Camera Operator 2003 Fall/Winter

CAME

The Journal of the Society of CameraOperators fall-winter 2003

Volume 12, Number 2 Fall/Winter 2003

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The Journa l of the Soc i e ty Of CameraOperators

FEATURES

21 Survival on the Set

by Michelle Britton A film school for actors.

24 Witness to War

by Bob Campi The camera operator in the war zone for the insatiable television news.

32 Safety on the Set: Pyrotechnic Special Effects

by Carol AWetovich What you need to know to protect yourselffrom this health hazard. Jrd in the Series Plus an update on the previous article on Artificial Fog, Smoke and Haze.

40 Life, Death and Moksha by laurie Gilbert SOC Filming the documentary "Ganges-River to Heaven" in the oldest living city on earth.

SO A Brief History of 3-D

by Rick Mitchell Its development and uses. 3-D movies: why they worked, why they didn't, and how they were made.

63 Commentary: Lumber, Screw Nails and Change

by Paul Babin SOC Learn by association. Deal with change. And enjoy life.

DEPARTMENTS

2 President's Letter

by David EDiono SOC

4 From the Editor's Desk

by George BStephenson SOC

6 Member Profile: David J Frederick SOC 64 Roster of the SOC (Society Of CameraOperators) YOU'LL BE HEARING MORE SOON: 2004 is the SOC's 25thAnniversary, to be celebrated with events throughout the year and a banquet in the fall.

6 News &Notes Whats happening in the SOC 6 Panavi ion Hand -On eminar The World of Po t- Production TechnoVision Hands-on OC Hold Breakfa t Meeting 7 Holiday Plan A C- OC Dinner OC Hold ilent Auction 8 Former Pre ident Packard Honored Packard Addre e Film chool William E Hine OC cholar hip II Wide creen Film Festival Feature John Bailey A C Jack Green A Honored 13 In Memoriam: ean Doyle 14 CineGear 2003 a ucce

The Operating Cameraman Magazine Fall/Winter 2003

Editor George B Stephenson OC

Assistant Editor Georgia Packard OC

Post-Production Manager Douglas Knapp OC

Design &Production Lynn Lanning, Double L Design, Glendale

Cover Design Mark R Lein

Production Coordinators The Ingle Group, Brentwood

Advertising Director Dan Dodd

Contributors Paul Babin OC Bob Campi David E Diano OC David J Frederick OC Michael Frediani OC Ron Garcia Laurie K Gilbert SOC Lynn Lanning Rick Mitchell Georgia Packard OC George B tephenson SOC Carol A Wetovich

Photography Bob Campi Michael Frediani OC Laurie K Gilbert SOC Georgia Packard OC Copyright Š 2003 by the ociety Of CameraOperators The Operating Cameraman Magazine is published semiannually by the Society Of CameraOperator .

From the Editor's

Desk ach issue of Operating Cameraman is a miracle unto it elf. Not unlike producing a film, the complexities often seem insurmountable and yet somehow it all comes together in the end. We are indeed blessed once again with a continuing series of articles a well as some fascinating new ones.

Ju t when I thought Rick Mitchell was out of ideas he came up with an intriguing article related to his wide creen series entitled "A Brief History of 3-D." In Carol Wetovich's series on "Safety on the Set Pyrotechnic Special Effects," he details the realities of environmental hazards of artificial smoke and fog created on sets and in theatrical venues. I always thought the use of dust masks for smoke FX was a mere band-aid effect but the right kind can prevent micro particles from affecting our lungs. This is a must read for all of us!

Laurie K Gilbert OC takes us on a journey few of us have or ever will experience in his article "Life, Death and Moksha." He de cribe ensibilities required by the cinematographer that go far beyond one's ba ic cinematic skills.

He delves into a culture and a ritual heretofore kept secret from the we tern world.

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Having been a combat cameraman in Vietnam, I was able to empathize with some of the depictions of war that Bob Campi so poignantly de cribe in "Witne s to War." We are honored and proud to be able to publish his article for the first time in our magazine and we invite more of his and others like them. ot having received any Member Profiles lately, we are plea ed to have one about David Frederick OC. David i our new I st Vice Pre ident and a uch ha already made notable contributions to the SOC. We often see other operator on the set but what do we really know about each other's lives, interest and backgrounds? That's why Member Profile are o important as well as being just plain interesting!

Last but not least, I want to welcome David Diano, our new pre ident. I've known David ever ince he entered the camera assi tant training program and we've managed to work together on a few films over the years. I look forward to a collaborative working relation hip with David in the OC and on this magazine.

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Subscription Rates U A 20/year Outside U A 28/year (U. . Funds Only)

For article submissions, please contact: OC Attn Magazine PO Box2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070

For display advertising information, contact: Dan Dodd (323) 856-9100 a uteu r@pacbell. net

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: FROM THE EDITOR' S DESK

By William EHines, SO<: JOB DESCRIPTIONS for FILM, VIDEO &CGI, Sth ed.

The original and authoritative ource for the re pon ibilitie and dutie of more than 250 film , video & computer graphics craft classification .

OPERATING CINEMATOGRAPHY for FILM & VIDEO ".. .includes a wide diversity of essential information ... on- et protocol working \vith other crafts, and hot management."

-Dean Cundey, C Both books are available at cinema and video booksellers or order direct fromED-VENTURE FILMS/ BOOKS, P0 Box 93841, Pasadena, CA 91109-3841 phone (818) 242-21 89; fax (81 8) 242-8442

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The World of Post Production

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Panavision Hands-On Seminar

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anavision Remote Sy tem at Woodland Hill hosted a hand -on demonstration for the OC introducing the TechnoDoUy, their fully repeatable tele copic crane that perfectly re-creates the operator's moves through computer inputs.

Our small group practiced operating and programming the ystem o that different input point were joined together to make smooth and repeatable moves.

The prototype TechnoDolly is undergoing refinement.

The SOC wa happy and eager to put the new equipment to task! /J}'

Laboratory tarted a new Emerging Filmmaker emi.nar eries on October 14, 2003 at their new location, 4050 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood.

The second Tuesday of each month will offer participants a tour of the facility with guest speaker addressing such topics as sound dubbing, ADR/Foley, Lab and Video, D-Film (digital video to film negative), and Demo reel screenings.

Each attendee will be introduced to personnel and services available at CFI and those companies which work in unison with post production including negative cutting, sound de ign and editing, international versioning and film restoration.

Special information packets include current article , Guide to Postproduction, Technicolor Sound Services and CFI Camera Report Sheets.

Check your schedule and call Dana Banks at (805) 383-3223 for more information.

Or you can email her at dana.banks@technicolor.com. ~路 ~ -articles by Georgia Packard SOC unless othe1wi e specified

TechnoVision Hands-On echno Vision U A and the Engine Room hosted a wonderful day in virtual reality }w1e 28, 2003 at the Engine Room's West Hollywood stage.

Simon ]ayes provided crane and crew to show us how we can now follow the action, whether human or animation, throughout a virtual360 degree set (created by Michael orenson's team).

Camera operators need not be concerned with encroaching lights or flags from above due to the vertical extension of the virtual set. Shooting turn-arounds and complete 360 degrees is sin1plified, plus it allows the crew to utilize props/stand-in for the animated ca t without concern of their being unduly recorded. Yes, anything or anybody you don't want to see wears that beautiful green.

Attention needs to be paid to the color palette used in prop and costuming so as not to interfere with seeing the digital computer "set."

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SOC Holds Breakfast Meetings at the Woodland Hills Motion Picture Home

Gary Armstrong, Treasurer Gary Baum, Michael Frediani, Nicholas Nizich, Ron Vidor, Dave Frederick and Denis Moran join the camraderie of the SOC breakfast meeting at the Motion Picture Home, Woodland Hills.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

Webmaster Mark Leins, Philip Schwartz, Ernie Reed and Aldo Antonelli eat and catch up before the hands-on demonstration.

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Holiday Plans

ASC-soc Dinner

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on't forget the OC ho t wonderful Holiday FW1 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills with a pecial screening, a visit from Mr and Mrs Claus, and member supported gift bags of toys for the Children at the Eye Care Clinic.

This year's film is Elf and the date is aturday December 20. creening will start at I :00 p.m. with a short film on loan from Brian LeGrady.

Join the SOC to celebrate the holidays.

Mr and Mrs Claus always provide the perfect photo opportunity!

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SOC Holds 2nd Annual Silent Audion for Charity

n October 16,2003 the ASC and President Richard Crudo welcomed the SOC to one of their Thursday night This year's SOC Silent Auction and Raffle socials at the ASC Clubhouse in I was held on Saturday October 4, 2003 Hollywood. The event started at 6pm with at Eastman Kodak in Hollywood. The cocktails followed by a buffet dinner at event is part of the ongoing fundraising 7pm. This event came about when SOC the SOC does for the Los Angeles President David Diano wanted to begin Childrens Hospital Eye Care Clinic. his term by establishing a closer relationWe would like to thank all of the indiship with the ASC. viduals and companies who contributed "When I took over the presidency of to help make our event a success once the SOC, I went to the ASC Clubhouse again: Bonnie Blake, Tom Fraser, David and introduced myself to Richard. I asked Frederick, Buddy Fries, Adriana Modlin, him if he was interested in having some Georgia Packard, Curtis Jones and sort of Cinematographer/Operator event Eastman Kodak, Fujinon, Arri, ASC, Birns He's an associate member of our organi& Sawyer, CFI, Chapman & Leonard, zation and was so open to the idea that he Deluxe Labs, Doggicam, Happy Trails said yes without hesitation."

Catering, JL Fisher, ICG, LA Dodgers, Crudo was so elated at the turnout (and Marie Callender's, Mole-Richardson, Otto the fact that the Yankees beat the Red Sox Nemenz, Panavision, Paolo's La Cucina in in the 7th game of the ALCS) that he La Canada, Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge and hoped that this would be the first of many Lanza's Restaurant in Lake Tahoe, Smoke ASC-SOC gatherings. Many thanks go out House, Sports Chalet, Technicolor Labs, to Patty Armacost and her staff at the ASC Trader Joe's, The Wmemaking Store, and for putting this event together.

Universal Studios.

-David E Diano SOC -David E Diano SOC

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Packard Addresses Film School

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Georgia Packard received a plaque and a special cammy from the Society Of CameraOperotors in appreciation for her hard work and dedication as president from 1999 to 2003.

Former President Georgia Packard Honored The Smokehou e Restaurant in Burbank I wa the setting for a special dinner honoring Georgia Packard OC July 12, 2003. The Board of Governors toasted Georgia and presented her with a pecial certificate "for her leadership and un elfish dedication to the OC a its President from 1999-2003."

A special Cammy was created for the evening, recognizing Georgia's "outtanding accomplishment in trengthening the Society which reflect her extraordinary drive and vision."

It wa a nice intimate evening honoring an outstanding leader and camera operator.

Packard will be continuing her dutie on the Board of Governor as the new Corporate Liai on, working on the SOC magazine Operating Cameraman, etting up demonstrations and member workshop , and tireles ly launching events in support of the SOC's charity Childrens Ho pital Eye Care Clinic.

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eorgia Packard OC visited her alma mater, the University of California at Santa Barbara on May 16, 2003 to join the alLUnni panel of professionals speaking to the Film Studies and Drama Department. The lu11cheon was hosted by Professor Charle Wolfe and Chair Janet Walker, who invited several graduates to return and talk with tudents. Packard took copies of the SOC magazine and reported back to u from a packed audience.

"There has been a dramatic growth from the 'beginning' where only a small group of students screened films through the Drama Department with Alexander e onske's insightful analysis of film storytelling at UCSB. I worked do ely with Profe sor Charles Wolfe as a Teacher's Assistant for his Introduction classes, taking many of the slides used for the exams from the fiLns screened for class and eventually came back after attending graduate school in London. Carol Brownson taught the Documentary classes back then. She is a unique individual and was key to nurturing my interest and greatly supported my pursuit of film as a career.

Perhaps many of you here today were not even born when I attended UC B yet you are able to enjoy and build on our pioneering legacy. Be bold! Be brave!

Make mistake and learn from them- for this may be the last time your mistakes ''"tO Uow you proteSSJon, '".all" "~~ wont y. ~~~

Candidates Can Begin to Apply for 2004 William EHines SOC Scholarship

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s one of the founding member of the OC Bill Hines was a driving force who helped to teer u and shape us into the respected and world-renowned organization that we are today. Everybody who knew Bill on the set or within the SOC liked him, re pected him, revered him and his dedication. And now, over three years since Bill's passing hi spirit lives on in his bequest to children of Active Members in good standing.

The purpose of the William E Hines SOC Scholarship Fund is to recognize and educate talented young people who are dedicated to the art and craft of cinematography. Each year a $1,000 scholarship is to be used to help defray tuitional expenses of selected and deserving dependent children of SOC members. Candidates must be pursuing camera training/education.

Application are now being accepted for the 2004 William E Hines SOC Scholarship, which will be awarded to any dependent child of a member in good standing who meets the qualifications. Two awards will be given in 2004 a there wa no eligible candidate in 2003.

The applicant should send a brief letter telling hi /her education, experience, interest in cinematography and personal goals. The closing date for applications is May 15, 2004. Send submissions to: SOC Attn Scholarship, PO Box 2006, Toluca Lake, CA 91610.

The cholar hip committee will review aU submissions and upon concluding by majority who should be awarded the scholarships we will announce the winners to our member hip. We will follow up on our winners in years to come and report their progress in The Operating Cameraman magazine.

For further information, please contact Georgia Packard, Scholarship Conunittee Chair, goperator@earthlink.net; Zee Hine , ZEEBILL@aol.com; or Diana at the SOC answering service, (818) 382-7070. ~~

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WIDESCREEN

LenCin Camera Pedestal received the 2001 Emmy Award for Technical Excellence

Widescreen Film Festival Features Artist-in-Residence John Bailey ASC alifornia tate Univer ity Long Beach welcomed a large group of film lover to their 9th Annual Wide creen Film Fe tival eptember 17-21, 2003. Arti tin-Re idence John Bailey A C selected all of the film creened: American Gigolo,

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Aguirre: The Wrath of God, The Battle of Algiers, China Moon, Rules of the Game, Mademoiselle, unrise, Wages of Fear, Hate, In the Line of Fire, Contempt and ilverado, and conducted a erie of fa cinating lecture , panel di cu ion , master cla es and eminar to accompany them. everal of the film ' director attended and participated in di cu ions following their ftlm' creening: Werner Herzog wa very animated and in ightfu1 accompanying hi Aguirre, Matthieu Ka ovitz appeared with hi upercharged La Haine/Hate, and John Bailey eloquently wore the director' hat for China Moon.

Executive Producer ail Zatz repre ented the production of In the Line of Fire, and re toration expert hawn Bel ton and Mike Pogorzel ke explained their pain taking work in bringing FW Mumau' timele film unrise: A ong of Two Humans back to tl1e creen.

A great comprehen ive creening guide offered ftlm note written by FX Feeny and an introduction of the ftlm erie from acclaimed cinematographer and director Jolm Bailey.

We would Like to acknowledge John' generou contribution to the fe tival' ucce , hi a tute attention to detail and endle willingne to share hi per ona1 and profe ional in ights that enriched each film creened. Included here i hi introduction: //we are all pri oners of our formative year . Although thi may be a omewhat axiomatic proposition, that needn't make it any le s true. In my own ca e, in term of ftlm at lea t, that would be the decade from 1962 (when I wa a tudent in Vienna) untill972, when I moved out of a eventy-five dollar a month apartment in the bowels of Echo

Park to begin a career a a film maker. Thi wa the decade that aw the full flowering of the French ew Wave, it low demi e, and the beginning of the ew German Cinema of the even ties.

