{"id":181,"date":"2017-11-26T19:21:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T09:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/?page_id=181"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T01:21:16","slug":"from-stringer-to-head-cameraman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/national-film-and-sound-archive\/from-stringer-to-head-cameraman\/","title":{"rendered":"From Stringer to Head Cameraman"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part of an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is John Fife (JF<\/strong>) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

JF: Who some of these characters were that were driving around Melbourne at the time as stringer cameramen and so on.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 well, the stringer cameramen were Lloyd Rankin who was working for ABC, Geoff Bell who was doing Nightwatch for channel 9.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What were their backgrounds?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Geoff Bell worked for his father in a factory.\u00a0 Lloyd Rankin was ex army.\u00a0 Signal Corps I think.\u00a0 There were others there that turned up and disappeared and turned up again.\u00a0 Channel 9 had couple of guys that have bought their own cameras and moved in thinking that they\u2019re gonna\u2019 make big money but it turned out that they were being exploited\u2026 chuckles\u2026 getting paid nothing for it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So these are just stringers for channel 9?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Stringers, yes.\u00a0 For various channels, yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Could you string for all the channels or did you just work for one?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh no, you could string for anybody.\u00a0 You know, just whoever you can flog some stuff to.\u00a0 There was some stuff that you could sell to ABC and some stuff that had to sell to commercial stations.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you would actually hawk your story around the town?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes, you would try and sell it, yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Was Ray Rowe amongst the cameramen?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 No, Ray Rowe was very late in the business because his background was monitoring radio for ambulances and fire brigades and then selling the news tips between him and his father.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So they weren\u2019t selling film?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well no, not from beginning no.\u00a0 They just selling news tips, listening to the radio and ringing up channel 9 and telling what was going on.\u00a0 Eventually Ray Rowe got himself a job at channel 9 as a cameraman.\u00a0 But basically from beginning he was just listening to radio and selling news tips.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Those guys really weren\u2019t trained cameramen as such?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 There was another guy I met up with doing weddings \u2013 he got himself a job with Cinesound. and he was stringing 16 mil for whoever he could sell it to, and he got himself a job with Cinesound. So he made a rig where you screwed 2 cameras on, 35mil on one side and 16 mil on the other side, and it was a great bloody laugh when the Yanks got here for the funeral \u2013 they made a big story out of him.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What funeral?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Holt.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Holt.\u00a0\u00a0 So this guy, he\u2019s shooting 16 mil and 35 at the same time?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And who\u2019s he flogging it to?<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Well, the 35 mm he\u2019s probably flogging to whoever works in sound at Movietown?\u00a0 And the 16mm he\u2019s probably selling overseas. \u00a0What WAS his name?\u00a0\u00a0 Ah, he was Ed Steet.\u00a0 A local guy.<\/p>\n

He was basically a still photographer.\u00a0 I used to do weddings with him.\u00a0 Turn up and you\u2019ll have one bloke that\u2019s been booked, and half a dozen blokes who turn up on spec and just shoot!\u00a0 But I used to make about 7 and 6 out of each spool for just shooting the guests at the wedding.\u00a0 Because they like to have their pictures.\u00a0 It\u2019s all different now \u2013 everybody\u2019s got a bloody camera.\u00a0 But then, you didn\u2019t.\u00a0 So you\u2019d just take a picture and if they like it, they pay for it.\u00a0 It was good.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It\u2019s incredible \u2013 you\u2019re using your initiative aren\u2019t you, all the time?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You\u2019re not only using your initiative as a cameraman, you\u2019re using it to make a dollar as well.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, the dollar had something to do with it, but I think the fun of doing it was what really mattered.\u00a0 Because you can always figure out \u2018I can do that better!\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s the challenge of finding a way out, or finding a way in, whichever way you want to look at it.\u00a0 It\u2019s just having bloody fun!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And you did have fun as stringers?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh shit yeah!\u00a0 Great fun.\u00a0 I used to have great fun with Bob Menzies.\u00a0 You know, big elections and what have you.\u00a0 At that stage I was working for ABC and I had a Bell and Howell which was a silent camera, and I had 4 flood lights formed into a spider that I screwed underneath, so I can film at night time.<\/p>\n

And Bob used to always look for me and say (deep silky smooth voice)\u00a0 \u2018Where is my friend with the bright lights?\u2019<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 A spider is a bright light, yeah?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, a spider was four flood lights screwed into a frame so that you can switch the four lights on to illuminate whatever you\u2019re filming.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Gee you\u2019d use a lot of battery for that wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, you\u2019d plug it into a powerpoint!\u00a0 And then if you go outside and it rains they go BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!<\/p>\n

