American Cinematographer - September 1968 - 32

' **»

Three young film-makers
with a special feeling
about the giant trees
perform a labor of love
and win themselves an
Academy "Oscar" for best
documentary of the year

J

:

* *"

*

' '

FILMING "THE REDWOODS
By

FRANCISCO

DE

MENTON

The film selected as "Best docu¬
mentary short for the year of 1967"
by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, bears the unas¬
suming title of THE REDWOODS. Part
of the beauty of the film is that it is
as quietly unassuming yet subtly effec¬
tive as its title. Speaking on behalf of
writer-producer Mark Harris and pho¬
tographer-editor,
Richard
"Dick"
Chew, the producer-director, Trevor
Greenwood, says, "I think the film real¬
ly communicates the feeling we have
about the trees."
Originally produced under the aus¬
pices of the conservation-minded Si¬
erra Club, THE REDWOODS is unique
among nature and conservationist
films, in that it is not obviously a piece
of conservationist, propaganda. To
make such a film would have, ac¬
cording to producers Greenwood and

Richard (Dick) Chew, phoFographer-editor of
"THE REDWOODS," conjured an image of the
towering trees in fog that was, to him, rem¬
iniscent of uniquely beautiful Oriental prints.

Harris, "alienated audiences." They
did not want to obscure the beauty of
the trees with a "message" narra¬
tion; instead they wanted to give au¬
diences a sense of the awesome
presence of the redwoods and thus
create an emotional attachment to
these natural wonders.
The narration, written by Mark
Harris, enhances rather than de¬
scribes the visual aspects of the film.
The words add tone, give depth and
character to the images and suggest
rather than blatantly state the filmmakers' concern for the future of the
redwood forests. "We thought we
would be most effective by making
the film dramatic and suggestive,"
says Greenwood, "so Mark interview¬
ed long-time residents in the redwood
country. His narration is based on
their remarks and their language,
which, I think reflects something of
the atmosphere of the area. The nar¬
ration is spoken by a 'character,'
that is, 'a man of the region' whose
father worked and died among the
big trees, so our off-screen voice has
a reason to talk about the trees, to
love them and care about them. Also
this voice introduced the element of
man into the film, and made THE
REDWOODS also the story of man's
relationship with the forest without
visually drawing attention away from
the trees. Our 'old-timer' is a spiritual
presence, not a physical one. I think

it works. In fact, the most dramatic
line in Mark's narration was really
spoken to him by an old woman who
grew up in the area."
The line Greenwood is speaking of
is an example of the perfect fusion
of sight and sound. Over a long pan
of a valley that has been stripped of
trees, the off-screen "old-timer" says:
You know, when I was a boy, peo¬
ple still regarded that area
or

less

as the

frontier.

more

But there

are no longer any frontiers in this
country. Only the moon I guess . . .
and from pictures I've seen
...

it

looks

like

we've

of it

already

logged there.

Such is the delicate potency of THE
REDWOODS.
From the beginning, the film is mut¬
ed and delicate, achieving its dra¬
matic effect through the use of ironic
juxtaposition and incongruity. The tur¬
bulence of the sea breaking on a
rocky coast is posed against the
haunting stillness of the trees shroud¬
ed in fog. This image of the trees in
fog, consciously designed by Green¬
wood and Chew to be reminiscent of
Oriental prints, is set against a voice
with a Western accent saying nos¬
talgically, "They were like that when
my father first saw them . .
The
large, quiet immobility of the trees,
seemingly permanent and indestruct¬
ible within the gentle tide of the fog
becomes the setting for a dimly seen,

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, SEPTEMBER 1.968
American Cinematographer - September 1968

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