Four of the film I have cho en for thi festival are from that period: Contempt (Le Mepris),

Mademoiselle, The Battle of Algiers, and Aguirre: Wrath of God. One of them, Wages of Fear, is a direct antecedent made in the early '50 . And another, Hate (La Haine) i very much a '90 tylistic tribute to the ew Wave. unrise i the fir t film to ever be awarded an Academy Award for Cinematography. Karl trus , who photographed it with harles Rosher, is a legendary arti t whom I met everal year before hi death. I have collected hi till work for many year . When I wa a camera operator in the mid-'70 I did evera1 film with harle Ro her's on, a gifted cinemat grapher who made many ftlm for Robert Altman. unrise hold a pecia1 place in my personal canon and I wa honored to provide a commentary to it on Fox' recent DVD i ues.

Rules of the Game i a film that loom o large in ftlm hi tory that it i amazing it i not een more often. It i the template for any ftlm that presume to explore ocial trata and multiple relation hip . It chameleon-like blending of humor and adne make it amazingly contemporary. A ftlm of friend hip and reunion such a The Big hill, the fir t film I did with Larry Ka dan, i deeply indebted to it.

Another Ka dan ftlm I photographed, ilverado, i included. And I cho e In the Line of Fire becau e I wanted to elect a purely studio thriller with no preten ion to cinema art, though I hope you find the mano a mano of John Matkovich and lint Ea twood to have exi tential overtones worthy of the ew Wave.

And China Moon, a film I directed, had a omewhat limited relea e as a byproduct of the tudio' demi e; it i a

film better known in video. All three film I have been a ociated with were made in the anamorphic aspect ratio.

A purely elfi h indulgence, I admit, i that these film are all film I want to ee again and in today' market, out ide of fe tival and mu eum retro pective , many of them are available to u only on video.

From unrise to La Haine, you will find a pectrum of camera tyle and dramatic narrative working hand in hand to create a compelling emotional experience. It i the nature of thi blending that I hope to explore with you."

-John Bailey A /J}

Jack Green ASC Honored

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he Fourth Big Bear Lake International Film Fe tival, held in 2003, pre ented one of it Lifetime Achievement Award to cinematographer Jack Green A calling him one "of the mo t creative filmmaker of our time." Fe tival and programming director Monika kerbelis al o aid reen had "made important and enduring contribution to the art form."

The fe tival creened clip from two of reen' cia ic film , Unforgiven and Bird, and Secondhand Lions which opened in late eptember. /J}

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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In Memoriam: Sean Doyle I met ean Doyle 0 in 1985 through a friend of mine, Mil<e Ferri OC. A the DP of my fir t TV pilot ting Ray for teven J Cannell Production , I needed an operator. The director of the pilot wanted me to have four camera during a night equence randomly hoot a Roll Royce being lifted out of a cargo hold from a freighter hip. It wa to be the opening title equence for the pilot. "Ju t tell the tory," aid the director. When I aw the dailie from that equence, ean' composition and camera movement were tunning. ean became my "X' camera operator of choice for the next 13 year . He wa not only an excellent operator, he wa an extremely good DP. ean alway had the en e of the tory, every time he composed a shot in my work or photographed his 2nd unit photography. ean taught me new way of eeing compo ition and movement, alway quietly uggesting a better way of hooting a hot and never wanting to take credit for it. ean truly wanted ju t to be part of the ftlmmaking proce s, alway keeping hi ego out of the equation. I alway wanted him to go out and get work a a DP. He would alway say," oon. I'm getting my reel together." But ean never did get that reel out. I know now that ean loved the work he wa doing, and that he was very happy backing up the DP and the Director. He always had a mile on hi face and everyone who worked with him eventually loved him and re pected him.

He wa only trong headed (he wa Iri h you know) when it came to remembering the respect of each other' po ition in the working order of a film et. I remember on a how long ago when I wa new to the !A way of doing thing , I tarting to get into the back eat of a production van becau e omeone el e wa itting in the front eat. The director had left earlier in another van. ean quietly and a a gentleman had the per on get out of the front eat and give it to me out

of re pect and tradition. ean quietly made fellow worker realize the joy, romance and arti tic endeavor of filmmaking. ean loved the art of cinematography. He wa a learned man of many topics and an avid reader.

He loved the United tate of America and wa proud of being an immigrant who became an American. He loved mu ic and knew more about American hi tory than mo tofu . ean wa very hy when it came to the ociallife and wa very clo e-mouthed about him elf. It wa n't until his memorial that l found out he wa born in Belfa t Ireland in 1938. He wa alway going down to Baja, ailing and trying to build a hou e there, which he lo t to the government when the Mexican government tarted acquiring more control over Baja.

He wa a devout sailor, owned a ailboat and kept it down at Marina del Rey and loved the ea. He married late in life to June who he met at the marina ( heal o had a ailboat) and at the age of 58 became the father of a beautiful girl named Kaitlin. ean had to stop working becau e of a triple by-pa heart urgery. He urvived that operation and five year later uccumbed to complication of pneumonia in the ho pita( after being in a coma for two month . When I a ked hi wife June where he wa going to be buried, he aid that he wa to be cremated and hi a he to ed into the ea, "because he loved the ea o much."

I and the people who knew him will mi him and the wondrou ly deviou twinkle in his Iri h eye . Our film indu try lo t a good man and I don't feel he can be replaced.

God re t hi oul.

-Ron Garcia A

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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Chapman Leonard went high into the air as well as skimming the ground with their crones, dollies and support systems .

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capture crane motion, the crane head talks via Engine Room oftware to send motion data an Alia /Wavefront Maya y tern for previ ualization of the computer-stored background in conjunction with the live-action camera.

Arri demonstrated the Arricam and the Arricarn Lite, modular 35mm camera y tern the 0 wa fir t introduced to at our January breakfa t meeting. Arri's latest camera, the Arriflex 435 Advanced, can be u ed in a wide variety of applications including motion-control, second-unit and in-camera effects with speed ramping and iri changes.

Chapman-Leonard boasted their Maverick vehicle with a mobile arm on top of a uperTechnocrane. The Lenny Arm II, for manned and remote use, the uper PeeWee III hydraulic lift camera dolly, the Lencin Compact pede tal platform and the Raptor aU were available to try out.

Clainnont Cameras has modified their 24P ony cameras' front mount for a turdier and wider selection of lense . And we

CineGear 2003 a Success PHOTOS BY GEORGIA PACKARD SOC

xhibitor represented the "be t in cia s" at the Otto NemetJZ International ho ted event on the back lot of Universal tudio with demonstration , new equipment and hand -on opportunities. Many of our Corporate Affiliates had equipment-packed booth .

Aerocrane howed off their new 3-axis remote Aerohead mounted on a crane from TechnoVision U A where terrific musicians and dancers showed off virtual feature . Encoded to

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CopterVision flew several different helicopters, all unmanned yet precision operated by remote control.

PIUS8.

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Denny Clairmont of Clairmont Camero joined here by Canon's Tom Bender, Assistant Director Broadcast & Communications .

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

Plus8Digital showed the Thomson Viper and Sony's HOW F900 HDCom 24P System .

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love their large election of film camera y terns.

Coptervision offered their unmanned helicopters and lightweight remote camera . The late t VG-A i a turdier ystem for more preci ion and ver atility. Rollvision also showed off its portable 3-axi camera y tern which can be mounted on a variety of platform for a 360 degree roll , pan and tilt.

Doggicam howca ed the new Bulldog which can handle heavier camera package via a remote operated wireless y tern that can be mounted on vehicles going up to 125 mile per hour. They have a wide variety of platform available for that peciaJ hot you didn't know how you were going to pull off.

FujiFilm pre en ted everaJ creening , provided free huttie to the creening rooms and ho ted the infamou CineGear Opening Party.

Fujinon displayed its Cine uper E and Compact Prime

CineBags showed us a complete line of bags and pouches.

Gary Thieltges (right} discussing Doggicam Systems with a CineGear attendee . Their Bulldog , SparrowHead and remote wireless control come in many shapes and sizes .

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JL Fisher had several different dollies and camera support systems that CineGear visitors were able to try out.

lenses and E eries Zoom which expand their HD cinematyle ystem . The E -I digital camera sy tern comes complete with a "brain" controller box which talks to the Fujinon drive motor .

HydroFlex keep their cameras dry in "wet condition " above or can take them fully under water in fre h and salt water application . ltmovision Optics promoted their remote-control uper car, table-top lens and support sy terns and futuristic Optical product. lsaia & Company featured a wide variety of product including the Pea-Pod 1600 and the Power-Pod 2000, both with programmable repeatable digital remote heads. The Powerpod Ia sic even comes with its own new rain cover!

JL Fislter pre ented the 9, 10 and 11 Dollies-the last named being the malle t which shares all of the arne controls and characteri tics a the 10. The 9 i the largest camera dolly with a mooth hydraulic y tern. And don't forget you can get

Arriflex's ArriCam sporting the beautiful Zeiss lens.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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OHo Nemenz International displayed motion picture cameras with the latest Cooke and Angenieux lenses and accessories .

your Microphone Boom Dolly from a variety of models as well.

Although Kodak didn't have a booth, we all walked into the event carrying Kodak-provided goody bags with cap and information.

Otto Nemenz International included from their motion picture camera line the new model from Arri, the late t len e from Angenieux and Cooke, a well a

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Strada Crane's great demo tape showed the world's largest crane performing an array of tasks.

matching acce sorie and wireless control unit.

Panavision introduced three new pieces of equipment: the Remote Digital Control (RDC) which i a complete camera and lens controller, the Panavision SmartLen for reading and displaying lens data, and the PanaTape Long Ranger PTL which enable harp focus on moving subjects with long focal length lenses.

Panavision Remote Systems introduced the TechnoDolly, a fully repeatable tele copic crane, and their advances in the 30-foot and 50-foot TechnoCranes.

You could hardly mi the SOC bootlt close to the main entrance sporting our gorgeous photobanner of OC members around

the world!

International Documentary Association's Vice Pre ident Larry Cate spoke at the Friday eminar on the evolution of Super 16 mm f.Lim technology and its affect on documentary production: "There i a quiet revolution going on in the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. The 4-pound Aaton AMinima camera coupled with the new generation of Kodak film provide tremendous flexibility for recording high quality images in just about any environment. Advances in telecine technology make it po sible to eli tribute high quality 35 mm prints as well as releasing in HD and other digital formats."

If you mi sed CineGear this year, try not to mi it in 2004. p;.

Digital Cinematography Mardi-Gras at Band Pro

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Abel CineTech showed off a com plete line of Aaton cameras, Panasonic HD and DV cameras and Canon MiniDV cameras.

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n Wedne day, December 17, 2003, Band Pro Film & Digital will host a Mardi-Gras Open House. For this pecial event Band Pro's ample showroom will be converted into a Digital Cinema theatre complete with state of the art projector and tewart 19'xll ' screen. creenings of high definition material will be continuous throughout the event.

Here's the ideal opportunity to meet with the world' top equipment provider and ee what' in tore for digital cinematography in 2004 and beyond. Doors will be open from 1:00pm to 8pm. Guests will be treated to a umptuou Cajun Creole buffet and sprits, plus a live Cajun band.

The event is located at Band Pro's headquarter : 3403 West Pacific Avenue in Burbank. For more information or toR VP (by December 12, 2003) contact Toni Price at rsvp@bandpro .com or call818-841 -9655. For a map go to taD www.bandpro.com )"'"

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: NEWS & NOTES

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David J Frederick, SOC avid Frederick, now erving hi fir t term as the OC I 1 vice pre ident, ha been an active member of the ociety of CameraOperators since his induction in May of 1992. He is al o an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & ciences, the teadicam Operator As ociation, and IAT E Local600. He started his training as a cinematographer at New York Univer ity, graduating in 1979 with a BFA degree in Film & Television. A a re ident of New York ity he was an active member of NABET AFC localJS and later of IATSE camera loca1644. Hi camera career a 151 AC lasted for 10 years with uch notable projects as Driving Miss Daisy, Crossing Delancy, 84 Charing Cross Road, 9 0 Weeks, and Blood imple.

At the age of 13 Frederick's passion for camerawork was ignited. Hi mother asked him to film hi older ister's weet 16 Party with the family 8mm camera. Between staging the theatrically oriented young girls for the lens and single frame

D

animating the food on the buffet table, he aw what magic wa created with the movie camera when his images came up on the screen to the delight of the small family audience. Becoming a camera operator was one of David' earliest dream and goals. ometime later, in hi Ia t year a a camera a i tant, David wa frequently upgraded to "B" camera ~ operator. Hi first opportunity a an l::i "!\'camera operator wa on NYC ~ Police detective-turned-producer 0 ~ 0 onny Gra so's NBC-TV serie , Truck 1-ESU. This was largely Additional camera operator fumed on NYC locations and proon Mowgli's Story. vided nearly every possible way for David to harpen his skill a a camera operator from hand-held, dolly, and crane to znd unit DP in frequent helicopter sequences. oon after-on his wedding day!-Frederick wa called to work in the Pacific Northwe t on the new TV series Northern Exposure. The serie lasted from 1991 to 1994, and turned out to be a permanent relocation for Fredrick and hi bride to the west coast. During that time the camera crew was recognized witl1 the 1992 EMMY Cinematography Award, ASC Nomination, and in 1993 the Cinematography EMMY Nomination.

After spending 5 years in the eattle area on project like Mad Love, Georgia and Nowhere Man, David moved with his wife onja Roth and their two son Colin and Duncan to Los Angeles in 1997.

"There wasn't enough local work in Seattle to warrant living there and the out of town work was hard on my new family," he ay . " Breaking into tl1e LA work cene continue to be a challenge even now, as the work has been shifting away from here to other parts of the world. I feel the pinch but am still hopeful and enthuiastic about my cho en dream career:' Through hi kill with Steadicam gained under the tutelage of inventor Garrett Brown, as well a his abilities with jib arm, handheld, helicopter mounts, large format cameras, visual effects, and HD/ D/24P video cameras, Frederick has kept busy and maintain hi po itive approach to work.

He hope to add a positive force to the 0 by being involved witl1 the Board of Governors through committee participation and member services. David feels that it is crucial for the survival of our indu try to have its member become interested and involved in the state and federal government's political arena to keep film production from leaving Los Angeles and the US. "We have to be in touch with our legi lative repre entatives and let them know how we are being squeezed by our own producers and by the unfair economic advantage that the Canadian government i giving the e producer . One of the newest problems," he add , "i the dismantling of the Film California First Program by legislator attempting to balance the alifornia state buget. It is a short ighted false economy!"

David J Frederick SOC astride elephant Tai on Walt Disney film Jungle Book - Mowgli's Story. 1997 Los Angeles

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: MEMBER PROFILE

19

SUR--VIVAL ON

THE SET A FILM SCHOOL FOf'.ACTOf'.S

By Michelle BriHan

D

o you remember your fir t time?

Did you feel awkward? Did it eem as if everyone wa looking at you, judging your performance? Did you feel comfortable with your kill and abilitie in u ing the equipment? omehow you urvived and managed to rna ter your job, progre ing from one cia ification to the next. As for the equipment, no matter how much it ha changed, the technique remain the arne: camera are loaded with film or tape, len es mu t be focu ed, compo ition created, ets and actor lit with equipment that ha been u ed or modified for decade . We learn, we relearn, we adapt, learn old rule , create new rules and break them all when nece ary to get the hot!

