Pat Heigham
Years ago, I was shooting an insert for a BBC programme in a conference room in the White City building, and between set-ups, wandered into the corridor and read the notice boards.
Shock Horror!!
An advert for researchers to learn how to use Handicams! Filming on the cheap! No need for a properly trained camera crew (and sound!). Did the training extend to framing/composition/sound, or just which button to press?
Peter Cook
The other night ((in November 2015) a news reporter was doing a piece to camera outside a court. The court was pin sharp, but the reporter woman soft as old boots. There was no movement at all on the shot, so I wonder if she had set the camera and shot up herself!
Pat Heigham
I saw a transmitted programme of a straight interview with the reporter off camera. A handicam had been used to offer a different angle on the subject. Unfortunately, the ‘researcher’ or ‘trainee’ had set up on the wrong side of the main camera, so the eyeline was completely wrong!
I heard of a story involving a young cameraman who crossed the line for the interviewer reverses – wrong eyeline again – for a production company I knew well. They even tried flipping the shot in the edit, but the buttoning of the jacket gave it away. He couldn’t see what the problem was!
Another story – after a break, maybe a cutaway to telecine, the #1 camera was on a tight lens on the main artiste, but all the other cameras had him in shot, so the #1 cam had to track back (on a tight lens!). Think it couldn’t have been a recording, as it might have been re-set, if not live!
Peter Coombes
I remember two of the cameramen, during a break, saying that one director had managed to get the two cameras parallel while shooting a dialogue. However, he was such a nice chap that they swapped the cameras over while he was not looking. Whether or not they did him a favour by doing this is to be debated.
Pat Heigham
At TVC in the 1960s a crew was given to new Directors for"Directors Training"!
A combination of what to ask for from the gallery to the technical crew, and, presumably, how to deal with artistes and performance.
Geoff Fletcher
The training crew (Crew T) was formed in January 1965 and I was posted to it as Dolly Op 3 on 30 January 1965. The Senior Cameraman was Dave Mutton.
Alec Bray
Geoff said:
“The training crew (Crew T) …was formed in January 1965…”
That is very interesting, and something which had completely passed me by (although in occurred the middle of my stint at the Beeb). Up to the point of Geoff’s comment, I would have said that _all_ crews had a go at Director Training. Here are some snapshots from my time.
As I recall, the first day in a real TV studio for the trainee directors was one where the trainer – a good TV director – directed the crew in a short 10 – 15 minute show with real actors and actresses. Then each putative director had a go at directing the same show – after all, the crew had rehearsed, the actors had rehearsed, the gallery set up was the same – all they had to do was call the shots, However … The crew all swapped around, so a dolly operator did the boom, for example, sound were on the cameras, dunno what grams did (!). And the actors busked it. I have vivid memories of Brian Cant (he of “PlaySchool” fame) pulling out a box of matches, holding it up to the 4033 on the boom, and shaking the box side to side, muttering as he did so “Army on the march, army on the march,” with a big grin on his face. Amongst this, the trainee director had to really show his or her mettle by trying to sort out the mayhem on the studio floor.
One of the putative directors we had on one of these initial days was a well-known film director of the time, I’ve looked up some sources, but the name escapes me – the person had a double-barrelled surname or something like that. (The trainee director MAY have been John Paddy Carstairs (the dates seem to fit …)). Just ‘cos he was a well known FILM director, the BBC weren’t going to let him near live (or recorded as live) multi-camera TV without training!
After this trial by ordeal, the next time the trainee directors were in the studio was for their “Practical Production Exercise” or PPE. In the scheme of things, we quite looked forward to them, as usually the crews crewed down. Some PPEs were good…some weren’t. The directors had to show off different facets, so the programs were mainly LE type shows, as a variety of scenarios could be used. The one show I remember reasonably clearly was a PPE with the theme of “STRING(S)”. One scene had a couple of actors as marionettes singing along to “I’ve got no strings to hold me down” (OK) on a set dressed to look like a stage with a proscenium arch – and there was another bit of this PPE with a song “These are a few of my favourite STRINGS” (groan, groan). Don’t recall what happened to that Director!
Hugh Sheppard
Circa 1962 – 64, the most extraordinarily talented group of trainees that Crew 6 (I think) came across included Cedric Messina, Waris Hussein, Ridley Scott, Michael Simpson and…?
