{"id":303,"date":"2017-11-28T08:53:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T22:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/?page_id=303"},"modified":"2017-11-28T09:06:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:06:12","slug":"the-equipment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/national-film-and-sound-archive\/the-equipment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

MP:\u00a0 Well, I started out.\u00a0 I got a job as a chief cameraman on a recommendation because I was working *for ATN7, working for Mark Tranter and Paul Bricknell who was working for Tranter\u2026. Blah blah blah!\u00a0 Anyway, it was by reputation and I got an offer of a job.<\/p>\n

I was asked what sort of job I want and I said chief cameraman.\u00a0 They said okay, fine.\u00a0 So my job was to recommend what equipment a cameraman will use.\u00a0 So being a thrifty sort of man (at that stage, anyway) \u2013 there wasn\u2019t much choice.\u00a0 Oh, you could have bought a Bolex and a Pathe, but they would last a month.<\/p>\n

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

MP:\u00a0 They\u2019re delicate little cameras and you\u2019ve got to treat them like eggs.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So what was that Pathe camera like?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 It was an excellent bloody camera in the hands of a cinematographer.\u00a0 Not a news cameraman!\u00a0 Because they had a very very delicate little reflex mirror in it, that would shatter if you even breathe on *it.\u00a0 Otherwise it was a beautiful camera.\u00a0 I had one.\u00a0 I filmed Chucker Mecliffe?\u00a0 with it.\u00a0 Because I could stop the shutter down to the two hundred and fiftieth of a second.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 This is a 16 mil\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 16 mil, yeah.\u00a0 But to use it for news, it would not last a week.<\/p>\n

jF:\u00a0 And the Bolex you said didn\u2019t work as well?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 the Bolex was again an excellent camera for an amateur.\u00a0 But to use it for news it was just too delicate.\u00a0 So personally I chose the Bell and Howell, which was designed as a combat camera for the Yanks anyway.\u00a0 DR70\u2019s\u2026 and I think we had 4 Bell and Howells, and 2 Arriflex\u2019s.\u00a0 This was an expensive reflex camera and I specifically fitted them both with Schneider lenses, thinking colour is coming and I want the best lens that I can get hold of for quality\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at the Bell and Howell for a sec.\u00a0 What were the features?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Bell and Howell was spring driven, three turrets for lenses and a hundred foot load\/long?.<\/p>\n

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

MP:\u00a0 Yes, heavy.\u00a0 But you can fight your way out of trouble!\u00a0 \u00a0You can use it as a sledge hammer to get through a riot.\u00a0 Which I have used to get still photographers out of my way!\u00a0 Just accidentally dropping it on their shoulder.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So it\u2019s easy to hold and shoot?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to hold and shoot.\u00a0 It\u2019s robust and it doesn\u2019t break down.\u00a0 A very reliable combat camera.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 16 mil black and white?<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 A 16 mil copy of a 35 mil Imor which is the combat camera originally.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Could it be called sound?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Not Bell and Howell, no.\u00a0 But I could.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 With your recorder?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 (Laughter)<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So Bell and Howell.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been using this around 1964?<\/p>\n

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

JF:\u00a0 How long did it last?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, it lasted until tape came in.\u00a0 Because it didn\u2019t break down.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Haven\u2019t I seen news film that had optical sound on it?<\/p>\n

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

JF:\u00a0 What was that shot on?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 On the Pro600.\u00a0 I bought one.\u00a0 I bought a Pro600 which was a 600 foot magazine, copy of the original studio camera.\u00a0\u00a0 I bought a hundred foot load CInevoice, and we had an Arriflex magazine \u2013 made it so that you could clip an Arrifflex magazine with 400 feet on it.\u00a0 But that was only a single lens \u2013 the cinevoice.\u00a0 Or cinemax.\u00a0 Can\u2019t remember!<\/p>\n

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

MP:\u00a0\u00a0 Anyway.\u00a0 That was originally 100 foot long sound camera, we converted into a 400 footer.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What year would that be?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 That was when we first started.\u00a0 That was already available.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So when you started, you got your Bell and Howell<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Bell and Howell, two Arriflex silent cameras, and two sound cameras.\u00a0 That you could go out and put them on a tripod, and do anything.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And they were shooting optical sound?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 They were shooting optical sound.\u00a0 The optical sound was great big amplifier that used 6 different types of batteries in it.\u00a0 (chuckle)<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 In one bit of equipment?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 In one bit of equipment, 6 different types of batteries for each \u2013 one for the exposure, one for this, one for that, you know.\u00a0 Optical sound on film was exposed in one stripe on the side, and a different exposure was the difference of what asa film you were using.\u00a0 If you were using try x you were exposed less, if you were losing plus x, you were exposed more.<\/p>\n