Although everybody on the et i there to erve the arne common goal, a gap occa ionally exi t between ca t and crew. ot merely the "above the line v below the Line" divi ion but a communication breakdown of ort .

To this end a unique and ongoing seminar ha been developed by Michael Frediani 0 , veteran camera operator and actor/casting director ally Forcier (www.forciercasting.com ). The o le purpo e of the eminar i to educate actors and demy tify the behind-thecene proce , thu creating a comfort level for the novice a well a the more experienced actor. Aspiring actor have learned at the e eminars-entitled urviva1 On The et-what to expect when arriving on a et for the fir t time.

Frediani produced and directed a series of video interview with actors, producer , director and variou crew member who explain exactly what their job entail and how it relate to actor .

20

Forcier tates, "If the talent po e es a deep knowledge of et etiquette they can be freed to focu on their craft when in front of the camera, even on an unfamiliar or chaotic et."

"A camera operator we are occa ion-

and POV," Frediani acknowledge .

When an actor approache a camera as i tant, operator or director of photography concerning the ize of the len on the camera, chance are he or he i camera- avvy enough to know "where you are cutting them" ba ed on the len and the di tance of the camera from their mark on the floor. At ome point in time a helpful crew member taught that actor a few technicalle on that have erved them well.

"With that knowledge an actor can adju t hi or her performance and action to be t erve the camera-that i after all why we are on the et, right? As the camera crew we are in con tant communication with actor , letting them know what we need from them in order to make the hot work. The more we can teach and

Forcier fields questions from students during a recent seminar in Sacramento. ally approached by actor and background artists regarding ju t what our job entails:' say Frediani. "There i genuine intere ton their part in learning what take place behind the len technically and creatively. A a rule tho e of u who love what we do al o enjoy imparting tidbits of knowledge on the et or in a cia room etting to actor and novice crew member . ew people enter thi bu ine every day whether working in front of or behind the camera; experience and knowledge are the goal .

Although we've heard all of the familiar catch phrases since we fir t et ~ ot on a ound tage we may recall that at one time or another we actually had to a k omeone the meaning of AK , MO ,

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SURVIVAL ON THE SET

effectively communicate with them the more productive and creative we can be;' adds Frediani.

On Your Mark Bearing that in mind it i in the be t intere t of the camera crew to reach out to actor (a nd background player ) in order to facilitate tl1i dialogue. ommunication i key. Thi i where the camera operator come in, letting the actor know where there might be mechanical limitation of the camera or dolly that mu t be addre ed o their performance i not compromi ed.

"Ever have an actor 'mi their mark' or it down o fa t that it appeared a if they fell through a trap door? We all

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have, but unle we teU the actor how their action appear through the len they may not have a clue that what feels natural will in fact not look natural on the screen," stresses Frecliani. "Rather than ju t teU them what we need, it' beneficial to teU them why we need it done a particular way. Thi erve two purpose :we're letting them know why their modified

will look their be t becau e the DP et the light for them on that mark.

"Once an actor i cognizant of the e factors:' Forcier explam , "they will do their be t to accommodate the camera and be appreciative of you for taking the time to educate them. Remember that many actor admit to their in ecuritie .

You can help them to overcome some of their qualm ."

In cia during the blocking and cene tudy portion Frecliani u e a video camera and monitor to demon trate the end re ult when their mark i nli ed. tudent ee fir t hand onscreen what works and more importantly what doe n't when blocking for camera.

How to Do Everything Well

Actor/casting director Sally Forcier between takes on location .

action wiU look be t on camera, and we're e tablishing trust between the actor and the camera operator. That trust will go a long way in developing rapport between crew member and actors, raising their comfort level and perhap aiding their performance."

"You should never feel intimidated by actors:' declare Forcier. "We are all on the et to be a creative a pos ible and if you he itate to communicate then you've given up an e sential tool in your possession. As for hitting mark , I've found that inexperienced actors may think their mark is nothing more than a zone within which they can move arow1d. We teach them that the marks were placed at their feet during rehear al, marks that they felt comfortable hitting ba ed on their blocking performance."

Frediani and Forcier demon trate to actor that their mark i important for the following reasons: They will be in focus becau e that' where the l 51 AC mea ured them; they will be framed properly without major adju tments becau e that i where the optimwn composition was et up; they won't be blocked by another actor if the hot was de igned a an overthe-shoulder; and last but not lea t they

22

Other a pect of thi di tinctive eminar include e.>..'Piaining detail of a typical caU sheet uch a the fine points of the day's work listed, special item pecific to each department and the job of each crew member li ted on the back of the caU heet. Ba ic function and difference of the film and video camera are explained to demystify ome of what can be accompli hed on the set; ftlm and video formats are outlined and a glo ary handout helps cement the knowledge of what i learned in cia s. Prop , breakaways, cripts, sides and a camera late allow for hands-on education during thi fa t-paced eminar. lntersper ed with the video interviews from tl1e et, Forcier leads the students through the lating proce . ot tl1e late that you are familiar with a the camera crew-tills slating process involves actors auditioning for a commercial who simply tand on their mark in front of a video camera, ca tillg director, producer and director, tating their name and affiliated agency if they have one.

"This ten-second proce can make enough of an impre sion to get them the job--or not," explains Forcier. "How well! train them in making a great fir t impre ion wiU go a long way toward getting them to the next tep which i the cold read. In commercials u uaUy tl1e auditioning actor i given 30 econd of copy to read on camera. Fir t impre ion count in this highly competitive industry, so actor mu t learn the kill and confidence in a cia environment in order to excel in thi proce ."Taping tl1em for later review

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SURVIVAL ON THE SET

aUows the tudent to ee what Forcier ees o they can make adjustments during their econd pa at the material. cene tudy and blocking round out the "onet" training egment . hifting gear back to the video interview , tudent learn from a i tant director Valerie Finkel (902 10, Gilmore Girls) how best to conduct them elve on the et, where to report, what voucher are, why they hould wear quiet and comfortable hoe , how to match their cro e and how to think on their feet to help enhance the hot. From a fir t a i tant director's standpoint Derek Johan en (Charmed, Blade) explain how and why a cript i broken down and boarded to create the most efficient and logical chedule. Third generation tunt coordinator oon Or atti (The Cooler, joe Somebody) reveals to tudent that they may be asked to do simple stunts such a throwing or taking punche . With variou camera angle Frediani and Or atti demon trate "hits and mi e " ba ed on camera placement.

Veteran director Joel Feigenbaum (7th Heaven, Guns of Paradise, Charmed) details the casting process and the ordeal

Michael Frediani SOC behind the lens on USA Networks' Monk.

of choo ing one actor over another who may be equally qualified. He explains that he directs three kind of actor :"In erie televi ion I tru t tl1e regulars' in tinct becau e they need very little in terms of character note . However the eli rector can help them with nuance that may be overlooked during the grind of week-in and week-out production. Gue t tar are great fun to direct and that is where I may have carte blanche with their character and action becau e they are eager to

work on their short-term role. The third type of actor i the day player, omeone with perhap le experience and oncreen time who is also receptive to direction."

Frediani then takes the cia on a video tour of the wardrobe department with et co turner Kate Wood. Kate explai ns what every actor mu t know abo ut wardrobe fittings and continuity, and she add with a wink and a smile," ... in theatre, actors always hang up their clothe ; in movie and television that's not alway theca e."

From a i tant prop master Christy McGeachy (Piranha, Breast Men ) who explains the extreme importance of onset weapon handling and afety" ever handle a weapon without the upervi ion of a prop person"-to a tour of an ADR tudio led by ound mixer Brett Grant-Grier on (Big City Blues)"looping your own dialogue i an art unto it elf"-and into the hair and make-up trailer with make-up artist Ani Plotkin (Dead exy) working on a lead actor, tudent get the total overview of what it take to put a production together.

On location, till photographer Richard Cartwright (Hidalgo, JAG) demonstrates the equipment he employ on the et and explains what he need from actors in order to place them in their "best light" for publicity photos.

Steadicamn.• operator Mark LaBonge

(We Were Soldiers, Supernova, American Wedding) explain the in and out of his pecialized equipment, and a crane tepoff hot is demonstrated by olin Ander on (Maid in Manhattan ).

Actor Brian Krause (Charmed, Sleepwalkers) explain to tudent what it takes to get the job and how "it' ometime easier to be on the et doing the work a oppo ed to the hard part which is the audition proce . There have been ome audition where I thought I did weU but didn't get the part and other I didn't feel good about but ended up getting the role."

Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck, Profiler) agrees and adds, "There i a certain technique that must be learned in order to audition weU. Fir t of all you mu t understand the cript going in. Know what the writer want ."

To that Krau e add , " ometime all

you get are ide and very little explanation of the story, but you should remember that we got the audition for a rea on.

Ba ed on our photo we are brought in becau e we already look right for the part.

That's an advantage right from the tart."

McMahon continues, " It is vitally important to be honing your skills in classe , studying with acting coache , learning from casting directors a11d tudying with other actor o that when aU the tar are aligned and the right part come along, you will be ready becau e you tudied your craft and you won't be let down." " urvival On The et seminar illuminate the whole on-set process for actor ," conclude Frediani. "That's why it's imperative we take cia es, read books and attend eminar provided by unions, guilds, rental hou e and our own OC. Knowledge empowers us-sharing that knowledge empowers others. Collaboration and reciprocity allow us to gain experience and knowledge in order to be more creative in aU of our endeavor ."

To learn more, vi it: www.SurvivaiOnSet.com

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SURVIVAL ON THE SET

23

The author at work.

Kosovo's kids pop up to celebrate their liberation with the arrival of British Forces in Prishtina, the capital city.

Witness to War

By Bob Campi PHOTOS BY BOB CAMPI

I have written about my photojournalist experiences covering conflicts throughout the world for many years now. Georg in Packard OC asked me to write an article telling the stories behind many of my photos and what it is like to operate camera in an explosive wnr zone.

"In a way if an individual assumes the risk ofplacing himself in the war in order to communicate to the rest of the world what is happening, he is trying to negotiate for peace.

Perhaps that is the reason why those perpetuating war do not like photographers around."

-fames Nachtwey

W

hen I read notable war photographer Jame achtwey' words for the fir t time, the concept of documenting war for the purpose of perpetuating peace really hit home. It reminded me of the many stories on assignment covering the War in Kosovo.

The effect of the early storie and pictures transmitted by members of the international media pool wa so graphic it literally shaped political world opinion. The ituation

Refugees clogging the road make way for the TV camera van .

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

25

Left top: We camped for days at the chaotic border scene as we prepared to enter the country of Kosovo. The tall smokestack in the distance is the border.

Left center: Mass gravesites were a common place in Kosovo. Considered a forensic crime scene by UN/NATO forces, this was one of the few sites visible from the roadside and off limits to us.

Left boNom: With a stormy sky in the background Kosovar refugees view the massive destruction of Pee, the second largest city in Kosovo. It was completely burned to the ground . Th is was part of the " ethnic cleansing" policy.

Above: Refugee children show their unquenchable spirit.

became o serious that the ATO Alliance pre ured by the world diplomatic community opened channels i uing warning to the erbian forces: either stop the oppre sion by peaceful means or face a forceful ending. In my estimation those fir t picture brought a certain awarene s to the world community, triggering the ultimatum that followed in the month later.

Kosovo Ko ovo wa a long and grueling ordeal of human suffering not een ince the holocaust of World War II. The death and destruction was on uch a wide cale that only my 1993 trip to omalia compared in total human deva tation. It wa an a ignment that literally demanded every ounce of my phy ical and emotional strength.

Minute after the unconditional urrender was announced we quickly mobilized our operation to move into the country. We had camped at the border for day a anticipation for eros ing into

26

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

Left: Serb Troops in their armored personnel carrier mandated by the N ATO peace accords departs the country. One of the few that didn't give me the finger! Above: The camera crew's rooftop setup on the Grand Hotel in Prishtina . the country grew. It was quite a cene as 20 mile of military vehicle and refugee welled the two-lane country road. The erb were now under a U mandate to evacuate or pay the con equence by the ATO ground force . They were al o ordered to destroy anything and everything in their path on the way out. And they did, a witne ed by u on the now empty bombed-out road to Pri htina, the capital city.

An unforgettable moment awaited u a we fir t arrived at the Grand Hotel, located in the center of the city. We immediately tarted the camera rolling.

A mixture of mall arm fire ech ed throughout the treet a refugee children ran loo e in front of the advancing tanks. It wa a vi ually compelling cene as Briti h ATO troop flus hed out erb niper from adjacent rooftop while trying to re tore order to the blacked out city. Under cover of the approaching darkne we hurried to the hotel rooftop to etup our live camera po ition.

A we huffled through all the confuion to get on the air, we unloaded the gear through the hotel ba ement and noticed large contingents of erb troops were temporarily hou ed there. They were milling around awaiting departure and didn't take too kindly to u invad ing their space. It was a nervous moment and we wanted de perately to avoid them. The hotel wa dark and without power a we tarted up the ilight of tair to the roof with numerou ca e of equipment. Then a trong smell of moke permeated the corridor and even-

tually tarted billowing up through the hotel. We knew omething wa very wrong but with udden ga p for air kept moving towards the roof. It wa later di covered that tho e erbian "gue t " in the ba ement decided to leave a unique calling card by torching their secret documents and uniform , which ent a mall fire throughout the lower floor of the hotel. It al o ent there t of our working media and UN worker into a frenzy and ru hing into the treet .

For the many month that I pent there and in the surrounding ountries of Albania and Macedonia, I photographed and witne ed the path of mi ery and de truction the erbian army brought again t ethnic Ko ovar . The brutal policy of oppres ion wa labeled "ethnic clean ing"- a term I fir t heard from many refugee at the ma grave

site I vi ited. It wa al o during thi time that almo t every erbian oldier I photographed on the run gave me the "fi nger" - age ture they knew rendered the footage unusable for American broadca t.

"For me the strength ofphotography lies in its ability to evoke a sense of humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity then photography must be perceived as the opposite of war and if used well it can be a powerful ingredient in the antidote to war."

- james Nachtwey In a war zone, the normal core of civilized behavior i u pended. For the men

A lone US M orine stands guard on his tank at Camp Bond Steele in Southern Kosovo.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

27

and women that hoot cameras in war zone it' a daily ta k to urvive. }oumali ts and photographer ri k their live every day in pur uit of firsthand visual experience in un peakable condition . Long hour , poor food, and foreign illi1e e are among a few amenitie that come with the trade. It' a competitive business with ometime in urmountable challenge that come with an adrenalin ru h that u ually become addictive. The goal however i to maintain an unbia ed tance.

Every ituati n working in a war zone u ually i a dangerou one and i different than the one before. You have to pre-visualize the probability and outcome a your life may depend on the plit econd deci ion you make.

When telling torie upported by vi ua1 account of human tragedy, erious ethical que tion come into focu . The camera crew ha to walk the fine line of not benefiting from uch human uffering while accurately documenting the outcome. k your elf the que tion; "Do you help the creaming man burning on the treet or continue to photograph him burning?" It' a tough deci ion and how y u manage the ituation i important and ometime can come under orne m raJ crutiny. Many time while on a ignment, Top leh: In the safe confines of the troop deployment, the roadside camp is our broadcast I have found my elf dropping position in the early days of the liberation of Kosovo . Top right: Chinook helicopters fly supplies the camera to help omeone over the border into Southern Kosovo . Center: Our roadside camp, viewed from the other side . in dire need. ~ Bottom: The tonk field is the initial mobilization of US forces into Southern Kosovo .

