicated by the framing marks at the head of the reel of each Paramount Vista Vision film, this area was to be extracted from the center at the full height of the Vista Vision frame. Though not spelled out in their publicity at the time, their intent may have been to make special 35mm prints for those situations that hadn't switched to masked projection or 16mm prints

See them as they were meant to be seen iven the current popularity of 'letterboxed' video, why is the existence of 16mm and 8mm anamorphic prints important, especially to wide screen scholars? I feel that anyone writing seriously about films, especially 'wide screen' ones, should make an effort to view and evaluate them in the format in which they were intended to be seen. While an approximation of this can be achieved in video for 1.37:1 and 1.85:1 films, 'letterboxing' is the antithesis of the filmmakers' intent for the viewing of anamorphic and similar wide format films, especially those shot during the first decade of the Revolution when the emphasis was on composing for width. Blowing up consumer video images to fill a 12 ft or wider screen compromises the quality of the image unless one is sitting so far from the

G

56

screen as to render the idea of recreating the theatrical experience of viewing the big, wide image moot. For the reasons pointed out in the main article, viewing 16mm and Super 8mm anamorphic prints on an 8-15 ft screen in someone's living room or den, is not exactly like seeing it in 35mm or 70mrn in a movie palace; however, you can sit close enough without eyestrain to get an idea of the impact of the original presentation.

Film vs video Also many anamorphic films, especially Bs, are still only available in video in pan/scan versions. (Evaluating an anamorphic film from a pan/scan print is an obvious exercise in absurdity, but it's been done!) As mentioned in the article, I've run across 16mm anamorphic prints in

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN

variants of SuperScope and the European 65mrn MCS Superpanorama process and gotten some idea of what the anamorphic versions looked like.

I've been able to verify which films credited with being in an anamorphic format really were shot that way or spherically or in Techniscope.

The film-video interface is not perfect. With the possible exception of the Digital Light Projectors being used for Digital Cinema in theaters, the quality of film to video images and vice-versa is not as good as when those images are viewed in their originating media. While this may mean nothing for casual viewing, it becomes important for critical technical evaluations of the image quality of various systems and processes.

For example, it would be impossible in video to note the differences in

The Hindenburg explodes into flame.

However the author is aware of only three instances of 16mm anamorphic prints being shown in theaters in the Los Angeles area. (Not counting campus theaters, the Academy, or the AFI.) One area where non-theatrical and theatrical did cross is in the area of Inflight Motion Pictures, which began in 1964. 16mm prints were used, those on international flights having an optical track carrying the English language version and a magnetic track carrying the dialog in a foreign language. (The desire for prints with optical tracks in two languages would lead to the development of the Stereo Variable Area process.)

In 1973, In-flight introduced its Impak system, which used Super 8 prints carrying either magnetic or optical tracks. The 16mm Inflight

prints were available in anamorphic, adapted scope, and pan/scan while Super 8 prints from anamorphic films were apparently only available in adapted scope or pan/scan versions.

In the mid-1970s Kit Parker films had paid to have internegatives and prints struck on the 1950s Columbia titles which had never been available in 16mm anamorphic in the United States. Enthusiasm for such prints dimmed even more in the 1980s.

1981 was the last year 16mm anamorphic prints appear to have been made on most of the year's anamorphic titles. Even Films Incorporated, then handling Paramount and Columbia titles, couldn't get anamorphic prints on Grease 2 and Krull (both 1982), for example. Except for Fox and Universal titles, 16mm anamor-

Ken Marshall and Lysette Anthony escape the Hexagon, the ominous lair of the allpowerful Beast, in Columbia Pictures' Krull, also starring Francesco Annis.

phic prints are increasingly rare after 1985, and the Universal output diminished after it was sold to Swank, which is now the only 16mm non-theatrical distributor in the United States. They handle Warners, MGM, Columbia, Universal, and United Artists and cir-

Bmm, literally 16mm slit down the middle, was introduced in 1932. culate surviving anamorphic prints from those libraries. It's ironic that more 1980s and 1990s films are available in Super 8 than 16mm!

