Film and TV Technician (1957)

274 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Camera Column By Morton Lewis THE ROAD TO ALDERMASTON The Wednesday before Good Friday, Lewis MacLeod dropped into my office. " Have you got any spare stock? " he asked. This was a rather strange opening for anyone — Lewis in particular. By painful cross-examination I discovered that he was scouting for stock on behalf of the Films and TV Committee of the A.C.T.T. in a protest against Nuclear Weapons. Following the resolution at the A.G.M., the Films and TV Committee had been established to give what support they could to the campaign. This was, on this occasion, to take the form of filming the Aldermaston March with an eye to producing a documentary. Got His Stock Lewis got his stock, plus an Eyemo and an Arriflex. He also got me and three other members of our shop. There must be something about his taciturn, soft-sell approach! From all round the Industry the Committee, led by Derrick Knight, raised a Blimped Arri, with synchronous tape recorder, Newmans, wild Arri's, stock, technicians the lot! It was quite a turn-out and quite heartening in an Industry that is often accused of being mercenary to the nth degree Good Friday, 11.00 a.m., saw the Sound Unit favourably positioned on the plinth of Nelson's Column, and several wild cameras shooting crowd and cover shots. The March formed up and moved off for Aldermaston, after short speeches from the leaders of the campaign. Standing on ' Keep Left ' bollards, hanging out of the backs of camera cars, standing on soap boxes, and generally infuriating the police, the A.C.T.T. camera crews went too! The whole four-day march was covered, plus a solo effort by a marcher from Southampton, who marched up from the coast entirely on his own, handing out leaflets all over the place. I think everybody enjoyed doing I In job, and the rushes all 18.000 feet of them(!) seem to justify the whole operation. Very few sequences carry any number boards, so whoever is going to break down the rushes, hack, Paul Lecker, Morton Lewis, Lewis Macleod, Stephen Peet, Brian Probin, Karel Reisz, Eda Segal, Ramsey Short, Bill Smeaton Russell, Suschitsky, Terence Twigg, Harry Woolf. Morton Lewis with Directors Lindsay Anderson and Lawrie Knight let alone cut them, has some nasty moments coming his way. So there it is, 18,000 feet, including a good proportion synch, interviews, speeches, etc., shot in four days with a cast of thousands for what amounts to nothing! Whatever the outcome of the protest, whether we get blasted into eternity or not, I think the organisers of the filming and the technicians who made the whole thing possible can be congratulated on achieving what may at first have looked like an impossible project. I think that all the Unit should receive credit, so here goes: The Generalissimo was Derrick Knight; the rest of the Army was as follows: A.C.T.T. MEMBERS : Lindsay Anderson, John Arnold, Kevin Connor, John Cromc, Derek Ford. Penelope Isaacs, Lawrie Knight, Peter Jessop, Kurt Lewen Derek York, Mannic Yospa. NON-A.C.T.T. MF.MBERS : Allan Forbes, Lew Gardner, Derek Hill, Rex Tasher, Roger Tully, Bernice Nassamer, together with many back-room organisers, secretaries, etc. EDITORIAL : The film is being cut by: Terry Twigg and Mary Beales. NARRATIVE : Lindsay Anderson; also Charles Coplin, a Canadian Newsreel Cameraman, on loan from an advertising agency, who ably assisted me, and took the stills to prove that I was there! A Levers-Rich was donated by Brian G. Salt, many cameras and much film came from all sections of the Industry, and the Blimped Arriflex was hired from Sydney Samuelson. Transport and petrol came from — well, your guess is as good as mine! FOOTNOTE. — We also had the use