28

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

Setting up the camera position on a handy hill.

Armed with camera and AK47, the author on assignment in Somalia.

Somalia

Some Somalis in Mogadishu. Marks of starvation are evident, but some people manage to smile no matter how bad things are for them .

A starving Somali woman .

30

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

No images of human suffering were like the ones I saw in Africa. To thi day it's the mo t emotional time I've ever pent in my careerand the most visually compelling.

Our crew arrived in amalia in December 1993, three montl1s after the infamous Black Hawk Down incident. In the wake of the collapse of the omali government, warlord faction organized around military leader took control.

Mohammed Farrah Idid held the country ran om by withholding food supplies and letting the population lowly starve. Thi was a ruthle group of characters led by a dictator who e chief weapon was the famine of millions - his tool to eradicate ilie masse . Although the country was technically under UN control, U military intervention began rushing aid to the starving. While somewhat successful the operation was largely considered a fiasco as evident by the shortfalls of the Black Hawk incident and oilier attempts to quell the violence.

By the time we got into the country any trace of social order was Lipping into oblivion.

Mogadishu was ravaged by death. Nightly battles raged throughout the city between rival clans and there was no end in sight.

One rainy day in Baidoa, a small city to the northwest, we were on a routine assignment following the "Technicals" gangs when we heard gunfire nearby. Minutes later I was shooting several ambulances rushing over to the local hospital.

I began shooting the wounded being rushed in

i the mell, which haunt me to this day. Somalia wa the mo t dangerou a ignment I ever undertook.

Day after that wild ho pi tal cene, I had the camera stripped out of my hands by an angry mob near Bakara, Magadi hu's gun market. The impact of hitting the ground left my viewfmder everely damaged. For the remainder Kids everywhere are fascinated by cameras . These of the trip I fo und my elf Somali boys are no exception . The author is handhooting while tethered to a 9-inch monito r. The a ignholding the camera and taking the picture. ment in amalia became the and topped in my tracks when I noticed ultimate personal challenge giving me a smaU boy deliriou ly in hock wanderthe re ource and knowledge to urvive my mo t recent three-year as ignment in ing ju tout ide the ho pita! gate. I noticed through the lens that he had a Afghani tan and the Middle East. bad gunshot wound on hi chin and wa covered with blood. I in1mediately ru hed Thoughts on war over yelling for omeone in the comOver the year I have captured images pound to take him in. The French that have brought forth an awarene s humanitarian group "Doctors without of the horror of war. And for the many Border "came out and whi ked him people involved with the e image , many into surgery, ultimately aving hi life. of whom I per onaUy shared their grief with, it wa my hope that through my It eemed like omething out of"ER" a I proceeded to roll with my corre panphotography the me age gave them a conduit to the outside world. It was dent narrating a frantic emergency cene important for me to gain their tru t in crude operating room condition . and not benefit from their uffering a othing I have ever photographed compared with tho e image of a malwe tend to get de ensitized at time to the repetitive human horror that nornourished child or adult. ever before mally would break down the emotional had I een life taken o cheaply. The barrier . only thing mi ing in my photograph

For decades Hollywood cinematographers have re-created mankind's history of war. From Gone With the Wind, Saving Private Ryan and Platoon to We Were Soldiers, cinematographer from around the world have photographed the human sadnes of war and translated it to the big creen.

During my last to ur of the Persian Gulf I noticed more combat cameramen in the military than ever before. And it's with re pect that I salute the many SOC members who e careers tarted in the same hi toric tradition. It's al o important to realize that the men and women capturing these images are communicating to the world a historical account of mankind's inhumanity toward mankind.

It is here I leave you with ome more words from James Nachtwey:

"The act of being an outsider aiming a camera can be a violation of humanity. The only way I can justify my role is to have respect for the other person's predicament. The extent to which I do that is the extent that I become accepted by the other, and to that extent I can accept myself.'

-]ames Nachtwey

fames Nachtwey works as a freelance contract photographer for Time Magazine, Black tar, and Magnum. Self taught in photography he worked as a news film editor before moving into still photography full time. He has worked on extensive photographic essays in Rwanda, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Israel and the West Bank. His solo exhibitions can be seen at the International Center of Photography in New York.

A road jammed with all sorts of traffic and roadside stands in Soma lia.

Bob Campi is an award winning photojournalist who has spent the last 20 years for various news agencies covering international conflicts worldwide. Since returning from the Middle East and Gulf War region in May, Bob has switched gears working full time with HD Digital Cinematography at Paramount Pictures. But the adrenalin addiction is only dormant .. .

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: WITNESS TO WAR

31

Black Hawk Down

P Respiratory Safety and Spedal Effects, Part 3

Pyrotechnic Special Effects

By Carol A Wetovich

This is the third installment in a series of articles that describes the chemicals and dusts used in special effects and the potential health hazards associated with exposure to these substances

32

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SAFETY ON THE SET

yrotechnic create explosions, hower of park , airbursts, moke and ound effect in ftlm , televi ion program , theater, and live performance . Pyrotechnic device de igned to be u ed indoor or in clo e proximity to per onnel are called proximate pyrotechni or proximate effect . These include fla h pots, sparkle pots, mine , gerb , fountain , waterfall , and o on.

A variety of flammable and combu tible material can be u ed to create fire effect , including propane, rubber cement, ga oline, kero ene, and variou alcohol . Flame effect and pyrotechnic are often u ed together, with po ibly the addition of theatrical fog or moke and du t clouds. Hundred of chemical are u ed in pyrotechnic compo ition and many of the individual chemical have several function during the combu tion proce . Common pyrotechnic mixture contain a fuel, an oxidizer, variou additive to create pecific effect , and a binder.

Major manufacturer of pyrotechnic ervice and upplie li t the following chemicals on the Material afety Data heet (M D ) of ome of their product .

BLACK POWDER

Thi compound is a main tay of pyrotechnic . It i ba ically a mixture of pota ium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur.

FUELS Finely powdered metals are often used as fuel in pyrotechnic mixture . Among the metals u ed are aluminum, iron, magne ium, tin, titanium, and zinc. on-metal fuels can be boron, charcoal, hexamine, ulfur, and pho phorou . Other fuel cia ified a carbon supplier may be sugars, starche , re in , naphthalene, and anthracene.

OXIDIZERS

Among the oxidizer listed in pyrotechnic mixtures are ammonium nitrate and perchlorate , barium chlorate and nitrate , potassium chlorates, nitrate , perchlorate , and sulfates, and trontium nitrate and ~ ulfate . Magne ium nitrates may al o be u ed.

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Black Hawk Down SPECIAL EFFECTS ADDITIVES Various chemicals are added to pyrotechnic compositions to create sparks, colors, and ound effects. Chlorine donors such as polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polyvinylidine chloride (Saran) enhance or produce color in some compositions. Strontium, calcium, barium, copper, powered magnesium metal and organic dyes generate a variety of colors. Antimony trisulfide produces a bright light and glitter effects. Metal granules such as iron and aluminum create sparks in a pyrotechnic compo ition.

The addition of potas ium benzoate results in whistling sounds and powered titanium metal results in a booming sound.

BINDERS Binder are often dextrin, starche , and natural polysaccharides such as red gum.

OTHER ADDITIVES Other additives in pyrotechnic compositions can be silica dusts or silicon dioxide and olvents such as acetone, alcohol and methyl ethyl ketone.

Pyrotechnic Chemicals This list represents ju t a few of the hundreds of chemicals in pyrotechnic compositions. The Material Safety Data Sheets for the e chemicals have the following hazard warnings.

ANTIMONY TRISULFIDE is harmful by inhalation. Chronic exposure may lead to kidney or liver damage.

ALUMINUM POWDER is listed as harmful if inhaled and may affect lung . Pulmonary fibrosis, numbne sin fingers, and brain effects from chronic inhalation has been reported. Elevated aluminum levels have been associated with Alzheimer's disea e, neurofibrillary degeneration and anemia. Toxic metal fumes may form when heated to decomposition.

BARIUM NITRATE is Listed as harmful if inhaled. It may cau e mu cular tremors, cardiac irregularity, convulsions and death from cardiac and respiratory failure. May cause kidney damage. Oxide of nitrogen and toxic metal fumes may form when heated to decomposition.

COPPER (Cupric acetate) The systemic toxic effects of expoure to copper and its compounds include widespread capillary damage, kidney and liver injury, central nervous sy temic affects, and depression.

34

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SAFETY ON THE SET

IRON (Iron Oxide) can be harmful if inhaled. Long term inhalation of iron dusts can result in mottling of the lungs, a condition referred to as siderosis.

MAGNESIUM-ALUMINUM ALWY Short-term inhalation exposure can result in irritation, metal fume fever, difficulty breathing, and lung damage.

MAGNESIUM NITRATE Inhalation may resul t in irritation and burns to the respiratory tract. Chronic exposures may affect ability of blood to carry oxygen. Oxide of nitrogen and toxic metal fume may form when heated to decomposition.

POTASSIUM CHLORATE Inhalation of chlorates can cause methmoglobin in blood. Expo ure may cau e liver or kidney damage. Emits toxic fume of chlorine and pota sium oxide when heated to decomposition.

POTASSIUM NITRATE can be harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic expo ure to nitrates may cause anemia and adverse effects to the kidney. Oxides of nitrogen and toxic metal fumes may form when heated to decomposition.

POTASSIUM PERCHLORATE Implicated in apla tic anemia.

Absorption can cause methemoglobinemia and kidney injury.

Hazardous decomposition products: Hydrogen chloride.

POLYVINYLIDINE Chloride (Sa ran) Du t may cause irritation to upper respiratory tract. May generate hydrogen chloride gas at decomposition.

STRONTIUM NITRATE Inhalation may cause respiratory tract irritation, methemoglobinemia, which i characterized by chocolate-brown colored blood, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, shortness of breath, cyanosis (bluish skin due to deficient oxygenation of blood). Hazardous decomposition products include nitrogen oxides, irritating and toxic fumes and gase .

TITANIUM The toxicological properties of this material have not been fully investigated. May cau e respiratory tract irritation. Hazardous decomposition products: Irritating and toxic fumes and gases.

ZINC OXIDE may cause irritation to the respiratory tract.

Inhalation can cause a flu-Like illness (metal fume fever). When heated to high temperatures, zinc oxide produce toxic fume .

Codes, Standards, and Regulations Currently, there are no national licensing or certification programs for pyrotechnics. A patchwork of regulation , which can vary from state to state, even from city to city, monitor pyrotechnic u e. The US Department of Transportation clas ifies explosives and regulates their transportation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) regulates the storage and use of explosives. However, most ready-to-use pyrotechnic products are cia sified as "common explo ives" and are not regulated by the ATE Some states have no statewide codes or laws regulating their use and yet other states have strict laws regarding pyrotechnics, including licensing of pyrotechnicians and granting performance permits. There are some local juri dictions that have no detailed legal requirements for indoor or proximate pyrotechnics and often rely on their existing basic fire code regulations.

The National Fire Protection Association ( FPA) Standard 1126, "Standard for Use of Pyrotechnics Before a Proximate

Auclience;' which was compiled by a panel of pyrotechnic and fire-safety expert , contains guideline for the pyrotechnic industry for the afe use, in term of fire hazards and burn , of proximate pyro-technics. The e are industry guidelines only, not laws.

FPA tandard 1126 does not address potential health hazards from exposure to the emi ion from the chemicals in pyrotechnic .

0 HA standards do not address the multiple combinations of chemical or the decomposition byproduct of the chemicals that are in pyrotechnic compo itions.

Health Studies A few linuted studies have been done on the health effect from the emi ion of pyrotechnics.

In a report dated March 1983, the ationalln titute for Occupational afety and Health ( 10 H ) conducted a health hazard evaluation of the smoke from pyrotechnjcs used in the "Jubilee"

production at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, evada.

Tills report includes a previous inve tigation conducted in 1981 by the evada Department of Occupational afety and Health (DOSH). DOSH responded to workers complaints about smoke from the pyrotechnic u ed in the production.

Re piratory djfficulties, sinus problems, eye irritation, and nausea occurred among the approximately 150 stagehand , wardrobe per onnel, and performers. The agency tested the air and found that the ajrborne particulate in the smoke from the pyrotechnic con isted of an array of chemicals, some of wruch tested to be alkaline. ince there were no industrial tandard that could be applied to the e chemical , DO H could only apply the 0 HA nuisance dust standard to their findings and did not cite MGM Grand Hotel for the problem.

Then in 1982, in respon e to a request from the President of IAT E Local 720, 10 H conducted another evaluation of the exposure of employees to the smoke

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SAFETY ON THE SET

produced by the pyrotechnics at the MGM Grand Hotel. A NIO H phy ician gathered information from the affected employees and from their private physicians. The report from the e interview concluded that the case of re piratory problems and bronchiti found among the worker inclicated that a health hazard did exist on the show.

MGM Grand Hotel refused a NIO H request to conduct further air sampling test . The manufacturer of the pyrotechnic would only supply JOSH with a general composition of the pyrotechnics and the expected decompo ition byproducts, maintaining that the specific components of their products were con idered trade ecrets.

From the limited available data, NIOSH concluded: There is a health hazard due to the alkaline du t produced by the pyrotechrucs in the "Jubilee" show. There is al o a possibility that the pota ium sulfate which is probably pre ent in the moke is at least in part responsible for the bronchitis. A IOo/o incidence of respiratory problem , orne being a bronchitis, i exce ively high. Thi repre ent a minjmum incidence although all of the more serious ca es may be included in thi sample. The ra hes mentioned by the wardrobe attendants and performer may also be due in part to the alkaline dust. ( 10 H Health Hazard Report, HETA 82-365- 128,2 MGM Grand Hotel & Ca ino, Las Vegas, evada, p. 7) In June 2000, Actor' Equity A ociation and the League of American Theater and Producers released another tudy entitled "Health Effect Evaluation of Theatrical Smoke, Haze, and Pyrotechrucs."

Thj tudy mainly concentrated on the effects of theatrical smoke and haze.

Pyrotechnics were mentioned briefly.

The report tated tha t becau e of the low current use of pyrotechnic on Broadway, both in the number of how utilizing these effect and the amount of expo ure, no ignificant or con i tent associations were observed between ymptoms and pyrotechnic u e. The report did note an increa e in no e and inus symptoms in the preliminary pyrotechnics exposure assessment.

However, thi wa a ociated with the irritative effects of particuJate .

Protection The re pirator recommendation on the Material afety Data heets for orne of the chemical in pyrotechnics are ba ed on particulate expo ure and not on expo ure to potential toxic ga es and fumes that may re uJt from the decomposition of the e chemical . IO H type filter ca n be u ed in du t hazard ituations. NlO H type R or P filter are to be u ed in the pre ence of du t and oil or glycol particuJate (found in artificial fog or moke effects).