8mm, literally 16mm slit down the middle, was introduced in 1932. By then at least two other companies had been formed to sell one-reelers, approximately 400 ft long, of cartoons, novelties, and condensations to the 16mm market. There were Official Films and the legendary Castle Films, founded by Eugene W Castle. They also began making their films available in 8mm and 16mm sound. Two dupe negatives would be prepared, one for the sound version, and one with intercut title cards for the silent version. In 1948 Universal's United World Films bought Castle and added subjects from its library to the inventory. Initially these condensations were professionally prepared with optical effects and re-dubbed to flow better.

While Official seems to have disappeared in the 1950s, Castle would

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

59

16mm CinemaScope prints of Warner Bros initial films are even harder to find since they seemed to have disappeared mysteriously. This

Another problem affecting the availability of prints of the earliest films were the manner in which they were made. As noted, Fox and Universal's prints were originally dye transfer printed by Technicolor, which meant they were not backed up by an internegative. Although Films Incorporated did order new prints and replacement footage on some of the Fox titles until Technicolor ceased 16mm IB printing in 1970, Universal did not. This is why no prints are known to exist either in 35mm or 16mm of the CinemaScope version of The Black Shield of Fa/worth (1954) and the only known anamorphic print of Sign of the Pagan (1954), in 35mm with 4 track magnetic stereo sound owned by a private collector. Both films were shot in anamorphic and spherical versions!

The desire for prints with optical tracks in two languages would lead to the development of the Stereo Variable Area process. occurred in 1964 after Films Incorporated lost the rental rights to the Warners library. Those prints made prior to 1956 were apparently Kodachrome reductions from 35mm prints and thus they were not backed

up by an internegative; there may not have been as many struck as blackand-white or IB prints. After its initial enthusiasm for the process, Warners cut back on the production of CinemaScope films in 1956 and color positive prints from internegatives were apparently made on their last three color CinemaScope films: The Burning Hills (1956), Bombers B-52 and The Spirit of St. Louis (both 1957). Technicolor would make both anamorphic, "adapted," and pan/scan prints on Warners' subsequent Panavision and Technirama films and reportedly did strike anamorphic prints of M1: Roberts (1955) .

When seeing "old" movies on the big screen became popular in the 1960s, many revival houses acquired 16mm projectors as many older films were only available in that format.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN

but that there was a viable market for 16mm and 8mm features. (Beneath The 12-Mile Reef, the third CinemaScope film, is public domain for example). Unfortunately, the studios were slow to pick up on this fact and by the time notable features were

have is superb, better than projection video blown up to a comparable size on a 10 ft screen.

~

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being marketed by Columbia and Universal, home video essentially killed this niche market.

Super 8 anamorphic prints of 2001: A Space Odyssey had been released in England in the early 1980s. The first significant move toward making anamorphic features available in that format came when a company called Steel Valley Film Enterprises got the Super 8 rights to select titles from the then MGM/UA library. In addition to 2001, West Side Story was also released in Super 8 anamorphic.

Unfortunately Steel Valley could not withstand the home video onslaught in this country and in the late 1980s they sold their contracts to an English company Derann Films. Derann in turn picked up the 20th Century Fox licenses held by Ken Films.

Derann has specifically marketed Super 8 anamorphic prints, including many in stereo. The two track encoded master is transferred to the two stripes on Super 8 prints which can be decoded by the same decoders used for home video.

Derann's releases have ranged from The Robe to A Bug's Life, Grease, and The Mask of Zona, and include a complete version of First Men in the Moon. The quality of the prints I

The Widescreen Centre 48, Dorset Street London W1H 3Fh England Derann Film Services Ltd 99, High Street Dudley West Midlands DY1 1QP England Phone: 01384 233191 Fax: 01384 456488 In the United States, 16mm anamorphic prints can be rented from: Swank Motion Pictures 201 S. Jefferson Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2579 Phone: 800-876-5577 Until shortly before presstime for this issue, Kit Parker Films had been renting 16mm. They are now handling video on ly.