But with Bob Menzies I had good one, because when he went to hospital to have his operation, and everyone\u2019s lined up outside waiting for him to come out.\u00a0 And his pack come in next to me and said \u201cI better be next to you, \u2018cos he always looks for you and I get the best pictures in here!\u201d<\/p>\n

This was while we had silent cameras because I used to talk to him, and he used to talk to me back, which means, he looked at me.\u00a0 So he was always on camera alert, looking into the screen and animated.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 He learnt that?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah,<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 He learnt that by talking to you he got a better picture down the gun.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, he learnt that by me talking to him, forced him to talk to me \u2013 he got a better presentation.\u00a0 He looked better, he was better on the camera.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So those guys earlier, with sound they\u2019re learning about the bite, but they\u2019re also learning now that the news cameraman\u2026.<\/p>\n

MP:\u2026 needs movement.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And also has a bit of power.\u00a0 He can make you look better.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, oh crumbs yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Did you ever make anybody look bad?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 No, I deliberately didn\u2019t because to me I feel that the presentation should be the best it can be.\u00a0 You know, I can make them look bad by not telling them what to do.<\/p>\n

For instance, when television news came in, they used to come out and stand up like stunned mullets.\u00a0 They were in a pose for a still photographer.\u00a0 Which is a typical (posh voice) \u201cAh, there I am\u201d sort of pose and they looked terrible!<\/p>\n

By talking to the camera they became animated and they become alive.\u00a0 They become a different acceptable figure altogether.\u00a0 So they know that the movie camera was going to make them look even better, if they know and abide by the rules, they know it\u2019s going to be better.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It\u2019s the change of an era, isn\u2019t it<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 It all stopped when the sound came in.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Yeah?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah,\u00a0 sound came in and journalists took hold and thought that they can trap you into exclusive about 400 feet of film or something, and it just doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0\u00a0 But the politicians also \u2013 when sound on film came in – they had to smarten up their act as well\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah, they got to learn something else.\u00a0 They have to learn that.<\/p>\n

Rylah (Arthur) was perfect, absolutely perfect.\u00a0 Once I got him right there was no stopping him.\u00a0 He would come in with a bite about his 16 year old daughter and stop.<\/p>\n

Bob Hawke was fantastic.\u00a0 Knew exactly what to do.\u00a0 He\u2019d have a go at the bloody journalists in press conference then turn to me and wink!\u00a0 Laughs<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So Hawke was smart at knowing how to use the media?\u201d<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 Very intelligent guy.\u00a0 Very intelligent.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Where did he learn that?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Who knows?<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Was he first to learn that or\u2026?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh no, there were others before him.\u00a0 There was Coxy.\u00a0 And Rylah was there.\u00a0 Even old Bob Menzies knew how to use the camera.\u00a0 Nobody sits them down and tells them how.\u00a0 THAT came later, when journalists tried to make money organised courses for politicians how to behave in front of the camera and all that sort of bullshit.\u00a0 But from beginning, no.\u00a0 they picked up soon enough.\u00a0 All they needed was couple of clues and bob\u2019s your uncle.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Did anybody ever fail because they didn\u2019t wake up to it?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Arthur Caldwell.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What was his problem?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 For a start he had a speech impediment.\u00a0 And he just didn\u2019t look and sound right.\u00a0 I suppose he could have been coached into a different presentation figure but at that stage there wasn\u2019t anybody who could sit him down and say \u2018Listen mate, you\u2019re a bit of twit!\u2019<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So these inadequacies\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 \u2026 They were highlighted<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So that was part of his undoing?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Absolutely.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 How about MacMahon?\u00a0 And those guys?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Little Billy \u2013 I hadn\u2019t had really much to do with him but (laughs)\u00a0 I was outside St Vincents hospital in Melbourne and Sonia Hopkins\/Macmahon was there.\u00a0 And I was just standing there by the kerb and there\u2019s Billy coming straight for me, with his hand outstretched to shake my hand, shakes my hand, turns around to somebody else, shakes his hand, and there\u2019s poor Sonia trying to steer him into a taxi.\u00a0\u00a0 Because he was like a wound up doll.\u00a0 I think his mind had gone by then.\u00a0 He was, you know\u2026 \u00a0but never had much to do with him.<\/p>\n

Holt – never had the time to do it.\u00a0 Most dealings with Holt I had through Tony Eagleton.\u00a0 By that time Tony was his press secretary.\u00a0 I had plenty to do with Hawke, plenty to do with Menzies.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 \u2018Cos you\u2019d seen Hawke coming up through the ranks.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The ACTU and all of that.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about ACTU.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about Prime Minister yet.\u00a0 This was when he was Prime Minister and talking, when give hell to the bloody journalists, turns around and gives me a wink.<\/p>\n