~

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A tudy relea ed in March 2003 from the Univer ity of British olumbia' chool of 0 cupational and Environmental Hygiene entitled "Atmo pheric Effects in the Entertainment Industry-Con tituent , Expo ure and Health Effects" found that entertainment indu try employee had lower average lung function test results and reported more chronic re piratory ymptoms, uch a cough, wheezing, shortne of breath and current a thma symptoms, that were as ociated with exposure to glycol and mineral oil theatrical smoke and fog . This study, funded by the BC Worker ' Compen ation Board, the B Lung As ociation, afety and Health in Arts, Production and Entertainment ( HAPE), and the Univer ity of Briti h Columbia, analyzed the exposures of Ill entertainment industry per onnel working in 19 location in televiion, film, live theater, and mu ic concerts.

There earcher found that the fog aero ol were mall enough to enter the smalle t airways and air acs of the lung . The e mall particle could al o remain su pended in air for long period , from hour to days. The report tate that the exposure to film and television per onnel were more than twice as high as tho e in other types of production .

The tudy found that increa ed work-related wheezing, che t tightne , and decrea ed lung function were ignificantly a ociated with cumulative expo ure to artificial fog. hronic lower airway ymptom (a thma-like symptoms) and airflow ob truction wa linked to chronic exposure to fog aero ol .

The study conclude that expo ure to theatrical moke and fog of any type (mineral oil or glycol) i provoking non-specific re piratory irritation and increa ing the ri k for chronic airflow obstruction among Briti h Columbia entertainment indu try employee.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SAFETY ON THE SET

37

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Life on the sacred Ganga River at Voronosi , the city of death, the oldest living city on earth . The dead ore washed in the river; pilgrims bathe in it. Boots ply it. Young entrepreneurs do business beside it.

40

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

By Laurie K Gilbert SOC

igh in the Himalayas, the midday sun gently warms the lope of the mountains and the pristine glacier give birth to a trickle of clear, efferve cent water. The trickle combine to become tream and the stream combine to become a river. It is the origin of one of the most significant and acred rivers on planet earth - the river the Indian call "Mother Ganga" and that much of the We tern world refer to as the Ganges.

In its inexorable journey from the mo t northern reaches of India to the Bay of Bengal it will provide irrigation, tran portation and sanctification the millions of people â&#x20AC;˘ who live by its banks.

Flowing south acros the plain of Eastern Uttar Prade h, the river actually turn north at Chunar and traces

H

- - - - - - --a huge arc to the ancient city ofVarana i, once known a Benares, situated on the confluence of the Varuna and Asi River .

"Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice a old as all of them put together" was Mark Twain's opinion of Varana i, which historians respect as one of the oldest living cities on earth.

To the Buddhist faith it is Kashika or the City of Light because it is very clo e to where the Buddha preached his first sermon. To the Hindu faith it is the most sacred pot on earth: Kashi - the ultimate pilgrimage destination and it is also here that Lord Mahavira revealed his philosophy of Jain ism. In Indian mythology, the legends and stories of this ancient city stretch back to the dawn of time and it was the myths and the ancient Hindu cremation rituals that attracted American "Indie" film director Gayle Ferraro of Aerial Productions in Boston Massachusetts.

As an Asia-based cinematographer, I

had encountered Gayle's production company whil t earching the web for potential USA clients for my specialist "aerial" skill . ( ee Operating Cameraman magazine Winter 200 I). Her web page revealed that she was a documentary filmmaker with a track record in making personal films about challenging subjects in Asia. I sent her an introduction to my global cinematography services and a year later she called me in Singapore with an invitation to put a team together to shoot a motion picture proj ect for her in India.

Equipping the crew

The film crew at the legendary Manikarnika Burning Ghat: Iâ&#x20AC;˘' AC Monic Kumar, Producer Girish Takur, DOP Laurie Gilbert SOC, Sound Recordist Rajendra Hedge and Director Gayle Ferraro.

Gayle wanted to make a 90 minute documentary film for global cinema on the legendary Burning Ghats in Varanasi.

Unlike her previous two projects that were shot in Myanmar and Bangladesh on Mini-DV format, this one was to be originated on Super 16mm for 35mm cinema release.

The production wa to be entirely financed by Gayle her elf, but what it may have lacked in budget, Gayle herself was to make up for in passion, and the crew in imagination.

Through the Mandys production database I was able to access three of the most experienced and talented film crew available in India - producer Girish Thakur, sound recordist Rajendra Hedge Far Left: 15' AC Monic Kumar prepares the Vinten Fibertec tripod on its arrival in India . Left: Production Assistant and international journalist Geeta Nadkarni with DP Laurie Gilbert SOC outside the hospice. Below left: The Arriflex from Boston Cameras always attracted spectators.

Below: Director Gayle Ferraro and DP Laurie K Gilbert SOC confer.

42

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

15' AC Monic "lmax" Kumar and Producer Girish Takur discuss the production challenges of the Varanasi hospice Mukti Buvan. and ! 51 A Monic "!max" Kumar. We also had the support of international media journalist Geeta adkarni a a production a i tant.

Gayle had been able to ecure a particularly good deal from Bo ton amera on an Arri R3 Production Kit and my contribution from ingapore included a Hollywood Microdolly, a Cine addle and my Lowei/Dedo ba ed documentary lighting kit. I had also been offered the opportunity by the Vinten Company to trial their revolutionary

We went for a walk in the city to assess shooting locations. Almost immediately it became apparent just how challenging this shoot was going to be.

winding treet to the cremation centers of the legendary Burning Ghats. The Hindu faith believes that a ritual cremation at one of the most revered Ghat like Manikarnika or Hari chandra will break the eternal cycle of samsara (death and rebirth) and eventually bring the deceased the much-de ired moksha (enlightenment). Every evening, the Ia tray of the un mu t fight through the pungent smoke that rises from the innumerable funeral pyres situated along the riverbank. This smoke ymbolically carrie the ouls of the pilgrim on their Ia t journey a they are finally relea ed from their earthly burden .

Throughout the city are hospices or Bhavans, e tabli hed by charity organization to provide imple facilities for tho e people who have been brought by their families to live out their final few days in the most sacred of cities.

The e ho pices are often nothing more than a house with a collection of bare, dark rooms, each with a raised concrete platform where the eldest on, for example, will gently place hi dying parent, wrapped in blankets, on a bed of traw. Attached to the bhavan is a priest who performs daily ceremonie with candle , mu ic and mantra to calm the oul and encourage the serene en e of peace that prevail in the e e tabli hment .

Waiting for Tiger Gayle's ftlm (working title "Ganga") planned to document aU the historical and religious aspects of Life, death and moksha in Kashi. he also wanted to portray the cultural ignificance of the sacred river Ganga that feature in

Fibertec tripod with the HDlOO head to give me the camera upport I needed in India. Although the Kodak Vi ion II film was not available for thi job-coincidentally it was launched in Singapore the afternoon I flew to Delhi- ] had cho en to hoot a 60:40 roll ratio of lOOT to 200T. I hoped thi combination would handle everything we encountered becau e in preproduction I was unable to acce accu rate local information on our primary locations.

On the memorable day that the ftlm crew met together for the very fir t time in Varana i, we went for a walk in the city to a e our hooting locations. Almo t immediately it became apparent ju t how challenging thi shoot wa going to be. We were operating in what i truly a timeles city, a city which ha evolved at it own cho en pace with little regard to the modern world beyond its municipal and national boundaries. Reliable electricity seemed to be a non-exi tent luxury, which the local don't eem to need nea rly a much a our lights, battery charger and computer did. Tran portation was by auto rickshaw, cooking by charcoal and lighting by ca ndle and oil lamps.

The <ity of death Varana i ha a unique identity as the city where life goes hand in hand with death-and death i very big bu ine s. On an average day, more than 200 bodie are tran ported on Litter through narrow

The hospice manager's children investigate the camera equipment. The Hollywood Microdolly gave us added production value inside the dark confines of the hospice.

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

43

Lighting solutions for inside the hospice included the limited amount of light from the grates and openings. Above and left: the reality of the dying rooms of Mukti Buvan.

Below left and right: Moments after the last breath of life .

the rituals of life for all who have the privilege of living near her.

As we began to work at our primary location of Mukti Buvan we oon realized that we needed to be able to talk about human bodie in a sensitive, profe ional way so as not to offend member of the family, the prie t and ho pice administrator . orne time Later, a we were waiting for one of the bright orange decorated body-Litters to appear on its way to the Burning Ghat, my Indian producer commented that it wa Like "waiting for tiger" on a wildlife shoot. From that point onward , our bodie both dead and alive were known a Tiger in film crew code.

Over time we were able to develop a relationship with each family who had brought a Tiger to the ho pice. Our ability to take profes ional photographic portraits of the Tiger and pre ent the family with complimentary prints the following day, earned us an enormou amount of

44

Gho t Who hoot" and the invaluable Cine addle often allowed u to operate the camera to production levels of performance without the intimidating intru ion of a tripod in uch an intin1ate family gathering.

Operating in such low Light level created a whole serie of new emotional credit and acceptance with family member . Eventually we were invit- challenges, e pecially a all the dark tone ed with our cameras into the privacy of blended together in the viewfinder, makthe dark room where death would be an ing accurate focu by eye impo ible. For diplomatic reason weal o couldn't run inevitable vi itor within a matter of days.

The e room had ba ic window shutter out a tape mea ure to the subject's no e, which were often closed for privacy, and so Monic and I estimated distances by eye and telegraphed focu with little or no electricity available, we had to ettings ilently to each other with the appropriimprovi e with candle , ate number of finger . oil lamp and the one There were many occa9mm Zei uperspeed ion when the ubject' len the budget allowed. breathing movements With the sen itivity of our subject matter and were o imperceptible that I wa able to expo e the demand that the camera crew be as invi iproperly for dark walls ble as po sible, our workand dark skin tones by ing practice in ide the running the camera at 6 dark, depre ing room fps . On three occa ions I required all our year of was actually rolling when At Mukti Buvan, husband and a final, subtle sigh was experience and ingenuity. We became "The sons await an inevitable death . heard and the whispers

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

Clockwise from left: In the rain, recording the Western tourist perspective of Varanasi; filming handheld on a barge; talking to a tiger's family member; interviewing the manager of Mukti Buvan ; chatting in the Haifa Cafe, a tourist Mecca with "western food ."

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

45

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The journey to cremation at Manikarnika Burning Ghat.

Above right: The Final Journey. Above left: The ritual final bathe in the Ganga .

Left: The eldest son with his shaved head makes the traditional five revolutions of the body before applying the burning brand to the funeral pyre. Right and Below left: Final cremation .

of smoke from the everpre ent jo ticks e corted a human pirit away from the body in front of me.

When death finally arrived, the family then performed the ritual cleaning of the body and it wa then carried in it bright ornate orange robe through the narrow winding treet to its final destination on the banks of the river.

The litter wa lowered into the dark water of Mother Ganga for one final ble ing before being placed on the top of one of the multitude of wooden funeral pyre . The elde t on would then have his head shaved a a tradjtional mark of re pect and taking a burning brand from the acred flame, would orbit the pyre five times before thru ting the flame into its ba e.

Life on the River ayle knew that the Ganga would be the thread that would link aU of her film and o we hired river barge to tran port u as we hot the routine of the river. Working on the long end of a Canon 300mm T2.8 we di creetly filmed the variou bathing, religious and mu ical rituals that the river hosts on a daily basis. For key interview in the film we turned the barge into a mobile" turuo Ganga" by creating a platform of cu hion for our ubject in the bow. As Dr Mishra and the various heroe of our film talked about the historical culture ofVarana i, the un et river frontage of the Ghat changed and evolved behind their heads as we drifted silently with the tide.

Four weeks after facing the practical and emotional challenge of hooting our film in India, we cleaned our camera and repacked all of our equipment for the Ia t time. As Gayle left New Delhi for the lab in Lo Angeles, he carried with her 92 preciou

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

47

roll of expo ed film, carefully packed in an elaborately handpainted, Indian transportation che t. Once she arrived in the U A, she anticipated a very complex, multi-lingual editing marathon with her ewYork film editor, Keiko Deguchi.

Her crew had hot a 90 minute cinema documentary film on one of the most sensitive ubjects on earth, in one of the most difficult cities in the world to work in, in the darke t of location , with little external upport and no access to supplementary lighting.

Varanasi had challenged every piece of our equipment, all of our experience as profe sionals and every ounce of our emotional re erve as human beings. But then that' what the extraordinary film Ganges-River to Heaven and pa ionate Indie film director Gayle Ferraro deserved.

~ Laurie K Gilbert SOC is an Asia-based motion picture director of photography. More information on this and his other global films can be seen atwww.limage.tv Š Laurie K Gilbert The 79 minute video Ganges: River to Heaven debuted at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, November 2003.

48

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: UFE, DEATH AND MOKSHA

Left: The eternal circle-a new bride receives a marriage blessing at Ganga . Above: A barber plies his trade on the banks of the river. Below: Cremation pyres at Manikarnika Burning Ghat. Bottom left: Women make offerings to the spirits of the Ganga . Bottom right: A Sadhu priest stands in the river and prays .

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by Rick Mitchell Anaglyph glasses, with the left eye red and the right eye blue, are the most common method of viewing anything in 3-D. Anaglyph was used for the first officially recorded presentation of 3-D motion pictures in 1915.

lmo t overlooked in the bicoastal celebrations of the 50 1h anniver ary of the introduction of Cinema cope and the West Coast revival of Cinerama wa a third technological occurrence, the first serious attempt to add real depth to the pal let of narrative technique available to filmmaker .

This was rectified by the 3-D Expo held in eptember 2003 by Sabucat Productions at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Over an intense ten day period 35 of the features made between 1952 and 1955 plu a number of hort and rare clip were presented in both original and new print .

T his allowed for a different perspective on the 3-D boom and bust of the early '50s that had been impo sible in the past.

The ancient Greek Euclid laid out the basic principle of binocular vi ion: that the left and right eyes see slightly different views of the arne subject and the merging of these images by the eyes creates the illusion of depth. In 1838 Sir Charle Wheatstone invented a device using mirror for viewing drawings that simulated this natural phenomenon.

Five years after the 1839 invention of photography, tereoscopic photographs and methods of viewing them were introduced and became the rage during the rest of the century, via the use of handheld viewer , forerunners of the Tru-View and View-Master

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

3-0 viewer that became popular in the '50 .

At the turn of the 20th Century Kodak, among other , introduced a simple 3-D camera for amateur use. In ensuing years such notables as Winston Churchill and Harold Lloyd were enthusiastic amateur tereo till photographer .

Presenting stereo copic image to large audience wa not so easy, since some way had to be found to pre ent the left and right views discretely to the proper eye. The most practical way of doing this was by the anaglyph method, in which one eye view was presented through a red filter, the other through a blue one, with the result viewed through gla se with corresponding color filters. joseph d' Almeida fir t u ed this method in France in 1858 to project stereoscopic images before a large audience.

Anaglyph printing was perfected at the turn of the century and was used for in erts in newspapers, and later comic strips and books. Amazing 3-D by Hal Morgan and Dan Symmes (Little, Brown, and Co, 1982), ource of much of the historical material on 3-0 in this article, has a number of interesting historical 3-0 photographs, cartoons, and stills from many 1953 3-0 films printed in anaglyph.

Anaglyph was also used for the first officially recorded

presentation of 3-D motion pictures in 1915, a presentation by film pioneer Edwin S Porter and William E Waddell.

There seems to be no official record of how their film or earlier experiments in stereoscopic motion pictures were photographed. Based on later techniques, it can be assumed that they were done by lining up two cameras side-by-side linked with a common haft to insure frame accuracy, and by using matched lenses of the same focal lengths. In 1922 three more 3-D programs were presented, including the first 3-D feature, The Power of Love. A number of shorts were made during the rest of the decade, shown either via filters on the projectors or printing on appropriately dyed stock.