Reduction prints of professional films presented in the anamorphic format are and have been available in 16mm and Super 8 for years. Original anamorphic photography in these gauges will be the subject of our next installment.

Corrections: In the previous article I referred to the death of James D Songer, based on an obituary I saw in a trade paper in the 1980s. I have since been informed that Mr Songer is very much alive and hope I did not cause him any embarrassment.

Also a typo crept into my mention of the Bolex and Elgeet 3-D lenses: the interocular is 21!2 inches, not 21 inches.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

61

Bombers 8-52 starred Natalie Wood , Marsha Hunt, and Efram Zimbalist, Jr.

continue through the early 1980s, being renamed Universal 8 in 1976, still making its fi lms available in 16mm, Regular 8mm, and after 1965 Super 8 versions. At the turn of the 1960s, with the popularity of the home movie market, they were joined by other companies marketing condensations exclusively in 8mm, notably United Artists and especially Columbia.

While Castle was the first company to market 8mm sound films after the introd uction of the Fa irchild Cinephonic camera and projector in 1958, Columbia was the most innovative with its condensations. It released the first from a co lor feature in co lor, The Bridge on the River Kwai, in 1963 and the first in 3-D in the red-green anaglyph process the following year. They released the first anamorphic subj ect in 8mm, apparently by accident.

For years the studios had been assembling behind-the-scenes shorts to sell their upcoming films. This

In addition to '2001,' 'West Side Story' was also released in Super 8 anamorphic. activity expanded with the TV era as they cou ld be used as filler by local stations as well as the networks. In the mid-1960s, someone at Co lumbia came up with the idea of releasing such shorts in 8mm. T heir first, on First Men in the Moon (1964), was actually made up for the 8mm

60

market, for while stock footage in the short was spherical, all clips from the film as well as the Columbia logo, were squeezed. This proved a rea l treat for those of us who had anamorphic projection lenses, even ones with a 1.5x squeeze. In the late 1970s Universal 8 released a specia l anamorphic version of its condensation of Airport.

In the mid-1970s, with Co lumbia doing it first, various companies began releasing Super 8 condensations

of its recent hits. By the end of the decade they made them as soon as six months after the film's release.

Although Universal 8's condensations of The Hindenburg and 1941 were "adapted scope," the others from anamorphic films were pan/ scanned. Making full features available was not seriously considered for various legal reasons until a 1975 "witchhunt" against fi lm collectors revealed not only how lax the studios had been in copyrighting their films,

Seventh Annual Wide Screen Film Festival

T

he Seventh Annual Wide Screen Fi lm Festival will be held this year between Oct. 4th and 7th at The Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the campus of Ca lifornia State University, Long Beach. This year's program includes restored prints of Funny Girl (1968) and Carmen Jones (1954) as well as Grease (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Poltergeist (1982), and Roxanne (1985). There will also be a special program and screening devoted to a pre-1953 film which likely would have been shot in a wide screen process had they been in use at the time; in this instance The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Unlike other festivals, the Wide Screen Film Festival has always highlighted the creative contributions of those behind the camera.

Its Executive and Advisory Boards are made up of notable artists from the ranks of directors, writers, cinematographers, production

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN

designers, and picture and sound editors, who have put on popular seminars devoted to Wide Screen and their specific areas of expertise.

The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is a perfect venue for such a program: a large auditorium with stadium seating, a huge 50 ft screen, 70mm projection capabilities, and a state of the art sound system. T he fi lms are presented in a manner in which they've rarely been seen since their original release and it is well worth the trip to Long Beach for this unique experience.

