American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

FILM PRODUCTION FOR TV SHOOTING A typical exterior for “The Virginian” on Revue Studio’s back lot. The Mitchell camera is set low on platform over the water, while sound technician keeps the microphone, suspended on “fishpole" boom, properly positioned above actor in scene. The “flag” acts as sunshade for the camera, and it will be noted that there’s a filter mounted on the “brute” booster light (left f.g.). sunrise effect — seen through a window on a set — without employing any extra lights or filters. The effect was accomplished by directing red light on the rear of the set from dimmed spotlights, then slowly bringing up the yellow-filtered lights illumi¬ nating the front of the set. Maintaining theatrical quality while working with¬ in the schedules necessary for production of a tele¬ vision series also proved a challenge. The usual time budgeted for shooting a 90-minute television Show at Revue is nine days. Such a schedule re¬ quired Lindon and his crew to complete around 45 set-ups daily — approximately five pages of script. "‘Management at Revue places emphasis on cre¬ ative and imaginative photography for all its tele¬ vision productions,” said Lindon, as we discussed the filming of the series. “However, we make a special effort with ‘The Virginian.’ It is one of our prestige productions— our showcase.” The stories in this series are laid in the 1890’s, in the town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and more specifically on a nearby ranch called Shiloh. The plots revolve about the foreman of the ranch, known only as “The Virginian,” and the changing West near the turn of the century. The American cow¬ boy’s responses to the changing times supply the vital story material. The Virginian, himself, embodies all the qualities of the western cowboy. Supporting him are two other leading men, Steve and Trampas — working cowboys on the ranch. Other major characters are Judge Henry Garth, owner of the ranch, and Molly Wood who runs the town newspaper and is the object of the three young men’s romantic attentions. The basic theme of the stories requires both in¬ door and location photography. Revue Studios pre¬ fers not to work outdoors with color film in the early morning or late afternoon, except where it is desired to utilize the quality of light existing at those times for some special pictorial effect. Color film’s peculiar sensitivity to the color of light is reflected in higher production costs as com¬ pared with black-and-white production, according to Lindon. Larger crews and more lighting equip¬ ment are generally required when shooting in color, he points out, and very often a production company must shift locations more frequently due to sudden changes in the weather. In spite of the extra cost, Revue Studios’ manage¬ ment believes color TV film production is well worthwhile. Color shows are being aired in prime viewing times on two television networks. Further¬ more, it is held that the residual value of a color series for future re-runs in this country or overseas more than offsets any increase in production costs. Currently, prints of “The Virginian” and “Lara¬ mie” (another Revue video series) are produced in 35mm color for release in the three major U.S. television markets: New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. For the others, release prints are made on 16mm black-and-white film. Regarding the new Eastman Color Negative Film, Type 5251, Lindon believes that the improved color negative provides much truer color reproduction in television transmission. Through carefully controlled lighting, the brightness range is well compressed so there are no extremes in highlight or shadow densi¬ ties. “On the television screen,” said Lindon, “blues are more natural and flesh tones generally are less yellow — more realistic. “There also appears to be better definition of the picture on the TV screen. The improvement, over the old color negative, is apparent because the finer grain structure of the Type 5251 color negative results in a clearer picture,” he explained. This finer grain structure also provides better optical effects for the series. Opticals improved noticeably with the introduction of the better quality, finer-grained material, Lindon said. With improved film stock for the first two generations, he anticipates even further improvement in optical effects after the new Eastman Color Print Film, Type 5385, be¬ comes available within the next few months. Because the new Eastman color negative recorded such an accurate picture on quality control test strips, black-and-white prints are now used for dailies, instead of color, then edited as work prints on the following day. Most aspects of Revue’s TV film production, how¬ ever, have not been drastically changed where shows are shot in color. For example, the new color negative has not changed the techniques for de Continued on Page 113 100 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, FEBRUARY, 1963