Between 1936 and 1941 MGM released three shorts in anaglyph. By this time duplicated print stock with emulsion on both sides of the base had been developed for two-color processes like Multicolor and Cinecolor, so the left and right eye views could be printed on the same strip of film and dyed appropriately.

Since all that is required to pre ent a

Left: Sir Charles Wheatstone experimented with 3-D in 1838. Right: Edwin S Porter produced 3-D films in 1915 .

view in anaglyph is the two-color glasses, it is still the most expedient and economical method for presenting tllree dimen sional images to large audiences, and though there are problems with images in color, it is used for the gimmick pre entation of3-D material on television and mo t recently for scenes in Robert Rodriguez's HD feature Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. By setting tile 3-D cenes inside a computer game, Rodriguez was able to deal creatively with tl1e com pro-

mise necessitated in applying the process to color. Recently the author has seen some surprising color anaglyph stills suggesting that if the technology wliich produced them could succes fully be applied to theatrical and video presentation , anaglyph may finally establish 3-D as a viable medium.

Unfortunately anaglyph is not a perfect method for presenting stereoscopic photographs or motion pictures. The hues in tl1e glass filters need to be fairly strong for good cancellation and tl1is cuts down on the brightne s of the viewed image; it can also be a problem if the image is dark or very contrasty. Even at that, image cancellation is often imperfect and if the eparation between the image is too great in original photography, the brain ha trouble fusing them into an image in depth, and tl1at can cau e headaches.

Indeed, prolonged watching of anaglyphs has been known to produce eye fatigue as well as headaches as Universal found out when it re-released It Came From Outer Space and The Creature From the Black Lagoon in anaglyph in tile mid-'70s.

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Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder (1954) starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings, was filmed in 3-D but shown in 2-D as viewers preferred their movies without glasses . Photo copyrighted by the distributors, Warner Brothers.

An alternative to anaglyph wa attempted in 1922, called Teleview. It involved two projector showing rapidly alternating image which were een by the audience looking through motor driven device on the back of the eat in front of them. hutter blades rotating in ync with the projector alternately blocked the appropriate left or right view. It wa expen ive and cumber orne to et up and according to review didn't really work.

The mo t ucce ful alternative to anaglyph developed to date wa the Polaroid method. In 1932, Dr Edwin H Land had developed a flexible light polarizing material that would pas light wave in one direction only. In the mid'30 he applied thi material to the projection of 3-D image . Unlike in the anaglyph y tern, the u e of polarizing filter re ulted in more di crete views and eliminated mo t of the eye train and eye fatigue problems. It could al o be

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u ed with images in full color. It major drawback was the need for a ilvered creen; uch creen do not diffu e the light reflected from them the way mo t standard theater creen do.

A number of fUm hort were hown by anaglyph projection between the late '30 and 1952. Mo t notable were the one hown at the 1939 ew York World's Fair and the 1952 Fe tival of Britain but, a with the demon trations of Cinerama, there wa no erious interest expre ed by the main tream indu try.

The primary empha i in 3-D motion picture eem to have alway been on "in-your-face" gimmicks. ome ilent anaglyph footage from the '20 hown in the Expo's "Raritie " program con i ted mo tly of item being poked, thrown, or hot "into the audience 'eye ,"a did te t footage from MGM ' Audioscopiks and Three-Dimensional Murder hort made between 1936-41. They were hown here

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

by Polaroid apparently for the fir t time.

One problem with the ide-by- ide camera method u ed to photograph the e film is that they could not maintain focu on the object approaching the camera, unable to converge as human eye do on object approaching them and thu cau ing eye train.

There i ome di pute a to the chain of event that led to the '50 3-D boom.

According to an article in the ov-Dec '53 issues of American Cinematographer, Dr Julian Gunzberg claimed that in 1950 hi writer-producer brother Milton became intere ted in u ing 3-D to add reali m to a fUm about teenage hotrodder he had written. Julian, an ophthalmologi t and amateur till photographer, helped hi brother re earch 3-D filmmaking to date and work out the kind of camera y tem they'd need to get better 3-D image than in the pa t. According to Gunzberg, they chose Friend Baker and 0 Bryhn, who had been working on

3-D ince the '30 and had developed a 16mm y tern, to build their propo ed camera. However, according to camera operator Lothrop B Worth, Baker, Bryhn, and Worth had already built a prototype 35mm camera which they improved with financing from the Gunzbergs.

(The Gunzberg article doe n't mention Worth and there is an edge to hi comment about the Gunzberg that suggest there may have been orne internecine conflict .)

The camera u ed two Mitchell C camera on a lathe bed facing each other, but with two mirror between them at 90 degree angles reflecting the cene to be photographed into their len e . The mirrors were coupled with each other o that parallax could be accurately changed during the hooting of a cene with the arne facility a varying the focu of the len .

They called their proce atural Vi ion, a name that in the '20s had been applied to a 63mm format developed by pioneering producer George K poor and P John Berggren which was originally announced as a 3-D y tern.

In 1952 Arch Oboler, a producerrurector who had moved into filmmakillg in the mid-'40 after miling hi reputation with the radio program "Light Out!" wa impre ed byte t footage hot with the atural Vision camera and

decided to make his next feature with it. Though et in Africa at the turn of the twentieth century, the film wa actually hot in the northwe tern an Fernando Valley and wa one of the frr t to u e the An co color negative stock that had been introduced three years earlier. (Real Africa wa repre ented by rear projected l6mm Kodachrome footage which was shot with the atural Vi ion camera pa t foliage or rocks, to add "depth" to the hot. The e item were often marupulated to match the on- creen action, a technique that would be carried out to an ab urd degree with tock footage from old we tern in the following year' The

Stranger Wore a Gun.) Ace cinematographer Joseph Biroc A C, with whom Worth had frequently worked, wa brought in a director of photography with Worth a cam era operator. Worth worked in thi po ition on ubsequent atural Vision films until he him elf wa promoted to DP in 1954. When Oboler' financing

Nigel Bruce and Robert Stock relax in the foreground with crew on location in Southern California's Agoura Hills during the filming of Bwana Devil.

In Creature from the Black Lagoon, o UniversalInternational Picture, 1954, the creature carries off Kay Lawrence, played by Julio Adams .

ran out, actor Robert tack and hi well -heeled family were among tho e who pitched in to help.

Their inve tment wa returned many time over when the re ult, Bwana Devil opened in Lo Angeles on ov 30 1952, two month after This Is Cinerama had premiered in ew York.

Though a hit with the public, Bwana Devil wa attacked by critics at the time of it relea e for being slow and overly talky, the major flaw in mo t of Oboler' film , a reflection of his radio background. De pite the ad that proclaimed "A Lion in Your Lap! A Lover in Your Arm !" Oboler u ed very few "in-your-face" gimmicks, which he didn't like anyway. There are hots that live up to the ad , but they don't really work becau e once the object being brought out touche the edge of the frame, the entire image pop back into it. De pite the obviou ne of thi problem, 3-D filmmaker would continue to attempt to bring out object too large to work effectively.

Possibly because Bwana Devil's premiere occurred in Lo Angele , the industry was quicker to embrace 3-D even though it had orne technical problem for exhibitors but not to the degree of Cinerama's.

It required the installation of the ilver creen of cour e, but also the u e of two projector imultaneously. ince the ri e of the multi-reel feature in the

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

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Screenwriter Arthur Lowe beside the MGM 3-D camera during filming of Arena.

The barndoor at one end of the Natural Vision blimp is open with the eyepiece and back of a Mitchell 35mm camera showing.

mid-1910s all theaters had at lea t two projectors to allow them to run the film unjnterrupted by reel changes. Though reels containing 2000 ft of film had become an official standard in 1936, the early '50s switch from citrate to safety film made it possible to remove the enclo ed feed and takeup magazines required for the older flammable stock and use reel contaiillng

up to 6000 ft of film. U ing both projectors for a 3-D feature often required an intermis ion. (Actually, orne first run theater had four projectors and could run a film continuously.)

By Christmas Warner Bros and Colun1bia had igned deal with Natural Vision and rushed The House of Wax and Fort Ti into pre-production. Other companies, noting the basic principle behilld atural Vi ion, put together their own 3-D rigs, usually involving one camera

Fernando Lamas and Charles Lawton examine Paramount 3D rig on set of Sangaree.

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3路0

hooting trrught on and the other through a mirror to get the closer interocular, or inverting one camera and running it in reverse. Columbia and Warners also developed their own in-house 3-D cameras; Columbia u ing theirs to film Man in the Dark and get it into theaters a day before House of Wax. Later Columbia Studios engineer Gerald Rackett designed a rig utilizing two Mitchell camera movement ide-by-side shooting strajght ahead without the aid of mirrors or prisms. Though housed within a blin1p for noiseless filming, it was also a smaller mobile unit that provided control of convergence and variable interaxial operated by knobs and dials on either side of the blin1p. An additional control for followfocus on moving camera shots was incorporated along with synchronization and interlocking of the lens mechanisms of both cameras.

At Paramount, famed process cinematographer Farciot Edouard ASC had developed dual and later triple headed projector rigs to get a brighter image on larger screens or for Techillcolor by using mirrors to superimpose the image from the same plate in two or three separate projectors on the rear projection screen.

He modified the rig he'd developed in 1938 for hi prototype dual head projector to accept cameras and the studio finished Sangaree, wruch was shot on

Eastman Color negative in 3-D, then went back and reshot the first half! Two subsequent Paramount filins, Flight to Tangier and Money From Home, were hot with three-strip Tedmicolor cameras, rigged with one shooting from the side of the other into a mirror.

The only 3-D rig used for principal photography not to involve standard production cameras was the Stereo-Cine system, which used two Eclair CM3s. The smaller size of the cameras made it possible to use them without mirrors, but only one fiLn made was with the system, Hannah Lee (AKA Outlaw Territory).

Though beautifully shot by Lee Garmes ASC, who also co-directed with star John Ireland, a rare print shown at the 3-D Expo revealed problems traceable to the cameras themselves. They do not Phyllis Kirk and Kirk Lovejoy look into the Natural Vision camera on House of Wax set. have the kind of registration pins that fit fully into the perforations like Mitchells and Bell & Howells so across a cut would be noted in screenings and subsequently there was noticeable misalignment and unsteadiness in the differcorrected. ent eye views. Later, a rig made up with two Arriflex cameras was With regard to visual effects, rear projection was regularly used for the underwater photography in Creature From the Black used from Bwana Devil onward, often with the tricks to add Lagoon (1954) and Revenge of the Creature (1955). depth to rear projected stock footage as noted earlier.

According to Ross Hoffman, Universal's optical printer whiz, As for the post-production of 3-D films according to Rudi Fehr, their effects head at the time, David S Horsley ASC had editor of House of Wax and Dial M for Murder, the standard practice wa to edit the left eye and conform the right eye to it. (Like worked out a method for shooting 3-D rear projection plates the sound track, the two eye views carried a common inked but it apparently was never implemented. The ending of Kiss Me, Kate! has the first 3-D blue screen shot and both Robot footage code as a sync reference. ) Any convergence discrepancies Monster and The Glass Web have rotoscoped matte work. In the former case it was surprisingly good for a "no-budget" fllm. A strange anomaly occurs in matte painting shots in both Fort Ti and Miss Sadie Thompson: the painting appears to be in front of, not behind the live action!

One aspect of Cinerama that was adopted fairly quickly by the industry was stereophonic sound. This consisted of three channels on magnetic striped celluloid projected double system with the film in mostly first run theaters which put in playback dummies. The House of

Wax, It Came From Outer Space, The Charge at Feather River, Kiss Me, Kate! and, according to a poster, Inferno were

Warner Brothers' House of Wax ( 1953) starred Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy and Phyllis Kirk. It was photographed in "Natural Vision 3-Dimension ."

3-D fllms shown with stereophonic sound. The Warner films also had an optical surround channel on the right eye print. Unfortunately, most of the studios either junked or degaussed and reused the tracks used in theaters and their dubbing masters. However tl1e masters on Kiss Me, Kate! and Outer Space have been saved and those films were presented at

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-0

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the Expo in tereo, the ma ter tran ferred by Chace Production to a hard drive that ran in ync with the projector .

It Came From Outer Space i particularly interesting a it wa one of the fir t for an American dramatic ftlm in 3-0. The mu ic i in stereo of cour e, but dialog and ound effect are also positioned to match off-screen ource . For the record, the original production recording and library and original ound effects were recorded on optical sound track.

All of the initial 3-D relea e were quickly made, with only Warner ' Hou e of Wax and Univer al' It Came From Outer Space howing any attempt at quality. House ofWaXs quality wa due a much to Jack Warner' en e of howmanship a to director Andre de Toth' interest in 3-D. (De Toth had vision in only one eye a did legendary director Raoul Wal h, who directed Columbia's econd best 3-D ftlm Gun Fury; at the Expo creening of Gog ( 1954), director Herbert L trock revealed he also had monocular vision.) De Toth and cinematographers Peverell Marley and Bert Glennon, both A C, empha ized compo ition and taging in depth over gimmick , even u ing fog to enhance the tereo copic effect. (De Toth objected to the incluion of the guy batting paddle balls at the camera.)

The 1953 sci-fi classic was also tagged : "A helicopter's churning blades whirl inches from your head!" and " In scientifically perfected, eye-resting, full sepia Monocolor! "

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN : A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

One notable audience grabber was a shot in which the villain' henchman Charles Buchinsky (later Bron on ) leaped up into frame as if jumping out of the audience into the film. This pectacular 3-D effect has strangely enough been duplicated in only one other film, Warner ' last, The Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954).

Robot Monster is the only film to attempt an unusual subliminal effect by using different disaster stock shots in each eye.

Jack Arnold, who directed all four of Univer al' black-andwhite 3-D films al o ro e to the challenge, minimizing the gimmicks and staging and compo ing hi cenes for maximum audience involvement. In fact, in The Glass Web, apparently hown in 3-D for the first time ince a preview at the arne Egyptian Theater, Arnold in ert a equence of a dazed John For ythe triding pa t a erie of 3-0 gimmicks as if to spoof their overuse in other film . A fi tfight between Richard arl on and harle Drake in It Came From Outer pace i al o extremely effective in 3-D. The rest of the initial flurry of films that played in theater in the fir t half of 1953 feU into two categorie : tho e that played up the gimmicks and tho e that made little u e of the format. Most of them were made in one or two weeks on low budgets that didn't allow for much coverage or movement of the heavy camera rig . All of Columbia' film went overboard on the gimmicks, and as mo t were produced by the notoriously penny-pinching am Katzman, they also had bad, talky, often non en ical plot with acting honor going to tho e who could be good on the fir t take. Even de Toth wa undone by his one Columbia "depthie;' The tranger Wore a Gun, made for Randolph cott and Harry Joe Brown' independent company. ot only did it how little of the creativity of House of Wax, but it wa inferior to Toth's earlier Man in the addle ( 1951) which was staged and compo ed as if it were a 3-D fUm, though shot flat.

Paramount' angaree, a rare urviving half 3-D print wa shown privately during the Expo and looked as if director Edward Ludwig changed none of his staging and setups for the 3-D re hoot except for ome angle in a barroom fight. It wa otherwi e a dull, low, talky, romantic costumer, notable only for a love cene in which Arlene Dahl bites Fernando Lamas' lip while kis ing him.

