Camera Operator 2001 Spring/Summer

CAM

The Journal of the Society of Operating Cameramen

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN MAGAZINE Volume 10, Number 1 Spring/Summer 2001

DEPARTMENTS

2 Notes from the President

by Georgia Packard soc 4 From the Editor's Desk

by George 8 Stephenson soc Letters to the Editor

S4 News & Notes 54 56 58 60 61 62 63

Holiday Screening; letter from the Eye Care Clinic; Wolfgang Reiglleaves Arri Coptervision Seminar: Cutting edge technology Guggenheim Receives IDA Career Achievement Award Aerocrane demo GAM 480 P Panasonic Seminar; In Memory: William WJohnson Pixie Awards Honor Online Filmmaking

64 Roster of the Society of Operating Cameramen

FEATURES

6 SOC Awards Banquet 2000

by Georgia Pac~ord soc The lowdown on the highlight of the year

14 Lifetime Achievement Awards Brief biographies of the most recent recipients

19 Robotic Camera Systems

by Allan Lum Li soc How robots are taking over the newsroom, and the implications for Camera Operators

23 An interview with Stephen Lighthill ASC

by Georgia Packard SOC Relationship between Director of Photography and Camera Operator: 7th in the Series

29 Sun and Moon Position for Cinematography

by Ron Dexter How to plan in advance for celestial light sources

30 Film School Open to Girls

by Georgia Packard SOC High school girtls develop cinematographic talents

32 Technical Achievement Awards 2000 Brief descriptions of the most recent recipients

3S Life on Mars, a Distant Location

by Butler Stephens Abehind-the-scenes/oak at the making of John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars"

44 The Revolution and Professional Non-Dramatic Films

by Rick Mitchell The Wide Screen Revolution {1952-1970): 11th in the Series

52 Kodak Theatre Future Home of Academy Awards Part of the Hollywood & Highland速 development

Notes From

The Operating Cameraman Magazine Spri ng/Sum mer 2001

Editor George Stephenson SOC

Post-Production Manager

The

Douglas Knapp SOC

Design & Production Lynn Lann ing, Double L Design, G lenda le

President

Cover Design Ma rk Leins

Production Coordinators

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would li ke to th ank each and every o ne of yo u for yo ur wa rm a nd generous support. It has been a tough yea r, and witho ut an extra effort this Society would not be possible.

T he SOC is a intern a ti o na l honora ry soc iety made up of ove r 400 wo men a nd men of o utsta nding a nd ded ica ted ta lent, w ho ma ke their li vin g opera ting film a nd/ or vid eo ca meras . In additio n, o ur assoc ia te members in clude di stin gui shed cinematogra phers, ca mera ass ista nts, still ph otograph ers a nd peopl e of other cin ema ti c crafts. O ur illu st rio us co rporate affili ate membership inclu des leaders in th e film a nd video/DV indu st ries . We offer works ho ps a nd semin a rs to kee p o ur mem be rs curre nt w ith technica l upda tes a nd deve lo ping pl a tfo rm s.

Film sc ree nings, brea kfast membership meetin gs a nd dem o nstra ti o ns prov ide networking o pportuniti es to build a nd strength en o ur gro up more strongly together. Th a nk yo u for pa rtic Jpa ti ng .

T he 2000 Ga la Banquet was a celebra tio n not o nly to we honor o ur own, but also to recognize those w ho have helped us do o ur jo bs to th e highest level. The "Ca mm y" signifies th at yo u have spent at least 20 yea rs at the to p of yo ur craft, achi eving o utsta nding results and accumul ating a substa ntia l list of noteworth y credits.

Well do ne! T he evening took place at the Ritz-Ca rlton Marina del Rey o n October 1st. La ura Chick provided special certifica tes from the City of Los Angeles in recognitio n for their ou tsta nding contributio n to the

Entertainment Industry to thi s evening's Cammy recipients a nd o ur Governors' Awa rd and the President's Awa rd, Mr Ro bert Wise a nd Mr Stephen Lighthill. Ou r next Ga la will be held in the fa ll of 2001.

Come join o ur celebration!

We have had a pretty active time ... sta rting o ff with Koda k's 1999 H oliday screening of Toy Story II with Mr and Mrs Cla us, brea kfast meetings spo nsored by Arriflex, Innovisio n and Adva nce Camera, a fa ntastic Ca mera Operators Worksho p at Panavision in Woodl and Hills, a Cra ne and Remo te H ead day o n the back lot of Wa rner Brothers Studios, film screenings, ShowBiz Expo, CineGea t; o ur "Art and Craft of Ca mera Opera ting" pa nel, Coptervisio n and Roll visio n presentations, Fuji Film 's specia l screening o f The Nutty Professor II: the Klumps, two issues o f o ur Operating Cameraman magazine, an underwater seminar w ith H ydroFiex, demonstrati ons from Ba rberBoom and Johann Bach's portal doll y systems, GAM demo, Chri sto pher G uest's Best In Show film screening, a soa ring hands-on w ith Aerocrane, a nd our yea rl y holiday celebratio n at the M o tion Picture H o me in Woodl a nd Hills with Mr and Mrs C la us after the afternoon screening of 102 Dalmatians hosted by Kodak in 2000.

Best W ishes for a ha ppy and healthy New Year. I hope 2001 brings much more work a nd fra ternal friendship.

T he Ingle G roup, Brentwood

Contributors Ron Dexter Rick M itchell Georgia Packard SOC George B Stephenson SOC

Photography Gary Baum SOC Ro bert Feller Neil j acobs Georgia Packa rd SOC Formal banquet photos by Doug Dobra nsky

Copyright tD 200 I by the Society of Operating Ca mera men

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i•' regi•rered m dem"k All rights reserved.

Society of Operating Camermen Officers President . . .. . ..... . .. Georgia Packard Ist Vice President & Secretary .... . ... . ... Bonnie Blake 2nd Vice President ... . ...... Ernie Reed 3rd Vice President ........ . Allan Lum Li Treasurer ...... .. .. . .. Wi lliam Molina Sergeant-at-Arms ... . ... . H oward Block Magazine Editor . . ... George Stephenson \XIebmaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . la rk Leins Admin Assistant .......... Dia na Penilla

Boord of Governors Ga ry Ba um M ichae l Cha mbli ss David D ia no Steve Essig Sea n Fai rburn La nce Fisher Tom Fraser

Michael Fred iani Michael Jones Douglas Knapp M ichael Santy Phili p Schwam Bill Wa ldman Ben Wolf

Turning Heads Our Way

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From the Editor's Desk This is the first issue of the real millenium! As such, I thought it would be appropriate to include a futuristic theme. Operating Cameraman welcomes a new contributor, Butler Stephens, who enlightens us with a personal look at "Life on Mars": his take on John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. Once again Rick Mitchell has blessed us with another in depth study of the History of Wide Screen Cinematogra phy. Each installment has taught me things I never knew about our cinematic heritage. One of the many benefits of working in our profession is that we continue to learn from new information on a daily basis. The day we stop learning is the day we die.

This yea r's Lifetime Achievement Awards provide us with an insight into several of our members. Though we are not calling these biographies "Member Profiles," we've achieved the same result. These bios serve to illustrate the multifaceted characteristics of our lives; proof that cinematography is what we do, not what we are.

Letter to the Editor soc, Thanks for the web article on the history of aviation cameramen. My grandfather was Elmer Dyer (grandmother was Elizabeth Dyer). It's always great fun to read something about Grandpa. I've often thought I'd like to put a book together about his life but I don't have the time nor expertise. Grandpa Dyer passed away in 1969 and Grandma passed away in 1984. They are both buried at the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery with other Hollywood greats. Grandpa Dyer was actively working up until 3 months before his death. He owned his own film library business, WorldWide Pictures, with his storefront on La Jolla near Melrose and Crescent Heights for his last 15+ years. It was a successful business for Grandpa and my mother worked for him for many years as a film librarian.

I even worked in Grandpa Dyer's film library the summer I was 13 (I think that was because this was how my mother provided babysi tting for me that summer but I learned how to review the requested shots, splice film, catalog, etc).

Anyway, thanks for the article. I emailed the address of the article to my children. We have pictures of Grandpa Dyer, and Grandma Dyer, hanging up in our hallway so the kids feel they "know" their Great Grandpa even though he passed away before any of them were born.

Keep up the good work!

Stacy McCullough StacyREALTOR@aol.com

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: EDITOR

Finally, you may have noticed that the summer issue of Operating Cameraman 2000 became a fall issue and that this issue, winter 2001 is almost a spring issue. We apologize for these delays and hope it will not affect our loyal readership or advertisers. We are trying desperately to get back on schedule for our summer 2001 issue. Thank you for your patience and continued interest.

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

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Contact the SOC online at www.soc.org

The Operating Cameraman Magazine is published semi-annually by the Society of Operating Cameramen. For advertising information and article submissions, please contact: SOC Attn Magazine PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone(818) 382-7070

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

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Les Brown Jr's Orchestra in the Ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton

SOC Awards

and tasty appetizers. We were primed well with Tom Hatten, Bill Moran, Bob Fisher and Suzanne LeZotte giving press notices in advance. The SOC even had an article in Variety the week before! T hanks you all for helping to pass the exciting word about our Gala Event.

Tom Hatten was the marvelous Master of Ceremonies, keeping the show moving along. Tom researched and prepared insightful and funny introductions to each of the evening's presenters with wonderful aplomb. He took great care to make the evening personal and warm. Our scrumptious mea l was serenaded with music by Les Brown Jr. Opening remarks welcomed everyone to a community evening of celebration. Dr Ellen Matsumoto spoke about the Childrens Eye Care Clinic and all of the children benefiting from the medical care and the essential contact lens fittings.

William Fraker ASC presented David M Walsh ASC with the Historical Shot Award for his camera operating on Bullitt (1968), buckling us all up for the wild ride. Stephen Lighthill ASC won the President's Award and was

cnanquet 2000

by Georgia Packard soc

e SOC's 12th Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet Gala was quite an event at the Ritz-Carlton October 1st.

The weather took a break and let the sun shine brightly at the Marina Del Rey coastline for the long cocktail reception.

A piano player tickled the ivories while people wa lked along the corridors and patio looking at the wonderfu l widescreen and portrait photographs of Marcia Reed, Wynn Hammer, and Douglas Kirkland.

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The Historical Shot car chase sequence from Bullitt had its own monitor so that everyone could enj oy the entire chase scene over and over as Steve McQueen raced through the streets of San Francisco.

Wine flowed along with the conversa tions Tom Hatten , emcee

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BANQUET

David Walsh ASC receives his Cammy for Historical Shot from William Fraker ASC.

presented by the lovely and talented Annette O'Toole. She has had the pleasure of working with Lighthill on the new USA Network episodic show called The Huntress.

Victor Kemper ASC (President of the ASC) honored Mobi le Camera Platform Operator Gaylin Schultz for his remarkable work, including al l of

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AWARDEES AND PRESENTERS: Left from top, Susan A Campbell SOC, Video Camera Opera-

tor, with presenter Michael McKean . Dr Tom Wallis of Eastman Kodak accepted the Technical Achievement Award from Edward James Olmos. Marcia Reed ASM, Still Photographer, with presenter Jack Green ASC. Center column, top: Ken Robings and Denny Clairmont with Clairmont Camera 's Technical Achievement Award on either side of presenter Edward James Olmos.

Center, left: Annette O'Toole presented th e President's Award to Stephen Lighthill ASC. Center, right: Sol Negrin ASC presented the Cammy for Film Camera Operator to Lou Barlia SOC. Left: the SOC's Cammy速 and Technical Achievement Award plaque .

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BANQUET

the ca r rigs on Bullitt!

Jack Green ASC presented Still Photographer Marcia Reed with her Cammy marking their long work relationship with a very touching speech.

Such talented recipients were showcased with but a small video selection o f their motion picture and video work. Marcia Reed's lovely Widelux and still photographs graced a dozen easels around the banquet hall.

Wynn H ammer provided an elegant photo o f Robert Wise directing on Audrey R ose and Douglas Kirkland lent his winning photo portrait of Stephen Lighthill. It helped to keep the banquet personal and intimate, bringing everyone together with a strong sense of community.

Edward James Olmos presented

a new film to do research on the award winners and created in-depth introductions.

Since Assistant Camera Ken Nishino was busy working in Hawaii with Cinematographer Jeffery Kimball ASC, his charming daughter Ashley accepted the award from Joe Urbanczyk SOC after we watched a pre-taped acceptance speech with Kenny himself.

Actor Michael McKean stepped up to present Video Camera Operator Susan Campbell SOC with her Cammy after bringing down the house with an hysterical introduction. Although many other talent actors had been contacted to present, we felt that the very best showed up for the Gala. Many requested that we target McKean for future presentations.

Sol Negrin ASC flew into town to be there for Film Camera Operator Lou Badia SOC, a long and dear crew member spanning many movies and years working together.

Rita Moreno gave a colorful presentation which had the room on their feet to honor director and magnificent filmmaker Robert Wise for the Governors' Award.

Special certificates from Laura Chick Robert Wise received the Governors Award from presenter and the City of Los Rita Moreno.

Angeles were given in recognition of the Cammy winners' Eastman Kodak Company with a contributions to the film industry.

Technical Achievement Award for the Rave reviews have been flowing Electric Camera Motor invented back regarding the banquet. All of this and in 1923 with a Janua ry 1924 release still the show was over by 9:20 PM. (Dr Tom Wallis flying in from Rochester, NY to receive the award), Right column, Top & Center: SOC and Clairmont Camera (Denny volunteers who helped make the banClairmont & Ken Robings) for the quet happen included Gary Bourn (with Swing Shift Lens Set (1988). the Marina as a backdrop), and Allan Mr Olmos spoke eloquently about Lum Li, at one of the attractively decoratthe magnificent inventions and helpful ed tables . tools that assist the Camera Operator Right: Kenny Nishina's daughter in doing our jo b more effectively. H e Ashley accepts his Cammy. generously took time from directing

And they said it couldn't be done!

For those who missed the Variety article in Friday September 22, 2000 issue, we are quoting a small excerpt: "The Society of Operating cameramen has named Oscar-winning producer-director Robert Wise as its 2000 Governors' Award recipient. "'Robert Wise is a total filmmaker,' said prexy Georgia Packard. 'He has complied an incomparable body of work as an editor, director and producer.' Wise earned seven Oscar noms, and won for West Side Story and The Sound of Music. His editing nominations included Citizen Kane."

