American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

— — — , SAVE MONEY Wh«n Filming In Europe By Renting Your Camera Equipment From CHEVEREAU PARIS, FRANCE We Service The Entire Continent CAMERAS, including the Mitchell BFC 65mm CRANES DOLLIES 20 RUE DE LA CHINE PARIS 20, FRANCE Tels: MEN 9472, PYR 5104 Cable: Cameraloc Paris 26 YEARS OF QUALITY REVERSAL PROCESSING • Specialists in high speed or standard reversal processing • Security clearance • Free Vacuumating • Films returned same day • Customer extra service: Special prices on Eastman & du Pont Reversal Film Area Code 301 — 422-4333 NATIONAL CINE LABORATORIES WASHINGTON 17, D. C. fl I I ■ I ■ gles showing the same thirty-five foot wide radar screen and foreground action often required the use of the ] 4.5mm wide-range lens. It was a strange sight to see the five-pound zoom lens that protruded fourteen inches from the BNC replaced with the 14.5mm lens that was actually re¬ cessed within the camera housing. Fail-Safe abounds in lighting effects which were used to create specific con¬ ditions and yet save time and money and bring the picture in on budget. The large radar screen image is sup¬ posedly created by the light impulses of many radar projectors, converting electronic messages into the composite image seen on the screen. John Hubley, winner of the 1962 Academy Award for animation, created the animated radar material which was front-pro¬ jected. The radar projectors were nothing more than two inch holes in the set walls behind which was a panel of frosted acetate to diffuse the light from a 150 display lamp with a rotat¬ ing color-wheel. The ever-changing light densities of the color-wheels gave the effect of a radar projector light. (See photo.) A 4x5 slide projector converted a sound dubbing room into a miniature “war room.” Small desk and “radar” screens enabled me to light all the army men at their con¬ soles in the big Omaha war room with concealed thirty-watt reflector spots. On a reverse angle, in which the radar screens were seen by the camera, we replaced the reflector spot with an eight-watt home night-light and used a transparency over it to represent a radar image. I believe Fail-Safe represents many “firsts” in new cinematic techniques: The first time “front” projection was used extensively for a major set; the first time a feature film was photo¬ graphed without the use of a single “fill” light on a face; and, perhaps, the first time a feature film of over 570 camera set-ups was made without as much as a half hour of overtime within its thirty-day schedule. A great sense of accomplishment was experi¬ enced when the many pre-production problems were reviewed and compared to the final successful solutions that not only gave life to an exciting novel, but enhanced it very dramatically. ■ SHOOTING UNDER COVER WITH AVAILABLE LIGHT Continued from Page 467 one attacker’s shoulder. The man slumped over, screaming, dropping to his knees. The other attacker turned to run. He was dropped in his tracks by a flying tackle. Inside the fish truck parked nearby, Dick Hance, executive producer of TV news for Chicago's WGN-TV, hand¬ held an Auricon sound motion picture camera and recorded the action through a rear door window. Beside him, audio engineer Clyde “Bud" White twisted dials on his sound equip¬ ment. In the alley, David Andre of the WGN-TV staff, who had leapt from the truck when the struggle between Sam and his attackers began, held up a mi¬ crophone connected to a portable tape recorder slung from his shoulder. This was a “run,” one of the many which Hance and his WGN-TV crew made with the Chicago Police Depart¬ ment’s Tactical Undercover Function’s squad in the course of producing a onehour television news presentation en¬ titled, “TUF Guys— The Profile of a Secret War.” The TUF squad was created in 1961 to combat the jack-rollers, muggers and armed robbers who were prowling the streets of Chicago at night. Hance had previously spent several weeks riding with the squad to research the possi¬ bilities of a filmed news presentation of the subject. “The big challenge,” Hance says, “was to put this story on film under realistic conditions and with natural sound. We didn’t want any staging. We wanted the real thing. Considering the horrible lighting conditions under which we had to operate, we’re still amazed at what we did get.” Hance shot about 6,000 feet of East MO VING ? When changing your address, please notify us at least four weeks in ad¬ vance. BE SURE to give your Former address as well as your New Address. Our Circulation Department needs both addresses in order to properly identify your address stencil. Your cooperation will insure that American Cinematographer will con¬ tinue coming to you regularly without delay or omission of issues. Thank you. — American Cinematographer 454 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, AUGUST, 1963