I was waiting for somebody else in Essendon \u2013 I don\u2019t know who it was \u2013 and there comes Hawke along by himself, just come from Canberra.\u00a0 He sees me and says \u2018Hello Morrie, what are you waiting for?\u2019\u00a0 and I said \u2018Another bloody politician\u2019 or something like that.<\/p>\n

I said \u2018But you won\u2019t be travelling alone for very long, will you?\u2019 and he looked at me and said \u2018Who knows, who knows\u2019.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Yeah?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 That was interesting, yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Hawke knew how to work the media.\u00a0 Menzies had woken up to it.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, Menzies knew how to work the media.\u00a0 He had a good rapport.\u00a0 Very good relationship with him.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0\u00a0 So these guys knew the cameramen by name, and knew what you could do for them?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes, oh crumbs yes.\u00a0 Everybody knew me like a bloody spotted dog!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Knew YOU?\u00a0 Why was that?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 (Laughs).\u00a0 I was in front of them all the time.\u00a0 I was there.\u00a0 I was talking to them, they knew what I was after.\u00a0 And somehow I think they had the feeling that I\u2019m not going to do the dirty on them.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of those things that you instinctively feel.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 They also knew\u2026\u00a0 When you were shooting for Sydney, for channel 7, Menzies when he was in Melbourne also knew that if he came to you his pictures were likely to end up in Hobart and Canberra as well.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Because you in a funny kind of way had a lot more power than the one cameraman who was just shooting for ABC Melbourne, say.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, ABC stuff would eventually arrive in Sydney, yeah\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But the commercials, if there was a way to get the pictures out, it was to be seen in front of Morrie Pilens.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes, (quietly) yes.\u00a0 Yeah, it was alright.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 I think we may have missed on the earlier take when it ran out, the conversation we were having about shooting for the different markets and needing to use your initiative.\u00a0 Can we just go over that again\u2026\u00a0 My question to you is, if something really big happened, and you could only shoot it once, who got it?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Whoever pays your salary.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But when you were working with channel 7, it went to Sydney\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 And if there was a chance to shoot it a second time, then is when you could send it\u2026.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026 No you wouldn\u2019t, not under circumstances like that.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0\u00a0 But an interview with someone, you might shoot twice and send one to Hobart, one to\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 If Hobart and Adelaide requests \u2013 because they were aligned with 7 in Sydney, and 7 in Sydney would say give Hobart and Adelaide hundred feet each<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get paid extra for that.\u00a0 That was part of the deal.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a case of you shooting something and\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 \u2026 Flogging it all over the place?<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0\u00a0 No, I wasn\u2019t thinking that.\u00a0 But wish we could!\u00a0 Some might have done that.\u00a0 (Both laugh).<\/p>\n

What I was thinking was, you couldn\u2019t shoot something and then send it down to Cinevex to get duplicated?\u00a0 And syndicated to the others?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Weeeeeeeell, you could if you want to, but that\u2019s too much trouble.\u00a0 By the time you get it processed and printed, time goes by, it\u2019s like a second print processing you know, it\u2019s just not worthwhile.\u00a0 If you do that, you double shoot.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So when you were working for channel 7, you would shoot something and then would you physically take it out to the airport to get your story out?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 We had organised with the airport \u2013 Well, it all depends how much time you\u2019ve got.\u00a0 You may just drop it at the terminal in the city if there\u2019s plenty of time.\u00a0 And I had organised with the despatchers down there, if there\u2019s something, you know, give them a couple of quid or a bottle of plonk or something.\u00a0 It was organised that they will despatch it and it will be treated as an emergency.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Did it go in a particular bag?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What were they like?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Just an ordinary bag with \u2018Attention ATN7 Sydney\u2019<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So it would go out to the airport and then ATN would pick it up.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, ATN knew it coming \u2013 you\u2019d ring up and tell them you\u2019d despatched it and that was it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you would have known the flight schedules, I guess?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 A funny story.\u00a0 What I had to do was supply a cover story and shot list.\u00a0 Now my spelling is absolutely atrocious.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Could you spell atrocious for me?<\/p>\n

Mp (Laughs) .\u00a0 You must be kidding!<\/p>\n

And I used to have a typewriter and what I used to do was instead of taking half an hour to write a story for the news, I used to take 5 minutes to cover the story as it is without any interruption, without any thing.<\/p>\n