Specific details about this year's Festival will be available in the Southern Ca lifornia area press closer to the date or can be obtained by contacting: The Carpenter Performing Arts Center California State University Long Beach 6200 Atherton Street Long Beach, CA 90815-4500 Phone: (562) 985-7000

ADVERTISERS' INDEX Advanced Camera Systems ......... 27 Aerocrane . . .................... 61 Arri ..... . .. . . .. . . .... . . . .. . . .13 Birns & Sawyer ........ .. ... . . .. 24 Century Precision Optics .... . ...... 62 Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment .15 Cine Video Tech . .. . ... .... ...... 55 Cinematography Electronics ....... .48 Clairmont Camera . .. ... .. .... 34-35 Coptervision/Rollvision .. _. ... .. .... 63 Doggiecam Systems .. .... ........ .45 Eastman Kodak .......... .back cover Ed-Venture Films/Books . . .... . . .. .45 Ferra Camera Mounts ............. .4 Focal Press ... .. ....... . .... . . . .33

Fuji Film .......... .inside front cover Hot Gears ...................... 18 HydroFiex ........ . .. . ........ .49 JL Fisher ....................... 24 Mr Time Lapse .... ....... ... ... .48 Nettmann Systems .... ......... .. 21 Otto Nemenz . ... . ...... ...... ... 3 Pana vision ......... .inside back cover Schumacher Camera . . .... ..... . .. 19 SOCWear ..................... .48 Ste-Man/Servicevision .............. 6 Strada Crane ..... . .............. 21 Tyler Camera Systems ............. 50 YES Watches ........... . . .. .... 11

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: AD INDEX

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Garrett Brown's Point of View ((

We just used Century's excellent 17-35mm lightweight zoom on my new (SuperFlyCam' for Danny Devito's Death to Smoochy in Toronto. Picture a

-- 30 poundflying object that is the (clothes' on a simple high-speed clothesline rig. It was designed to be easy to set up and affordable, yet fast (35mph) and stable. The little zoom is a perfect complement to my SL Cine Arri, and DP Anastas Michos reports that it perfectly matched his Panavision primes.

Dammit. Now I want the 28-70!

JJ

Garrett Brown, ASC, Inventor www.garrettcam.com Century/Canon 17-35mm T3 & Cenlury/Minolla 28-?0mm T3

1-800-228-1254 preCISIOn optiCS

Tel : 818-766-3715 â&#x20AC;˘ Fax: 818-505-9865

!Rpster of the Society Of CameraOperators CHARTER Parker Bartlett Paul Basta Michael Benson Jerry Callaway joseph Calloway Mike Chevalier Joe Epperson Ron Francis Bill Gahret Peter Hapke Bob Keys Norm Langley Ed Morey Lee Nakahara Jay Nefcy Leigh Nicholson Dan Norris David Nowell Wayne Orr Ernie Reed Michael Scott Hal Shiffman Michael St Hilaire Ray Stella joseph F Valentine Edward Ventura Ron Vidor

ACTIVE Bernie Abramson Art Adams Bret Allen Derek MAllen Lee Allison Sail Aridi Ted Ashton Jr Bill Asman John H Atkinson Dan Auerbach Daniel Ayers Paul Babin Christopher I Baffa Vincent Baldino Gerard Banales Jeff Barklage Lou Barlia Ricardo Barreda Tom Barron Gary H Baum Guy Bee Tim Sellen Richard Benda Jeb Bergh Marc Andre Berthiaume Lance Billitzer Christopher A Bishop Bonnie Blake james Blanford Jason Blount Robert C Boccacciu Richard Bolter Denise Brassard Scott M Browner Michael K Bucher Robin Buerki Gary Bush Stephen S Campanelli Susan A Campbell Capt Jose A Cardenas Robert Carmichael Michael W Chambliss Louis Chanatry

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Joe Chess Jr Julian Chojnacki Gregory Paul Collier john A Connell Tom Connole John A Corso Ivan Craig Caleb Crosby Richard A Cullis Michael L Culp joseph C D'Aiessandro Rocky Danielson Richard W Davis Mark T Davison Ray de Ia Motte Eric DeBiackmere Moran Denis Kris Andrew Denton David Diana Troy Dick Joseph Joe DiGennaro Jerry Dugan Simon Duggan, ACS David E Elkins David Emmerichs

