Greetings Film Buffs,
Some great movies will be on TCM over the next few days. Here’s an over view from Friday July 18 – Wed July 23
Friday July 18 TCM 8:00pm In The Heat of the Night 1967 Color 1.85:1
Dir: Norman Jewison
DP: Haskel Wexler ASC
Saturday July 19 TCM 10:00 AM The Desperate Hours 1955 B&W
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Lee Dewey Garmes 1898-1978
Sunday July 20 TCM 11:30 AM 12 Angry Men B&W 1.66:1
Dir: Sidney Lumet
DP: Boris Kaufman
Sunday July 20 TCM 5:15 PM West Side Story
Dir: Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins
DP: Daniel L. Fapp
Monday July 21-22 1:00AM Apocalypse Now 1979
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
DP: Vittorio Storaro
Tuesday July 22 3:30 PM the Best Years of Our Lives 1946
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Gregg Toland
Wednesday July 23 5:45 PM The Apartment 1960
Dir: Billy Wilder
DP: Joseph LaShelle
These are all highly recommended for viewing. Note all aspects of production:
direction, blocking, camerawork- moves, focus, lighting, art direction/props, etc.
Think of the different departments, their functions and any specific problems that any one department in particular had to deal with.
Here are some production notes for a few of the above.
July 18 TCM 8:00pm In The Heat of the Night 1967 Color 1.85:1
Dir: Norman Jewison
Dp: Haskel Wexler ASC
Production Notes:
• Rod Steiger was asked by director Norman Jewison to chew gum when playing the part. He resisted at first but then grew to love the idea,and eventually went through 263 packs of gum during the shooting of the film.
• Mississippi was eventually ruled out as a location due to the existing political conditions. Sparta, Illinois, was selected as the location, and the town's name in the story was changed to Sparta so that local signs would not need to be changed. The greenhouse was added to an existing home and filled with $15,000 worth of orchids.
• The scene that took place at the sheriff's house featured dialog that came out of improvisations between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
• It was suggested to Rod Steiger that he base his performance of Bill Gillespie upon the popular cult icon of the day, "The Dodge Sheriff", but minus the comedy. The Dodge Sheriff was a stereotypical Southern (USA) Sheriff in TV commercials and magazine advertisements of the day promoting the high-performance line of Dodge automobiles.
• The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #16 movie quote by the American Film Institute
• The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #76 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
• Virgil arrives in Sparta, and subsequently leaves town, via the old Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
• The "Owl on the Prowl" song: According to Norman Jewison and Haskell Wexler on the DVD commentary, they originally wanted the song "Hey There Little Red Ridin' Hood" by 'Sam the Sham and The Pharoahs' , which is what was actually playing in that scene and what the character Ralph Henshaw (Anthony James) is dancing to. Apparently, Sam the Sham wanted too much money for use of the song and it was probably Quincy Jones who came up with the new song and Glenn Campbell is singing.
• Frequently cited as Sidney Poitier's favorite of all the films he's done.
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #75 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.
• Set in a hot Mississippi summer but filmed during Autumn in Illinois, many of the actors had to keep ice chips in their mouths (and spit them out before takes) to prevent their breath from appearing on camera during the night scenes.
Location Notes:
Belleville, Illinois
Chester, Illinois,
Dyersburg, Tennessee, (cotton fields)
Freeburg, Illinois, USA (opening railroad scene)
Raleigh Studios - 5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,
(California Studios site) (studio)
Sparta, Illinois, USA (Sparta, Mississippi)
July 19 TCM 10:00 AM The Desperate Hours 1955 B&W
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Lee Dewey Garmes 1898-1978
Production Note: First B&W film to shot in VistaVision –
A few notes on VistaVision –
VistaVision is a variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format created by Paramount Pictures in 1954 based on the Glamorama and Superama widescreen systems.
Paramount, who did not buy into the anamorphic systems available, such as CinemaScope, looked for a more satisfying alternative. Paramount's intention was to create finer-grained negatives through shooting with larger surface area on film, which when printed and projected on the screen in the new flat widescreen formats, would register as clear as those which were not magnified for variable ratios.
In shooting VistaVision, the film is run horizontally, as in a still camera, with a width of 8 perforations per frame, which required special cameras.