I don’t remember who did what, except for a Ridley Scott ‘interview’: "….. and now go from one Fokine ballet to another…." “Oooooh!” We all thought…. “How very bold….”
Alex Thomas
I did the staff training bit with Cedric Messina and Waris Hussein as budding directors but I was never on Crew 6 managed by the redoubtable Sam Neeter.
I served time on Crew 3 (Tommy Holmes), Crew 8 (Otis Eddy “Pan up one line Thomas”), and Crew 14 (Gwilym Dann. Aka The Duke of Plaza Toro) before absconding to OBs in 1965.
Geoff Fletcher
Crew T only existed as such for a few months in early 1965. I believe it was eventually morphed into a numbered crew, but I can’t recall what number – maybe 17 or 18? At first we did endless training days, some of which were extremely boring. Towards the end of March and certainly by April 1965 Crew T was working on standard productions as a regular crew. There were some good days such as when we rigged a studio and listened in on a lecture for new Make-Up girls, then demonstrated how to work cameras and dollies, booms etc. including letting them have ago themselves. Other days not so good.
Trainee Directors had a very limited budget for their exercise shows – minimal sets etc, plus often other trainees taking part in the action. However, one day we came into the studio to find a set looking like it had escaped from “Ben Hur” – all soaring Doric columns and marble. Two of the actors taking part in the mini drama that followed were Marius Goring and Wendy Craig! I think the trainee was David Proudfoot if memory serves me right – we never did find out how he swung it!
A few diary entries:-
| Sunday 31st January 1965 |
CREW T | |||
| D: Staff Training 0930 – 1745 | Dave Mutton new Senior Cameraman. Crew formed especially to cover staff training exercises etc. | |||
| Thursday 11th February 1965 |
CREW T | |||
| R1: Staff Training 0930 – 1815 | New batch of Make-Up girls joined the pros for lecture. Pretty little blonde among them. | |||
| Saturday 13th February 1965 |
CREW T | Heron Tracking | ||
| G: Staff Training 1000 – 2015 | Same programme over and over all day | |||
| Sunday 14th February 1965 |
CREW T | Heron Tracking | ||
| G: Staff Training 1000 – 2030 | Ten repeats of programme – bloody ‘orrible day! | |||
| Monday 22nd March 1965 |
CREW T | Camera 4 | ||
| R2:Anatomy of a Film 0930-2145 | Quite an interesting programme. Harry Waxman on it as Lighting Cameraman. | |||
Also I have attached my posting from T to 16 just to prove Crew T existed!
(Click on the picture below to see larger version:
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Dave Mundy
At some time most TVC crews were dispatched to Woodstock Grove to do training of all categories of production people! I remember doing lots of “Nationwide” programmes to train the young lady stopwatch operators ie. PAs, and other director types including Mickey Dolenz of “The Monkees” fame. 24 “Nationwide”s gave us all a chance to rotate the crewing so it was useful for us as well! We also did two programmes in the TV Theatre with Herbert Chappell, one was an opera based on “Z cars” – absolutely brilliant! Another was a religious passion with the leading lady vocalist who was a secretary at TC! We always wondered where these highly trained people went to as there were lots of poor ones we had to put up with!
Dave Plowman
I used to love those training progs where there might also be a chance for ‘us’ to swap jobs. Discovered I was actually not a bad vision mixer.
Pat Heigham
I recall Eddy Stuart, in the TVT, being directed to:
"Pan up, pan down, pan left, pan right…."
Eventually Eddy beckoned the boom over and said:
"Tell me what the shot is that you want, and I’ll frame it!"
Mervyn Pinfield made great use of a five or six camera studio (pushing the spare into use!) by having one camera per set, and a complicated pan/track system of shots!
Another story – after a break, maybe a cutaway to telecine, the #1 camera was on a tight lens on the main artiste, but all the other cameras had him in shot, so the #1 cam had to track back (on a tight lens!) Think it couldn’t have been a recording, as it might have been re-set, if not live!
My film sound colleagues are pissed off with directors who use 2 cams shooting wide and close simultaneously. Screws the boom! Radio mics give the wrong perspective on the wide – do they care?
There is evidence of clothing the boom in greensleeve and electronically deleting it in post!
Albert Barber
Often film and so called film (Video) shoots when I do 2 cam shoots, with an MS and an MCU, there is no problem and no problems with sound department either.
