The Piccolo Crane

Ever see one of these? This actually folds up on top of the wheel dolly and can hold 2 seated people and a camera. The link takes you to short video on how to set it up and if you don’t know anything at all about cranes, this is a good, little, easy lesson.

Source

Where the Sid Caesar/Imogene Coca Magic Started

The Admiral Broadway Revue is the only show known to be canceled because it was too successful…really! Admiral could not keep up with the demand for their TV sets so faced with the prospect of building a new plant or canceling the show, they canceled.

This was ground zero of what would later become the hugely successful, ‘Your Show Of Shows’. Admiral Broadway Review premiered on 28 January 1949, and was broadcast live simultaneously on both NBC and the now-defunct DuMont network. The show was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre (also known as the Park Theatre) at 5 Columbus Circle in New York. The hour-long series was directed by Max Liebman, hosted by Sid Caesar, and also starred Imogene Coca. The last show of Admiral Broadway Revue was on June 3, 1949.

The series, oddly enough, was sponsored by TV set manufacturer Admiral, a company which was in direct competition with RCA (the parent company of NBC) and DuMont, which both manufactured TV sets. To see an episode, click the link.

https://archive.org/details/AdmiralBroadwayRevue

Source

The Man Who Filmed ‘I Love Lucy’, Tells Us How It Was Done.

By: KARL FREUND, Director of Photography

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz show was a challenge from the start. It was decided that, for the first time, TV cameras would be replaced with three motion picture cameras to allow more flexibility in editing and to improve the photographic quality over kinescope recording.

This, I felt, was a legitimate approach to the situation. I expected very little variation from the ritual of photographing regular motion pictures — but I had not taken into consideration the unique problems involved. I was soon to be faced with them.

First of all, a live show requires an audience. This necessitated a regular studio sound stage equipped with bleachers to hold some 300 people. Above the stage a series of directional microphones and loud speakers had to be installed.

To give the audience a clear view of the program, and to allow the cameras total mobility without interference from floor cables, the lights for the sets had to be placed above the stage.

It became obvious almost at once that the overhead light placement was hardly flattering to the photographing of the performers. While the print value seemed up to par when projected in a studio projection room, they showed too much contrast when viewed over a closed TV circuit. Thus, we were faced with the fact that the greatest difference between standard motion pictures technique and TV films is the subject lighting contrast, which is required.

The immediate question was what method we should use to obtain the desired compression in the positive print. The solution was fairly simple. After careful survey, we selected a method that would involve no departure from standard practice in processing laboratory operations. That is, in exposing the original negative, use a subject lighting contrast considerable lower than that normally used for conventional black and white motion picture photography and process both the negative and print in the normal way.

It requires four days to line up each weekly show of “I Love Lucy” and “Our Miss Brooks.” Two of these days are for rehearsals. At the end of the second day the cameraman sees a run-through during which he can make notes and sketches of positions to be covered by the cameras and instructs the electrical crew as to where lights are to be placed. The last two days are occupied by rehearsals with cameras.

Since a show with audience participation must go on at a specified time, this schedule must be religiously adhered to by everyone concerned, including the cast. An hour and a half is the actual shooting time.

To film each show we use three BNC Mitchell cameras with T-stop calibrated lenses on dollies. The middle camera usually covers the long shot using 28mm. to 50mm. lenses. The two close-up cameras, 75 to 90 degrees apart from the center camera, are equipped with 3″ to 4″ lenses, depending on the requirements for coverage.

The only floor lights used are mounted on the bottom of each camera dolly and above each lens. They are controlled by dimmers.

There is a crew of four men to each camera: the cameraman, his assistant, a “grip” and a “cable man.” Unlike TV, where one man generally handles the camera movements and views the results immediately, this technique requires absolute coordination between members of the crew.

Every movement of each dolly is marked on the floor for every scene. And since all the movements of the camera are cued from the monitor box, the entire crew works from an intercom system.
As for myself, I utilize a two-circuit intercom. This allows me to talk separately to the monitor booth and the camera crew on one; the electricians handling the dimmers and the switchboard on the other.

Retakes, a standard procedure on the Hollywood scene, are not desirable in making TV films with audience participation. Dubbed-in laughs are artificial and, consequently, used only in emergencies. Close-ups, another routine step in standard film-making, were discarded since such glamour treatment stood out like a sore thumb.

Source

Now THIS is INTERESTING!

This is a 1954 production by the US Army on their use of Television in the military. There are a lot of different kinds of equipment shown here from RCA, Dumont, Dage more. Some of it is ‘pure army’, but that’s why there’s fast forward, right? Enjoy and let us know what you think. A lens I’ve never seen shows up at 22:27…anyone know what that is? Thanks to David Crosthwait for the link to this “Big Picture” episode.

Source