None of the tributes to Ken Cameron, in the Autumn issue of the Newsletter, mentioned his book published in 1947, Sound And The Documentary Film. For me, in my early thirst for motion picture sound recording knowledge ‘out in the colonies’, this book was like a Bible. Other technical tomes were available but none in the words of someone who was actually doing the job. I thought that present day sound editors and rerecording mixers would be amused by the following extract from that book. BOB ALLENWHO WILL BE THERE?There is sometimes a good deal of controversy as to who should be present at a rerecording session. The mixer, obviously; the track-layer, equally obviously. But the producer and director? That is rather a delicate problem. The producer is responsible for the film. It might even be his money that has paid for it. Certainly these two have every right to come into the theatre and see how their film is shaping. Presumably the director has his own ideas upon how the work should be done. Still, rerecording from the point of view of the mixer is an operation calling for great mental strain. He has to combine the jobs of artist and technician. He has to turn up the effects knob sufficiently far for the guns to be loud enough and yet not so far that the modulator is destroyed. Although he is provided with a cue sheet and perhaps visual cues upon the screen, even then he is generally seeing the picture for the first time and he has to memorise nearly all the subtle changes he is called upon to perform. While this none-too-easy process is going on the producer and director, and perhaps some friends and few visitors like to talk. They discuss one or two cuts they intend to make in the picture. One of them chooses the middle of the reel to make a telephone call, and they al/shout “UP” or “DOWN” when the mixer omits to make an alteration in level at the right place quite oblivious to the fact that it is too late to do anything about it anyway. And in any case the mixer noticed the mistake himself fully five seconds earlier. Maybe in the past as a mixer I have been unlucky. But I shall go to great lengths of subterfuge and cunning to avoid anybody being in the theatre during a rerecording session other than the people who are absolutely essential. After all, it is difficult to be really rude to one ‘s employer, and to throw a director out of the theatre is scarcely good form - although it has been done! By far the best policy is to get these people into the theatre for the last rehearsal. Let them make all the comments they like during the rehearsal, but ignore them. By the end of the reel they will have forgotten what they said an way. Then get them to jot down any points they want to make on to a piece of paper, and send them off to the canteen! After that, in peace and serenity, shoot the reel. | Radio Times Guide To Films (BBC, paperback £19.99) Over 20,000 films, expert reviews, thorough indexes and family guidance. Star ratings. A comprehensive guide to the good, the bad, the indifferent, the great and the dreadful! James Bond - The Secret World Of 007 (Alistair Dougal / Dorling Kindersley, hardback, £12.99) From cinematic shots to cars, gadgets and girls. The book that Bond fans have been waiting for. It brings the 007 missions to life with cutaway drawings of key Bond equipment, action photographs and narrative art work The Hitchcock Murders (Peter Conrad / Faber / £16.99) Yet another book on the Master of Movie Suspense. The author discusses all Hitch’s work in a witty, energetic and captivating way. Get Happy - The Life Of Judy Garland (Gerald Clark / Little, Brown / £20.00) Abortion, drugs, a husband who turned out to be gay, makes one ask did Judy ever Get Happy? Groucho - The Life And Times Of Julius Henry Marx (Stefan Kanfer / Penguin Press / £18.99) This is a juicy but judicious biography that finds room to reprint many of Groucho’s best quips and gags. (My Father’s Daughter Tina Sinatra with Jeff Caplon / Simon & Schuster / £17.99) Tina’s memoirs get you close to the demon that drove the great singer, which makes for some unpleasant reading. Is It Me? (Terry Wogan / BBC hardback / £16.99) Wogan’s autobiography is written in his inimitable style with sell deprecating humour and wry observation of normal everyday life, his childhood, his early career in Irish radio and his rise to celebrity fame with the BBC including the Eurovision Song Contest and Children In Need. This is a very readable memoir, not only for fans. The Private Eye Annual 2000 (Ed: Ian Hislop / Private Eye hardback / £8.99) Another collection of rapid fire satirical hilarity, full of spoofs, skits, and sideways swipes, |
