American Cinematographer - September 1968 - 37

Having been brought up in the industry
to roll with these trends as they de¬
veloped, I feel that I am very much a
part of them. Perhaps, though I don't
want to dwell on it, I should mention
a bit of this background, at least those
parts which I think are concerned with
these trends, so that later on I may
refer back to them and cite them as
examples.
Some of the early television series,
in the making of which I was em¬
ployed, had the problem of limited
time and budget-on top of which, at
least in New York, the lack of studio
space forced the producer to film some
segments of his show on actual loca¬
tions. In itself this was not new. After
all, films have been made on locations
even before there was such a thing
as a studio. But it was new in the
respect that the photography was done
in a manner similar to studio photogra¬
phy, with the use of lights, camera
equipment, sound, etc.
Contrary to previous location film¬
ing, which involved prominent and
well known landmarks that obviously
could not have been built in the studio,
our locations would use a drug store
or meat market, not for its beauty or
even uniqueness, but simply because
it was there. As I have mentioned
previously, neither time nor money
were available for the building of
these sets, so some real ones had to
do. The surprising aspect of all this
was the enthusiastic acceptance by the
general audiences. Not only did they
accept it, they preferred it.
Of course, I don't want to imply
that New York television was singlehandedly responsible for this type of
photography. After all, as I said, the
history of location photography is as
long as the history of the industry. Many
a good documentary film was filmed
entirely on location, as were any num¬
ber of European and some Hollywood
films. Yet, as far as the entertainment
industry was concerned, these were the
exceptions. This is no longer so. Even
the heavy investments of money, real
estate and equipment of the largest
film centers all over the world are
giving way to this newly rediscovered
trend in a big way. Some of the young
film-makers, trained at one or another
of the universities around the world,
brought with them the hand-held tech¬
niques of their background. Once
working professionally, their talent
married the established ways and now
we find ourselves in the middle of
new styles.

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, SEPTEMBER 1968

Let us examine the special require¬
ments these trends have created and
what, at least in my opinion, is hap¬
pening or should be happening to
supply and facilitate this trend. A few
years ago, while I was preparing for
the production of a feature film,
"YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW," the di¬
rector's comment after seeing the first
test was, that the photography was
"too good." Since a majority of this
picture was to be shot on actual loca¬
tions, he felt the result should come as
close to the actual look of these places
as possible, within the known limita¬
tions of equipment. So instead of a
slick studio type lighting job he pre¬
ferred the flat look of these places as
they actually are.
Recently I photographed another film,
"PORI," which used such locations as
Spanish Harlem in New York with its
tenements, exterior as well as interior.
The story of this film would have suf¬
fered greatly if slick studio type light¬
ing, in addition to the inherently beau¬
tiful characteristics of color film, would
have, even to a slight degree, made
our backgrounds appear to be any¬
thing more, or, for that matter, less
than what they actually were.
In filming another feature, "ONE
POTATO, TWO POTATO," which was
photographed entirely on location, I
found that the major "set," a 150year-old farmhouse, presented prob¬
lems in every area of motion picture
making.

Having cited these three examples, I
might seem to be talking about situ¬
ations typical of those encountered
only in the making of low-budget films.
Not so. Although "ONE POTATO, TWO
POTATO" was a low-budget film, pro¬
duced for approximately $250,000,
"BIG BOY" cost well over $1,000,000
and the film I have just completed,
"POPI," ran far more than that. In
January of this year I finished photog¬
raphy for another film, "THE NIGHT
THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S," which cost
many times more-and yet, there were
only two sets built in the studio for the
film. It is true, however, that we re¬
constructed two city blocks and many
other interior and exterior locations to
authentically represent the year 1925,
and most of these were a far cry from
the comforts and expediencies of the
studio.
What is really strange about this
developing trend is that we find our¬
selves more and more frequently facing
these situations with their special prob¬
lems while, in most cases, having to
cope with them by using equipment
which was primarily designed for
studio use.
Now that we have reached this
point, let's get down to specifics. Imag¬
ine that you are filming in the narrow
hallways, the small rooms with low
ceilings and staircases of a tenement
building - with your camera loaded
wth color film. Despite your best in¬
tentions, plus the lab's capabilities and

The author (center) watches rehearsal for a scene from his most recent feature assignment,
"POPI," during location filming in a ballroom of the New York Hilton Hotel. This location was
spacious enough to accommodate large studio lighting units such as 10-K*s and Seniors, but
tenement rooms photographed for the same film were so small that only miniature incandescent
and quartz lamps could be used.

1§

"
'' vv

American Cinematographer - September 1968

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 1968