Lou Badia SOC and the Cammy recipients were listed in the article, with the Teclmical Achievement Award witmers and President's Award winner Stephen Lighthill ASC, whose credits

Above : Susan Campbell and Michael McKean. Below, ASC President Victor Kemper and SOC President Georgia Packard.

Top: Rita Moreno, Georgia Packard SOC, Mr and Mrs Robert Wise . Center left, Bob Feller SOC and Howard Block SOC. Center right: Mr and Mrs Denny Clairmont.

Bottom row left: Bruce Doering , IATSE rep, and William Fra ker ASC. Bottom right: Jimmy Fisher of JL Fisher and Frank Kaye of Panavision.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BANQUET

Joe Urbancyzk SOC presented the Camera Assistant award in absentia to Kenny Nishino, but then missed the official photographer of the evening.

Left top, Victor Kemper, ASC President, presented the Cammy for Mobile Platform Camera Operator to Gaylin Schu ltz. Left center: Sol Negrin ASC and Lou Barlia SOC. Left below : Dr Tom Wallis of Eastman Kodak accepting their Technical Achievement Award. Above center: SOC Presidents Mike Frediani, Georgia Packard , and Stan McClain , wearing the newest SOC pins.

include Seeing Red, Gimme Shelter, and the new television show The Huntress. Robby Benson, actor and director, and producer Scott White were at the banquet offering their congratulations to cinematographer Lighthill. They have recently worked togetl1er on this new series and Benson has joined the production as an Exec utive Producer. Watch for a surprising guest appeara nce from Benson!

The audience was also star-studded with many key SOC members and tl1eir spouses.

A special pin was designed for the 2000 Millennium Gala. It is available through SOC Wear. The Photo Tribute Journal is a wonderful keepsake of the evening with great photographs and interesting bios of the recipients and presenters. Remember that a photo speaks over a thousand words and can last a lifetime. We hope that our Lifetime Achievement Awards touched a part of those who were honored. For they all richly deserve that recognition

and much more.

I would like to thank everyone for who helped put together this evening.

Ly1m Lanning put in numerous days on the Photo Tribute Journal with Robert Avellan and the Ingle Group.

Les Brown Jr and his wonderful band for tonight's music. Mike Frediani taped the cocktail reception which we showed at dinner and organized the table seating with Diana Penilla.

AI Gonzalez wiili VisionQuest Entertainment Special Events for

Dr Ellen Matsumoto of the Childrens Hospital Eye Care Clinic .

THF ()PFRATIN(:; rAM FRA MAN路 RANOUn

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Edward James Olmos, Denny Clairmont, Ken Robings

Marcia Reed , Still Photographer, and her parents.

producing this evening's show.

Greg, Charles, and Jeff for rigging lights. Eddie fo r the look of the show.

Courtney at ProPrompt for helping us through the speeches. Tom H atten and all of the fabul ous presenters. Plus 8 Video fo r their generous donation of equipment. Zee, Di ana, Fa bian, Ernie Reed and all of the helpers w ith getting people checked in and happil y into the swing of the things. Gary and Doug for their photographic eyes. Ma rcia Reed and Wynn H ammer for selecting and preparing the photographs.

Metro politan Entertainment for the long editing days under my directi on.

Left center: Stephen Lighthill ASC. Left: Edw ard James Olmos . Above: SOC President Georgia Packard emceeing the event. Right: Annette O 'Toole presents the President's Aw ard to Stephen Lighthill.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: BANQUET

Philip Schwartz for getting the trop hies and making sure that everyone's names were spelled correctly. Aida's Flowers, all of the companies who generously donated gifts for the Presenter's Bags, Joarm McKee and all of the staff at the Ritz Carlton.

Thank yo u all fo r your loving support, and generosity.

I hope to see you all , with friends, at our 2001 Awards Ga la.

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arcia Reed is a pioneer in the world of Hollywood photographers as well as in the world of new technology. One of the first women to gain entrance into International Cinematographers' Local600, Marcia broke new ground in the digital revolution by developing the first prototype of a digital press kit on CDROM. She was one of the first Hollywood still photographers to present her portfolio entirely in digital format, inspiring the major studios to consult with her about new technologies.

Capturing behind the scenes action on a movie set has always been of special interest to Marcia, and she favors using a w ide-angle camera. Her instinct for impromptu images has made her a popular digital photographer for award shows and events where live broadcasts are instantly transmitted to the Worldwide Web. Her best known image, which won her a Hollywood Reporter Key Art Award, is of Clint

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Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge.

Some of the most memorable photographs Marcia has taken are of Eastwood, who she photographed for a decad e of her career. She credits Jack Green, the DP she worked with then, with inspiring her to do some of her best work.

She honed her photographic skills at the Art Center College of Design. H er first Hollywood assignment was Adolph Zukor 's 100 birthday party where she photographed such legend s as Alfred Hitchcock, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, Bette Davis, and Cybill Shepherd.

"When you combine creativity with technology," Marcia said in a magazine interview, "there are no limits. You can brea the new life into images in a way that wouldn't be possible in the real world."

The Society of Operating Cameramen is proud to present the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Still Photogra pher to Marcia Reed .

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#644, the International Photographers Guild, as a camera assistant.

Lou worked as an assistant on features, commercials, and documentaries for fifteen years, then moved up to Cameraman.

Immediately a call came through from Director of Photography, Richard Kratina, to opera te for hin1 on a picture entitled Pursuit of Happiness, followed

by Love Story, again with Kratina.

Barlia continued working on many fea ture films with Cameraman Arthur Ornitz, Victor Kemper ASC, John Bailey ASC, Don McAlpine ASC, Gordon Willis ASC, Sol Negrin ASC, Jack Cardiff BSC, Fred Schuler ASC, Edward Brown ASC, Ted Pahl, Andrew Laszlo ASC, Geoffrey Unsworth BSC, Robert Paynter BSC, Phil Lathrop ASC, Dante Spinoti ASC AIC, Adam Hollander ASC, Mac Ahlberg and many others.

The Society of Operating Cameramen is proud to present the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Film Camera Opera tor to Lou Barlia .

ou Barlia's career began with a small AGFA Box-type camera . He took the required tests for the High School of Industrial Art in New York City, was accepted, and majored in Still Photography.

While attending school, Barlia worked parttime with a major illustration studio, full time after graduation. His experience included shooting 2114 x21!4, 4x5, 8x10, and 11 x14 color and black and white negatives, plus filming 1 shot color negatives for the Cabro process (the same as Technicolor's 3 strip process) . Then he developed an interest in motion pictures.

The Army had different plans and drafted Lou about the beginning of the Korean Conflict.

He applied for the Motion Picture School in the Army Signal Corps. and after Basic Training was assigned to the Motion Picture School in Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. Barlia became a Combat cameraman and was shipped to Korea where he served for two years. After his Army discharge, he was fortunate to get into the Local

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

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There Likes Me, The Sand Pebbles, Th e Andromedia Strain , The Hindenburg, Audrey Rose, and StnrTrek: The Motion Picture. In all, his pictures have earned a total of 67 Academy Award nominations and 19 Oscars. Wise belongs to the last generation of directors trained under the studio system.

Wise has served as President of both the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and been Chair of the American Film Institute. He has received many honors here and abroad for his work.

Wise' versatility in directing is also reflected in his wide range of contributions to charities, museums, and educational organizations. He donates his time and talents generously.

For his lifetime of achievements, the Society of Operating Cameramen is delighted to present the 2000 Governors' Award to Robert Wise with our sincere gratitude and respect.

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the obligation of thorough knowledge of the subject in front of the camera and the obligation of responsibility when a person's image is recorded.

His first Super 16mm feature, Visions: Over-Under, Sideways-Down was followed by other long-form documentaries. For PBS American Playhouse he did Brenk of Dawn (the first Spanish speaking radio personality in 1920s L.A.), Hot Summer Winds (Japanese Americans tenant farming in 1930s California), and Shimmer, (a juvenile home in 1950s Iowa) .

His first series, HBO's Vietnam Story, earned an Ace Award Nomination. Credits include Earth 2, Nash Bridges, Martial Law and currently the USA N etwork series The Huntress. He has taught at USC School of Film and Television and spoken at many seminars and educational activities including the SOC's Crane and Remote Head seminars in Los Angeles and San Francisco and loca l Camera Operator Workshops.

The SOC is honored to present the 2000 President' s Award to Stephen Lighthill ASC.

obert Wise has compiled an incomparable body of work as an editor, director, and producer. He has earned 7 Academy Award nominations, with Oscars for West Side Story (1961) and Th e Sound of Music (1965). His editing nominations include Citizen Kane.

Wise arrived in Los Angeles at the age of 19 in 1933, and found work as a film checker in an editing room at RKO Studios. He worked his way up to apprentice sound editor, sound and music co-editor, and assistant editor. Six years later, he edited Citizen Kane (1941) and went on to edit The Magnificent Arnbersons (1942) . He directed the completion of Th e Curse of Th e Cat People (1944) and launched a new career path. Wise has some 40 directing credits, including The Body Snatcher, Blood on Th e Moon, I Want To Live, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Somebody Up

s a graduate student in journalism at Boston University, Stephen Lighthill fell in love with filmntaking. His first short film, which won an award at the San Francisco University Student Film Festival, was about the destruction of buildings in Boston for the construction of Government Center. In 1964 he moved to San Francisco.

He learned documentary camerawork in the lively political and cultural environment of the Bay Area in the 1960s. He shot news for the CBS Evening News and as one of the first freelancers for 60 Minutes; success came from working on social issue films .

Lighthill modified his Angenieux sidefinder lens to accept the Kinoptic finder off an Eclair NPR and created the first shoulder held news camera years before the CP16. He mastered the verite cinematographer's stance of balancing between preparation for the unexpected and openness to the unexpected,

DAVID

M WALSH, ASC

HISTORICAL SHOT: BULLITT

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eter Yates directed this 1968 film with DP William A Fraker Asc, camera operator David M Walsh ASC, and a highly skilled cast and crew. Thirty years later this film is still noted for its wild ride with star Steve McQueen.

Bob Fisher described "the heart and soul of Bullitt as the chase scene that opens the film and sets the emotional tone."

DP William Fraker said, "What makes the chase scene work was the decision to shoot on the hilly streets of San Fra ncisco. The cameras were usually operating at 24 frames per second while the cars were racing by at 90 to 100 miles per hour.

The chase was filmed during a 5-week period,

dependent upon getting access to the streets.

Every inch of the chase was choreographed, including placement of the cameras." Key grip Gaylin Schultz constructed special multiple car mounts to handle the compelling camera angles. Camera operator David M. Walsh ASC executed multiple camera placements to capture every ounce of anticipation.

Walsh had to fit in some very small places inside the Mustang. 'The whole idea was to allow the audience to experience the chase like they were in the cars."

The SOC is proud to recognize David M Walsh ASC for his ou tstanding camera work on the film Bullitt for the Historical Shot Award.

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ctor Andrew Dice Clay, on the set of Ford Fn irlrme, insisted that Kenny Nishino was "Cubano." "I kept saying No! I'm Asian," recalls Nishino. Although Nishino is a native Californian third generation Japanese, the nickname has stuck.

Born in Long Beach, California, Nishino attended Chouinard Institute in downtown Los Angeles and Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.

As his last term approached, he opted for an elective course in the basics of motion pictures.

After Brooks he worked as a black and white printer for Sid Avery Photography on La Brea Avenue, later at Gunug Photo, doing 35mm slide presentations. The Burbank Studios in Burbank started him as night loader. At that time up to thirty shows were being shot on the lot. The commercial division, EUE, also used him when they could. Later he was promoted to equipment man, following Victor Nikaido who had been instrumental in moving Nishino into taking his place.

Three years later Emmet Bergholtz was shooting Police Story, and Nishino became the new guy on the camera crew. He credits his success to focus pullers Baird Steptoe, Mike Gershman and Craig Denault. And it was because of the support and encouragement of opera tors like Mike Genne SOC, Greg Lunsgaard, Michael St. Hilaire SOC, Aaron Pazanti SOC, Joe Urbanczyk SOC and Ray De La Motte SOC, and DPs Vilmos Zsigmond ASC, Stephen Goldblatt ASC, Don Peterman ASC, Jeffrey Kimball ASC, Andrew Laszlo ASC, Robert Richardson ASC, and Laszlo Kovacs ASC. Cube has worked on such shows as Mnverick, Witches of Enstwick, The River, Bntmnn & Robin, Plnnes, Trnins, & Automobiles and StnrTrek IV & V. His resume includes Mission Impossible 2, Top Gun , Tru e Romnnce, Stigmntn, A Few Good Men, Rndio Flyer, Die Hnrd 2 and of course, Ford Fnirlnne.

The SOC is proud to present the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Assistant Camera to Kenny "Cube" Nishino.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

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SUSAN

A CAMPBELL

VIDEO CAMERA OPERATOR

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aised to believe she could become and do anything she set her heart on, Susan majored in Broadcast Telecommunications at Grossmont College and Sonoma State where credits were earned "on air" at the local cable vision station in Santa Rosa.

In 1972, Bill Graham Presents (concert promoter impresario, not evangelist) associate Jerry Pompili approached Campbell to run a B/W video camera. Jerry preferred to hire women to operate camera as he said women have more finesse and are more artistic at shooting music than the sports cameramen he had tried. When one of the crew moved up to Director, an all woman crew existed.

From 1972 to the 1979 closing the women shot three bands a night, two and three nights a week with such diverse billings as Freddie King, Albert King and B. B. King, to the Sex Pistols' farewell performance, to the Blues Brothers'

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with John Belushi, to U2' s final concert outside Ireland in 1981 . Campbell has shot more than 2000 shows, spending seven New Years' Eves with the Grateful Dead, six Halloweens with Oingo Boingo, and countless"one offs" and benefit concerts. She branched out into shooting sports, sit-coms, talk shows, and more mainstream camera work.

The Who tragedy in the '80s caused bands ito take video projection on the road. Women were told they could never handle the rigors of touring but Campbell quickly shot down that thinking.

Ten years of touring has allowed Susan to enjoy "trash travelling" the world many times over with The Police Synchronicity Tour, Ozzy Osbourne and AC / DC World Tours, The Rolling Stones, and more.

The SOC is proud to present the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Video Camera Operator to Susan A. Campbell.