Steve Essig james Etheridge Brant S Fagan Tom Faigh Benjamin Sean Fairburn David B Fang Yuen Diane L Farrell Randal Feemster Michael Ferris Kenneth Ferro Lance Fisher Aaron Fitzgerald Eric Fletcher Heuman Forough ian Foster Thomas Fraser Michael Frediani Mike Freeman Michael Richard Frift Rusty Geller Michael Genne Wayne Getchell Vito Giambalvo William Gierhart Laurie K Gilbert Allen Gonzales Lee Grover John Gunselman Anette Haellmigk Dennis Hall Chris Hayes David Haylock Steven F Heuer Sean Higgins Ronald High Charles M Hill, Jr Jeffrey Hoffman Joachim Hoffmann Robert Chapman Horne Gary Huddleston Jeffrey G Hunt Philip Hurn David Insley Levie C Isaacks Michael )arocki Simon Jayes Michael A Johnson Steven jones

Jacques Jouffret John H Joyce David Judy Mark D Karen Michael Karp Wayne L Kelley Robert Kesitchek Glenn M Kirkpatrick Douglas H Knapp Dan Kneece Rory Robert Knepp Kris Krosskove Erwin Landau Robin Lawless Joshua Lesser Michael Levine Ken Libby Hugh C Litfin Lynn Lockwood

Thomas loizeaux George Loomis Allan Lum Li Gregory Lundsgaard Kenji luster Vincent C Mack Heather MacKenzie Paul S Magee

James Mann Stan McClain Donald M McCuaig Maurice K McGuire Martin Mclnally Robert L Mehnert Mike Meinardus Anastas N Michos William E Mills Andrew Mitchell Wi lliam Molina Lawrence P Moody Robert Moore Chris Moseley Don Muirhead Scott Mumford Sean Murray Jon Myers Thomas W Myrdahl Michael Negrin, ASC Julye Newlin William R Nielsen, Jr Randy Nolen Tamas P Nyerges William O'Drobinak Russell Ofria Andrew William Oliver Lucio Olivieri John Orland Rafael Ortiz·Guzman Georgia Packard Charles Paper!

David Parrish Philip Pastuhov Aaron Pazanti Mike Pierce Peter Pilafian Robert Presley Martin Bob Prins Kevin Riley Randall Robinson David Rebman Andy Romanoff Abraham Romero Peter Rosenfeld Andrea Vittorio Rossetto

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN:

SOC ROSTER

Michael S Roth Andrew Rowlands James Rush Tony Salgado Tom Sanders Michael Santy Richard J Schaefer Gregory I Schmidt Chuck Schuman Philip Schwartz Alicia Craft Sehring Brad Shield Allan H Sidney ·sid• Jr Floris Sijbesma Osvaldo Silvera Jr Jamie Silverstein Philip Sindall Guy Skinner John Sosenko Mike Spodnik Sandy Spooner Edward B Springer Stephen St John

George Stephenson David Stump Brian Sweeney james H Sweeney Gene Talvin Stephen Tate Richard Tiedemann john Toll, ASC Tsuneyuki Tometaka John Trapman Massimiliano Trevis Jeffery J Tufano Pernell Tyus Robert Ulland Joseph Urbanczyk Paul D Varrieur Bill Waldman Victoria Walker William Webb Aiken Weiss Kit Whitmore, CSC Brian Keith Wilcox Bill Williams RL Wise ian D Woolston-Smith McKeen Mick Worthen Noel Adrian Wyatt Warren Yeager Elizabeth Ziegler

ASSOCIATE David S Adelstein Leonard "Lance• G Allen,lll Samuel Ameen Gary-Oiyn Armstrong Chuck Barbee Peter Bonilla David Boyd Chris Boyer Maja Broz Douglas Busby Bruce Cardozo Kirk Chiswell Ed Clare Greg Collier Robert E Collins Richard Crude Christopher Dawson Rona ld Deveaux David Dibble

