The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

32 THK CINE-TECHNICIAN March-April, 1952 were supplied George Barnes for use in lighting the circus interior. The lamps were erected on the quarter poles in clusters of four, and were operable independently — that is, they could be lit or extinguished, tilted and panned individually from a remote control panel on the ground. The method of securing the lamps on the quarter poles was so simplified that they could be hoisted and fixed in place in a matter of minutes. Incidentally, there was no colour temperature problems because CP lamp globes were used entirely for lighting. " Technically," Barnes said, " the production of Greatest Show On Earth proved as tough as a steer's horn from lighting to meshing of schedules. We found that a circus must be lighted differently. The camera most of the time was shooting skyward — to catch aerial artists — a forbidden position where overhead lights are involved. With possibly one or two exceptions, we used no lights on the floor — in fact most of the time we couldn't, successfully. So our lighting had to be done with the remote-controlled overhead light units. Because these units also could be adjusted from a full flood to spot, it was possible to obtain a wide range of lighting from a single unit, making it unnecessary for us to carry along several types of units. When we had to shoot Betty Hutton doing her trapeze act, we made the long shots during an actual show, with the audience in the background. In photographing such scenes, every one of the fifty 5-kw lamps would be lit. Some would be throwing light on the audience, some on the circus floor, while a few would be tilted to light Miss Hutton. " Close-ups and intermediate shots of aerial action were made at Sarasota before the BigShow took to the road, or were made mornings when the show was on the road, before the public was admitted to the big top." The studio supplied its own power for the lights. Three mobile gasoline-powered generators were shipped to Florida for this purpose and the generators went along with the show once it took to the road. The company put in seven weeks shooting scenes at Sarasota. While the winter quarters afforded ideal opportunity to film much of the picture unhampered by circus schedules and crowds of people, there was much of the action laid in real circus performances that demanded shooting with regular audiences for backgrounds and atmosphere. " Here again we were met by the problem of keeping the camera from interfering with spectators' view of the circus," said Barnes. " Most of the time the camera was mounted on a giant Chapman crane fitted with a 30-foot extension. Where possible, we kept the chassis of the crane in one of the exit areas around the circus and, with the boom raised high, we shot from practically any vantage point we desired. So carefully was camera operation planned and executed during the regular show takes, that we never once received a complaint from the circus management." The tremendous concessions made Paramount by the circus were reciprocated in part by DeMille's decision to employ a second camera unit to augment Barnes' crew. Directed by Peverell Marley, A.S.C., the second unit usually covered important action from another angle, making it unnecessary to slow up schedules by getting such shots in a subsequent set-up, as would have been necessary with one camera on the scene. After the company had concluded its initial seven weeks' shooting at Sarasota, it returned to Hollywood where scenes were shot that did not demand the actual circus locale. Months later, the company rejoined the circus in New York and travelled with it to Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. The lighting and camera techniques which had been developed during the filming at Sarasota worked equally effectively when shooting with the circus on the road. However, the company was put to a greater test because it became necessary to integrate its work with that of the circus crew, striking and packing its equipment at the end of a show, and unpacking and erecting it when the circus reached its new destination. With all the preparations made by the studio and with Technicolor coming through with its new low level colour film, George Barnes relates he spent many anxious hours awaiting the first dailies from Hollywood. But his apprehension was quickly allayed by the first day's rushes, which were screened in a local theatre in Sarasota. On the road, dailies were usually screened in some local theatre, following advance arrangements made by the studio. Thus it was possible to keep in just as close touch with the photographic results as when working at the studio in Hollywood. During all shooting, Cecil DeMille was at George Barnes' side. He became virtually the circus' fourth ring — a relentless, tireless figure, constantly on the move in the steaming heat of the big top. We leave it to the picture itself to prove how superbly DeMille and cameraman Barnes worked together to catch the very soul of the circus on celluloid; how completely unified must have been their thinking to create the finest pictorial rendition of the circus ever to be brought to the motion picture screen. tmerican Cinematographer