SCHULTZ

MOBILE PLATFORM CAMERA OPERATOR aylin Schultz started out with a hidden advantage by being born in Los Angeles.

He had a further hidden advantage as the son of Walter Schultz, who had a 40 year career as a Grip at Warner Brothers Studios.

Discharged from his World War II service, Gaylin was initiated into Local #80, then recalled for the Korean War. After this discharge, Gaylin resumed his grip work in 1953 at Goldwyn Shtdios. He was fortunate enough to have worked on many well acclaimed movies such as The Searchers, Some Like It Hot, and The Manchurian Candidate. He worked with Haskell Wexler ASC, rigging the glider that was used for Steve McQueen's The Thomas Crown Affair. His camera mounts included Steve McQueen's Mustang in Bullitt, Porsches and Ferraris that were actually run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, airplanes for Jonathan Livingston Seagull where he worked with Stan McClain SOC and Elliott Marks SMPSP. Gaylin placed a camera on stunt pilot Art Scholl's Chipmunk airplane. Then

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : UFETJME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

he created a suspended dolly rig alongside the gunwale (interchangeable between Port and Starboard) of a 65 foot sailing yacht for Lucky Lady; cars, planes, boats, motorcycles for Big Fauss and Little Halsey; rod eo bulls on Steve McQueen' s Junior Bonner. He adapted a camera crane arm on a Thiokol snow tractor for Jeremiah Johnson, and did underwater w ork in Lloyd Bridge's Sea Hunt television series.

Gaylin was given support and encouragement from many acclaimed Hollywood professionals: Winton Hoch, Harry Stradling Jr ASC, James Wong Howe ASC, Haskell Wexler ASC, William Fraker ASC, Lucien Ballard, Geoffrey Unsworth BSC, William Freidkin, Ralf Bode ASC, and Frank Tidy BSC (and many more) . Most importantly Victor J Kemper ASC for whom he enjoyed doing an extended variety of films over many years.

The SOC is proud to present the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award for Mobile Camera Platform Operator to Gaylin Schultz.

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Robotic Camera Systems

By Allan Lum Li, SOC NBC Senior Video Engineer

had been employed with the National Broadcast Company in Burbank for the last fifteen years as a 'Live Camera Color Correction Video Controller,' when in 1990 I was asked to join the news tea m at NBC-4 to operate the newly proposed 'Robotic Cameras.'

Previously we had live cameramen working in the studio with one camera operator per camera using three cameras on the set. NBC wanted to cut costs (manpower) whi le advancing the

I

tracks you cou ldn't move the set around.

We were sent to Norfield, New Jersey to AF Associates for training.

We were to lea rn the principles and fundamentals of robotic camera operation-mainl y, multi-camera robotic operations. When we came back to Burbank we sat down with some of the directors and were able to figure what shots were needed during our news broadcasts in order to program the computer system.

The System

The camera robotics on the Nightly News with Brokaw was operated on a track system. state-of-the-art in camera robotics.

They wanted to see if this could be done differently from the manner it was being implemented in New York.

The camera robotics on the Nightly News with Brokaw was operated on a track system. The stage floor resembled a giant grid, kind of like a chessboard.

The cameras had movement in height as well as lateral movements. KNBC in Burbank, Ca lifornia simply wanted a 'Robotic H ead' system. The system they chose at the time did not have a fully robotic pedestal that moved around with 'freedom.' They didn 't want to have the sa me application that New York was using because with the

Generally we open the news with a rwo-shot, then singles and ' boxes' on the other rwo cameras-boxes meaning a graphics box to the right side of the head that shows details of the news piece. We decide what shots we need and at what rate we could fad e from a three shot to a rwo shot- additionally we need to move the camera head

What this robotic camera system does is remotely control the newsroom camera, a broadcast quality camera, generally RCA TK47s. across the set to see our weather forecaster. All this information is then

stored in our computer. The cameras that we have in our news studio are placed on top of the aforementioned robotic head manufactured by EPO. What this robotic camera system does is remotely control the newsroom camera, a broadcast quality camera, generally RCA TK47s. These three robotic cameras on the floor have the ability to retain the focus, zoom, pan and tilt information provided by me. A smaller ENG camera on the wall ca n a lso be manipulated when needed.

Getting back to the main cameras on

Each camera that is robotically controlled has a channel of which I can store up to 500 shots. the news set; I control those four cameras, the video levels, and color-correction in real-time. These robotic heads send out voltages to a shot panel which is called a head control unit. In this shot panel are stored all of the voltages that represent a certain shot-focus, zoom, pan and tilt. Specifically we have five aspects that transmit a certain voltage from the servos located in the robotic heads. We then assign numbers to these voltages- as long as the pedestal of the camera is in th e same position as it was when it was stored we can repeat that sa me shot, ha ve the same focus, size, pan and tilt indefin itely. Each camera that is roboticall y controlled has a channel of which I can store up to 500 shots. Remember that this is a living dynamic system, unlike a photographic camera where you put one picture in at a time. This system is waiting for you to tell it to go to the next shot so pre-set stored shots that can be accessed through a keypad, or a Cue Compute!; accessed through a data tablet. We have the shots stored in numerical order and we have shots that are set for three different news broadcasts. We distinguish the three shows by a series of numbers, 8AM-100, SPM-200, 6AM-300.

I can operate the ca meras manu ally, meaning I can use a joystick to zoom

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: ROBOTIC CAMERAS

19

from a three-shot to a two-shot on camera two or I can go from a pre-

I'd like to stress that robotic cameras work well on news, interview and talk show formats where there isn 't a lot of pedestal movement'talking heads' as it is known. stored shot to another pre-stored shot.

I generally have one hand on the joystick so that I can track the newscaster as he/she moves around. The advantage of the Cue Computer is that we can go to shots that are not on air, trimming-up the shot with the joystick and matching with the camera that is actually on the air. We can cut from shot to shot, we can fade and we can duplicate with 95% reliability actual camera movements that a normal camera operator can achieve, given the palrameters within a news format.

How Far Can This Process Go? I'd like to stress that robotic cameras work well on news, interview and talk show formats where there isn't a lot of pedesta l movement- 'talking heads' as it is known. For game show applications my feeling wou ld be 50150; depending on how many cameras are required and whether a camera robotic operator and a video man could work together. By the way, in the news studio the robotic camera operator also does the video camera color correction.

One of the ideas NBC has to further reduce costs is to have an automated color correction device employed, such as the Basis or the Stat; with the correct protocol interacting with the switcher and the cue computer. The Technical Director could prepare the show and store the different shot numbers in his electronic memory so that when the director gives the command

20

to 'take a shot,' all the information will be there for the TD to execute that shot. This will eventually eliminate the robotic camera operator in the news environment. A fully automated station would comprise only newsreaders and maybe two or three maintenance people. CNN uses the EPO system, which is a fu lly robotic pedestal. From Atlanta they are capable of controlling two separate studios, New York and Washington, D.C. through a modem using dedicated phone lines. Typing in a code the Cue Computer in Atlanta controls the robotic systems in the other two studios. It can turn on the air conditioning, lights, and other production eq uipment. Then the newscaster comes in and does his or her insert

CBS controls all of their robotic systems from New York and can even control the camera robotics in London through a modem via satellite. into the news. When finished they reverse the process.

CBS uses the Vinten Robotic System. controlling all of their robotic systems from New York and can even control the camera robotics in London through a modem via satellite. The thing that really amazed me was when the Vinten people were here in Burbank on the set of the Tonight Show. D uring a demonstration they had a problem with the software.

Using a cellu lar phone they called the designer in England, and using the modem were able to change the impulses into voltages thereby reprogramming the 'Proms' in the computer to correct the software. The reason that we are able to control these cameras from such a long distance is due to the Serial Datalink RS232. This device allows the sending and receiving of data with a certain protocol that enables access to each camera separately or simultaneously. Besides moving the robotic head they can move the

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: ROBOTIC CAMERAS

camera itself using a reference; dollying in, out, left and right including height adj ustment. O nce it has a home position it will go to any position on the floor it was pre-selected to move-no need for a grid system on the floor.

Reacting to a series of bar codes on the walls with a laser beam guidance system the pedestal is directed by the operator to go in a certain 'L' shaped direction coLmting the revolutions of the wheels. Some systems also use magnetic tape on the floor as a reference. With the Vinten System you can program into the computer the limits of the stud io and it wi ll remember not to go into the set or bump into the walls of the studio because it knows it can't go there.

The Near Future of Robotics How wi ll the use of the robotic camera systems impact your career? Much of the enterta inment industry now is in the mode of slashing costs/jobs.

Without a cross-pollination of knowledge and information between video camera operators, film camera operators and those who are simply computer savvy, the industry will continue to eliminate jobs, keeping camera operators on the defense.

However with any new tedmology it must be reliable or there are no socalled savings. When the director asks 'can you slow the zoom down- can you pan left or right smoothly?' If you can and are able to repeat the shot

successfully to make him happy then the camera can become robotic for those applications. If there are too many variables, technicall y and aesthetical ly then your current job is safe.

As more computer literate technicians get these 'robotic jobs', the art of camera techn ique may be lost unless there's a way to pass on the generations of learned camera techniques.

Without a cross-po lli nation of knowledge and information between video camera operators, film camera operators and those who are simply computer savvy, the ind ustry will continue to eliminate jobs, keeping camera operators on the defense. We need shared information to perpetuate the art and technique of camera operating. It is up to us to unite in our knowledge.

© 1993, 2000 Allan Lum Li

35mm Motion Picture Time-Lapse Cinematography Since 1976

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: ROBOTIC CAMERAS

21

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

&

CAMERA OPERATOR

7th in the Series

An Interview with

Stephen Lighthill, ASC

by Georgia Packard, SOC tephen Lighthill was shooting documentaries in San Francisco in the mid/late 1980s when he decided to concentrate on ca mera operating. He worked on a few independent features and faced his first gear head show through trial by fire in order not to give himself an out. "It wasn't an ideal way to learn. I had a fragmented background coming up so I don't have all of the traditional tools. A foot in both worlds tends to give me an outsider's perspective.

"Camera Operators have a lot of responsibility. They must always honor the work that they do. I look for an Operator with a lot of initiative. They must learn my rulebook, understanding my preferred headroom and framing, and contribute as partners in the game." Stephen often is called on to use more than one camera for coverage. "My attention is divided when we add a second camera.

I look for a tremendous amount of cleverness and help from my Operators in these circumstances. Ross Judd is our "A" camera operator on The Huntress and he also operates Steadicamn r which we use a lot. H e is quick to adapt to changes and realizes that even a sma ll tweak for one camera may have repercussions for the other.

As you know, using a second camera requires the Operators to negotiate with each other any adjustment the other might need. All the work must run through me so that I can keep control of the look and make it all work.

"Side by side cameras aren't the most efficient. Framing and eyelines are tricky due to the characters' positions. Here the operators must rea lly be respective of the Director of Photography and the Sound department because you know that the tight shots get the best results for sound. It really is a team that needs to work together. My crew is very good about anticipating needs and taking it upon themselves to fix things before they become problems.

Stephen Lighth ill ASC watching blocking inside jail set.

S

" A" Camera Operator Ross Judd ponders the best angle after the rehearsal.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: DP/OP

23

1st Assistant Camera Forrest Thurman gets a quick hand from 2nd AC Matthew Pearce .

"Continuity is established so that the team can constantly modi fy and solve the problems the same way. The bigger the budget, the bigger the choices you have.

The Huntress schedules seven shooting days per Loader Doug episode and we have to Busby, Assoc iate shoot so many pages SOC member, each day. I have lost the bringing in refills editor as a friend to to the Jai l check the visual quality Interior set. of the show in these circumstances beca use they are seeing footage digitized in low rez. A tain solutions for camera positions, DP must see high quality dailies on a lenses, and filmstock selection and high rez monitor in order to make negotiates these dynamics creatively notes and flag scenes that need help. in conjunction with each other.

Many shows don't budget thi s in and

"Creating a look comes from who the producers have hired for production designer, costumes, location scouts, etc.

The Director of Photography enhances this work and then makes it his/her own. A stylebook creates the rules on what T-stop is used for interiors and exteriors, tungsten and daylight blue. It creates a routine path that dictates cer-

" B" Camera setting up for a stunt: 1st Assistant Steve Hano, 2nd Assistant Wa y ne Goring

" B" Camera Operator Georgia Packard soc w ith 1st Assistant Steve Hano successfully getting the shot.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: DP/OP

"We use a lot of tools here: off speed shots that change speed during the take, a jib arm that can give us the look of a mini crane. We always carry two dollies, a jib and Steadicam. A really good production designer with dramatic lighting can make for interesting visuals. These elements create a wide variety of shot choices and an Operator must know why one is 'right' over another.

"The look evolves out of that soup," explains Lighthi ll.

can create more headaches by asking for VHS copies to review. Focus and film negative problems such as tears, rips and dirt can be found on quality dailies. We educate the crew by seeing beta SP dai lies on the truck at lunch.

I believe all work relationships on the set are improved by see ing good dailies. It creates cohesion and team spirit. It also provi des feedback for the second Ca mera Operator who isn't there every day. Second unit benefits by seeing the original scene that

mu st be matched for an insert shot, whether a close up of the bomb about to go off or a car chase sequence on location. " As Director of Photography, Stephen has to be fa miliar with all of the jo bs on the set, as well as what tools are available so he can ask for assistance and possible solutions. "A universa l education is needed. It is similar with the Operator. They must know when theiT Assistant is DP Stephen Lighthill ASC lines up two cameras with assistance from Dolly Grip Eamon McGillicuddy. doing a good job

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : DP/OP

25

and how they can make it easier to assist on a difficult shot. You must evaluate the Assistants and the Dolly Grip to be able to solve technical problems with the equipment that you ha ve available. The best way to begin yo ur career is as an Assistant. Dramatic work is essential yet music videos and documentaries can put you in unique lighting and special effect situations that allow a set environment to learn a sense of problem solving. Skill and experience are needed to perfect your craft. The only way to study problem solving is as an Assistant and by working your way up. " Lighthill suggests some good key points in building a career: "Look for people who will help you move up, and a community to support you. Mastering the fundamentals will allow you to gain confidence and achieve longevity. "

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The Director's

Angle An interview with Robby Benson

"The

relationship between a Director and Director of Photography is made up of many ideas, a puzzle that cannot become a whole unless both parties embrace the work together," explains Director and Executive Producer Robby Benson.

