Variety (March 1958)

46 TV FII.M SEMI-ANMIAl VARIETY Wednesday, March 19, 1958 TV ‘ Continued from page 42 be available through other facili¬ ties,, we will conduct the necessary experiments to acquaint our people with the equipment. We definitely plan to engage in tape production the minute it i 4 s available. We al¬ ready have on our stall a trained tape engineer who has the respon¬ sibility of; obtaining and studying all of the information available waiting for the day when\ve start our own operation. Robert L. Lawrence Robert Lawrence Productions We have made arrangements, to acquire tape equipment 'from Am pex. and hope to be ready to offer taped video commercials tb our clients within 90 days. It. is bur feeling that despite its limited use for the next few years, the offer¬ ing of tape to clients is a neces¬ sity for major film producers who expect to stay on top of: the heap. There are singular and unique sit¬ uations where, from the standpoint of expediency, tape can be invalu¬ able, and in these instances, where our clients require speed and in¬ stantaneous service made possible by tape, we will be able to handle their needs. There are many prob¬ lems to be faced.by fiim producers venturing into production with tape, but as long as the commercial use of tape is inevitable, we plan to attack these problems, adjust ourselves and be ready to go by late spring. There’s no point cry¬ ing about ..the multiple problems presented by dual production (film and tape under one roof); I know of no one in our industry who relishes the thought of entering the field of tape production, along with our continuing film produc¬ tion. but it’s got to be absorbed os a necessary pain of growing in a field of ever-maddening problems, where a high premium is placed on flexibility and the ability to adjust yourself to new situations all the time. Martin Ransohoff ••Filmways This would probably mean an ex¬ penditure of over . $400,000 for shooting alone.. Asstiming that the editing problems of video tape are solved. (although this is a big as-, sumption), we will then have to equip each one of our 10 edtors with a tape outfit because without them he cannot play back the scene. Shot. This would mean another $400,000 for 10 tape units, plus as. many additional standby units as are necessary, to maintain effi¬ ciency. There will."be considerable additional costs for training of per¬ sonnel and maintenance of equip¬ ment; Wiihout a doubt, it will mean an investment of well over $1,000,000 to an organization like our ; own. It is difficult to. visualize today’s cost , conscious advertisers, willing to help us amortize this amount, esper cially when it is difficult to explain to them why tape. is better, more efficient or more economical : than, the medium which we are now using; The necessary; financing, should tape become a practical reality, will have to be supplied and absorbed by the independent pro¬ ducer 1 . It would therefore become, a fact of life in the industry that only : the larger companies could survive, a conversion to. tape. If the industry will allow it, the total cost ^f conversion to tape may be cushioned by a gradual change¬ over. Marvin Rothenberg MPO Television Film's needs the west coast for a commer¬ cial, one needs it regardless of what the production technique is. The same is true of the east coast. If someone lias an emotional need to swim.at the pool of the Beverly Hills Hotel while . New • York. is covered by. snow, the : advent of tape will not discourage rior en- co.urage.it. . . Tape will’be feasible for location shooting When the men handling the talking cameras are more ’‘With’’., productipn techniques and the problems of lighting. Albert D. Hecht Bill Sturm Studios Yes, to find out what form such commercials may take, and the working procedures for tape. William H. Unger ElIiot-Unger-EIliot . Yes. Our technical staff, under the direction of James Townsend, has made several trips to the coast and Europe, and plans are under way so that Dynamic Films will be ready for conversion as soon as some of the few remaining prob¬ lems are solved. Since we try to be first to. utilise new technical developments, this approach is consistent with our policy. Lee Bobker Dynamic Films The video tape recorder now costs 'in the neighborhood of $45,- 000. But, this is only part of the investment. In effect, this part of the investment represents but the motion picture camera magazine in which film is placed. How about pickup cameras, editing equipment fwheri developed), monitors, rede¬ signed screening rooms arid dozens of other unforeseen requisites be¬ fore we can open for video tape business? I couldn’t begirt to esti¬ mate the final cost if tape does become a reality. It will certainly be high. Walter Lowendahl Transfilm ; If and when tape becomes prac¬ tical; I do not believe that it will affect the status of production in the east as opposed to Hollywood. Despite tremendous pressure, and the glamor appeal of Hollywood, the great majority of sprats are still produced in the east. . Whether the medium is tape or film, I be¬ lieve that the same painstaking care will bedemanded, and. we in the east; have the largest pool of experts trained to turn out com¬ mercials. . Location shooting with vide.6 tape is ■already a reality in pro¬ gram production^ Should the other technical problems be solved, there is rib reason why location shooting for commercials would not be pos¬ sible. ' ■ • ■ ■ • ' ■ ' . •: .... Marvin Rothenberg' . MPO Television Films Based upon current costs of equipment and labor, it is estimat¬ ed that a proper^installation that w’ould; give us