American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1945)

Filming Western Approaches \ r By JACK CARDIFF THE Crown Film Unit, as every¬ body knows, adheres stauchly to realism in its films. Such studio requisites as make-up, model shots, back projection, etc., are anathema to them; so I was not surprised to learn that on “Western Approaches” we had to shoot many lifeboat scenes in a real sea and not in a studio, but my stomach rumbled nervously, for I am probably the worst sailor in the world. When, however, I was told that these scenes were to be shot with sound, physical apprehension turned to dismayed incredulity, for this foretold many problems. The bare idea of using our Technicolor blimp in a life¬ boat is uproariously funny to those who are acquainted with it; but to those who have not seen this Technicolor Titan I need only compare it in size and weight to a four-foot square steel safe, for them to see the joke. In its place we had to use an auxiliary lightweight blimp which is generally used for crane shots, or ex¬ terior scenes where the regular heavy but efficient studio blimp is impracticable. This emergency blimp is the bete noire of any cameraman who has ever used it, as, being light and abbreviated for soar¬ ing on a crane or being carried up rocky mountains, it is fitted in one piece, like a hat, over the camera, and laboriously strapped together. For the most trifling operation like changing a view finder matt, it all has to come off again. This is fidgety enough on land, but at sea in a rolling lifeboat . . . Chuckling in retrospect, I suppose, my assistant, Eric Asbury, was, on the whole, lucky to fall in the Irish Channel only once! This turned out to be only a minor headache on a film which was the most despairing struggle a film unit ever had. For the lifeboat scenes our headquar¬ ters was at Holyhead, Wales, which proved to be the mecca of film-struck gremlins. The plan was, to tow our life¬ boat twenty miles or so out to sea by a drifter. It took many days for us to overcome literally hundreds of minor problems, but at last we went out to work. In our life¬ boat was crammed, every day for six months, the director, myself and assist¬ ant, sound man, continuity girl. West¬ ern Electric sound gear, Technicolor camera with its many boxes of equip¬ ment, reflectors, props for the boat, such as a portable wireless transmitter, water barrels, and boxes of sandwiches for the day, and a flapping sail which swung murderously around when one least ex¬ pected it. Oh, I forgot one other small item: twenty-two merchant seamen! All this in a 28-foot lifeboat. I am x-elieved that this article is con¬ fined to photographic problems only Anyone recording the problems of all departments would rival Tolstoy! My first major problem was one of skies and exposure. Winter had been rightly chosen to give the best dramaticenvironment typical of so many frozen merchant seamen in this war. Now a per¬ son seen up against a summer’s blue sky, bathed in radiant sunlight, is, to use a technical term, a pushover; but take away the radiant sun and blue sky, and an unrecognizable silhouette is smudged against the grey horizon. On groups of seamen this was just right for atmosphere; but on a closeup I could not get enough exposure to see who it was, unless I shot with the lens wide open — but then that over-exposed the sky behind. For instance, the sky alone usually needed an exposure of five at The pictures on these two pages are scenes from the motion picture, "Western Approaches".