"Stephen Lighthill ASC, our Director of Photography on The Huntress enhances each episode by bringing his teclmical expertise, imagination and willingness to take a chance through the visual story telling. The show becomes fun to work on due to a delicate balance of risk, creativity, and hard work.

"Everything has to be done before you wa lk onto the set. A Director must prepare and choreograph every aspect of the production. The 'tech scout' is very important. You have to shoot it in your mind before you show up so that when you get on the set you can accept support and ideas from the crew." Robby takes this task and brea ks it down to basics. "The visuals must support the story. Otherwise you have to tapdance to keep people involved until it works again. You can support the actors and the writer by the way you choreograph a scene. One look from an actor can be more powerful than a dynamic crane shot. You must rely on your wits when shooting an episodic. H ere we are constantly faced with budget and time restraints.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed-that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. " Benson brings a lot of energy to the

production and his production team responds in kind.

"Due to the actors being prepared and Stephen Lighthill 's work ethic on the set, all of the hard work and homework isn't futile.

The work is fu n when you aren't faced with an adversarial position. H ere I get everything I need. Lighthill and his crew make the directors feel they are part of the creative family, embracing your ideas instead of fighting them. A director's career is based on the fact that one ca n never know enough.

There is always something more to absorb. Stephen is so Director Robby Benson and DP Stephen Lighthill ASC watch giving that he creates a camera rehearsal to discuss coverage . a great opportunity to learn on the job.

H e is a wonderful and keeps me excited about the 1m teacher for me. The synergy of this work." ~ partnership makes for better results

Executive Producer / Director Robby Benson walking thru SteadicamrM shot with Script Supervi sor Mellanie Bradfield and Camera Operator Ross Judd (not pictured) .

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morning's shoot.

As noted in the introduction of " map reading," there aren't any courses except surveying that I have fo und that are taught from the viewpoint that we already know where we are on a map and need to find exact directi ons. Surveying is interesting, very accurate, but quite complicated. I have tried to make this material simple and integrated with the more popular sun position programs.

I have found two very good p rograms that cost money, but are well worth it. There are some free programs on the Internet, but they are not tailored for the photogra pher.

Try "Sky for W indows" fro m Abbey Information Systems, 404-633-7446 or http :/LAbbey.com / skydemo. This is

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lowi ng exactly where the sun or moon will be and exactly where ... it w ill rise o r set is va luable infor mation for the photographer.

Today there are computer p rograms th at will give us that exact information. Most important is kn owing how to use that infor mati on. Except in the Boy Scouts we aren't taught directi on fin ding. It's up to us to lea rn on our own how to read maps, find directions and predict w here th e sun o r moon will be at the time when we have to shoot.

In th e 1970s I needed to kn ow where the sun would be for shooting com mercials of people fa lling backwards at 360 FPS into sw imming pools for "T he Nestea PI unge." Of course we shot them in the winter w hen the sun was low, often behind a tree or building and the weather was doubtful. An astronomer fri end suggested Griffith O bse rvatory who sent a monograph of the sun's position for LA th at got me thro ugh the shoot. I have spent the years since refining map reading and sun positi on determ ination. My web si te (rondexter.com ) contains w hat I have lea rned and you are welcome to download it and appl y the information to the rea l world. Look under "sun ~

positi on and map reading." I highly recommend practicing often until you get a "seat-of-the-pants" feel of being able to predict where the sun is or will be with out instruments. Get some loca l maps, may be ma ke a map table described in " map rea ding" and fin e tune your map and sun position skills befo re you need them for tomorrow

a very well done sun and moon positi on program.

And "Sun Path " by David Parish, FAX 818-764-3639 or Widescreen @pobox. com. T his is a sun position p rogram only but very well done.

Ava ilable for Mac or W indows.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : SUN & MOON

29

Film School Open to G1rls people say their bark is louder than t is exciting to be connected to "Girl their bite or they're tough on the outBehind the Camera," a College of side and soft on the inside? " she asks.

Santa Fe program that takes place in the summer and is designed to intro"An apple is hard all the way through, duce high school girls to media teclmol- and I just like that. " Definitively the young women provide food for thought ogy. Deborah Fort, assistant chair of in the ways that they see themselves and the Moving Image Department, directs how they are portrayed to the two week program. others.

Wendy Chapin, one of Their work with the film the instructors in the cameras forces them to think Performing Arts about how their pictures will Department, and edit together, how the differMonique Anair teach ent images will relate to one with other professional another and tell a larger women in the Industry. story. And it provides a techRobin Clark, a reporter nical training. "Film is a for The New Mexican wonderfu l mode of exprespaper wrote on June 23, sion that incorporates every 2000, "This year the 12 single as pect of you, of the girls participating learned world," Fort says. "There's skills in filming, writing, Deborah Fort at a film sound, there's images. You editing, acting and intershoot. can work in an abstract way, viewing. Yet one of their and in a very literal, realist way. You strongest benefits was the rise in their can do documentary, self-esteem and confidence. The selfyou ca n do fiction. portrait film required each young There are endless woman to find ways of expressing herpossibilities for self metaphorically and symbolically in creative expression." front of the camera. Often they include Many of the images of their hands or feet, but they participants live out- Deniz & camera were encouraged to side Santa Fe and incorporate other must drive into town every day. Fort images such as flowhopes to expand the Girls Film School ers or their cars. " for 2001 into a larger program, w hich Hayley Kidd, 16, a junior at Capital High w ill include dormitories. Each group has a mentor, giving them an opportuKristen with School, used an apple. slate film shoot. "You know how some nity to explore the film industry with a

hands-on approach from many perspectives and job positions.

Adrianne Mccurrach, one of the mentors and a CSF student, says "This school really opens the doors for a lot of young women corning out of high school. They learn to work with each other, from different backgrounds, prejudices and even generations. At the center of our program is the artist aspiring to find her voice."

This exciting program teaches the

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : GIRlS' filM ScHOOL

Deniz, Adi , Lindsay, and Liana amazing strength of a team creatively working in unison. It is their films that gains a louder voice, and hopefully a better picture of who they can become.

The next session is scheduled for June 17-30, 2001.

Please see what you can give: film resources, ment01; donations, time or sponsorship. www.girlsfilmschool.csf.edu or Deborah Fort, director at (800) 456-2673 ext.6409 Press Release: Girls Film School at the College of Santa Fe ended with the teenaged participants presenting their films in a public showing June 30, 2000 under the guidance of Deborah Fort, assistant chair of the college's Moving Image-Arts Department. The program aims to encourage more young women to consider film and video careers.

The evening opens wi th a documentary about the two-week school.

The girls unveil video self-portraits, a series of short scenes, camera-less film exercises (16mm leader and picture slug s scratched, painted and otherwise manipulated by hand) and final projects produced in cooperation with collegestudent mentors.

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TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2000

CLAIRMONT CAMERA ver since learning about cinematography in the early 1960s, Denny Clairmont thought it wou ld be wonderful to swing and shift cine lenses the way still view camera lenses could . H e quickly learned that, since cine ca meras use much wider lenses than a still camera, there was a problem because the wide angle lenses extend into the ca mera so far that it is impossible to swing or shift the lenses.

The portion of the lens that would be inside the cine ca mera would strike the

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small format 35mm still ca meras which had the same pro blem as the 35mm motion pictu re ca meras. In order to allow the lenses to swing and shift, the wider-angle lenses were designed so they would not extend into the camera. These lenses had to be a better quality lens than usual fo r a 35mm still camera since they were going to be used by people doing commercial photography. Also, these new lenses had to have a larger than norma l image circle so the picture would

Ken Robings ond Denny Clairmont, with the Swing Shift lens on an Arri 3 .

ground glass, the shutter and the ca mera body when you attempted to swing or shift the lens.

Clairmont was in Germany at Photokina in 1984 where all the new ca mera equi pment is first shown to the world. The Japa nese showed a specia l lens designed to swi ng and shift on the

32

not vignette when the lens was either swung or shifted. This made these lenses ideal for adaptation to motion picture ca meras.

Ken Robings works for Clairmont Ca mera as a free lance engineer and he was assigned the job of working w ith Denny Clairmont to come up with a

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: TECH AWARDS

system where the Japanese lens element cou ld be used on a motion picture camera and be able to swing and shift. This is not as si mple as it may seem with the wide angle lenses from 14mm through 40mm focal lengths.

Longer focal lengths are not a problem . After doing some research, it was found that Tom Barron and Ron Dexter had adapted some of the easier longer foca l lengths to movie cameras.

The lens system was tested in 1987 and fo und to work as hoped for. By 1990, the system was very busy and Clairmont Camera had fifty of the systems work ing around the world. The first usage was on television commercials and music videos. Their usage spread to fea tu re motion pictures.

Ericson Core and Spike Lee have used them on features, to name only two of many users on feature films. A special ana morphic Swing Shift lens was developed at Spike Lee's request.

Clairmont Camera and Ken Robings patented the usage on motion picture ca meras and the way it was adapted to the motion picture ca mera. Still view cameras have been using Scheimpflug principle since the late 1800s. Many people have tried to copy w hat Clairmont and Robings have done but the results were so inferior that there was no need for Clairmont Camera to sue for copyright infringement. Instead they decided to license Century Precision to make exact copies so the demands could be met. Century Precision has sold over 150 copies of the Swi ng Shift lenses.

The Society of Operating Camera men is proud to present the 2000 Technical Achievement Award to Denny Clairmont and Kenneth Robings for the Swing Shift Lens Set.

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2000

EAsTMAN KoDAK

T

he first electrically-driven motor that is being recognized for the Technical Achievement Award was the Kodak Motor Drive Unit for use with the Cine-Kodak 16 mm camera. It was connected with the driving shaft of the camera. Also provided were a storage battery, a charging unit and necessary c01mections to the various parts.

This unit was first sold around January, 1924 and was launched with the slogan: "Again it is, 'You press the button; we do the rest,' for the Cine-Kodak has been motorized." It sold for $25.00.

Few photographs exist of tlus unit. Reproduction sketches and designs were printed originally in the operating instructions booklet sold with the unit and a Kodak Trade Circular. An actual Motor Drive Unit, fitted to a camera, is in the possession of the George Eastman House Museum in Rochestet; New York. It is not possible to

identify the actual inventor of the unit, although this was likely a group project and went through stages of development and technical perfection before marketing in 1924.

The Society of Operating Cameramen is proud to present the 2000 Technical Achievement Award to Eastman Kodak Company Entertainment Imaging- Film Systems for the Kodak Motor Drive Unit.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: TECH AWARDS

33

Martian In surrection.

Life Dn Mars, a Distant Location

By Butler Stephens

All photos accompanying this article: Š2DDD Screen l:iems Neil Jacobs Photographer

he Red Planet is a fore boding place. H owling winds in excess of a hundred miles per hour are common. The red dust is so thick and persistent, even a common dust mask can't cut it. We're securely into the next century and a lot of myths have been dispelled. First and foremost, there is water on Mars and plenty of it. There is life on Mars, wild life, and plenty of that! I witnessed it with my own dust scratched corneas. The water is crystal pure. In fact, it's Crystal Geyser and it exists by the caseload.

T

T he "wild life" takes the form of human-like figures in macabre makeup and wardrobe, complete with body piercings in every visible orifice. Some say they're ghosts reflecting their past li ves as fierce warriors. But the real cast of characters, or shaU I say crew of characters is the crew of John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, a Sony Pictures release for the summer of 2001, "a Spacey Oddity."

Hailing from all corners of the U.S ., they descended on Mars, AKA the Zia Pueblo, northern New Mexico, in

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFE ON MARS

35

Apocalypse on Mars.

early August, 2000. The elaborate sets designed by Bi ll Elli ott were erected over a period of months in the center of a gypsum mine on the Zia Pueblo.

To add to the illusion of the Red Pl anet, the entire mine site used for

production was spray painted a rust red. Combining that with gypsum dust and raging windstorms makes for an arduous location experience. Due to frequent monsoon season showers, Gabrielle McKenna, stand-by painter

A real duststorm , Zia Pueblo, New Mexico .

36

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFE ON MARS

and her paint crew were constantly doing " touch-ups" with Hudson sprayers as well as motorized paint sprayers. John Ca rpenter himself noted the taut-framed McKenna was undoubtedly the hardest work ing crew member on the Red Pl anet. She drove daily an hour each way from Sa nta Fe, to the Martian locati on. No mea n feat considering the work ing hours were from 5 PM to 5 AJ'v1 ! In order to complete the illusion of life on Mars, one had to shoot the enti re production as night exteriors. Six weeks of nights ca n definitely take its toll on one's physical and mental state. McKenna and her commuting partnet; George Stephenson SOC, camera operator had to keep each other awake with long stories and bad jokes as the rosy fingered dawn accompanied them home to Santa Fe each day. Memories of Brent Hershman might be appropri ate here.

The second half of production was continued in a similarly bi zarre location-an electrical sub-station in Eagle Rock, California. More about that

later.

Si nce the location " night life" consisted of work, one had to substi tute it for "day life." T his primarily consisted of freq uent visits to the local p ueblo casinos and other hot spots. For those not inclined to risk their per diem there were severa l fine golf courses in the vicin ity providing adequate recrea tion for golf fana tics such as Steve Smith, camera operator; Gary Kibbe, director of photography; and Charlie Saldana, key gri p.

Harley-Davidson buffs Rick Drapkin I sr AC, and Bob Krattiger, chief lighting technician (gaffer) were in their element in New Mexico-no helmet requirement! They took a wonderful ride on their Fat Boys and Sportsters to an annual Harl ey meet in Durango, Co lorado on La bor Day weekend .

T hanks to a great tra nspo depa rtment, they were able to bring their " toys" on location . The machines a rrived in New Mexico without a scratch but sa dl y the

Camera Operator Steve Smith and Gary Kibbe ASC lining up a shot. George Stephenson SOC, is the operator in the background .

return trip to Los Angeles, was a different story. Rick's pristine machine had some serious dings.

The crew was housed in various hotels in Rio Rancho, a bedroom community adjacent to Albuquerque, New

Fin al Destruction of th e Martian City.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: LIFE ON MARS

37

"Sole Tra in"- Brett Peters, 1 st AC; George Ste phenson SOC, opera to r.

Mexico. Rio Rancho was placed on the map a few years ago by Intel Corporation of computer chip fame.

