For sound shooting the standard camera is used in connection with either a "barney" or a blimp. The barney is necessarily not so efficient from a sound standpoint as the blimp, but it is very useful in a great many places. The regular blimp is a highly efficient piece of equipment, and of course requires heavier mounts than the wild camera, but it can be accommodated on all types of mounts. Those most popularly used are the blimp "high-hat," four-wheeled "velocilator," and a variety of booms.
There are many items of special equipment available to the Technicolor photographer that are far too numerous to mention in detail. Among them should be mentioned, however, the variety of equipment and mounts used for air photography; the camera blimp and mounts used for underwater photography; and the speed-cameras capable of consistent operation at so-called six times normal speed, or 96 pictures per second.
The question has been asked if an extra standby camera was kept on the set at all times to replace the camera in use when the film ran out, because it took so long to thread the Technicolor cameras. This is not true. The actual threading time of a Technicolor camera is only about three minutes, for a skilled technician, and many units work with only one camera. On major production units, however, an extra camera is usually kept on hand, threaded, to prevent any possible loss of production time due to many reasons. Sometimes a reduction of the three-minute threading time is desirable, and when sound shooting is involved and a certain emotional tempo or mood has been established with the principals, unnecessary mechanical interruptions are highly undesirable. Frequently the director requires two cameras on a shot, and the fact that the supply of extra cameras is often many miles from the stage has an important bearing upon the desirability of this extra camera. The additional cost of the extra camera is a very minor item and the camera usually saves much more than its cost by the saving of production time.
This equipment has been in service for many years, and has successfully met the test of almost all climates, altitudes, and conditions. The cameras have been in all parts of the world-into the crater of Mt. Vesuvius, under the sea near Nassau, almost 20,000 feet above the Andes in South America, in tropical climates, and in subzero temperatures.
Page 9
Next Page
[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12]
Back to TECHNICOLOR home page.