This gave a wider aspect ratio of 1.5 against the conventional 1.37, and a larger image area. VistaVision films were shown in a number of aspect ratios, the most popular being 1.85:1. Others included 2:1 and 1.75:1.
the process saw limited usage, as it required considerable labwork including optical printing and matting down to a conventional aspect ratio on vertical film (with the exception of a very small number of theaters between 1954 and 1956), as well as the cost of twice as much film stock during filming. VistaVision lost out in the general market to the less expensive, anamorphic systems such as Panavision and the more capable 70 mm format. Since its last usage in the American market for One Eyed Jacks in 1961, it has virtually disappeared as a primary imaging system for feature films. Most films today are shot in Panavision,
In 1975, Dykstraflex, a retooled VistaVision camera, was created for Industrial Light and Magic's use on process shots in Star Wars. Since then, the format has enjoyed a brief renaissance as an intermediate format used for shooting special effects, since the larger negative area compensates against the increased grain created when shots are optically composited. However, the advent of computer-generated imagery, advanced film scanning and digital intermediate work, film stocks optimized for special effects work, lenses and film stocks with higher resolving power, and usage of 70 mm for similar optical compositing work has largely rendered this usage of VistaVision obsolete as well.
July 20 TCM 11:30 AM 12 Angry Men B&W 1.66:1
Dir: Sidney Lumet
DP: Boris Kaufman
Production Notes:
The filming was completed after a short but rigorous rehearsal schedule in less than three weeks on a budget of about $350,000.
At the beginning of the film, the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater depth between subjects, but as the film progresses the focal length of the lenses is gradually increased. By the end of the film, nearly everyone is shown in closeup using telephoto lenses from a lower angle, which decreases or "shortens" depth of field. Lumet, who began his career as a director of photography, stated that his intention in using these techniques with cinematographer Boris Kaufman was to create a nearly palpable claustrophobia
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Film Viewing Alert – Love With The Proper Stranger (1963)
TONIGHT! - 7/10 Thursday TCM @ 8:00 PM -- Love With The Proper Stranger (1963)
Length: 102 min.
Color: B&W
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1
Dir. Robert Mulligan (also directed To Kill A Mockingbird 1962)
DP: Milton R. Krasner
Among the many films, Mr. Krasner also shot are –
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN 1954
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 1955
Mr. Krasner won the Oscar for best cinematography (color) for THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. Back then there were two cinematography Oscars – Color & B&W. See Cinema History Note (CHN) below.
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN helped put Rome on the tourism map for Americans.
--
LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER is an important film for several significant factors –
1. It’s a beautiful love story that unabashedly explores elements of life that confront many young people, namely “one-night-stands” of casual sex, resulting unwelcome pregnancy and abortion, something of a bold cinematic theme for 1963 (10 years before Roe v. Wade).
2. Outstanding performances by the entire cast lead by Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
3. High pedigree of recognition - nominated for five Academy Awards for:
▪ Best Actress in a Leading Role (Natalie Wood)
▪ Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Milton R. Krasner)
▪ Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen.
Cinema History Note (CHN): 1939–1966 separate Academy Awards were presented for films in color and films in Black & White in the following categories: Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design.
For a list of all nominees and winners for Cinematography from 1928 – 2007, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography
Tune in again soon for more Viewing Alerts of notable films.
Frost
Length: 102 min.
Color: B&W
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1
Dir. Robert Mulligan (also directed To Kill A Mockingbird 1962)
DP: Milton R. Krasner
Among the many films, Mr. Krasner also shot are –
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN 1954
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 1955
Mr. Krasner won the Oscar for best cinematography (color) for THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. Back then there were two cinematography Oscars – Color & B&W. See Cinema History Note (CHN) below.
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN helped put Rome on the tourism map for Americans.
--
LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER is an important film for several significant factors –
1. It’s a beautiful love story that unabashedly explores elements of life that confront many young people, namely “one-night-stands” of casual sex, resulting unwelcome pregnancy and abortion, something of a bold cinematic theme for 1963 (10 years before Roe v. Wade).
2. Outstanding performances by the entire cast lead by Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
3. High pedigree of recognition - nominated for five Academy Awards for:
▪ Best Actress in a Leading Role (Natalie Wood)
▪ Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Milton R. Krasner)
▪ Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen.
