Jeff Wexler Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I think we can safely say there have been some pretty significant technological changes regarding the equipment we use today to make movies. On the set of "Cobra Woman", 1944 (and no, I didn't do that movie... I was asked to do "Cobra Woman II" but they wound up going to Romania and hiring locally). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryF Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Is that really the camera in the upper left hand corner? Thanks, LEF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Is that really the camera in the upper left hand corner? Thanks, LEF Yes it is, pretty astonishing, the camera looks like it should be part of the set --- maybe a little gnome house or something. That's why it is so interesting to look at older movies and when they make a camera move, even if it is a simple left to right dolly, you know it was a big deal. Sort of like pushing a set of dresser drawers across the set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent Lestage Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Ironically, I think that some of those lights, however, are still in use at CBS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pverrando Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Of course, the large housing existed simply to contain the camera noise. On especially quiet scenes, all crew were required to stuff their shirts inside the housing as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 All those shirtless guys looking at a babe with booty... heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Ha. I posted this picture here before. Classic. BTW, that is me booming.;~) CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Davies Amps CAS Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Ironically, I think that some of those lights, however, are still in use at CBS. They are Mole Richardson 225amp dc "Brutes". There is a real art in trimming the carbons when they are burning otherwise they squeak because the are advanced by a motor. Malcolm Davies. A.m.p.s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Waelder Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I'm looking a a small image on my phone but the camera looks like a three strip Technicolor. As Peter noted, you are really looking at the blimp housing, not the camera directly. But the camera itself was a beast. The color separations were made on three distinct pieces of film. In modern film cameras, the color images are recorded on three layers of emulsion, one atop the other. But with the original Techicolor system one loaded three different rolls of film, two of them back to back and one off to one side and fed by a prism. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 David took the words out of my mouth: that's a 3-strip Tech camera. They have the guts of one in the ASC Clubhouse, and not too many weeks ago, I talked to DP David Mullen about it, and he pointed out how the blue and red image were captured on two pieces of film on one side of the prism, and the green image was on the other side. This explains why reds were always a little fuzzy in the process: the extra piece of film reduced the sharpness. Nowadays, the post houses can scan all three pieces of B&W film and then sharpen the soft red layer, align all the images, and make it look quite a bit better than it did originally. Although... there is something ephemeral about the look of true Tech IB prints that I don't think digital can reproduce. (Not yet, anyway.) I worked at Technicolor's digital department for a long time, but the lab guys wouldn't even tell me how the layers were aligned in final printing. That's a trade secret that has been carefully guarded for more than 80 years now. What blows me away is that they could align all the images and make high-speed prints, which seems impossible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_bollard Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 The camera looks bit like IMAX with blimp on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryF Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Fascinating stuff. Thanks, LEF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsound Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 This short from 1939 Check the Technicolor camera at 5.50 DoP - Georges Perinal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngooch Posted July 21, 2013 Report Share Posted July 21, 2013 In the movie about the career of jack cardiff, the first European DP to shoot technicolor, He said the giant technicolor camera was nicknamed " the enchanted cottage". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryF Posted July 21, 2013 Report Share Posted July 21, 2013 The Denham short was entertaining. I never imagined they would have their own 3 MW power plant. Thanks, LEF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisnewton Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 thanks Samsound. very interesting clip. I liked the guy reading the newspaper outside the "sound truck". noticed there was a hierarchy of extras: "crowd artists" was my favourite. man, diesel power generators! I guess the war put a stop to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 3 strip Technicolor camera without a blimp (on a construction crane for the rail yard shot in "Gone With The Wind" 1939) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmgoodin Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Notice the "Voice of God" mike at the feet of the director. No Megaphones for this director. (Victor Fleming?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 ...also none of those pesky Motorola radios (etc). Victor Fleming and producer David O. Selznick (with cigarette) in photo - Fleming had been brought over from "Wizard of Oz" to replace George Cukor. incidentally the effective speed of the newly introduced 'high speed' Technicolor system used on GWTW was reportedly around ASA 10 (Weston 6). The lamps in the "Cobra Woman" still are most likely Mole Richardson type 170 Molarcs, the 150 amp predecessor to the 225 amp type 450 ('brute') arc, which earned MR an Academy Award in 1947. Re: operating noise of arcs Google "How to operate a Carbon Arc" (Mole Richardson video) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 25, 2013 Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 I believe Larry Mole Parker is the son of the founder of Mole-Richardson, and he's a heckuva guy -- very knowledgeable, knows lighting and grip gear backwards and forwards, and is a good friend to many DPs here in LA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 25, 2013 Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 Grandson of Peter Mole and also really a great guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macruth Posted August 25, 2013 Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 re: the original picture.. I thought everyone wore ties on set back then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 26, 2013 Report Share Posted August 26, 2013 Grandson of Peter Mole and also really a great guy Grandson it is! Larry is still a terrific guy and carries the flame (literally!) for state-of-the-art lighting in LA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VASI Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 I can't recognize and see the name from this camera. Coming from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 wonder what wireless they were using ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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