When I was shooting drama like this we had a very happy team and would discuss it first. Some boom ops are very skilled at getting sound in tight places.
I’m full of admiration for sound department. I met Ray Becket, “Hurt Locker”, and we both had a moan about the problems with two camera shoots but like all crew you have to involve them. They are in the main very skilled and experienced.
It’s only on Mickey Mouse shoots with a poor, so called, Director do you get problems. Radio mikes can work but generally to be avoided, but again, if you as a Director negotiate a couple of different loops or record an atmos track whilst using a radio mike you are Ok. And besides speech from a mouth is mono anyway.
BUT I’m only a Director…
Pat Heigham
I have fielded a request to my Film Sound Production Mixers, Re-recording (dubbing) Mixers and Sound Editors to come in with what they perceive to be the main problems with multi camera shooting.
I was lucky in that while at the BBC, I worked with Directors who knew their job.
Ditto in the Film Industry (on major features), but there were always the DoP and camera operator to offer set-up suggestions.
One Director I worked with was Winner – lousy at that job, but you didn’t dare say anything ‘cos it was his company paying you. For most set-ups, he always shot in script sequence, a royal pain, and on an exterior road shot, we laid out mic cables with sex changers at either end!
I survived, but he ranted at me, one day, giving me his take on boom operating, during which I had left the set for ten mins or so – he was still shouting at me, although I wasn’t present! I then realised that he wanted the spotlight on HIM, all the time!
During one day, he reduced the script supervisor to tears on several occasions – just a bully really (he wouldn’t have stood a chance against a number of the lovely ‘dragons’ I had worked with). At lunchtime, he always had his food in an air-conditioned cabin (we were in the West Indies) and sometimes the lead actors were invited. I left the radio mics on, and monitored the conversation. Our two main male leads – both big, hunky chaps castigated Winner for making the little lady cry, and insisted that he apologised to her! (One of them was O.J.Simpson! Never knew what the true story of the later scandal was!)
Peter Cook
Kendal Avenue was perhaps an unlikely place for staff training, but Base days were sometimes highjacked. I remember on a February day in 1972 when LO1 had heap of maintenance planned, we were not happy to be greeted on arrival with the news that we had a group of production secretaries, mostly from regions, arriving for their OB day as part of a week’s course. As it happens the familiarisation turned out not to be just with equipment. I went to the cinema that evening with a woman who was to become my wife. She was up from a film office Bristol but later worked in Ken House.
About 20 years later KA staff were often summoned, again sometimes at short notice, to do training sessions associated with Woodstock Grove, sometimes with PSC(s) or with LMCR / LPU / SCU. On one occasion we spent a day shooting in Holland Park.. A chap called Michael Attenborough was one of the trainee directors. This turned out well too because he was at the time theatre director at the Palace Theatre Watford. My wife was at the time undergoing treatment for melanoma and we could not plan leisure activities far ahead. Living in Chorleywood, Watford was close. Directors have guest tickets up their sleeves. So using Michael’s business card I was on ‘good days’ able to ring up and request a couple of tickets for show at very short notice .
The actual training often involved the ‘trainees’ in acting, operating and directing. It was very easy to spot talent or lack of it. On single camera shoots especially there was a lot of emphasis on thinking a lot about the edit and avoiding obvious traps. As others have said, multi camera situations tend to show problems during rehearsal.
Pat Heigham
Theatre pull – years ago, I was contracted to work for Thames TV out of Euston. A girlfriend and I went to the RSC at Stratford for Henry IV pt1, a private visit. The traffic held us up and arriving only a few minutes before curtain up, there was nowhere to park, so I plonked the car at the bottom of the steps and bunged a huge Thames Television equipment label on the dashboard.
"That’s all right, sir" said the uniformed commissionaire, "Leave it there, I’ll keep an eye on it!"
Only a Triumph Herald, but he must have thought I was a young Director and his PA, up to see an actor!
Dave Howell
As a young Sound Trainee about 1970 I remember Director Training at Woodstock Grove, on the miniboom with a female Opera singer giving her all. Lovely jovial Julian Tolkein was sound mixing, when she paused for breath he yelled onto TB (I don’t think Woodstock had Sound TB) "pull away, the mic’s distorting". But I was already way off to one side in the roof! Blimey was she loud!