Cinema History Note (CHN): 1939–1966 separate Academy Awards were presented for films in color and films in Black & White in the following categories: Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design.
For a list of all nominees and winners for Cinematography from 1928 – 2007, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography
Tune in again soon for more Viewing Alerts of notable films.
Frost
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
History & The Human Experience-Remember the Battle of Gettysburg
History & The Human Experience – Remember the Battle of Gettysburg.
As the July 4th celebration approaches, I like to think about things that are a somewhat removed from the conventional summer holiday activities like fire works, cook-outs and potato sack races. That doesn’t mean I’m not patriotic. I’m a US Army veteran and American traditions, and legends of traditions, are near and dear to my heart. My eyes get moist and the bottom lip tends to quiver whenever I hear the Star-Spangled Banner and it can be a downright tear duct deluge when I see news footage of our military people deploying for duty overseas and especially with images of military people returning home and being greeted by adoring family and friends. And I get mad as hell every time I hear reports of American troops killed in action.
In these times of economic woe of soaring prices, mortgage and credit crunch, and that thankless war in the middle east, it’s important for Americans to pause and reflect on The Human Experience and the daily details and routines some people have to go through in order to do things that keep us safe. Take a cranial sojourn and energize your mind to engage a wide scope of human realities. For example – think about what a Special Operations unit, deployed on a secret intelligence mission in eastern Iran, had for breakfast this morning. Or, with respect to the pending July 4th holiday this weekend, what a South Carolina militiaman fighting under Swamp Fox Francis Marion had for a noon meal around July 4th, 1778.
One hundred and forty-five years ago today, tomorrow and Thursday, Americans
fought and killed each other in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Spend some time thinking about that. Seek out and peruse websites that feature source materials like letters and diaries written by soldiers of both sides or observant residents of Gettysburg and its environs. Find sites with photographs of the battlefield, soldiers and prisoners of war. Those of you who are photographers and filmmakers think about how you might have gone about capturing images back then, with equipment of the time and with the technology we have today. Click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battle_of_Gettysburg.jpg and study “Harvest of Death”, a photograph taken after the battle by Timothy O’Sullivan, July 5th or 6th.
Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was an interesting and noteworthy individual, considered to be one of the first to create photography as a documentary form in the 19th century. Not a great deal is known about O’Sullivan’s life. According to sources, he was born in Ireland in 1840 and when he was two, emigrated with his family to New York during the potato famine. In 1858 he began working as an apprentice in Mathew Brady’s New York gallery. He later transferred to the Washington, DC gallery which was run by Alexander Gardner, then an associate of Brady’s. At the beginning of the Civil War, O’Sullivan assisted Brady in creating a comprehensive photographic history of the war. In 1863, O’Sullivan left Brady to start his own business and worked with Gardner who left Brady a year before. Gardner’s studio published the first collection of Civil War photographs, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, which featured 42 of O’Sullivan’s battlefield images.
After the Civil War, O’Sullivan was a photographer for the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, the first survey of the American West. The expedition started in Nevada and worked its way eastward. O’Sullivan’s assignment was to photograph the West, creating images that were used to attract settlers – an early version of land development promotion. O’Sullivan’s pictures were some of the first taken of prehistoric ruins, pueblo villages, Navajo life and the grand western landscapes.
In 1870 O’Sullivan joined a team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he joined another survey venture west of the 100th Meridian exploring and taking pictures in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the expedition’s boats capsized on the Colorado River and many of O’Sullivan 300 negatives were lost.
His remaining years were spent in Washington, DC as the official photographer for the U.S, Geological Survey and the Treasury Dept. While in Washington, O’Sullivan met and married Laura Virginia Pywll, the sister of a Washington photographer. In 1876 Mrs. Sullivan had a son who was stillborn. There were no other children. In 1882 Timothy O’Sullivan died of tuberculosis at age 41 or 42.
Eyewitness account of the battle by a teenage girl:
Go to: www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gtburg.htm then scroll down to read the eyewitness account of Ms. Tillie Pierce, a teenage girl (b. 1848) who lived in Gettysburg at the time. Think about shooting an interview with her a few days after the battle. Research “You Are There”, the amazing, before-its-time 1953 CBS television show hosted by Walter Cronkite that combined history and technology in a most unique way that has yet to be paralleled.