George Spiro Dibie, ASC Patrick Michael Dolan Kevin Downey Paul Duclos Bert Dunk, ASC Gary Eckert Michael Escobosa John P Fleenor John C Flinn Ill, ASC Mark Forman Peter F Frintrup Richard Garbutt James Garvey Harvey Genkins Wayne Goldwyn AI Gonzalez Phil Gries Wynn Hammer james W Hart Robert Hayes John Hill Chris Hood Kent Hughes Carrie lmai Gregory Irwin Chris Ishii John Chancellor Jennings Thomas Patrick Johnson Frank E Johnson, ASC Kurt Jones Michael A Jones Cathy Kanavy Douglas Kirkland Michael Klimchak Robert La Bange George La Fountaine, ASC Thomas Lappin Stevan Larner, ASC Lee David Laska Mark R Leins Alan J Levi Mark Levin llya Jo Lie-Nielsen Stephen Lighthiii,ASC Jong Lin Roland I Luna Richard Marks Dr Ellen Matsumoto Ray McCort Michael P McGowan Nick Mclean, Sr John McPherson, ASC Charles Minsky K Adriana Modlin Richard Mosier joshua S Narins Sol Negrin, ASC John Newby Andrew Parke Randy Peck Matthew A Petrosky Ted Polmanski Serge Poupis Don Presley Andrea Quaglia Udo Ravenstein Richard Rawlings Jr, ASC Marcia Reed Bill Reiter Edward P Ricci Alan Richter David Rosner Marvin Rush, ASC

Mehran Salamati Carl Martin Schumacher, Sr Robert Seaman Jan Sluchak Don Spiro Owen Stephens George B Stephenson Kevin I Stolpe Tara Summers Ronald Turowski Lieven Van Hulle Craig W Walsh Brian Watkins Haske ll Wexler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Calvin T Wood Po'l Wright Tony Yarlett, ASC WAllen York David R Zera Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC

Michael McClary Ron McManus

Emmanuel Metaxas King Nicholson John G Nogle Robert Peebles Arnold Rich

Sam Rosen Frank Ruttencutter Richard Salvatore Lou Schwartz Phil Stern Sven Walnum Ben Wolf

CORPORATE

AEROCRANE Greg Pedrick ARRIFLEX CORPORATION Bill Russell CFI/TECHNICOLOR Adam Chuck CHAPMAN/LEONARD LIFETIME STUDIOS William E Hines Leonard T Chapman Charles I Huenergardt HONORARY CLAIRMONT CAMERA James Burrows Denny Clairmont Dean Cundey, ASC DELUXE LABORATORIES Bruce Doering Bud Lee Stone William A Fraker, ASC EASTMAN KODAK Ron Howard COMPANY Ron Kelley Curtis E jones Kathleen Kennedy-Marshall FUJI PHOTO FILM USA, INC Jerry Lewis Mark W Murphy Rick Mitchell Donna Stacer A Linn Murphree MD FUJINON,INC David Myers John Newton Jay Roth GEO FILM GROUP, INC Steven Spielberg George Nolan Frank Stanley, ASC HYDROFLEX, INC George Toscas Scott Greene Roy Wagner, ASC JL FISHER COMPANY Robert Wise James L Fisher Dennis Knopf RETIRED LEE FILTERS (A DIVISION OF Eugene Ashbrook PANAVISION, INC) Stewart Barbee Sean Hise Rupert Benson Jr MATIHEWS STUDIO Bob Berry ELECTRONICS, INC AI Bettcher Ernst uBobH NeUmann Howard Block O'CONNOR ENGINEERING Vee Bodrero LABS Don Burch Joel Johnson Phil Caplan OTIONEMENZ Bruce Catlin INTERNATIONAL, INC Bill Clark Karl Kresser Cliff Concialdi PACE TECHNOLOGIES Jim Connell Vincenzo M Pace Don Cropper PANAVISION James A Dennett Frank Kay Sam Drummy PHOTO-SONICS, INC Robert Feller Conrad Kiel Mike Ferra Gerald Perry Finnerman, ASC SCHNEIDER OPTICS, INC Stan Wallace Jerry Fuller SONY ELECTRONICS, INC Gil Haimson Larry Thorpe Lutz Hapke VINTEN, INC Gary Holt Ken Schwenk David Kurland Joseph Longo Steve Lydecker Owen Marsh Roster Current as of Bob Marta 8/12/01

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With Panavision, the choice is yours.

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