Business screen magazine (1971)

bureaucratic red tape you might imagine. In I act, it's relatively simple. If you plan to film on any government properly, whether it's the White House .>r ihe Jefferson .Memorial, Mmpiv contact Mr. Arthur Lamb, Chief, Division of Special Events, National Park Service. His phone is (202) 426-6690. and his address is 1 100 Ohio Drive. .S.W., with a zip of 20242. Not only will luimb and his staff issue the proper paperwork, but, most importantly, they will also handle coordination with all other agencies involved. For instance, if you plan some shooting in the Capitol, the Architect of the Capitol must approve. But Lamb will guide you to and through any of the required steps. Lamb's job is to help you, not to throw up roadblocks. He asks only that you use "good judgment and good taste" in your filming and that you not "degrade or commercialize" government property. After all, those monuments and noble structures belong to all the people of the United States, and many would not look kindly on movie makers debasing their national treasures. Air Space. For reasons of safety and security, much of the air space over government facilities is restricted. But permission to fly into the restricted spaces for aerial photography is not that difficult to obtain. Contact Mr. H. B. Helstrom. Division Chief. Air Traffic Rules Division. Federal Aviation Administration. His phone is (202)426-3731. Watergate. For some strange reason, a privately owned facility known as Watergate commands as much photographic attention these days as the most popular federal landmarks. Watergate is a complex of apartments, shops and a hotel and it's handsomely photogenic. Long before the so-called plumbers bungled the place into world headlines, Watergate starred in everything from commercials to features. Man to contact is Mr. Lee Elscn, Vice President, at (202) 337-2700. EQUIPMENT To protect the marble floors of monuments and other institutions, you must use rubber tips on your tripod and a rubber-wheeled dolly. TTie hard and fast rule — and a common-sense one at that — is that you cannot place any kind of metal on those marble floors. If you do, you're out. LOCATIONS For sweeping vistas of Washington, your best bets are from the Custis-Lee Mansion in Arlington National Cemetery which commands a spectacular view of the city, from atop the Wash ington Monument, or from the top of the Capitol itself. It's little known, but you can. with permission, film from the dome of the Capitol. But prepare yourself for a puffing climb up endless narrow steps. The Washington Monument, which juts some 550 feet into the air. offers a great view. But here again advance planning is necessary to take full advantage of it. With enough notice and justification, the Park Service will remove the viewing windows and their wire mesh screens to give you an unobstructed look at the city. Not only that, but they will also attach a mount on the window ledges so you can position your camera outside the monument. The two most photographically popular memorials, the Lincoln and Jefferson, present interior lighting problems because the figures are nearly always in deep shadow. But that little matter can be overcome with advance notice to the Park Service or by lugging along your own generator. Each memorial has two 20-amp outlets that can be made available with proper arrangements. Not to be discouraging, but the shot nearly everyone would like from the Lincoln Memorial — viewing out from behind his head — requires extra time, effort and money. There's space behind the figure, but you'll need a platform at least 18 feet high. And while you're thinking of lugging in all that staging, remember there are 187 lungbursting, leg-tiring steps leading up to the interior. In the city of monuments, it surprises many to discover they can film nearly every natural setting of the nation in just one location. The sprawling National Arboretum, with meadows and brooks and forests, houses samples of all major natural greenery of the country in authentic settings. Understandably, filming around or in the Capitol or White House is a bit more involved than shooting monuments. But it can be done with proper justification and preparation. For interiors, house electricians are available at both locations to help with lighting problems. For the best sync-sound location outside the White House, just look around until you find two bare spots in the gra.ss. Place your narrator in the spot closest to the front driveway and your camera in the other. You're now far enough away from the street to minimize traffic noise and you have the White House looming behind your talent This selling is probablv the mosi widely viewed in the world, for those two spots were worn bare by legions of TV reporters and crews grind ing out White House reports to th( globe. Just stand in line, wait youi turn behind Dan Rather and the oth ers, and you'll get your shot. Washington. D.C., as known and loved by Van Nostrand and Rogers, would require a book to detail properly. But they volunteered to share some of their knowledge in these pages to encourage filmmakers to come to the Capital — even though some who come are a bit strange. Van Nostrand still shakes his head over the director of a multi-million dollar feature, a show he worked. Not only did the director shoot the script chronologically — and costs be damned — but he brought filming to a complete halt one day to satisfy his vanity. While stars, extras and an army of technicians stood idle, with the costof-production meter still running at perhaps SlO.OtX) per hour he had his tailor summoned to the middle of a street in Washington. And right then and there he was fitted for what has to be the most expensive suit in history. And then there was the world-fa mous stage director commissioned to] do his very first film, a prestige TV special. Van Nostrand worked that show as director of photography. Hi prefers to blot it from memory, but! Rogers won't let him. Seems Van Nostrand and crew worked half a day to light a major scene inside the Capitol. Just minutes before filming of the principals was scheduled to start, the stage director jets in from New York and arrives ceremoniously on the set. As the Capitol sparkled under a flood of light, as the talent and technicians waited for the take. \'an Nostrand. with professional courtesy, asked the famous director if first he wanted to eyeball the scene through the camera. Great idea, the director thought, and he bent over the camera — and looked through the matte box into the lens. The crew gasped, stunned, having never seen a director stare into the wrong end of a camera. Disbelieving his eyes, the assistant cameraman began to break up. But Van Nostrand warned him through clenched teeth not to laugh and never to utter a word to anyone about the moment. The poor assistant just couldn't stand ihc pressure. Hand to mouth, he broke and ran off down the long corridor. At the far end. he raced into the men's room. And then as the door closed behind him. a burst of maniacal laughter reverberated ghost -like throughout the Capitol of the L'nitcd Slates of America. Washington does strange things I people. And to filmmakers, too. D 46 BUSINESS SCREEN— November/December, 1973 tOl