See:
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html for general background
and…
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html episode guide.
In this thought exercise use your imagination, think in a 360 degree pattern and look for connections within youself and between sources, ideas, realities and above all dreams.
--
As the July 4th celebration approaches, I like to think about things that are a somewhat removed from the conventional summer holiday activities like fire works, cook-outs and potato sack races. That doesn’t mean I’m not patriotic. I’m a US Army veteran and American traditions, and legends of traditions, are near and dear to my heart. My eyes get moist and the bottom lip tends to quiver whenever I hear the Star-Spangled Banner and it can be a downright tear duct deluge when I see news footage of our military people deploying for duty overseas and especially with images of military people returning home and being greeted by adoring family and friends. And I get mad as hell every time I hear reports of American troops killed in action.
In these times of economic woe of soaring prices, mortgage and credit crunch, and that thankless war in the middle east, it’s important for Americans to pause and reflect on The Human Experience and the daily details and routines some people have to go through in order to do things that keep us safe. Take a cranial sojourn and energize your mind to engage a wide scope of human realities. For example – think about what a Special Operations unit, deployed on a secret intelligence mission in eastern Iran, had for breakfast this morning. Or, with respect to the pending July 4th holiday this weekend, what a South Carolina militiaman fighting under Swamp Fox Francis Marion had for a noon meal around July 4th, 1778.
One hundred and forty-five years ago today, tomorrow and Thursday, Americans
fought and killed each other in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Spend some time thinking about that. Seek out and peruse websites that feature source materials like letters and diaries written by soldiers of both sides or observant residents of Gettysburg and its environs. Find sites with photographs of the battlefield, soldiers and prisoners of war. Those of you who are photographers and filmmakers think about how you might have gone about capturing images back then, with equipment of the time and with the technology we have today. Click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battle_of_Gettysburg.jpg and study “Harvest of Death”, a photograph taken after the battle by Timothy O’Sullivan, July 5th or 6th.
Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was an interesting and noteworthy individual, considered to be one of the first to create photography as a documentary form in the 19th century. Not a great deal is known about O’Sullivan’s life. According to sources, he was born in Ireland in 1840 and when he was two, emigrated with his family to New York during the potato famine. In 1858 he began working as an apprentice in Mathew Brady’s New York gallery. He later transferred to the Washington, DC gallery which was run by Alexander Gardner, then an associate of Brady’s. At the beginning of the Civil War, O’Sullivan assisted Brady in creating a comprehensive photographic history of the war. In 1863, O’Sullivan left Brady to start his own business and worked with Gardner who left Brady a year before. Gardner’s studio published the first collection of Civil War photographs, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, which featured 42 of O’Sullivan’s battlefield images.
After the Civil War, O’Sullivan was a photographer for the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, the first survey of the American West. The expedition started in Nevada and worked its way eastward. O’Sullivan’s assignment was to photograph the West, creating images that were used to attract settlers – an early version of land development promotion. O’Sullivan’s pictures were some of the first taken of prehistoric ruins, pueblo villages, Navajo life and the grand western landscapes.
In 1870 O’Sullivan joined a team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he joined another survey venture west of the 100th Meridian exploring and taking pictures in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the expedition’s boats capsized on the Colorado River and many of O’Sullivan 300 negatives were lost.
His remaining years were spent in Washington, DC as the official photographer for the U.S, Geological Survey and the Treasury Dept. While in Washington, O’Sullivan met and married Laura Virginia Pywll, the sister of a Washington photographer. In 1876 Mrs. Sullivan had a son who was stillborn. There were no other children. In 1882 Timothy O’Sullivan died of tuberculosis at age 41 or 42.
Eyewitness account of the battle by a teenage girl:
Go to: www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gtburg.htm then scroll down to read the eyewitness account of Ms. Tillie Pierce, a teenage girl (b. 1848) who lived in Gettysburg at the time. Think about shooting an interview with her a few days after the battle. Research “You Are There”, the amazing, before-its-time 1953 CBS television show hosted by Walter Cronkite that combined history and technology in a most unique way that has yet to be paralleled.
See:
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html for general background
and…
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html episode guide.
In this thought exercise use your imagination, think in a 360 degree pattern and look for connections within youself and between sources, ideas, realities and above all dreams.
--
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