American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

the photography of the show is given a copy of the script in advance of the show’s starting date, it affords him opportunity to study it and plan his lighting and photographic approach. When a cameraman doesn’t see the script until the day he’s scheduled to start shooting a show, he goes on the set more or less “cold” and must start working virtually “off the cuff.” He can’t very well read the script and do his work at the same time. As a rule, I find it quite satisfactory to work from a story breakdown. There is so much similarity in TV story formats that it is usually no problem to figure out the action and how the story will go. A breakdown provides a synopsis of the action that is to take place on each set in terms of scenes and essential motivation. It indicates also what sets I am to work on that day. Q — Generally speaking, does the technique of light¬ ing for TV film photography differ from that for feature films? And is there any technique or pro¬ cedure used in feature film photography that is not applicable to shooting TV films? A — If we expect the TV viewer to see the action and recognize detail in the picture on the small screens of home receivers, we must use a little broader brush in certain aspects of lighting and photography. In the early days of TV the prevailing idea was that stories should be shot in closeups as much as pos¬ sible and that long shots were to be avoided. The technical improvements in both today’s television sets and in the transmission of video programs in¬ validates such thinking and the long shot is now as important and generally used in TV films as in fea¬ tures. When so much of the action was played in closeups, the audience lost orientation with the story or its locale. Shooting TV films in the accepted pattern of long shot, medium shot and closeup estab¬ lished for motion pictures in general has greatly enhanced presentation of filmed television dramas. We used to be told by TV network engineers that there were certain brightness range and contrast limitations to be observed in photographing films for television; that the cameraman must work within these limitations to insure the most satisfactory re¬ production of his work on video screens. Experience has proved that these limitations are not as rigid as originally pronounced. Most cameramen shooting TV films endeavor to keep up with the continuing technical developments in the photography and reproduction of films on TV. Many spend considerable time with engineers and technicians in the industry and in reading the tech¬ nical journals. I personally have never been one to accede to every demand made by the engineers, yet 1 have tried to give certain reasonable things. The work of all TV film cameramen still suffers from the lack of DC restoration in black-and-white home re¬ ceiver circuits; DCR enables a receiver to reproduce blacks as true black and intermediate tones with comparable fidelity so that much more quality of the photography comes through on the TV screen. Q — Has the speed and pressure demanded in TV film production affected the method of lighting sets to the degree that the final print suffers by com¬ parison with prints of feature films? A — Generally speaking no. But one must often sim¬ plify certain things in lighting sets for TV films where the extra time devoted to lighting for a fea¬ ture film simply wouldn’t pay off. Continued on Next Page Ralph Woolsey, AS C, was for a number of years under contract to Warner Brothers as a di¬ rector of photography. Among the TV film series for which he photo¬ graphed shows were “ Maverick /' “ Sunset Strip/' “Cheyenne/' and “Roaring Twenties.” He has at various times lectured on cinematography before stu¬ dents of the Cinema Department of the University of Southern California. 279 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, MAY, 1963