Located near the crew hotels, it just so happened Intel had a high priority job in progress which req uired a 24/7

work schedule. Consequently, the local watering hole altered its hours to accommodate the employees' after hours R&R. Opening at 6 AM couldn't have been more perfect for the crew of Ghosts of Mars which was headed for the hotels about that time. Chugging a few brewskies at that hour of the morning was another mind twister for grip and electric, but they handled it admira bly.

By the end of August, the monsoon season was in full bloom. Days were fairly predictable. First a strong gusty wind would blow through the Martian set of bunker-like stucco buildings shaped like pyramids with their peaks lopped off. Ominous dark cwnulus clouds would form over the set and then as if special effects had turned on the rain birds, the downpour ensued.

Camera assistants scurried madly covering their carts with blue plastic tarps.

Video village was the first priority of course as Carpenter, a striking figure with his Einstein-like shock of white

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFE ON MARS

Electrical storm on "Mars." hair, hea ded for the bunkers. This proved ineffecti ve after a w hile as the set buildings were not waterproof. The roofs were structura lly sound but ta rpaper had not been used, resulting in lea ks between every sheet of plywood. Most of the crew wou ld huddle in the craft service pavilion w hich doubled as a set building. They soon lea rned where to stand o n the dirt floor to avoid the steady drips from the cei ling.

Caroline Krame1; craft service person extraordinaire, tirelessly provided refreshments to the wet a nd weary crew. H er wonderfull y thick French accent ca lmed even the most frustra ted crew member. H er craft service trailer, refuge from the rain a nd windswept set, was a remarkable center of efficiency complete with a self-serve ca ppuccino bar. Gracing the wa lls were some of her exquisite charcoal pencil portraits ex hibiting another of her many talents.

Just as suddenl y as the torrential

downpour had begun, it stopped. The crew looked up to the soa ked pl ywood ceiling trying to hea r if there were a ny more drops pelting the roof. There were none. They began to filter out of the pavilion, hot coffee in hand. " Back to work !" came the unnecessary cry from a neophyte production assistant.

Now McKenna really had her work cut out for her. The rain had dispersed much of the red dye from the ground and thus a redo was necessary. This would become de rigeur for the duration of production. She gathered her crew and fired up the paint generator.

H er Reeboks took on the rust red hue of the Martian soi l though she managed to keep her clothing relatively stain free. This was not the case with her motley crew which appeared to be covered from bead to toe with the water-based dye.

In order to heighten the effect of the Red Planet, Director of Photography Gary Kibbe ASC used red gels on scores of M axiBrutes scattered

thro ughout the Martian landscape.

These were regul a rl y monito red by electrician Tommy Cantrell w ho would mount his ATV "Mule" a nd go screa ming along the ridges of the gypsum mine, dust flying in hi s wake, in pursuit of a fa llen gel frame. It was Tommy a nd his ha rd work ing crew who strung miles of four-ought ca ble around the gypsum mine connecti ng the MaxiBrutes a nd o ther lighting units. Each of a dozen or more Condors were continu ously manned by electricians who remained a t their posts like Roman sentinels in the night. With the onset of Fa ll weather they endured high winds a nd increased ch ill factor at 80 feet in the air. The only conditions tha t brought them down were the occasional lightning storm and a half ho ur lunch.

Lunch was a euphemism for a midnight feast. The catering ten t, a red and w hite striped circus-like pavilion was atop the mine a nd thus an uphill trek on foot. Numerous vans were

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: LIFE ON MARS

39

pressed into service in order to expedite troop movement, but ha rdier souls preferred to hike. Not unlike a thirteenth century cru sade, the Martian wa rriors peppered amongst the film crew made their way up the quarter mile of rough terrain to the top of the hill. If it wasn't raining one was covered in dust by the cara van of minivans that passed by. If it was raining, one was slipping and sliding in the ankle deep gypsum clay. By the time they reached the catering tent, the cast a nd crew were out of brea th , tired and hungry. The location altitude was literally a mile high requiring a few da ys or even weeks for one to acclimate.

M a rio's Ca tering did a fin e jo b of pre pa ring an ample va riety of entrees for the M arti ans, ghosts and crew.

Their tastes were as va ried as their pl anets o f origin . Huge barbecue pits were set up almost every night to grill sa lmon stea ks, la mp chops, London broil , and occasiona ll y lobster tail s!

No one went hungry, not even the

Mindy Bee, film loader, w ith two slates.

vegetarians who savored grilled bell peppers, zucchini squash and spinach souffl e. H aagen-Dazs® ice cream was served every night along with a plethora of pies a nd ca kes. About the

onl y complaint ever muttered was: " Oh, I ate too much! " After six weeks on locati on in New Mexico, G hosts of M ars had reached its halfway point and it was time to

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFE ON MARS

retreat to Los Ange les for the completi on of production. Like Ringling Brothers Circus, they wrapped on a Friday at 3 AM, packed up the trucks and hea ded for L.A., a distance of approximately 850 miles. The ca ll time for Monday was 3 PM and they made it! The onl y thing that didn't fare too well was Rick Drapkin's beloved H arley. A nasty ding in the gas tank and scratches in the highly polished ex ha ust pipe. No names please!

From the pristine starli t nights of Northern New Mexico to the hazy sk ies of LA, the crew res umed production at an electrica l power sub-station in Eagle Rock. Although most the scenes were interior ja il seq uences, the shooting schedule continued to be split days and nights. Something to do with Mr Carpenter not being an ea rl y riser, or so it was rumored. This turned out to be fort uitous as one never really had a traffic prob lem on the way to work.

The ca ll time gradually receded to 10 AM an d wrap time was a respectable 10 or 11 PM. As an added benefit, Gary Kibbe ASC, George Stephenson SOC, and Brett Peters, 1sr AC were actua ll y ab le to attend screened dailies at FotoKem lab a lmost every morning!

The power pl an t was situated in a canyon above Eagle Rock and access was primarily by crew miniva ns from a parking lot about a half mile below.

As it was monitored by a full-time security guard, one would think one's veh icle wou ld be secure in the designated parking lot. Not so, as Tommy Cantrell , electrician would discover.

The ca ll ca me on a wa lkie to an AD about 2:30 PM. Apparently the security guard noticed some suspicious activity as two unidenti fied indi viduals entered the park ing lot. One got out of the car and the driver returned to the entra nce. Within minutes a '98 Honda Accord cou pe drove up to the other car at the ex it and they both sped off.

The astu te guard noted the license plate number of the H onda (the stolen ve hicle!) but fai led to note that of the getaway vehicle. Tommy's beloved Honda was 'gone in 60 seconds!'

Somewhat li ke closing the barn door after the cows have escaped, ID badges and windshield signs were issued to

each crew member after this unfortunate incident to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering the parking lot. Though a valiant attempt was made to retrieve Tommy's H onda, as of this writing it has not been recovered. The executive producer, Sandy King, God bless her, offered Tommy a new one but he really wanted his '98 or one just like it. The incident garnered a lot of mileage from the AD depa rtment as every day thereafter the ca ll sheet included a Xeroxed collage of Tommy and his Honda "found " in different parts of the world. From the Go lden Gate to the great pyramids of Egypt, there was Tommy's missing H onda in various stages of dismemberment. Milk carton photos were sure to be next.

Though the power stati on was without wind, dust and monsoons, it did have its annoyances: primarily the constant high voltage buzz that permeated one's eardrums all day and night.

Rumors of brain cancer ran rampant.

Fortunately the loud drone could not be heard inside the massive concrete buttressed set. Willie Burton, Academy Award winning so und mi xer, was able to "roll off" any extraneous noise eliminating the hackneyed "waiting on sound " phrase. Willie and hjs boom opera tor, Marvin Lewis were the most mell ow members of the crew. They never became flustered regardless of the oftentimes trying conditions and consistently delivered superb sound.

The production continued without a hitch with one exception . The lead actress fell ill with walking pneumonia and the company had to shut down for nearly a week. Angie Athayde, production assistant, and her associates made daily crew ca lls updating them on the actress' prognosis. The crew could hardly take advantage of the time off as they were on a 24 hour a lert. At week's end, the actress had recovered and the cameras resumed their role of capturing more exciting footage. Appropriately, the bizarre production of Ghosts of Mars wrapped on the eve of H alloween.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : LIFE ON MARS

41

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in a side-to-side up-and-down motion precisely controlled by the operator. a11d

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The Wide Screen Revolution (1952-1970}:

The

Revolution and

Professional

Non-Dramatic Films

by Rick Mitchell

The previous installment presented an overview of non-dramatic filmmaking prior to 1953: theatrical shorts and travelogues; industrial, educational, and religious films; and the developing home market. ~~~ By the end of 1952, there was a significant subculture involved in these areas similar to today's digital video enthusiasts. Naturally, the publicity about Cinerama, 3-D, and anamorphics excited their interests, though their curiosity was slow to be satiated. This was due in part to the three month lead time of publications like the American Cinematographer, Popular Photography and Popular Science, all of which

ultimately published in-depth technical articles on the new processes. r:.~, Though it was initially founded on 16mm, Cinerama was obviously impractical for non-theatrical uses. However, the author would not be surprised to learn that in later years, some enterprising 16mm enthusiast had experimented with a new 16mm version of Cinerama; in the 1980s a British amateur filmmaker did develop a Super 8 version that reportedly worked quite well.

44

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

Gig Young romances Barbara lawrence in MGM's Arena, Hollywood 's first 3-D Western . Note the 3-D glasses in the audience.

or the fir t half of 1953 many non-thea trical filmm aker were ca ught up in the excitement over 3-D. Both Bolex and Elgeet ca me out with adapter lense that could be used on sta ndard 16 and 8mm ca meras which recorded images with a 21 inch interocul ar, exposing them on the camera origi nal side-by-side.

Special projecti on len es with proper polarizi ng filter uperimposed the images on the screen and special glasse were needed to view them.

To capitalize on the succe of Bwana Devil at another thea ter, the Rialto, New York's infa mous explo itation house, booked a program of 16mm shorts shot with the Bolex system ca lled Triorama. Variety's reviewer consi dered the films to be of very poor

F

quali ty, partiaUy beca use the images were recorded side-by-side and the frame was unnaturally tall rather than square. Additionally, the print was on Commercia l Kodachrome original reversa l stock. This made for a very contrasty image with poor resolution which was funher compromised by the necessity of viewing the film thro ugh the po larizers.

While there appeared to have been no interest in 3-D among the companies making sponsored film s in 35mm, (probably for reasons of cost), there was interest in doing so in 16mm , until the rea lities of pre enting such films sunk in , i.e., the necessity for a sil ver screen and glasses for the entire audience. According to the Am erican Cinematographer at least two such

films were made, after which 3-D seemed to have been abandoned very quickly by sponsored filmmakers.

Like 3-D still photograph y, 3-D filmmaking would continue among a subcultu re of amateur filmmakers. The American Cinematographer sponsored a one time contest for amateur 3-D filmm akers in 1953 and over the next thirty yea rs, article about the activities of amateur 3-D filmm akers would crop up in that and other photographic magazines. In most instances they were still using the 3-D lenses introduced in 1953 . O ver the last 35 years, anaglyph (red-green) prints of condensations of professional 3-D films, including MGM's Pete Smith's shorts of the late 1930s and 1940s were made ava ilable to the home movie market. These too

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : WIDESCREEN

45

were originally released as anaglyphs.

An historical aside: in 1973, near the end of the first attempted 3-D revival, Jimmie D Songer, who had perfected video-assist, introduced the first successful color anaglyph process. It involved the insertion of an element at the nodal point of a lens that essentially created the proper separate views of anything in front of or behind the point at which the lens was focused, adding a red or green fringe to them, which would be decoded by the red or green lenses on the viewer's glasses.

Processing and printing was standard.

The April 1973 issue of the American Cinematographer included photographs taken with lenses containing this element that were quite effective when viewed through the accompanying decoding glasses. Songer reportedly had done film and video tests, including one with a Panavision anamorphic lens.

Unfortunately, nothing further happened with the process. Several years later, before Songer's death, this author

asked him what happened and was told that director Blake Edwards, who had financed the experiments, had taken all the tests and elements and had them stored away.

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It was anamorphics that had the most significant impact on the nondramatic and non-theatrical markets, though not as immediately as with 3-D. Though technical details were available by the Spring of 1953, actual examples of anamorphic photography would not be seen outside the industry until the release of The Robe in

September of that year. As a result, camera crews who specialized in 35mm shorts and newsreels were the first outside the studios to have experience with the new lenses.

Since the nickelodeon days, programs had always included comedies and "novelties" or "actualities" that were half as long as the one-reel "feature."

By the 1920s nearly an hour's worth of "selected short subjects" were standard parts of the program at most first run theaters. These included not only a cartoon and a trailer but a newsreel, one or two one or two reel comedies; a travelogue, a sports related novelty, even a 20 minute serial chapter.

For CinemaScope, 20th Century-Fox wanted as much of an anamorphic program as possible. They encouraged Disney, MGM, and UPA, as well as Terrytoons, which they distributed, to make cartoons in CinemaScope; though they weren't very good, Terrytoons would continue to make CinemaScope cartoons until 1962.

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J

director of photography

Travelogues and sports shorts were natural for CinemaScope. Before its introduction such films were usua ll y made under more controlled cond itions than the off-the-cuff pseudo cinema verite techniques used today, often with scenes staged specifica ll y for the ca meras. Those cameras, usually Mitchell NCs and BNCs, or Be ll and Howel ls and Akeleys from the silent days, were usually mounted on friction head tripods, the usual setups being static shots or simpl e pans and tilts with rare need to rack focus. Telephoto lenses were limited to subjects far enough away as to eli minate the need for attempting to fol low focus with a non-reflex camera . H andheld camerawork was rare, its unstead iness being considered unprofessiona l except for situations of uncon trollable action where it wou ld be difficult or dangerous to use

and Ansco color negative after their introduction in 1950.

Inspired by the success of Disney's True-Life Adventure shorts begun in 1948, there was also an increased use of 16mm, especially for nature material, to be blown up to 35mm. About this time cinematographers of short films also began using the Arriflex and Eclair CM3 reflex cameras. These were unblimped ca meras and generally not suitable for sound recording.

