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196 Vol. 17, No. 6
ENGINEERING ASPECTS OF FILM PRODUCTION
R. Howard Cricks, F.B.K.S., F.R.P.S.
Abridgment of paper presented to the Manchester Association of Engineers en
December I, 1950. By courtesy of the Association, members of the B.K.S.
Manchester Section were invited.
TO cover in a single paper the whole field of kinematograph engineering, or even of those sections of it pertaining to film production, would be obviously impossible. It is therefore proposed to confine this brief paper to the following aspects, arranged in descending order of magnitude :— I. Production Equipment. II. Camera Supports.
III. Cameras and Projectors.
IV. Problems of Picture Steadiness.
1— PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT.
It is perhaps illogical to start with this subject, since until comparatively recently tradition rather than engineering was its basis. Sets are still built in much the same way as in the theatre, except that tubular scaffolding replaces wood. Overhead lights are in the majority of cases still mounted on gantries or " spot rails " built up around the scenery, or on " parallels " suspended from roof trusses.
In a recent film production, the revolving stage, as used in the theatre, found an application. In that outstanding British film, " A Matter of Life and Death," the stairway which led from the celestial regions down to earth was actually a full-sized escalator. Another film in which precision engineering was employed in set construction was " Rope." In order that the camera might move through doors and walls, whole sections of the set were built on hoists and slides ; as the camera moved forward and the door frame passed out of the picture, the section of wall slid away, allowing the camera to pass into the adjoining room.1
For any outstanding developments in production equipment we have to thank the " Independent Frame " process.2 This system calls for a factorylike organisation of the studio. Sets are built on wheeled rostrums, in a construction department which may be a considerable distance from the stage ; they are wheeled through a set-dressing department, and then into a waiting bay until they are needed for production.
From here they progress as required to the studio floor, where they are positioned by means of a grid marked out on the floor. When the set is positioned, lights and cameras are mechanically moved into place. After shooting, the sets are wheeled into another department for dismantling.
Mobile Gantries and Screen Frames.
Instead of the usual wood gantries and parallels, lights and other equipment are carried on mobile gantries. A large part of the equipment is 'k flown " from gantries which are, in effect, travelling cranes, suspended from the roof trusses. Other gantries run on the floor on rubber-tyred wheels ; each is capable of accommodating perhaps a dozen lamps and two electricians, and is movable in any direction, and adjustable for height, by means of press-button controls. Another similar piece of equipment is the screen frame. Both these pieces of equipment were built by Vickers-Armstrong, and embody the " stressed skin " principle used in seaplane construction.
Mention should be made of a simple piece of equipment, the " Spelleroller," which enables one or two men to lift a heavy piece of scenery and wheel it about with ease.3