video tape produc¬ tion leadership would cost upwards of $250,000. Charles C. Barry Metro TV The, equipment part of this an- swer-fwith proper tv system, two cameras and electronic: matting would, be approximately $80,000. The cost of training personnel and maintaining the equipment for the first year is not known to me. Albert D. Hecht Bill Sturm Studios How much do you estimate the total Installation of tape equipment wilt cost? This depends a great deal on bow extensive the installation—whether the. producer purchases two or three cameras and whether he ob¬ tains an electronic optical system. Our guess is that for a professional installation, to allow us to do the type of work .we are called upon in film production, a minimum invest¬ ment of $125,000 would be re¬ quired. This sum includes installa¬ tion but does not include mainte¬ nance and the engineers to Oper¬ ate it. Robert L. Lawrence Robert Lawrence Productions Let us analyze, for a moment, what the cost of conversion to video tape would mean to an organization like MPO. Last year \ye turned out more than 1,200 spots, so nor¬ mally, on any one day, we are shooting on three stages with three camera crews. Practical studio operation would necessitate tying up a video tape unit for each stage plus at least two standby rigs for necessary insurance—a total of five units. For each stage would also need at least two iconoscope cam¬ era systems plus control rooms, etc. The total installation of tape will cost in the vicinity of $80,000, in¬ cluding the hidden costs of labor which are difficult to calculate; in installing . riew processing . equip¬ ment. This includes: the acquisi¬ tion of one camera only, and the training of a technician, plus in¬ stallation and miscellaneous costs. Martin Ransohoff Film ways : The ultimate costs of all video equipment could reach $500,000, William H. Unger Ellibt-Unger-Elliot Between $200,000 and $400,000. Lee Bobker Dynamic Films HoW will the advent of tape affect the status of production in the east as opposed to Hollywood? Will tape he feasible for location Shoot? irig? I presume you are referring here to the tape as a substitute for film. If this is so, then the video tape and its accompanying tv camera system and monitors, becomes a substitute for the camera and lab^ oratory. I see no change in the status quo of east Vs. west. If one Tape, if realized, will not alter the present status of east or west coast production. Factors other than technical innovations are re¬ sponsible, for coastal production shifts. For location shooting, tape would seem. to : have limited use. There will, always, be. the. problem of transmitting the signal from the camera to the tape recording equipment. A cameraman, with a conventional: portable film camera, .can shoot; for example, a pano¬ ramic scene atop a mountain. How could: this be done via tape with¬ out- incurring the prohibitive costs of lugging video tape equipment up a mountainside? Walter Lowendahl Transfilm I think the .Sanie reasons which seem to favor west coast film pro-: duction now are equally valid for tape..' ; ■ ■■ • .. : . Charles C. Barry Metro TV Do you feel toping of com¬ mercials will cause a shift in production from independent tv film houses to the net¬ works, keeping in mind the fact that the networks cur¬ rently produce most of tele¬ vision's live commercials? I don’t think so. The nature of our business is such .that it really requires fulltime attention and concentration on detail. The net¬ works are basically In the business of selling time, and worrying.about what to.fill it with. This is also a fulltime job; handled in varying degrees of competence by the net¬ works, both in New York and Holly¬ wood. It would seem to me that the networks will be spending 100 % of their time and facilities in han¬ dling what they are primarily in business to handle—the selling and filling of airtime available to spon¬ sors. Although I could be sadly mistaken, it would appear that the television commercial business will remain in the hands of independent tv film houses, whose specialty it is to handle this highly compli¬ cated phase of commercial televi¬ sion today. Martin Ransohoff Filmways the advent of tape would cause a shift in production from independ¬ ent outfits to the networks. X be¬ lieve it unlikely that the network* could ever equal our ability to pro¬ duce commercials. The networks are primarily concerned with pro¬ gram production, it was out of necessity that they handled live commercials. Bebause these com- mercials are seen only once, criti- j cal standards are much lower. I have often. listened to the com¬ plaints of agency live producers at the shod, y, second Class treatment given to the production of live commercials at the networks; Eco¬ nomically; we can also rival the networks when it comes to the stop- and-go type of production neces¬ sary, for most commercials. They cannot tie up one studio for an en¬ tire day or more as is often re¬ quired in the production of a dif¬ ficult one minute commercial, and even if they could, tha. network costs would be prohibitive. Marvin Rothenberg MPO Television Films Tape will not affect one way or the other the status of production in the east as opposed to Holly¬ wood. The only thing that; will change is the equipment itself. It is merely the substitution of an electronic, system for the normal film system. The. only faictor that might be taken into consideration is that the tape allows for greater flexibility in continuous shooting with. the multiple cameras and therefore larger stages might, be more feasible. However, more and larger stages are becoming