CinemaScope added additional complications as the initial lenses were supplemental elements that went in front of the prime lens. As a result, they had to be focused independently and following foc us meant doing so to both lenses. Whi le two assistants were used for this purpose in the studios, one had to handle both, often on the fly, in shooting documentary style. Focus was

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Fi lm ing Prowlers of the Everglades. Disney's True Life Adventure seri es of short films inspired other nature photographers and studios .

a heavy tripod mounted camera; Eyemos were used for such shots.

Natural light would be augmented by reflectors and even incan descents with the latter used to light interiors. After World War II there was an increased use of Technicolor Monopack (35mm Kodachrome) and Ansco Reversa l for shooting color shorts, then Eastman

also critical at wider apertures; if the subject was slightly off the mark to which it had been measured, the resultant softness would be magnified when projected onto huge wide screens. The anamorphic lenses also added to the cumbersomeness of the tripod-mo unted ca meras and though very quickly adapted to Arri fl exes and Eclairs,

proved difficult to work with in hand-held situations. Although Bausch & Lomb introduced combined anamorphic and prime lenses in the Spring of 1954, it's unclear whether or not documentary cameramen used them. When shooting flat footage, it was easier to remove the supplemental anamorphic than to change a lens.

Fox's 1955 short The Living Swamp, shot in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp

by Jacques Marquette ASC and crew offers a vivid example of the problems faced in shooting CinemaScope in uncontrollable situations. Quick shots of poisonous snakes and alligators in their natural habitat were often barely in focus.

As soon as Fox had enough lenses to fulfill its production needs, the studio began parceling them out to camera crews contracted to their New York based Movietone Newsreel division as well as to independent cameramen who provided footage for newsreel and other uses, worldwide. This was not only for shooting second unit footage for foreign set films whose

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

47

Robert Wagner as Prince Valiant, in the 1954 CinemaScope feature . Also starring James Mason, Janet Leigh , Sterling Hayden, Victor Mclaglen, Donald Crisp Debra Paget and Brian Aherne, the film was directed by Henry Hathaway.

principal photography was to be in Holl ywood like Hell and High Wate1; Prince Valiant, and Th e Egyptian, but also for travelogues and shorts on such CinemaScope friendl y subjects as auto and horse racing and snow and water sk iing. Many of the Fox Movietone shorts were shot by the same N ew York crews who also shot the Cinerama travelogues such as Windjammer; their ranks included Jack Priestley ASC, Gayne Rescher ASC, H arry Sq uire ASC and SOC associate member Harvey Genkins. Hollywood camera crews also shot some of these shorts, such as Charles G Clarke ASC and his crew on Vesuvius Express and Joseph La Shelle ASC and on Hollywood Stunt Pilot (both 1954).

In 1930 Fox Movietone had shot some specia l 70mm Grandeur editions of its newsreel; some of this footage has been preserved in 35mm anamorphic by the Museum of Modern Art. The author has run across references to the company having shot special newsreel stories in CinemaScope and color, particularly the premieres of The Robe and How To Marry A Millionaire, but has not been able to confirm the existence of this footage.

Other studios, nota bly MGM and

48

Warner Bros, also made CinemaScope shorts to accompany their CinemaScope features in the mid-1950s. Inspired by the opening of How To Marry A Millionaire, which featured Alfred N ewman and the Fox

Studio Orchestra performing Newman's "Street Scene," MGM produced a series of classical music shorts with their studio orchestra conducted by music depa rtment head Johnny Green. These shorts, which often involved complicated camera moves, were each shot in an eight-hour day by cinematographers ranging from their own Joseph Ruttenberg ASC to Ray Rennahan ASC. MGM also sent a CinemaScope crew to Monaco, to photograph the wedding of Grace Kell y to Prince Rainier for a short, The Wedding in Monaco, that accompanied her last film, The Swan (1956).

Disney made severa l of its " Peopl e and Places" shorts as well as a couple about Disneyland in CinemaScope; these were intended to accompany the three CinemaScope features they made at the time: Lady and the Tramp (1955), The Great Locomotive Chase and Westward Ho! The Wagons (both 1956). Universa l also produced severa l CinemaScope shorts, including the highly fictionalized Nat King Cole Sto1y (1957). Paramount shot a number of Vista Vision shorts between 1954 and 1957, some of which were shown in England via horizontal pro-

Scene from Louis de Rochemont's Windjammer, the spectacular drama fi lmed in the grandeur of Cinemiracle . The modern sea epic, adventurously photographed on a 17,500 mile, 238-day voyage of the famed three-masted Norwegian sailing ship, Christian Radich, was 2 years in the making and filmed in many corners of the world .

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

jection. Otherwise, the production of shorts in general declined in the late 1950s, with only Fox and Disney continuing to make them. The former's were all in CinemaScope until it ceased making them altogether in 1962.

Because 70mm was intended as a roadshow format witho ut the fri lls of regu lar presentations, no theatrical shorts were specifically made in its various formats . However, Todd-AO did assemble some of its early test footage into a short, The Miracle ofTodd-AO (1955), that was included in later roadshow runs of Ok lahoma! Disney fi lmed a CinemaScope short Grand Canyon (1958), based around the Ferde Grofe su ite, to flesh out the 70mm roadshow program Sleeping Beauty, shot in Technirama.

Ci nemaScope 55 footage shot for Darryl Zan uck for a fi lm to be ca lled DeLuxe Tour was rumored to have been edited into a short shown in New York in 1957. Howeve1; all the cans of uncut nega tive were fo und in Fox

vaults in the 1990s raising questions about the veracity of this screening.

In 1953 the recently crowned Queen Elizabeth II of England went on a tour of Canada and Austra lia, accompanied by several camera crews, including one from Fox Movietone shooting in CinemaScope. T he resu ltant film, Flight of White Heron (1954), was apparently the first anamorphic fea ture documentary. Over the next decade a number of feature documentaries made

by European and Asian documentarians would be released in the anamorphic format but how many were actually shot with anamorphic lenses is a matter for further research. Few of them got wide release in the United States, an exception being Masters of the Congo jungle (1959), advertised by American distributor Fox as being in CinemaScope; a print was not available for confirmation.

By mid-1954 the "new screen techniques " had been sufficiently established in theatrica l production and

were finally being made available to the non-theatrical world, though there had been a tentative foray in this area a year earlier. Once the technical details of Ci nemaScope had been published, it was quickly learned that the basic patents to anamorphic lenses were in public domain and a number of parties, including Warner Brothers set out to develop their own competing systems.

O ne of these parties was Carl Dudley, a producer of industrial and sponsored films who would later produce Cinerama's South Seas Adventure (1958). He contracted with the Simpson Optical Company in Chicago for lenses he called Vistarama, to be used in the making of both 35mm and 16mm non-theatrical films. Though having the same sq ueeze ratio, the Vistaramas were of simpler design than the Bausch & Lomb improved CinemaScope lenses. In June 1953 Dudley ran test footage he'd shot in both 35 and 16. Comments at the time

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49

The Lincoln Futuro concept cor (future Batmobile) was painted red and featured in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's It Started With a Kiss (1955). The film starred Debbie Reynolds (show n seated in the car) and Glenn Ford (not pictured here) . Ford played an Air Force sergeant who won the $40,000 automobile . Reynolds was the showgirl who planned to marry a rich man but wed the sergeant instead. Set in Spa in and directed by George Marshall, the movie also starred Eva Gabor, Fred Clork, and Gustavo Roj o.

were th at the results were not as good as CinemaScope but accepta ble.

Dud ley announced that he had dea ls to ma ke Vistarama promotional film s for Tra ns World Airlines, the Santa Fe Ra ilroad, a nd the Association of American Rail roa ds, but the a uthor has been una ble to confirm if they were made. H owever, w hen Wa rner Brothers' anamo rphic lenses were delayed, they li censed Vistara ma to shoot their first anamorphic feature, The Command (1954), wh ich was advertised as being in CinemaSco pe as required by a subsequent licensing deal Warners made with Fox. Naturally it would be the a utomobile companie that would be most interested in th e new formats, which

50

would be especially suited to the longer, sleeker models they were turning out in the mid-1950s. T heir initial interest was more in Superscope and Vi sta Vision as it was easier to make 16mm prints for use by dea lers in individual market and local TV stations.

However, a t least one Ford demo was shot in CinemaSco pe with the 16mm version unsqueezed a nd letterboxed at 1.70:1. In 1958 H al Mohr ASC shot Technirama footage of the Lincoln Futura, probably the most absurd ly futuristic car of the 1950s, for its trades how a ppearance; this car was also featured in MGM's Panavision production it Started With A Kiss (1959). By then the use of tradeshows to introduce new models was on the

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

decline thanks to a uto manufacturers' increased sponsorship of network TV shows. In addition, the making of special films to introduce new cars shifted to the making of special TV commercials.

Loca l a nd state chambers of commerce initially saw added potential in the new processes in the making of film s that would prom ote their particular communities. When made in 35 mm, such films were offered for free to theaters in other parts of the world, and as noted previously, were also made ava ilable in 16mm for rental libraries and TV stations. In 1956 Para mount was contracted by the restored Colonial Williamsburg National Park in Virginia, to make a

short in Vista Vision. WilliamsburgThe Story of a Patriot (1956) was shot on the site by Haskell Boggs ASC and crew under the direction of George Seaton. Initially, prints of the film were shown daily in two theaters via horizontal projection. In the mid-1960s when those projectors could no longer be repaired, the film was converted to 70mm and new projectors installed. The author has been unable to find out in what aspect ratio the horizontal prints were shown and whether or not this ratio was maintained in the 70mm prints, or if the horizontal prints, made by Technicolor, were dye transfer or color positive. 16mm prints made for schools were dye transfer and in the 1.33:1 ratio extracted from the center of the Vista Vision frame. No doubt inspired by the use of film at Disneyland, the Williamsburg presentation was the precursor to today's theme park presentations of special promotional films in Imax, lwerks, and Showscan formats.

Other chambers of commerce were initially interested in producing their promotional films in CinemaScope, but this presented problems with regard to 16mm, which had a greater market for such films than theaters. Of course, TV would be out of the question here.

The presentation problems that affected 16mm (and 8mm) 3-D would also complicate the use of anamorphics and how these were dealt with in regard to 16mm reduction prints of 35mm CinemaScope films. Filmmaking in the smaller gauges will be the subject of the next installment.

Rick Mitchell is a Film Editor/Film Director/Film Historian; Historical Technical Advisor to American Cinematographer; Official Historian/Member Executive Committee CSULB Wide Screen Film Festival; Honorary Associate Member Society of Operating Cameramen.

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The Kodak Theatre under constructi on.

Kodak Theatre Future Home of Academy Awards arking a landmark moment for both H ollywood and the entertainment industry, TrizecHahn Development Corporation announced the creation of a marketing partnership with Eastman Kodak Co, including becoming the naming partner of the showcase theater that will be the heart of TrizecHahn Development Corporation's highly anticipated Hollywood & Highland entertain ment complex.

T he "Kodak Theatre" will be the future home of the Academy Awards ceremonies, as well as other major entertainment events, shows and celebrations year-round . TrizecHahn's agreement with Kodak is the first of what wi ll be numerous prominent corporate sponsors for the Hollywood & Highland project.

M

52

"This is an exciting occasion for us, and a significa nt event in the re-birth of Hollywood," said Lee Wagman, President, TrizecHahn Development Corporation. "When deciding on a partner who could extend the reach of this precedent-setting project, Kodak was the clear choice. The company's role as an innovator, its long-standing and significant connection to Hollywood, and the recognition and respect its brand enj oys worldwide met our goals for Hollywood & Highland."

"The naming of the Kodak Theatre is one of the most significant non-sports corporate sponsorships in history, with the agreement between TrizecH ahn and Kodak spanning many years and several levels of integration," added Wagman. "The Kodak

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: KODAK THEATRE

Theatre will be the cornerstone of the Hollywood & Highland complex, which we expect to become the living, breathing heartbeat of the entertainment industry. Certainly, one of our goals is to make sure that Hollywood & Highland is va lued equally by locals and tourists."

In addition to adding its name to the Theater, Kodak is working with TrizecHahn to incorporate its products and services in imaginative ways th roughout the Hollywood & Highland complex. The company wi ll use pictures to extend, enrich and personalize the entertainment experience for the nearly 20 mil lion visitors expected at the site annually. Kodak will also create programs that extend the marketing reach of Hollywood & Highland to Kodak's customers worldwide.

"Kodak is pictures," said Joerg Agin, president of Entertainment Imaging for Kodak, "and the Academy Awards honor the best pictures. But, beyond that, this theatre will be equipped to show the best film presentations-and it will include a Kodak digital cinema system. Plus, we expect it wi ll be one of the most photographed locations in Hollywood. All of that makes it the right 'fit' for the Kodak brand."

"The City of Los Angeles is pleased to welcome the Kodak Theatre to the

center of the world's greatest and richest concentration of film, television, music talent and production," said Mayor Richard Riordan. " Besides affirming that the H ollywood Renaissance is in full geat; the magnificent Kodak Theatre is helping to establish Hollywood as the premier West Coast theater district. " The 180, 000-square-foot-theater, designed by prominent architect David Rockwell , will incorporate state-of-the-art technology to optimize the venue for audiovisual recordings and li ve broadcasts in ways that have minimal intrusion on the in-theatre audience. The Kodak Theatre's facilities will be utilized for live and broadcast entertainment events, eventually serving as host to major musical productions, concerts, comedy, dance, variety shows, holiday specials and other world-class entertainment.

Wagman noted that the Kodak Theatre will become the most important multi-use entertainment facility in Los Angeles offering the finest in live and broadcast entertainment. " Kodak established its first technical center in Hollywood in 1928, the year the

TrizecHahn Development Corporation announced the creation of a marketing partnership with Eastman Kodak Company, including becoming the naming partner of the showcase theatre at the heart of TrizecHahn's highly anticipated Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex. On hand for the announcement were, left to right: Lee Wagman , President and CEO of TrizecHahn Development Corporation ; Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan ; Robert Rehme , President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Joerg Agin , President of the Entertainment Imaging division and Senior VP of Kodak; and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg .

Academy Awards began," Joerg Agin added, "and so we're proud that the Academy will make its home for the Oscar telecasts in The Kodak Theatre."