RKO's fir t two 3-D fiJm , econd Chance and De vii's Canyon, eemed to be project ready to go into tandard production mode but the studio decided to hoot them in 3-D without reconfiguring them for the format other than adding a few gimmick hots. Devil's Canyon was hown privately at the Expo because the urviving print wa n't considered good enough to show a paying audience, omething of a urprise at the Expo was a rare print of the fir t real 3-D "cheapie;' Robot Monster. Reportedly shot in six day for between 12-25 thousand in the area around Griffith Park's legendary Bronson Canyon, it wa a ripoff of Invaders

From Mars, reputedly one of the worst movies ever made. The 3-D photography

by B movie veteran Jack Greenhalgh, however, is quite good. It is also the only film to attempt an unusual subliminal effect by using different disaster stock shots in each eye.

The second wave of films was slightly better as the filmmakers had more experience in making them. Five of them stand out as notable examples of 3-D filmmaking at the time and really should be viewed in 3-D by anyone contemplating making a film in the format. Though Warners' The Charge at Feather River has long been a subject of jokes because of insert shots in which it appears propmen throw handfuls of arrows and spear at the camera, director Gordon Dougla and cinematographer Peverell Marley

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The possibilities for 3-D in 11 tlrtJmtJtic film were explored quite s11tisfyingly in RichtJrtl Fleischer's Aren11. often make dramatic use of3-D, especially in emphasizing the actors' relationship to the terrain. One scene that tands out: during a bit of byplay between comic relief Dick Wesson and Henry Kulky, Indians attack in the background and the camera booms up and hifts focus and depth appropriately and effectively. A final attack on an island in a river is shot mostly over the shoulders of the surviving cavalry troop toward the attacking Indians, justifying action and objects directed toward the camera.

The possibilities for 3-D in a dramatic film were explored quite satisfyingly in Richard Fleischer's Arena, shown in a rare Technicolor IB print made from the An coColor negative for the first time since its original release. MGM's first 3-D film and shot with a rig built by its camera department, Arena was one of the fust 3-D feature to not be widely shown in the format. Director Fleischer, in a question and answer session after the screening, stated he was originally excited by the idea of bringing everything he could think of out at the audience until he realized the problem of dealing with objects too large for the frame men-

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3 - D

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tioned above. Instead, except for orne shots in a barroom fight, Flei cher concentrated on staging and compositions in depth, enhancing what today would be a omewhat dull MOW about a day in the life of rodeo performers by his use of patial relation hips between characters to pull the viewer into the film.

I, the jury, photographed by the legendary John Alton, was also a revelation.

Alton's stark chiaroscuro wa particularly adaptable to 3-D and this film also emphasized composition and staging over gimmicks. At one point, during a fight equence in LA' famou Bradbury Building, Alton shot 2-D footage with a handheld Arriflex that was double printed for inclusion in the 3-D version, a technique frequently u ed to incorporate 2-D stock shots into 3-D ftlms or where

Biff Elliott as Mike Hammer struggles with a bad guy in /, the Jury.

one eye negative was damaged for orne reason (see idebar, page 61). orne might qujbble at the inclu ion of The Maze a a igruficant 3-D film becau e of its absurd plot but it's one of the few 3-D film to be made by a notable vi ual styli t: production de igner and djrector William Cameron Menzie . Menzie alway had to deal with creating the illu ion of depth in a flat medium, u ually by u ing a silhouetted foreground, brightly Li t middle ground, and a darker background often filtered through moke or aerial haze. He employed forced per pective either through the u e of wide angle len e or specifically de igned et . According to cinematographer Richard H Kline A C who e first job as an assistant cameraman wa on Menzies' Address Unknown (1943), Menzie al o preferred low camera angles in which a weU-Lit ubject was positioned against a background that progre ed from Light to dark from the bottom to the top of the frame. The e were all techniques with exciting appHcatjons for 3-D which Menzies utilized in

The Maze.

Though The House of Wax and Dial M for Murder are the best known 3-D fea tures over the last 25 years in the opinion of many who've seen them in 3-D, the best 3-D film wa one made by 20th Century-Fox entitled Inferno. TronicaUy the tudio least interested in the format as it wa working on something completely different decided to hoot the film with a rig of their own creation. lnferno wa directed by Roy (Ward) Baker and photographed by Lucien Ballard A C. The tory of an injured arrogant milljonaire left to die in the

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

desert by his wife and her lover and his efforts to make it to safety, Baker and Ballard really used 3-D to bring home the millionaire's isolation in the landscape and heighten the suspense of the obstacles he has to overcome. Even the few gimmicks, inserted at studio head Darryl Zanuck's insistence according to

~~sophisticated"

audiences were apparently unresponsive to the enhanced visual experience ol non-gimmicky films.

Ballard, did not stick out as such but were in keeping with the film's overall ambience.

Inferno was one of the last of the first batch of 3-D films to be widely shown in the format. Apparently only major second run neighborhood houses in large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Lo Angeles, ran programs for a full week like first run theaters. They showed many of

these films in 3-D with diminishing box office returns in relation to the added costs of the 3-D presentation. The exploitive nature of most of the films made to date was also a deterrent to attendance by the "upscale" audience that flocked to 2-D film like From Here to Eternity and The

Bandwagon. " ophisticated" audiences were apparently uruespon ive to the enhanced visual experience of non-gimmicky films like Inferno and Arena and disliked wearing glasses to see films that they felt worked just as well when viewed flat. Following in the wake of 3-D came the next sensation - Fox's Cinema cope, deliberately introduced with a high class production of The Robe to elevate the status of the new format from the current low-brow image of 3-D. First run tl1eaters were given the option of showing most of the 3-D films relea ed in the next nine month eitl1er in 3-D or flat, and they increasingly opted for the latter, even though five of them were major high budget productions: MGM's Kiss Me, Kate!, CollUI1bia's Miss

Sadie Thompson, RKO's The French Line, and Warners' Hondo and Dial M for Murder, the first three and the last were the type of 3-D films the "sophisticates" might have appreciated seeing in depth.

Hondo, the first film shot with Warner's own 3-D camera, was the only major feature of that period widely shown in 3-D and one of the most financially successful.

Though it was not shown at the Expo despite rlUJ1ors of the existence of a new print, its setups and compositions, even when viewed in 2-D, suggest it's one of the best 3-D films ever made, as might be expected from being photographed by Robert Burks and Archie Stout, both ASC and noted visual stylists, as was director John Farrow.

Miss Sadie Thompson and The French Line were test screened in certain citie in both 3-D and 2-D and though the 3-D versions did better, interest in the format continued to diminish. Universal's Creature From the Black Lagoon, released in the spring of 1954, was apparently the last ftlm of the period to be widely shown

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Film Processes for 3-D Columbia's 3-D western The Stranger Wore a Gun has the dubious distinction of being the only film photographed on Eastman Color Stripping Negative.

After it was processed, the three color dye layers could be stripped off and treated like separations.

Prior to 1935, the only method of photographing and printing color images was by photographing them on two or three black-and-white negatives through specific color filters and printing either on duped stock, one with emulsion on both sides of the base. The prints were then dyed appropriate colors as was done by CineColor and CFI's TruColor, or by Technicolor's dye tran fer proce . In 1935 Eastman introduced its Kodachrome multilayer color reversal film for 16mm. In 1941, in a joint venture with Technicolor, Eastman introduced a 35mm version called Technicolor Monopack, which wa designed to yield separation negatives for the making of matrices for Technicolor's printing proce .In 1948 Ansco introduced a 35mm rever al camera original and print stock.

During World War II, Germany' Agfa developed the first multilayer color negative and print stock. After the war, Kodak and Ansco got access to Agfa's patents and announced the introduction of their own color negative and print films in 1949. CineColor was the first Hollywood lab to adopt Eastman Color negative as a camera original to add the missing color to their two color process; TruColor soon followed suit.

in 3-D. It was also one of the few to be shown by a single strip ystem called Moropticon in which the two eye view were printed in alternating fra mes and projected through a device that uperimpo ed them on the screen.

A sy tern called Vectograph, in which Polaroid was involved and had the two views and the polarization incorporated in the making of a ingle trip Techn icolor IB print, never got off the ground. A surviving print of the Disney

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However, they continued to print from separations onto duped stock. A surviving SuperCineColor, as CineColor called its new process, trailer for jack and the Beanstalk (1952) reveals that this process was actually quite effective, delivering the kind of brilliant and vibrant colors associated with dye transfer Technicolor.

Stripping negative was an attempt to eliminate the two-generation quality loss necessitated by making black-and-white separation po itive and negatives from the printing operation.

In 1951 MGM began limited work with An co' negative and print stocks.

Warner's worked with Eastman's print stocks which they trade-named WarnerColor. In the fall of 1952 Technicolor began processing Eastman Color negative and print stocks and developed the indu try's first additive printer to make matrice from color negative materials. One of their first projects was This Is Cinerama, and often over the next few years MGM and Warner' would ubcontract the relea e printing of many of their An co and Eastman negative shot films to Technicolor.

The wide screen and 3-D boom of 1953 would ultimately force the industry to abandon original photography in three strip Technicolor. 20th CenturyFox, Warner's, and MGM, all of whom had labs of their own processing blackand-white film found it cheaper to put in color proce sing equipment and do it inhouse as well, making their own color positive release prints directly off the cut camera negatives. This eliminated any further need for a stripping negative though, according to the late president of CFI, Sidney P Solow, his lab continued to make prints of Republic's final color films from eparations, even after they'd switched to using color po itive stock. ony Pictures, now owner of Columbia, made new prints of all its films shown at the 3-D Expo. The dye in Eastman's original5247 and 5248 stocks were notoriously unstable, printing with yellow highlights and blue hadows as early as the late '60s. However, photochemical film preservation technology has advanced o much just over the last five years that incredible looking print can now be made off those old negatives.

The Stranger Wore a Gun looked especially tunning since no original negatives exi t from it and new ones had to be truck from protective separation rna ters. Unfortunately, the right eye ... masters were mi sing from one reel and ~ individual shots were damaged in one g eye or the other in other reels, o Sony head of pre ervation Grover Crisp -<~ reprinted the okay eye in those instance .

The loss of the illusion of depth was not ~ that noticeable a there were no "inyour-face" gimmicks involved.

-Rick Mitchell

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i Elements of the 3-D set in Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) are visible here.

cartoon Melody, the only film printed in the process, was shown in the Expo's "Rarities" program and actually did not look as good a a re tored color positive print shown by the two projector ystem later in the Expo.

Other 3-D film relea ed in the pring of 1954, in cl uding Dial M for Murder,

The Mad Magicia n, Gog, Gorilla at Large, and Phantom of the Rue Morgue had limited 3-D engagement and there is orne debate as to whether such film hot in

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

3-D a ]ivaro, Southwest Passage, and Silver Lode had any 3-D engagements at all. RI<O's on of Sin bad, held up for censor hip rea on , was finally relea ed in 1955 in 2-D, converted to the Superscope/ uper 35 fo rmat.

A note abo ut three Warner Bros relea e announced as 3-D film and o li ted in trade paper film -in-production charts: Them! was intended to be a 3-D film , one rea on fo r building the full size ants instead of hiring Ray Harryhau en,

who was re pon ible for the uccess of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, an independently made feature which had been a sleeper hit when Warners bought and distributed it in the spring of 1953. For whatever rea on, 3-D production wa dropped but director Gordon Douglas staged and compo ed the film as if it

The left eye negative was usually used lor making subsequent 35mm prints. were being hot "in depth." Rear Guard AKA The Command wa announced as Warner's first anamorphic film a weU a being hot in 3-D; at lea tone person aw the edited 3-D ver ion in work print form in the mid-'50 . At the Expo' "Rarities" program, "te t" footage wa hown from the Batjac production Ring of Fire, also shot and ultimately relea ed in Cinema cope. The author was told by omeone who worked for Batjac in the '70 that the cut negatives of the 3-D ver ion exi ted in their vaults.

By summer 1954, the 3-D boom was over. Most 3-D print were split up for general relea e, which has made reas embling many of them for 3-D howing like the Expo extremely difficult The left eye negative was u ually used for making subsequent 35mrn prints and intermediate element for 16mrn nontheatrical and later television prints and the right eye negatives were often ca t aside or in at least one in tance, intercut with the left eye to make the "best possible" single strand negative.

Fortunately some studios did save both negatives. Columbia made brand new prints of all of its films shown in the festival and the prints of the Univer al films and J, the fury also looked a if they had been recently made. The Kiss Me, Kate print had been made in the Ia t couple of years and the right eye of Gog wa printed up especially for the Expo and run with a faded left eye print; the re ults did not look bad.

Univer al tried to revive 3-D in 1955 with Revenge of the Creature and again in 1958 by re-releasing the equel and original in Polaroid two projector 3-D, a did Warner' with a double bill reis ue of House of Wax and Phantom of the Rue Morgue. In 1960, independent producer Edward L Alper on released what was adverti ed as the fir t 3-D film in Cinema cope, September torm; it wa actually hot in the uper cope/ uper 35 format It limited engagement was the last public two projector pre entation of 3-D for seventeen years. The following year, Warner's relea ed a anadian horror film called The Mask which had three horror 路 equence printed in anaglyph.

Development in ingle projector 3-D, which had been experimented with in 1954, cued the next attempts at reviving the format Colonel Robert V Bernier, who'd had experience with different kinds of tereographic pre entations while in the military, began developing a single lens 3-D sy tern in 1954. It was e entially a variation of the Bolex tereo lens, except it recorded the two view over-and-under within the standard frame, yielding a more pleasing 2.35:1 aspect ratio; a irnilar projection - - - - - - - - - - - -

One Eye or Two? everal que tion confronted us during our re earch for thi article. For in tance, what percentage of the audience has binocular vi ion? What percentage will ee a stereo picture a a flat picture? What percentage of people might expect to be optically di turbed by the stereo picture? Could tereo do harm to any viewer? The answers to the e optical questions could fiU a whole chapter. Perhaps only about 75 percent of the population have o-called normal binocular vi ion; but the percentage of viewers who would be aware of the stereo effect and benefit from it might be weU over ninety percent To the viewer with no binocular vision, the tereo picture become merely a flat two dirnen ional picture. We discovered in our re earch that five percent of people will be uncomfortable in viewing a tereo picture. The ocular eli comfort may be caused in the majority of ca e by eye defects. These eye defects could be de cribed a aberrations in the focusing apparatu , abnormalities in fu ion functions, imbalance between the eyes in refraction, image size, color balance, and, of cour e, pathological condition . Becau e of the timulation to fusional movements and the development of amplitude , the tereo picture actually becomes a therapeutic tool, and the viewer is likely to become vi ually relaxed and more comfortable at the end of the picture, and he may be able to apply the e vi ual benefits to other vi ual tasks.

"Natural Vi ion" by Dr Julian Gunzberg, courte y of Ray Zone

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

61

len with polarizing filter uperimpo ed the image on the creen. Bernier never really did anything with hi y tern, later called paceVi ion, until the mid-'60 , when it came to the attention of Arch Oboler who u ed it on a film called The

Warners struck a new 3-D print ol 'Dial M for Murder,' which many hat/ not known hat/ been shot in 3-D. Bubble. Given a run only in Chicago in late 1966, the quality of the 3-D and its effect wa noted, but the lengthy film suffered from Oboler' usual accentuating talk over action. It was later cut and rei ued as The Fantastic Invasion of the Planet Earth.