avail¬ able in the east: Tape definitely is feasible for lo¬ cation shooting as is evidenced by the work that has been done by the Chrysler. account. Robert L. Lawrence . Robert Lawrence Productions We can rariiy assume that in the immediate future tape will not af¬ fect New York-HollyWood relation¬ ships greatly, since tape itself may not have a. great impact. Location shooting does riot enter into our present plans for tape. William H. Unger : ElIiot-Unger-EIliot No effect at all, • The east will continue to grow as., a center -for creative film production and its pro¬ ducers will still-offer the.same ap¬ proach to films.regardless of any technical changes. Yes, tape is a feasible technique for remotes, but probably will take a while longer before lighter port¬ able equipment, is ready for use. ■'■'.Lee Bobker Dynamic Films No; comment. . Martin Ransohoff Filmways If anything,, tape should put the independent producer in a better position. Presently, approximately 75% of all tv commercials are filmed. The majority of these are for spot use, an area in Which the networks are not involved. It is highly doubtful that they would gear themselves to enter this phase of production. Filmed commercials made primarily for network use usually contain production values which could not easily be dupli¬ cated live. Therefore; it is more than likely that independent pro¬ ducers would even take over taping those commercials which are now produced live by the networks. Walter Lowendahl TranSfilm ! Although the networks do have a headstart with video tape, since they use it in the delayed recording of programs, the commercial uses of video tape are still wide open. The major film producers have the financial means, the technical skill; plus the studio facilties and crea¬ tive people to quickly oyercome the network’s headstart with tape facilities. Charles C. Barry Metro TV How will tape television af¬ fect union jurisdiction among film producers? Keep in mind the fact that the three tele¬ vision networks agreed con¬ tractually to give their own tape production to NABET and IBEW; and also keep in mind that you are contracted with SAG. . . This question will do at least one service for the industry: It will bring out into the open now what’s going to be a terribly big problem in tie immediate future. The film producers have and will probably be prone to suggest that production jurisdiction be confined to IATSE. This of course suggests a conflict with NABET and IBEW on the one side and IATSE on the other. As for the performer elements, I just don’t know. Production should be restricted to one union for all production techniques with-, [in the province of the independent film house. I cannot at the present time say the same for talent—nor is it as important in this field. Albert D. Hecht Bill Sturm .Studios ; The answer to this .question will be to a large extent measured by the network and advertising agency plans for taped commercials. William H. Unger Elliot-Uriger-Elliot Definitely not. Advertisers and their advertising agencies have never gotten , the necessary service and competitive price structure from the networks that they are accustomed to receiving from in¬ dependent production houses: Albert D. Hecht Bill Sturm Studios We do not believe networks will become the major producers of commercials. It would have been perfectly easy for them to engage in the very thing that we are doing today, but they have kept out of it Here.again, it is merely the sub¬ stitution of one type of camera.for another. The time required for the type of production that today goes into commercials immediately in¬ dicates that this business wiil re¬ main with the film producers. The cost at the networks would be fan¬ tastic. Robert L.; Lawrence Robert Lawrence Productions No. The answer to this is rela¬ tively simple. The preparation of the creative and effective selling commercial still requires the back¬ ground and experience Offered only by the film producer. The superi¬ ority in effectiveness in the current film commercial would still be true of the tape commercial when pre¬ pared and produced by the inde¬ pendent film company. Frankly, speaking, the networks cannot com¬ pete with us in this area. Lee Bobker Dynamic Films This is tough to conjecture. How¬ ever, some compromise will.have to be worked out. . The IATSE has had complete and historic craft control in the film industry. NABET and IBEW have established their positions with the television net¬ works. As the technical differences between the two fields narrow and disappear, so too, of necessity, will the problems of union jurisdiction. I am sure tbit wise union leader¬ ship will see the impossibility of any other solution. Marvin Rothenberg MPO Television Films Don’t ask! Walter Lowendahl Transfilm We are advised that IATSE has already claimed arid has been granted jurisdiction over Video tape as far as the major studios are concerned. IATSE has taken the position that their place in the in¬ dustry is unchanged regardless of the medium being used. Charles €. Barry Metro TV No comment. Robert L. Lawrence Robert Lawrence Productions We will expect the applicable Unions to arrive at tentative, work¬ ing agreements amongst them¬ selves. If the unions agree, the in¬ dependent producers will be forced to go along with such agreements. William H. Unger Elliot - Unger - Elliot No comment. Martin Ransohoff Filmways No, I definitely don’t feel that No major effect, since most of our current union contracts pro¬ vide fo it a switch oyer to tape and/ most jurisdictional disputes are outlawed under current labor law. Lee Bobker . Dynamic Films