This is part of an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme by John Fife.
My name is John Fife (JF) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP).
JF: Mmm. What element do you need most. Is it the cameraman’s eye or the journalist’s…
MP: You need a combination of both and you need good administration backing. Because you can’t go out and gather all the honey, then come back and construct a beehive. You’ve got to have a beehive there already so that you can go out, and you’re free to do all this, and you know that your back up’s going to be there. They go out with little cameras now. ABC gives cameras to kids and they go around with them. That’s pictorial reporting isn’t it.
JF: Mmm. So it’s come full circle.
MP: Exactly. It’s a complete circle.
JF: You talk about that beehive. The backing. What are you talking about?
MP: The backing of the office. Your producer. Your staff that help you to gather information so that you can be briefed as you go out to do the story. It needs staff that you can ring back and tell them about it, and they can consult with you how you’re going to do it or how you have done it or how you’re going to treat it or what specific things you want to illustrate in it. You need this office back up, this home base that you can feed things back.
JF: Yeah, I understand. I guess that even though you’ve got all that back up in the office, ultimately it’s the cameraman who sees the story…
MP: Yes. Basically what you do, you go out and you know there is a certain event happening. So you go out and have a look, and decide how you’re going to treat it. And you start taking pictures to illustrate how you’re going to treat the story. There’s always the possibility that half way through the theme of the story will change. So you’ve got to be flexible so that you can adapt yourself to it. But basically, you are the one that makes up your mind what pictorial reporting or what pictorial revealing are you willing to do.
JF: So you don’t go out much with a preconceived idea?
MP: No. Because it could change. You may have a preconceived idea which you got from the press release, but that could change. You’ve got to be flexible, you’ve got to be on your feet.
JF: Well I guess you have to be on your feet even when you’re heading for the job, because something else might come up on the way.
MP: Yes, that has happened.
JF: Looking back, what did being out on the road teach you about life?
MP: AAhhh!! Lovely! Haven’t taught me any bloody thing! I just enjoyed it. It’s been a ball. I think the job suited me and I suited the job. I think we were compatibly matched. That’s my feeling. And I had my time, and I’m finished, and I’m happy.
Would I do it again? Yes. Would I do it differently? I don’t know. Not much. Yeah, I would! I would have kept a few things. Um. (Laughter). That I could use later on. I would love to have some film of *Graham Freudenberg directing Whitlam up at Springvale Town Hall. I would love to have some footage of the golden products being sprouted up to those poor suckers, and our being escorted out of there. That sort of thing I’d love to keep. But that’s about all.
JF: So what’s your fondest memory of it all?
MP: Don’t know. I can’t pick a highlight. Can’t say ‘Fantastic, that was it.’
JF: The people, the places?
MP: Just generally, I just enjoyed myself. I was clever enough not to take the whole thing too seriously – the importance of it, you know. You go out and say ‘oh big deal, I am this’ you know.
This is trouble with some of the people with the ABC camera department in the beginning. All of a sudden they have been elevated from still photographers and amateur photographers into news cameramen. And they would go out and talk to people and just meet people and mingle and mix and what have you. That’s fine for the journalist because he doesn’t have to record anything, he can just write something on the paper. But the cameraman can’t do that – he doesn’t have the time to do that. He’s got to go out and photograph while it’s happening. And you know, I suppose I would enjoy that that was possible but it wasn’t, so…
Sometimes people would think ‘Oh, he’s a bit abrupt’, you know. Don’t want to talk to anybody. But you can’t because you’ve got to think and figure out what you’ve got to do next. And you’ve got to watch what’s going to happen next. And they misunderstand you sometimes.
But highlights, really I haven’t got any highlights. Nah! It was Good!!
JF: And advice? To anybody who wants to go into it today?
MP: Today! Oh yeah. Yeah. Because now, you back where we started, where it’s all yours. Where you can do it your way. You may get your head shot off, and you’ve got people putting stuff on miniature tape cameras doing reporting, and then just turning the camera around and doing on the spot report. That’s it! Good stuff! Fine.
You need the temper for it, and oh boy, you’ve got to be brave. (Laughter). But um, things starting to become a bit too political. You’ve got to accuse somebody, or expose somebody. You can’t just go up and do a nice little story with pleasant pictures and nice people and what have you. That’s not going to get on air because nobody’s getting upset.
So if you want to do it, do it your way.
JF: So you suggest that people go into the industry and enjoy it.
MP: Yeah. Enjoy it, yeah. But do it your way.