3-D, both anaglyph and Polaroid, had been u ed off and on over the year for ex film , and it was uch a film, The tewardesses ( 1970), that resulted in a brief revival of 3-D. It was hot in a single len y tern imilar to paceVi ion called tereoVi ion, which could record image over-and-under, or side-by- ide with a 2x anamorphic squeeze. It wa by the latter that tereoVision ucces fully rei sued House of Wax, rights to which they'd licen ed from Warner' and in the 80' , Dial M for Murder. Except for Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, shot in pace Vi ion, mo t of the 3-D film made in the brief early 70's boom were " exploitationers" Prison Girls (1974), made by some UCLA graduates, was notable for copying the photographic style of

Dia/M.

That 25 year old film eem indirectly re pon ible for the indu try' Ia t bru h with 3-D.ln 1977, LA film buffTom Cooper, who had inaugurated local popularity of old movie at the Vagabond Theater, took over a un et trip playhou e called the Tiffany, et it up for tereophonic sound and put in a silver creen and the projection interlock equipment for two projector 3-D. He was ucce ful in tracking down and running urviving prints from the '50 including

It Came From Outer pace, Kiss Me, Kate!, and econd hance. Hi triumph wa getting Warner to trike a new 3-D print of Dial M, which many had forgotten or not known had been hot in 3-D. The ucces at the Tiffany led to wellpublicized 3-D screenings in other cities both two projector and the later tereoVi ion conver ion.

The publicity from thi wa no doubt a factor in pani h based producer Tony Anthony's deci ion to make a 3-D spaghetti we tern, Comin' at Ya! (1981), who e succe s parked a new but again hart-lived 3-D boom. Unfortunately, mo t of the film made were bad "exploitationers" that overemphasized the gimmicks. Additionally, mo t were filmed with and all hown by ingle film sy terns which had major problems.

Between the reduced size of the images and the amount of projector light being cut down by the polarizing filter on the projectors and in the gla e , the resulting image tended to appear dim and with very poor re olution. Even pacehunter (1983), ftlmed with a two camera rig, looked bad when o projected. The public very quickly tired of the

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3-D

combination of bad film and viewing difficultie .

3-D urvive today in the special venue world. ln 1981 Dr Richard Vetter, the inventor of Dimen ion 150, then working for United Arti ts Theaters, developed a twin 65mm camera rig, one camera hooting downward above the other into a mirror to get the correct interocular. In addition to the high re olution original image, the increa ed light from two 70mm projectors results in a projected image that even when viewed through polarizing gla es i brighter than mo t 35mm pre entations. Though at the time UA Theater , which had its own distribution company, wa interested in making a feature using the proces it called tereo pace. lt was ultimately only u ed

by Di ney for it theme park films Magic journeys (1983) and Captain EO (1986).

More recently IMAX has had a number of 3-D projects filmed in its 15 perf format.

Given the popularity of the 3-D Expo, with patron coming from around the world, as well as successful revivals of Cinerama (How the West Was Won was hawing at the inerama Dome concurrent with the Expo), and of 70mm ftlm from the '50 and '60 , it' po ible that orne entrepreneur might be tempted to make a new 3-D feature. Becau e the auditorium in today's multiplexes only have one projector, the re ults would have to be hown by the le atisfying single film Polaroid or anaglyph ystem .

Hopefully thi person will have attended the Expo and gotten an idea of what goe into making both a good film and a good 3-D ftlm.

The author would like to thank jeff joseph of abucat Productions and everyone else involved in putting on the 3-D Expo and for information included in this article, a special thanks to Ray "3-D" Zone and Dr Mario Beguiristain; Ben Burtt; Grover Crisp, ony Pictures; the late Rudi Fehr; the late Roswell A Hoffman; Michael Hyatt; Ron Kowall; Edward Nassour; Paul Rayton.

Rick Mitchell is a film editor and film historian.

Lumber, Screw Nails, and Change

by Paul Babin SOC n 1995, I operated a film titled Jack.

Jack was one of those rare fortw1ate

I

productions in which I could take my family with me to location. My on and daughter were young enough to put into the local elementary school, just yards from our main location. My wife Michele was in heaven, living in Marin County north of San Francisco.

Several scenes in Jack took place in a tree hou e, and production designer Dean Tavoularis built one that was amazing. The dream of any kid, this thing was multi-leveled, had a winding staircase and was built in a gigantic living tree.

When we returned from location, I carried with me the inspiration to build

II you consult Webster's it will say under ~~grip": ~~suspends and secures things in unusual places... " a tree house for my kids. The only tree suitable was a pepper tree in the front yard. I made drawings and showed my wife. Her response wa , "Go ahead, but you can't drive any nails into the tree, and I don't want unsightly piling extending down onto the lawn."

That gave me pau e. After deliberation, I decided to build an 8'x8' platform around the trunk and suspend it from the four corners by cable looped up and over higher branches. A ladder affixed to the ground and attached to one side would add the last bit of support. eighbors were impre sed by my ingenuity, but I explained that hanging out with grips for so many years had taught me a lot. In fact, if you consult Webster's it will say under grip: "Suspends and secures things in unusual places" ... or something to that effect.

Our tree house served its purpose. A refuge for the kids, it also became a bug

musewn, jW1k food den, and Playboy magazine repository. O ne June afternoon two ad ul ts and iliree kids joined me to watch a Lakers' playoff game in it.

Change sucks. Not knowing what the change will be increases the suck value exponentially.

It became a navigational tool: "When ya ee the house with ilie tree house in the front, tum right.

However, ilie sad fact is that over the last couple of years, few ventured up ilie ladder any more, only toddlers from the neighborhood with "law suit" emblazoned on ilieir little foreheads. Michele said it was time to take it down. I resisted. She insi ted. I delayed. She pointed out that my now having been unemployed for six weeks, it was tin1e to get some iliings done around ilie house. I mumbled someiliing abo ut "later." he threatened divo rce.

Yesterday, I took down ilie tree house.

Three days of construction took six ho urs to demolish . It was fascinatin g to compare ilie flexibility and grace of my body taking it down wiili ilie man who seven years ago put it up. I struggled to find joy in the process. A part of me wanted never to say goodbye to ilie lumber and crew nails iliat symbolized youili and retreat and a phase in my life when my kids worshiped me unconditionally, and my own parents would visit of a Sunday afternoon.

But time is merciless. My daughter now drives herself to work. My son leads a teenager's life-often apart from mille.

They are maturing in to independent adults. Meanwhile, my only surviving parent grows increasingly frail and reliant on me.

Add uncertainty-iliat damned annoying constant in my life-and

uncomfo rtable questions start to percolate: If and when I return to work will it be a struggle to get my rate? Will I be handling a new electron ic camera iliat doesn't expose film? Will I have to leave my family and home to make a living?

Change sucks. ot knowing what ilie chan ge will be increases the suck value exponentially.

Seems another tree house needs to be built, the design of which I can't qui te p ut my finger on, one that doesn't em ploy plywood and screw nail , but satisfies ilie needs of creation, san ctuary, adventure. I'll let yo u know when I've designed it. Perhaps I'll get a gaffer to help me on this o ne.

-Paul Babin SOC motionstory@aol .com

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THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN:

COMMENTARY

63

'J?.pster of tfie Society Of CameraOperators CHARTER Parker Bartlett Paul Basta Michael Benson Jerry Callaway Joseph Calloway Joe Epperson Bill Gahret Peter Hapke Norm Llngley lee Nakahara )ay Nefcy Leigh Nicholson Dan Norris

David Nowell Wayne Orr Ernie Reed Michael Scott Michael St Hilaire Ray Stella joseph F Valentine Ron Vidor ACTIVE Bernie Abramson Art Adams Steven A Adelson Bret Allen Derek MAllen lee Allison Sail Arldi Ted Ashton )r Bill Asman Dan Auerbach Daniel Ayers Paul Babm Randall 8 Baer Christopher J Baffa lonn Bailey Vincent Baldino Gerard Banales Jeff Barklage Tom Barron

Gary H Baum Guy Norman Bee Tim Sellen Rich ard Benda )eb Bergh Marc Andre Berthiaume Bonnie Blake jason Blount Bob C Boccaccio Richard Bolter

Denise Brassard Scott M Browner Michael K Sucher Robin Buerki Gary Bush Stephen S Campanelli Susan A Campbell Capt jose A Cardenas Michael W Chambliss louis Chanatry Joe Chess Jr Julian Chojnacki Gregory Paul Collier Michael Condon john A Connell Tom Connole Ivan Craig Rod Crombie Caleb Crosby Richard A Cullis

64

Michael l Culp joseph C D'Alessandro Richard W Davis Mark T Davison Ray de Ia Motte Kris Andrew Denton David Diana Troy Dick jerry Dugan Keith I Duggan Simon Duggan, ACS Louis R Duskin David E Elkins David Emmerichs Kevin ) Emmons Steve Essig James Etheridge Brant S Fagan Tom Faigh Benjamin Sean Fa1rburn Dav1d 8 Fang Yuen Diane L Farrell Randal Feemster Michael Ferris Kenneth Ferro D1ck Fisher Llnce Fisher Craig Fiske Aaron Fitzgerald Heuman Forough lan Foster Thomas Fraser David ) Frederick Michael Frediani Mike Freeman Buddy Fries Micnael Ricnard Frift David Gasperik Rusty Geller Michael Genne Wayne Getchell Vito Giambalvo William Gierhart Llurie K Gilbert Kristin Glover Allen Gonzales Lee Grover john Gunselman Anette Haellmigk Dennis Hall Chris Hayes David Haylock Steven F Heuer Sean Higgins Ronald High Charles M Hill, Jr Joachim Hoffmann Abe Holtz Robert Chapman Horne Casey Hotchkiss Gary Huddleston jeffrey G Hunt Philip Hum David Insley Levie C Isaacks Michael )arocki Simon )ayes Tom jensen Michael A johnson Steven )ones Jacques ]ouffret john H Joyce David judy

Mark D Karen Michael Karp Wayne L Kelley Glenn M Kirkpatrick Douglas H Knapp Dan Kneece Rory Robert Knepp Robert Kositchek Kris Krosskove Erwin Landau George F lang Robin Lawless Joshua Lesser Michael Levine Ken Libby Hugh C Litfin Michael Little lynn Lockwood

Thomas loizeaux George Loomis Allan Lum Li Kenji Luster Vincent C Mack Heather MacKenzie PaulS Magee )ames Mann Stan McClain Donald M McCuaig Michael McGowan Maurice K McGuire Martin Mclnally Robert l Mehnert Anastas N Michos Andrew Mitchell William Molina Llwrence P Moody Robert Moore Denis Moran

Don Muirhead Marty F Mullin Scott Mumford Sean Murray Jon Myers Thomas W Myrdahl )ulye Newlin William R Nielsen, ]r Randy Nolen Tamas P Nyerges William O'Drobinak Russell Ofria Andrew William Oliver

Lucio Oliv1eri john Orland Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Packard Charles Papert David Parrish Philip Pastuhov

Aaron Pazanti Mike Pierce joseph Piscitelli Robert Presley Kevin Riley Randall Robinson Rick Robinson David Rebman Andy Romanoff Abraham Romero Peter Rosenleld Andrea Vittorio Rossetto Michael S Roth Andrew Rowlands Tony Salgado

THE OPERATING CAMERAMAN: SOC ROSTER

Tom 0 Sanders Michael Santy Richard 1Schaefer Gregory ) Schmidt Chuck Schuman Philip Schwartz Bob Scott Alicia Craft Sehring Brad Shield Floris Sijbesma Osvaldo Silvera )r Jamie Silverstein Philip Sindall Guy Skinner john Sosenko Mike Spodnik Sandy Spooner Edward B Springer Stephen St John Greg St)ohns George 8 Stephenson David Stump Brian Sweeney james H Sweeney Bill Swinghamer Gene Talvin Stephen Tate David )ames Thompson Richard Tiedemann john Toll, ASC Tsuneyukl Tometaka john Trapman

Massimiliano Trevis jeffery I Tufano Chris Tufty Pernell Tyus Robert Ulland joseph Urbanczyk Richard C van Nijnatten, MBKS

Paul D Varrieur Bill Waldman William Webb Aiken Weiss

Kit Whitmore, CSC Brian Keith Wilcox Bill Williams Chad Wilson RL Wise lan D Woolston-Smith Noel Adrian Wyatt

Warren Yeager Elizabeth Ziegler

Paul A Duclos Bert Dunk, ASC John C Flinn Ill, ASC Mark Forman Peter F Frintrup Richard Garbutt )ames Garvey Harvey Genkins Wayne Goldwyn AI Gonzalez Phil Gries wynn Hammer )amesWHart Robert Hayes Anthony Hellinger John Hill Ken Hilmer

Chris Hood Kent Hughes Jim Hunter Carrie lmai Gregory Irwin Chris Ishii john Chancellor jennings Frank E Johnson, ASC Broderick Jones Douglas Kirkland Michael Klimchak Robert L1 Benge George L1 Fountaine, ASC Thomas Llppin Stevan Llmer, ASC Lee David Laska-Abbott Mark R Leins Alan 1Levi Mark Levin llya )o Lie-Nielsen Stephen Llghthill, ASC ]ong Lin Roland I Luna Duane C Manwiller Richard Marks Dr Ellen Matsumoto Ray McCort Nick Mclean, Sr john McPherson, ASC Charles Minsky K Adriana Modlin Richard Mosier joshua S Narins john Newby Nicholas Nizich Andrew Parke Randy Peck Matthew A Petrosky Ted Polmanski Serge Poupis Andrea Quaglia Udo Ravenstein Richard Rawlings )r, ASC Marcia Reed Bill Reiter Brian D Reynolds David Rosner Marvin Rush, ASC Mehran Salamati Carl Martin Schumacher, Sr Robert Seaman jan Sluchak Don Spiro Owen Stephens

ASSOCIATE David S Adelstein Samuel Ameen Gary Armstrong Peter Bonilla David Boyd Maja Broz Douglas Busby Bruce Cardozo Kirk Chiswell Stephen Mark Ciappetta Ed Clare Greg Collier Robert E Collins Richard P Crude, ASC Christopher Dawson Ronald Deveaux David Dibble George Spiro Dible, ASC

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Craig W Walsh Brian Watkins Haskell Wexler, ASC Shaun Wheeler Tony Yarlett Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC UfÂŁTIME William E Hines HONORARY john Bailey,ASC James Burrows Dean Cundey, ASC Bruce Doering William A Fraker, ASC jack Green Ron Howard Ron Kelley Kathleen Kennedy-Marshall Jerry lewis Rick Mitchell A Linn Murphree MD David Myers jay Roth Steven Spielberg Robert A Torres George Toscas Roy Wagner, ASC Robert Wise RETIRED Eugene Ashbrook Lou Barlia Rupert Benson )r Bob Berry Al Bettcher )ames Blanford Howard Block Vee Bodrero Don Burch Phil Caplan Bruce Catlin Cliff Concialdi Jim Connell )ames A Dennett Sam Drummy Robert Feller Mike Ferra Gerald Perry Flnnerrnan, ASC Jerry Fuller Gil Haimson lutz Hapke Bob Keys joseph Longo Steve Lydecker Owen Marsh Bob Marta Michael McClary Ron McManus Mike Meinardus Emmanuel Metaxas Ed Morey Sol Negrin, ASC King Nicholson john G Nogle Robert H Peebles Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ruttencutter Richard Salvatore Lou Schwartz Hal Shiffman

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