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Member LoginPat McEwan ACS
On a recent visit to South Australia, Dean Semler ACS and Pat McEwan had a night of reminiscing about the good old day of SA television at NSW9 Adelaide. They decided some of the stories should be told before the people who know about hem are no longer here. Adelaide: 1961-1962: In the early days of Television in Adelaide, News was covered on 16mm film, and the weight of equipment for Sound News Interviews presented a problem for the Cinecameraman.
The weight of the Auricon Sound on Film Camera plus the Amplifier, Lights and Tripod weighed 79lbs. Another problem was the Auricon Camera required 115Volts AC which meant that a transformer was needed to connect to a 240 Volts AC power point. Sound Cameras had to be set up and dismantled (no camera assistants those days) a time consuming job when speed was the essence. The cinecameraman longed for some portability that would increase efficiency and provide better all round coverage. NWS9 solved this problem in part when Cinecameraman Brian Bosisto and workshop manager Bill Byfield designed a mini studio in a Commer 1500 Van which became a prototype of the "News Cruisers" and "Live-Eye" units that now abound as a familiar News facility.
Of course, it was minus the ability to record and transmit direct from the site but the Commer Van utilised the greatest technical innovations available at that time. The Commer Van was carpeted lined completely with foam and set up as a mini studio. The Sound Camera had a permanent mount replacing one seat in the passenger side of the driving cab. This allowed the Camera to be permanently set up for interviews in the van. Or it could be used to film sequences outside the van simply by opening the rear doors and shooting from the van. Six heavy duty truck 12Volt batteries were clamped behind the front cab charged by a heavy duty alternator that charged the batteries on the way to assignments. A vibrator unit was used which converted 12Volt DC to 240Volts AC. A step down transformer changed 240Volts to 115Volts AC for the Auricon Camera.
A 12Volt D.C power outlet delivered power to four 12Volt D. C mirror backed lamps which provided light in the van. Various backdrops were provided for in-van interviews--- skylines, buildings and even TAA and ANSETT drapes with airline motifs -quid-pro-quo for information and help given at the airport to secure interviews with VIP passengers.
But perhaps the unique element of the Commers operation involved the actual format of most interviews. In those days, reporting staff as at a premium (News Editor, two journalists, two cine cameramen and a Secretary-Typist) and at times journalists could not be spared to travel with Cinecameramen to interviews.
Enter the Commer Van, a subtle "deception" that went un- noticed by News Viewers. The News Editor would type out questions suitable for the interviewee. The Cinecameraman would present these written questions to the person to be interviewed who would then be set up in the van for filming. The subject would simply read the questions from the paper supplied and provide the answers.
This idea did not work out in theory for a number of reasons Television was in its infancy in SA and it proved difficult for people to be confronted with such a situation, probably no experience with being interviewed, placed in front of lights and camera.
This also led to problems in editing. Optical Sound on Film is recorded 26 frames ahead of the picture. A person looking down to read a question had to face the camera for two seconds before speaking otherwise when editing the sound began as the person was looking downwards. It then fell to the cinecameraman to ask the questions from behind the camera to get the eyeline right. Usually the camera was zoomed in to get a head and shoulder shot. Some interviewee's required the cinecameraman to sit in the van and ask the listed questions. The camera was set rolling and the cinecameraman entered the van and asked the questions. When the interview was finished he had to return to behind the camera, look in the viewfinder and hope the interviewee had not shifted from a head and shoulder shot.
The Cinecameraman then returned to the Newsroom and a Reporter would enter the Commer Van. He would then sit in the interview seat swivelling it so he was looking camera right for continuity purposes ,and then ask the questions which were asked to the interviewee.
After processing the f1lm the cinecameraman would edit the interview making sure the questions and answers were intercut to the length and content required by the News Editor. Nobody had any idea that the Journalist had ever spoke to the interviewee that the whole episode had been done by 'REMOTE CONTROL’.
This practice is unheard of these days when the TV Reporter is part of the team covering news stories but it had its place in the evolution of TV Journalism, when news staff numbers were but a fraction of those today. The Commer Van run up thousands of vitally useful miles for the NWS-9 news team and, in itself, is also an interesting part of the history of the industry.
from Australian Cinematographer - Issue 13 - Winter 2001