Kodak has earned eight Academy Awards of its own fo r technical achievement and service to the industry, and Kodak's fou nder, George Eastman, is one of only two honorary members in the history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"O ur announcement today delivers on a promise we made at groundbreaking nearly two years ago," Agin said. " When the complex opens in the Fall of next year, Kodak will be here to help millions of worldwide visitors more full y enjoy the magic of Hollywood. " One of the most ambitious real estate developments in the world, the $567 million Hollywood & Left to right: Robert Rehme, President of the Highland project combines Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and trend-setting clubs, television broadcast facilities and Joerg Agin , President of the Entertainment Imag ing studio venues with a collecdivision and Senior VP of Eastman Kodak Compan y, announced that the future home of the Academy tion of world-class retailers, Awards ceremonies will be called the "Kodak restaurants and entertainTheatre ." It is part of a Hollywood complex that wi ll ment. The development include TV broadcast facilities , studios, reta il stores, also incorporates a new clubs, restaurants and other entertainment venues.

640-room hotel, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, designed by Wimberly Allison the North American retail/entertainTong and Goo. Also included is a ment development division of TrizecHalm Corporation. TrizecHahn 40,000 square foot Grand Ballroom is one of the largest publicly traded that will be Los Angeles' premier event real estate companies in North facility featuring the renowned culinary wizardry of Wolfgang Puck as America, with ownership interests in caterer. H ollywood's most dazzling and 110 properties in the United States, Canada and Europe. The Company prestigious events, celebrations and parties will enjoy an unsurpassed menu also develops retail/entertainment and office projects in North America and and level of elegance. Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn are the overall project Europe. TrizecHahn shares trade on the New York and Toronto stock architects. exchanges under the symbol TZH. HOLLYWOOD & HIGHLAND速 is being developed by TrizecHahn Development Corporation headquartered in Los Angeles and San Diego,

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: KODAK THEATRE

53

The Society of Operating Cameramen's donation check to Dr Ellen Matsumoto for the Eye Care Clinic, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, was presented at the annual Holiday Screening (this year's feature: 102 Dalmatians) at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills December 16th, 2000 by SOC President Georgia Packard. We are honored to share this letter regarding the Society's contributions to the Eye Care Clinic with you:

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Foundation 4650 Sunset Boulevard, #29 Los Angeles, CA 90027

Holiday Screening We all had loads of fun at the SOC Holiday Screening of 102 Dalmatians on December 16th at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills.

Disney gave us cartons of "Drooler" the 16' plush St. Bernard toy dog from the film and Kodak provided small cameras for each child. Mr. and Mrs. Claus handed out candy canes along with lots of good cheer for the holiday season.

Dr. Ellen Matsumoto with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Eye Care Clinic attended the screening and "Tea Reception" where President Packard presented the Society's Donation check. The Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will open their new entrance way with a special ceremony in March 2001 which recognizes the contributions many corporations and companies have provided. SOC will be honored with a plaque for our contributions to the Eye Care Clinic since 1979.

Updated still photos and video footage for the Eye Care Clinic children are due to start production shortly after the New Year 2001. A new and exciting media presentation for the Eye Care Clinic and the SOC will be created to help extend information about our ongoing relationship. This is a special partnership stemming form the original founders of the Society of Operating Cameramen selecting a charity that would best suit of motto "We See It First."

54

It is a privilege and a pleasure to thank you for supporting Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and joining with us in providing healing health care for children and adolescents. I am writing today to share our plans for recognizing you and our other generous donors.

You are among our many long-standing friends who will be honored on our new Donor Wall, located at the entry of the new Gateway Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. This Donor Wall will pay tribute to those who have provided cumulative gifts of $25,000 and above to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles over its 100-year history. The new Gateway Building Donor Wall will span the 70-foot walkway from the parking structure to the new lobby entrance of the hospital. A Grand Opening event will be held March of 2001, and we hope you will be able to join us!

Your accumulated gift total of $117,337.00 through the year 2000 places the Society of Operating Cameramen in the "Circle Of Leadership."

Thank you again for your generous support of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Dr. Ellen Matsumoto & Claudia Looney, FAHP, CFRE Vice President and COO

Wolfgang Reigl Leaves ARRI After 4S Years After forty-five years of service with ARRI USA, veteran Service Manager Wolfgang Reigl has decided to take an extensive leave of absence and will not return to his position of Western Service Manager. Reigl, a respected member of the technical community as part of ARRI's Burbank operation, may return in a capacity yet to be determined.

Stephan Ukas-Bradley, currently a Technical Representative for ARRI's camera and digital imaging systems, will be promoted to the position of Manager of Technical Services. He will assume the role of technical liaison between ARRI's factory in Munich and customers in the Western market, and will be responsible for matters

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

previously addressed by Reigl.

Ukas-Bradley will continue to report to Marketing Manager Bill Russell, who has overall responsibility for ARRI's activities in the Western market.

ARRI President Volker Bahnemann, made the announcement saying, "Wolfgang has made innumerable contributions to the technical support of our products over the years. He has made an indelible impression and will be missed by his colleagues at ARRI and throughout the film community.

You cannot summarize forty-five years of service in a few sentences. We wish Wolfgang well and look forward to discussing new possibilities with him upon his return."

Coptervision seminar

Cutting edge technology Coptervision makes that impossible shot with their Coptervision CVG2002. Powerful and compact, these versatile wireless aerodynamic remote control helicopters bring captivating and vibration free technology that adds production value to your vision.

The SOC watched this portable unit eq uipped with a 3-axis gyro-stabilized camera路 system glide over the brick wa ll and float above the crowd showing off it's smooth camera movements independent of the helicopter.

Fabulous foo tage was shown from a rock video production who used this to exploit the POV of a bumblebee in flight around the heads of the playing band members. Inter-changeable camera formats are possible due to several available models made from molded plastic and anodized aluminum. Plus the approximate weight is only 23 pounds fully loaded !

The shot is literally bursting with possibilities due to Rollvision, their new lightweight, wireless camera systems 3-axis gyro-stabilized system with Universal mounts. Now everyone can bring an exciting look by mo unting the camera system onto camera cars, Steadicam, cra nes, jib arms, dol-

lies, cables, etc. Your shots are only limited to your imagination.

Not only can you get a steady shot of the driver racing the jump across the desert, you can pan around to include the passenger's reactions and then connect them to the red painted bluffs as the eagle swoops through the frame. Director Renny Harlin used this equipment on the Sylvester Stallone film, "Driven", as did "Tremors III" for ABC Productions and " Z oo Keepers for the Animal Planet. We watched examples from several different types of productions as they used this eq uipment to enhance and extend the lens into unique and exciting positions.

Whether shooting Super 35135 mm, Super 16/16 mm, or a digital camera, you have the possibility of 210 degree pan, 120 degree tilt and 360 degree roll during operation through a wireless Remotevision system.

ABC Sports even used this for a live broadcast without any problems!

The wireless range is 300 feet and controls

left: Rollvision mounted on car. Right column from top : Coptervi sion made an impressive entrance, joining the SOC seminar from the air. Rollvision used with Steadicam TM platform . Coptervision seminar with Rollvision and Remotevision demos.

SOC seminar participants at Coptervision; the coowner/ inventor is in the rear with his daughter.

56

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

Rollvi sion shells on the workbench.

pan, tilt, roll , zoom, iris, power switch and film counter.

A tra ined 3-member crew accompanies the equipment: a remote control pilot, a ca mera operator and a telecomm unications technician make sure the shots come off smoothly. And beca use of their compact packaging, these units can travel aro und the world to any major city or remote isolated site sa fely. No FAA permits are required and their experienced team ca n help service your package at competiti ve rates.

The systems can be easily customized. Sarita Spiwak and her daughter Daniela Meltzer opened their doors to the Society for one of ma ny demon-

Coptervision bench interior.

strations. The group posed many challenging questions and ca me away with a lot of useful information. We even put a unit up on a Louma crane and were able to switch the direction of all of the controls through Remotevision while altering the frame rate from 2 to

Owner Sarita Spivak (right) with SOC President Georgia Packard.

50 frames per second during the shot.

My only concern was preplanning due to the limit of the 200 foot film magazine. I was quickly reminded that with digital effects, the frame rate could easily be altered in the editing suite to

Daughter Dan ielle Spivak works in the family business . Rollvision is attached to Aerocrane's Louma Crane .

extend the length of the shot. See, even the system can hardly limit your "vision."

Photos on these 2 pages by SOC member Robert Felle1:

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

57

Guggenheim Receives IDA Career Achievement Award Charles Guggenheim is the year 2000 recipient of the International Documentary Association (IDA) Career Achievement Award. The presentation was made at the 16th Annual IDA Distinguished Achievement Awards ceremony at The Los Angeles Center Studios last fall.

Guggenheim is a Washington, Debased filmmaker whose career stretches over five decades. He has directed and produced more than 80 documentaries with diverse subjects ranging from American architecture to the Johnstown flood, D-Day, the civil rights movement and the Ku Klux Klan. Eight of his films are on permanent exhibition ranging from Ellis Island on the East Coast to museums on the West Coast, including three presidential libraries where they are

seen by millions of people annually.

Guggenheim has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards and has won Oscars for Nine From Little Rock (1964), RFK Remembered (1969), The Johnstown Flood (1989) and A Time for Justice (1994). Only Walt Disney has received as many Oscars for documentaries.

Guggenheim has also received the George Foster Peabody Award recognizing his exceptional contributions to television, along with many other honors.

"Charles Guggenheim has consistently directed and produced important films that have made an indelible

impression on our society," says IDA President David H augland. "H e is a talented filmm aker whose body of work provides unique insights into American culture. His stories will endure for future generations. We are honoring him for his talent and dedica-

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

tion to non-fiction storytelling. He has proven you can succeed without compromising your convictions. His story is inspiring for both young and older filmmakers with unrealized dreams."

Guggenheim was born and raised in Cincinnati, where both his grandfather and father sold furniture. Guggenheim didn't learn how to read until he was in the third grade because he's dyslexic, an affliction that wasn't known at the time. Guggenheim taught himself to glean information from pictures in Life Magazine and from listening to what people were saying.

"My father forbade me from seeing most movies until I was well into my teens," he says. "He thought they were debilitating. I took pictures for the high school newspaper and fantasized about becoming a movie director, but I never suspected it was something within my reach."

After high school, Guggenheim studied agriculture for a year. He spent the next three years in the infantry during World War ll. After the war, Guggenheim completed his education at the University of Iowa, where he studied contemporary European history and rhetorical criticism. He went to New York searching for a communications job in radio.

Guggenheim began his career running errands for Herb Shriner, the humorist, who had his own radio show. That led to an opportunity to direct and produce a TV program featuring marionettes. Guggenheim recalls that when he supervised editing, he began to understand the possibilities for telling stories by cutting film and adding music and sound tracks.

Television was just beginning to invent itself and Guggenheim, at the age of 25, was on the ground floor working for a successful commercial producer who had several hit game programs on CBS. Guggenheim then accepted an opportunity to produce experimental programs funded by the Ford Foundation for a public broadcasting station in Ames, Iowa. They were live broadcasts that focussed on local problems.

This experience gave Guggenheim an opportunity to help open a public

broadcasting station in St Louis. He had ambitious ideas for producing original film programs but the job was short-lived.

Guggenhein1 was offered a job producing a documentary supporting a bond initiative. He accepted on the condition that it had to be completed within three to four weeks because he planned to return to New York. The film ran simultaneously on all three local stations. It was widely credited with motivating a large turnout of supporters on voting day. The film launched his career as an independent filmmaker. Guggenheim never returned to New York.

He moved to Washington DC in 1957 because he was regularly producing films for George Stevens Jr and the United States Information Agency, which distributed them overseas. In 1959, Guggenhein1 raised the money to produce and direct his first feature film, The Great St Louis Bank

Robbery, starring Steve McQueen in one of his first appearances on the big screen.

"I've made a few feature films and more than a few political commercials, but mainly I've stuck with documentaries because that's what feels right to me," he says. "I've received recognition from important organizations and I'm grateful for that, but this award is special to me because it comes from my peers who are dedicated to this important form of storytelling."

Guggenheim is generally optimistic about the future of the docwnentary form.

However, he adds, "Too many documentaries today are made in a style that reveals very little. They show an event and then someone talking about it. That doesn't begin to explore the potential of the docwnentary. We fail often to explore the hwnan relationships that are so necessary to understanding events."

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

59

Aerocrone demo Aerocrane demonstration this past December in Van Nuys, Californ ia was fantastic with Greg Pedrick showing us their three-axis digital remote unit that can attach to almost anything! Underslung from a crane or mounted on top of a tripod. This unit goes out with a very quick set-up time.

A special cable wrangler off the back of the camera helps to keep camera cables from impinging 360 degree rotati on. Only one cable needs to connect along the crane arm. The compact and well balanced modular unit uses free-wheeling rotators for easy camera set-up and crane balancing.

The camera operator uses geared wheel settings that ca n be preprogrammed to match your favorite type of gear head. An integrated Preston lens and camera control system is used for ease of control. The

Motion control rig on track .

60

camera movement is integrated into a PC laptop compu tet; transforming the Aerohead into a portable motion control head. It can data record, digital capture and CGI interface while using real data logging.

The electronic design is based on a motion control platform and follows motion control specifications with extremely low tolerances. The live-action version incorporates variTop : SOC President Georgia Packard presents Aerocrane Corp ous automated Sponsor Greg Pedrick and team with the SOC plaque . Above: tasks such as all Aerocrane 's Greg Pedrick shows SOC members the "slider." pan-tilt-roll, lens and camera functions (processed bi-laterally). and inertia settings for each axis.

Their Jib Arm is completely modular w hi ch allows yo u to vary the length in one and two foot increments, providing an arm reach of 3' to 8' 6". It can be mounted on most tripods and camera support systems. Plus Aerocrane's heavy duty four-way leveling head provides an extremely stable platform.

The Super Aerocrane Aerocrane Quick Start control has a great dampening for 3-a xis head. system of pan and tilt And the unit w hich eliminates boom and whip from fast or sudden moves. It can also calcuhas a great late parallax corrections while it referauto back pan ences the pan and tilt of the crane and function. You the lens' foca l length. This is their can record and extension and platform 2-person rideplayback mulable crane with a pyramid base. Here tiple takes the rigging can allow he cra ne to go with edit abilifrom 23 feet to over 35 feet. ty and proTheir new Aeroslider allows a 90 gram speed, pound camera package to slide on r dampening

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

GAM

3-Axis Remote Head with ring attachment to wrangle cabling away from ca mera 's rotation .

diameter rods to over 23 .5" travel. It mounts to Mitchell and Euro bases and quietly a llows for quick adj ustments. Think of all of the possibilities!