They used to give me hell in Sydney!\u00a0 They reckon the girls would kill me if they can get hold of me!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have time to fart arse around for half an hour or an hour to polish up and choose the right words.\u00a0 All I had was the facts man, the facts.\u00a0 Chop chop chop chop, piss off and done!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0\u00a0 Because you\u2019ve got to get the story out.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes, you\u2019ve got to get the story out.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 That was my biggest shortcoming.\u00a0 Spelling.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 I understand that, but also like you say, Sydney want the story quickly as well.\u00a0 Was their news 6 at night?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So what was your cut off time in Melbourne to get the story?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 About 4 \u2013 4 30.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 (surprised)\u00a0 Yep?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 They would have somebody waiting at the airport and rush it in, they had their own processing there.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you would have had it on a 2 30 flight or 4 30 flight?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 4 30 would be the last.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So an hour later –<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, 5 30 in Sydney no problem.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t get it into the first news they use it in the second news.<\/p>\n

But anyway that\u2019s to cut a long story short about Sydney. .. Sydney rings me up and says \u201cMorrie, you have done a fantastic job, we are lined with 7, we are happy, we are exchanging stories.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 By that time the news editor was John Maher.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 At channel 7 in Melbourne?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 At channel 7 in Melbourne.\u00a0 That\u2019s another story.\u00a0\u00a0 Laughs.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The koala?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No no, we got along very well with each other.\u00a0 We screamed at each other and yelled at each other but we got on very well actually.\u00a0 There\u2019s a couple of good stories.\u00a0 He used to ring me in the middle of the bloody night or 7 oclock in the morning, and say \u201cDon\u2019t you bloody talk to me like that when I speak to you on the telephone\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 and I say \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cLook, I bloody rang you twice today, what\u2019s the matter with you.\u00a0 Just do as you\u2019re told.\u00a0 The bloody voyager\u2019s going down, and you go and pick up Geoff Raymond and go to Canberra first and then to Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I said \u201cBut you haven\u2019t rung me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh\u2026\u00a0 Just do as you\u2019re told.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has been on the grog night before, hasn\u2019t got his contact book with him, so picks up the bloody telephone directory and rings up the first \u2018P\u2019 that comes on the screen.\u00a0 And it\u2019s the guy from Kew (Cottages) mental attendant!\u00a0 He keeps ringing him up early in the morning\u2026 and this guy complains that channel 7 management keeps ringing!\u00a0 (Laughter).<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 John Maher is sending the wrong bloke out to his jobs.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah!\u00a0 It\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

Anyway, 7 rings me up.\u00a0 He says oh, yeah, everybody happy.\u00a0 He said \u2018You can\u2019t get a job!\u00a0 Ha ha ha.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018okay.\u2019<\/p>\n

He said \u201cOh, we\u2019ve got chief cameraman\u2019s job in Sydney for you!\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018No.\u2019<\/p>\n

He says \u2018But you haven\u2019t got a job in Melbourne and we\u2019ve done it.\u00a0 It\u2019s fixed.\u00a0 It\u2019s arranged.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018I\u2019m not going to Sydney.\u2019<\/p>\n

He says \u2018But you\u2019ve got a chief cameraman\u2019s job down here!\u201d<\/p>\n

I said \u2018Not going.\u2019<\/p>\n

So I waited another two weeks, got another phone call:\u00a0 \u2018Look, we can\u2019t pay you money for nothing.\u00a0 Are you coming to Sydney or not?\u2019<\/p>\n

And I said, \u2018No I\u2019m not coming to Sydney.\u2019<\/p>\n

And took me about a month and then we finished it amicably.\u00a0 And I just didn\u2019t have a job with Sydney, and by that time I was well in with 7 and they were sort of weighing whether they need another cameraman or not.\u00a0 They had a bit of trouble with me because of the equipment they had and the way it was used and I had arguments.<\/p>\n

*In the meantime I\u2019ve been shooting 3rd<\/sup> coming up, stuff for channel 0.\u00a0 And Paul Bricknell? approached me\u00a0 and asked \u2018Do you want a full time job?\u2019<\/p>\n

*I said yep.\u00a0 He said what do you want?\u00a0 I said chief cameraman.\u00a0 He said yep.\u00a0 Introduced me to Graham Davey, chief engineer.\u00a0 Had an interview with Graham Davey. He said \u2018What do you want?\u2019<\/p>\n

Chief cameraman, yep okay.<\/p>\n

I said \u2018But I want to choose the equipment.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yeah, no problem!\u2019<\/p>\n

So I chose all the early equipment that channel 10 use.<\/p>\n

So I go up \u2013 this is long before they start building \u2013 so I go to 7 and next thing I know they call me into the office and say \u2018We\u2019d like to offer you a job\u2019.<\/p>\n

I say \u201cWhy\u2019s that?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, we think you\u2019re doing well.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018You\u2019re 24 hours too late!\u2019<\/p>\n

So that was it.\u00a0 I was with channel 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is part of an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0 My name is John Fife (JF) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP). JF: Who some of these characters were that were driving around Melbourne at the time as stringer cameramen and so on. MP:\u00a0 well, the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “From Stringer to Head Cameraman”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":167,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-181","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions\/319"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}