![\"missing_c2_1\"](\"http:\/\/tech-ops.co.uk\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/missing_c2_1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve heard of a disappearing image \u2013 but never heard of a disappearing Image Orthicon!\u201d
\n\u201cWho\u2019d want an Image Orthicon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a closed room mystery! A favourite scene for crimewriters.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah \u2026 Closed room \u2013 no one comes in, no one can get out, but a crime has been committed in the room.\u201d
\n\u201cIt must be a security issue. Security is the key!\u201d
\n\u201cIn this case, it\u2019s a case of not<\/b> the key \u2013 the studios and store rooms are never locked.\u201d
\n\u201cOh!\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s only the mics that are kept locked up in stores on floor three.\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t need a key for those \u2013 only paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senior Cameraman scratched his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, perhaps there was a fault with camera,\u201d he said, \u201cand perhaps Racks have got it!\u201d<\/p>\n
So off we went to the Vision Apparatus Room and accosted the Technical Assistants manning the vision stuff there. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou got Camera 2?\u201d we asked.
\n\u201cNo, why, what\u2019s up?\u201d
\n\u201cCamera 2 is missing!\u201d
\n\u201cCan\u2019t be. It was there yesterday.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, it\u2019s not here today.\u201d
\n\u201cDunno. We don\u2019t know where it\u2019s gone.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat about its CCU?\u201d<\/p>\n
So Racks looked about, and sure enough, the Camera Control Unit for Camera 2 was safely there in Racks. (Not safe and sound<\/b><\/i>, surely!)<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps the camera was left out after the last show, and the audience rostra have been built on top of it!\u201d<\/p>\n
This was a bright suggestion from one of the crew. TW3 did not have one of the portable, extendable (retractable) seating units that were used in most of the studios. <\/p>\n
No! The audience seating in TC2 for TW3 was made up of various sizes of hollow wooden rostra blocks, fastened together, on which the seats were placed. It was reasonably light, and not \u201cbraked\u201d as the portable retractable audience seating was. The complete audience rostra could be moved \u2013 one crew had already managed this with the Mole crane during one rehearsal.<\/p>\n So the lowest of the low on the crew were dispatched to crawl through the complete audience rostra in case the missing camera was inside. No such luck! So, more dustier than usual.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the camera cables are here in stores, so it must have been taken by someone who has the CCU AND the right camera cables.\u201d Hmm. There are a number of places to try. RandD, CAR, at a pinch Standards Conversion and Network Control. People were despatched to all Engineering areas \u2013 and drew a blank at every one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have to use the live spare!\u201d said the Senior Cameraman. \u201cIt means we will have no live spare for the show tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n On live shows \u2013 and if there was a spare camera (which was not always the case, especially in LG) \u2013 the spare camera would be cabled up, lined up and warmed up, mounted on a suitable mount and pointed at something of intrinsic interest to Tech Ops \u2013 often the quick change tent if there was one. The idea was that if a camera had a major fault, the live spare could be substituted reasonably quickly. Well, that was the theory. More often than not, a bit of percussive maintenance was applied to the ailing camera.<\/p>\n So the live spare was commandeered for the show. Can\u2019t remember what happened about the cue light.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the crewed-out members of the crew continued to look for the camera.<\/p>\n They searched TC1, TC2, TC3, (Red tea bar, obviously, …)<\/p>\n They searched through the walkways, they searched through the docks. As far as we know, the camera was never found\u2026<\/p>\n Remembered by Alec Bray<\/b><\/span><\/font> and confirmed by Doug Coldwell<\/b><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n PS <\/b><\/font>\u2013 don\u2019t trust the pictures \u2013 they have been heavily reworked in a graphics package. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A fictionalised account of something that really happened. \u201cWhen you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth\u201d. He looked up and around the crew stand before him in a semicircle. \u201cCome on, crew, … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u201cPerhaps Engineering have got it?\u201d
\n\u201cSurely Racks would know if Engineering have taken it?
\n\u201cNot if they came down during the night. TAs leave when the lines are cleared down or when the derig is complete (or before) as we do.\u201d
\n\u201cLet\u2019s go and ask Engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThey searched through the CAR, VAR and SAR.
\nThey looked in the crew room, they looked in the loos,
\nAnd finally researched the BAR.<\/p>\n
\nTAs were questioned with glee.
\nThey looked at the scene hoists, they checked lighting bars,
\nBut the camera had vanished, you see.<\/p>\n <\/h3>\n
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