Aerocrane manufactures and rents custom camera cranes, jib arms, bases and remote camera systems. Adding their motion control services with the Aerohead 3-axis digital remote head makes this a wonderful way to support and control your production. And these are on ly a few of their toys avai lable.

GAM Seminar in November 2000 had the SOC members playing with new lighting instruments and an adhesive backed CineFilter, WindowGrip gel which now can be easily kept in place on windows.

Known for their large selection of lighting gels, Broderick let out all of the bells and whistles on their numerous lighting patterns ava ilable while we supped and networked.

Quite an unusual light show! The CineFilters book listing their available gels is a good tool to carry round with you.

575 HMI par-It is an ETC Source 4 Par w hich has been converted to a 575 HMI. Only 7.5 pounds, with a flicker free ballast and it can be controlled w ith a DMX signal or manually. The ballast is dimmable to more than 50%, and it has hot restart capability. It comes with a

clear flat, very narrow spot, medium flood, and wide flood lens, and also has a cool beam reflector. Very powerfu l brightness is equivalent to a 1200 watt HMI. It can also be equipped with optional dimming shutters. It was amazing how cool the entire system ran and how quickly the light returned to color temperature when restarted.

They also have a Source 4 ellipsoidal converted to a 575 HMI par with similar features, including a dowser. Both are powerful, unique lighting systems.

The Source 4 is a remarkable light w hich can work wonderfully with Ch imeras. GAM has always been great for effects, including the flicker master which can be plugged into the above mentioned lighting units. More news and afternoon programming are using their versatile Naked Cosmetic gels to help correct and blend a wider variety of ethnic faces. M y only concern is getting a full-time gaffer to walk around w ith me so I could always put my best face forward.

Photos on these 2 pages by SOC member Robert Felle1:

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

61

480 P Panasonic Seminar Birns & Sawyer presented a 480 P Panasonic Seminar with screenings at CFI!Technicolor Labs.

The seminar was given by Bill Meurer and Ryan Sheridan at Birns & Sawyet; where they extended their hand to the Society of Operating Cameramen membership for an afternoon on film to 480 P up-resed to

Bill Meurer of Birns & Sawyer displays Aaton 's Super 16 A-Minima camera.

Birns & Sawyer Technician Ryan Sheridan presents Panasonic Digital camera.

and the technical achievements of Panasonic's new digital camera systems. It was interesting to also check out the footage from a helicopter shoot and the impact vibration has on the digital camera. Little underwater footage exists at the present time.

New "looks" can be programmed into the camera, giving the production up to 6 different looks from neutral video to Virtual 5277 Skip Bleach.

This allows you to program the camera to respond to light as if it were using your favorite filmstock. Or you can desaturate the colors, extend the blacks or shift your color temperature warmer or cooler. Panasonic and CFV Technicolor Labs are offering new

1080 I compression. They also showed the development of a new matte box, lens, and camera control systems for the Panasonic 480 P- PD900WA 16:9 - 4:3 (native to 16:9 and switchable to 4:3) camera . A beautiful follow focus system has been designed to be used in conjunction with existing lens' motors.

Very little re-training for the camera assistant to pull focus or change lenses, prime series and a long or short zoom lens.

Aaron's A-Minima Super 16 mm camera SOC members look over the Panasonic Digital gives a surprising free480P/60fps High Definition camera. dom of movement for hand-held work. Chivo alternatives to 16mm film and expendLubeski is using one for part of the ing hi-definition technologies for the boxing sequences in the new feature independent and feature film markets.

Ali. The new viewfinder system is a welcomed addition to a very versatile camera, especially with a video assist unit. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get your hands on one due to their growing popularity.

Biros & Sawyer are working with Foster Danker on showcasing the best lighting practices with Digital at their William W Johnson, Camera Operator and seminars. The Society was excited retired SOC member, passed about having " hands-on" with this away on the 22nd September new technology avai lable. We dis2000. cussed rating the camera at different Bill was very well known and AS.Ns to be used with a light meter respected in the business. The SOC and a waveform monitor to check honored him in 1994 with a camera white and black levels. A surprising operator Lifetime Achievement Award small ammmt of grain accompanies db gain in low lighting situations.

Cammy.

His widow, Maria, continues to Screenings were held at nearby CFI reside in West Hollywood.

Lab comparing Super 16mm to 35 We are saddened by this loss and mm Blow-up to 24P, color saturation will certainly miss Bill. and filtration, film and hi-definition,

In Memory

62

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : NEWS & NOTES

Pixie Awards Honor Online Filmmaking The First Annual Directors Board Awards for Excellence in Motion Pixure Production, or the PIXIE AWARDS at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in H ollywood, California, attracted a large crowd. The event

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brought a selection of film and video/digital projects and animation pieces to lmmch a unique new industry in the finest traditions of old Hollywood and new technology.

H ere began the process of "star creation" and professional recognition in the following categories: Best Animated Pixure, Best !-documentary (documentary), Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion, Best Actress and Best Actor, Best Cinematography (which SOC President Georgia Packard presented to the winner), Best Musical, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Pixure (short projects made in a multitude of mediums).

SOC Board members Georgia Packard and Ernie Reed served on the judging committee for cinematography and editing, watching many hours to spot and check for the most deserving

of recognition.

Although the evening was a long one, the lively Swing band Zoot kept the audience well entertained.

The ultimate goal of the Directors Board of Motion Pixure Arts and technologies is to bring together two culturally differing communities who are converging technologically and geographically. It was a wonderful start and an interesting arena to showcase creative and artistic projects.

For more information on the web, check out their website at www.21stCenturyVox.com. (No, that's not a misprint.)

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

63

2?pster of the Society of Operating Cameramen CHARTER Parker Bartlett Paul Basta Michael Benson jerry Callaway joseph Calloway Mike Chevalier Sam Drummy joe Epperson Ron Francis Bill Gahrel Peter Hapke Bob Keys Norm Langley Ed Morey Lee Nakahara jay Nefcy l eigh Nicholson

Dan Norris David Nowell Wayne Orr Ernie Reed Michael Scott Hal Shiffman Michael St Hilaire Ray Stella joseph F Valentine Edwa rd Ventura Ron Vidor

ACTIVE Bernie Abramson Art Adams Bret Allen Derek MAllen Lee Allison Sail Aridi Ted Ashton lr Bill Asma n john H Atkinson Dan Auerbach Daniel Ayers Paul Babin Christopher I Baffa Vi ncent Baldino Gerard Banales Jeff Barklage Lou Barl ia Ricardo Barredo Tom Barron Gary H Baum Guy Bee Tim Sellen Richard Benda jeb Bergh Marc Andre Berthiaume Christopher A Bishop Bonnie Blake james Blanford Jason Blount Robert C Boccacciu Richard Bolter Scott M Browner Michael K Bucher Robin Buerki Gary Bush Stephen S Campanelli Su san A Campbell Capt jose A Cardenas Robert Carm ichael Michael W Chambli ss Louis Chanatry joe Chess lr

64

julian Chojnacki Gregory Paul Collier john A Connell Tom Connole

john A Corso Ivan Craig

Cal eb Crosby Richard A Cullis Michael l Culp joseph C D' Alessandro 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, ASC David E Elkins

David judy Mark D Karen Michael Karp Wayne L Kelley Robert Kesitchek Glenn M Kirkpatrick Douglas H Kn app Dan Kneece Rory Robert Knepp Kri s Krosskove Robin Lawless

Joshua lesser Michael Levine Ken Libby Hugh C litfin l ynn l ockwood

Thomas loizeaux George l oomis Allan Lum li Gregory Lundsgaard Kenji Lu ster Vincent C Mack Hea ther MacKenzie

David Emmerichs

Paul S Magee

Steve Essig james Etheridge Brant S Fagan Tom Faigh Ben jamin Sean Fairburn David B Fang Yuen Diane l Farrell Randal Feemster Michael Ferris Kenneth Ferro Lance Fisher Aa ron Fitzgerald Eric Fl etcher Houman Forough lan Foster Thomas Fraser Michael Frediani Mike Freeman Michael Richard Fril l Ru sty Geller Michael Genne Wayne Getchell Vito Giambalvo William Gierhart Allen Gonzales Lee Grover john Gunselman An ette Haellmigk Dennis Hall Chris Hayes David Haylock Steven F Heuer Sean Higgins Ronald High Charles M Hill, lr jeffrey Hoffman Joachim Hoffmann Robert Chapman Horne Gary Huddleston jeffrey G Hunt Philip Hurn David Insley Levie C Isaacks Michaeljarocki Simon jayes Michael A john son Steven jones jacques jouffret john H joyce

james Mann

Stan McClain Donald M McCuaig Martin Mclnally Robert l Mehnert

Mike Meinardus Ana sta s N Michos Wi lliam E Mills William Molina lawren ce P Moody Robert Moore Chris Moseley Don Muirhea d Scott Mumford Sean Murray jon Myers Thomas W Myrdahl Michael Negrin, ASC julye Newlin William R Nielsen, Jr Randy Nolen Tamas P Nyerg es William O'Drobinak Russell Ofria Andrew Wi lliam Oliver Lucio Olivieri john Orland Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Packard Charl es Paperl David Parrish Philip Pastuhov Aaron Pazanti Mike Pierce Peter Pilafian Robert Presley Martin Bob Prins Kevin Ril ey Randall Robinson David Robman Andy Romanoff Abraham Romero Peter Rosenfeld Andrea Vittorio Rossetto Michael S Roth Andrew Rowlands james Rush Tony Salgado Tom Sanders

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SOC ROSTER

Michael Santy Richard I Schaefer Gregory "Woody" Schmidt Chuck Schuman Philip Schwa rtz Alicia Craft Sehring Brad Shield Allan H "Sid" Sidney lr Floris Sijbesma Osval do Silvera Jr Jamie Silverstein Philip Sindall Guy Skinner john Sosenko Sandy Spooner Edwa rd B Springer Stephen St john George Stephenson David Stump Brian Sweeney james H Sweeney Gene Talvin Richard Tiedemann john Toll, ASC Tsuneyuki Tometaka john Trapman Massimiliano Trevis jeffrey Tufano Pernell Tyus Robert Ulland joseph Urbanczyk Paul D Va rrieur Bill Waldman Victoria Walker William Webb Aiken Weiss Kit Whitmore, CSC Brian Keith Wi lcox Bill William s Rl Wi se ian D Woolston-Smith McKeen "Mick" Worthen Noel Adrian Wya tt Warren Yeager Elizabeth Ziegler

ASSOCIATE David S Adelstein Leonard " Lance" G Allen Il l 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 Crudo Chri stopher Dawson Ronald Deveaux David Dibble George Spiro Dibie, AS C 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

Craig W Walsh Brian Watkins Haskell Wexler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Calvin T Wood Po'l Wright Tony Yarlett WAllen York David R Zera Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC

Carrie lmai

Ron Howard

Gregory Irwin Chris Ishii john Chance llor jennings Th omas Patrick johnson Frank E johnson, ASC Kurt jones Michael A jones Cathy Ka navy Douglas Ki rkla nd Michael Klimchak Robert La Bange George La Fountaine, ASC

Ron Kelley Kathleen Kennedy jerry Lewis Rick Mitchell A linn Murphree MD David Myers jay Roth Steven Spielberg Frank Stanley, ASC George Toscas Roy Wagner, ASC Robert Wise

HONORARY james Burrows Dean Cundey, ASC Bruce Doering

William A Fraker, ASC

Erwin l andau Thomas Lappin Stevan Larner, ASC l ee David Laska Mark R Leins Alan I Levi Mark Levin llya lie-Niel sen Stephen lighthill, ASC Roland I luna Richard Marks Dr Ellen Matsumoto Ray McCort Michael P McGowan Nick Mcl ean, Sr john McPherson, ASC Charles Minsky K Adriana Modlin Richard Mosier joshua S Narins Sol Negrin, ASC john Newby Andrew Parke Ted Polmanski Serge Poupis Don Presley Andrea Quaglia Richard Rawlings Jr. ASC Marsha Reed Bill Reiter Alan Richter David Rosner Marvin Ru sh, ASC Mehran Salamati Carl Martin Schumacher, Sr Bob Seaman jan Sluchak Don Spiro Owen Stephens George B Stephenson Kevin I Stolpe Tara Summers Ronald Turowski Ueven Van Hulle

LIFETIME

Sven Wal num

Ben Wolf

CORPORATE AEROCRANE Greg Pedrick ARRIFLEX CORPORATION Bill Russell CFI Adam Chuck CHAPMAN/ LEONARD STUDIOS Leonard T Chapman Charl es I Huenergardl CLAIRMON T CAMERA

Denny Clairmon t DELUXE LABORATORIES Ron Koch Bud l ee Stone EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY Curtis E jones FUJI PHOTO FILM USA, INC Mark W Murphy Donna Stacer

FUJINON,INC john Newton CEO FILM GROUP, INC George Nolan HYDROFLEX, INC Scott Greene

ll FISHER COMPANY James L Fisher Dennis Knopf RETIRED LEE Fll TERS (A DIVISION OF Eugene Ashbrook PANAVISION, INC) Stewart Barbee Sean Hise Rupert Benson Jr MATTHEWS STUDIO Bob Berry ELECTRONICS, INC AI Bettcher Ernst "Bob" Nettmann Howard Block O'CONNOR ENGINEERING Vee Bodrero LABS Don Burch joel johnson Phil Caplan OTTO NEMEN Z Bruce Catlin INTERNATIONAL, INC Bi ll Cl ark Ka rl Kresser Cliff Concialdi PACE TECHNOLOGIES jim Connell Vincenzo M Pace Don Cropper PANAVISION james A Dennett Tracy Langan Robert Feller PHOTO-SONICS, INC Mike Ferra Conrad Kiel Gerald Perry Finnerman, ASC SCHNEIDER OPTICS, INC Jerry Fuller Stan Wa llace Gil Haimson SONY ELECTRONICS, INC lutz Hapke l arry Thorpe Gary Holt TECHNICOLOR, INC David Kurland Ada m Chuck joseph Longo VINTEN, INC Steve Lydecker Ken Schwenk Owen Marsh Bob Marla Michael McClary Ron McManus Emmanuel Metaxas King Nicholson Roster Current as of john G Nogle Robert Peebles 2/23/01 Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ruttencutter Richard Salvatore Lou Schwa rtz Phil Stern Will iam E Hines