And sound was alright, but it doesn\u2019t have any highs and doesn\u2019t have any lows.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What sort of microphones were you using?<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Just little ones, little hand held things.\u00a0 Um, radio one.\u00a0 RCA?\u00a0 Rcorps radio?\u00a0 Yankees made them, always American.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And always of course in those days, wherever the camera went the microphone went with it, because it\u2019s on a bit of a lead.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh crumbs yes, it\u2019s all on a lead, yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 No radio microphones<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, the first time I saw a radio mike was when we were up on the hill looking for Holt, and the OB van handed me one.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Oh, right.\u00a0 So they were in then.\u00a0 So those original cameras, you\u2019ve got your Bell and Howell and others.\u00a0 What were the advantages of those others that you mentioned?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, they were available at that stage.\u00a0 And as far as I knew \u2013 seeing as I chose them \u2013 they were all reliable pieces of equipment.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And are they all running the same film stock through?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes, they\u2019re all running either plus x or try x, this is black and white.\u00a0 Film stock didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But for the film processor\u2026\u00a0 did he have to set the machine?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Just adjust the temperature, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But how long would it take to change the temperature from one\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 From plus x to try x.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they did actually.\u00a0 I think they used the same processing.\u00a0 Same temperature.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So when did mag stripe come onto the cameras?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I don\u2019t really know the time when that came in.\u00a0 But that opened up a new box of tricks because all of a sudden the amplifiers being 10 or 15kg, turned into a 1 and \u00bd little box that you could have in front of you.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So it\u2019s obviously built into the camera?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No it\u2019s not, because you have to adapt the camera for it, so you had to put a sound head in the camera, and put a wire in the camera so that you can switch over film.\u00a0 Sound and film, like optical, or magnetic.\u00a0 You have a switch and go one way or the other.\u00a0 But you had to have a unit and sound head put into the camera itself.\u00a0 Which just fitted there under the gate.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So mag strip was a way forward<\/p>\n

MP;\u00a0 Oh yes, a great step forwards.\u00a0 Because from then on all of a sudden other cameras were developed.\u00a0 Gaumont developed a camera adaption that they put underneath an Arriflex.\u00a0 ABC had those.<\/p>\n

JF;\u00a0 You\u2019re still using cameras when mag strip came in?\u00a0 Are you still using 100 foot or are you up to 400 foot?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, you can please yourself.\u00a0 You can have a 100 foot magazine, or if they didn\u2019t have any 100 foot magazines\u2026 I think one of the companies had a 200 foot magazine which came in 200 foot spool.\u00a0 But *that didn\u2019t last very long.\u00a0 Because willsplit? magazine which was cinema and cinevoice\u2026 you can, put 400 feet film in the front magazine, and 20 foot of spool in the back part of magazine because they\u2019re separate things.\u00a0 And if you shoot 100 feet of film, say for instance you go and shoot cricket, and you shoot 100 feet of film.\u00a0 And there\u2019s nothing on it, you\u2019ve just wasted it.\u00a0 So you take that out, chuck it away and put another spool on, put your lid back on and shoot again.\u00a0 You shoot 100 feet of film, you\u2019ve got something, terrific.\u00a0 So you then had to process it.\u00a0 It was convenient, different.<\/p>\n

Eventually the best one that came in, the last one was the Arriflex BL which was very very heavy.\u00a0 Then there were a couple of Mitchell conversions which weren\u2019t quite up to scratch.\u00a0 Ha ha, you know why they weren\u2019t up to bloody scratch?\u00a0 Your camera equipment travels in the back of your bloody panel van\u2026\u00a0 And in the back of the panel van you drive and goes rattle tattle tattle.\u00a0 So things get rattled and screws come undone and windows get wobbled out\u2026 and there\u2019s always some problem with it because you carry the equipment.<\/p>\n

So smartarse me, I put a 4 inch rubber thong in the back of the car, and put cameras on top of it \u2013 semi felt on top of it, so the cameras travel on rubber.\u00a0 We had very little trouble in the maintenance of those, less trouble than anybody else.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 I\u2019m with you.\u00a0 What kind of lenses are you using on those cameras?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, first sound cameras had SOM berthiot which was a French lens, 25 \u2013 70mil which was just a very short zoom.\u00a0 Then Angino came in with lenses which had standard fitting for most of the cameras except for us.\u00a0 (Laughter).\u00a0 Because smartarse bought two Treiss lenses.\u00a0 Which was the Rolls Royce of a lens.\u00a0 I had people ask from the ABC \u2018How come the quality\u2019s so good on your film?\u2019\u00a0 I said \u2018Oh, I suppose it\u2019s the processing.\u2019<\/p>\n

*So we had two cameras with Treiss lenses.\u00a0 But they weren\u2019t very popular with the cameramen because their action was the other way of Angino.\u00a0 So if you changed from one or the other, it would stuff things up.\u00a0 You\u2019d forget which way things zoom and you\u2019d always have to go a little bit forwards, a little bit backwards, before you\u2019d know where things were going.\u00a0 Otherwise, quality wise it was a top quality reproduction.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And you mentioned before that one of the cameras you bought was in anticipation of colour coming in?\u00a0 Because you thought it would shoot good colour film?<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s the Treiss lenses.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Oh right, at the beginning.<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 At the beginning I bought the Arriflexes.\u00a0 They usually came with Taylor and Hopkins lenses which were American lenses, and I requested Schneider German lenses which were far better quality – and that was in contemplation of colour.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So how much notion did you have in your mind that colour was on the way in?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, they were talking about colour for years.\u00a0 And we knew it would eventually come in.\u00a0 When it would come in, who knows.\u00a0 Then all of a sudden it was in!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Well, so what was the transition like for shooting the news?\u00a0 Did you all of a sudden one night throw out all your black and white cameras?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 We didn\u2019t throw our black and white cameras out, we threw our black and white film out.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Oh right, of course.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 From tomorrow, we\u2019re switching over to colour.\u00a0 So whatever you\u2019ve got there it\u2019s obsolete.\u00a0 And then the colour film changed about three times.\u00a0 The processing of colour film changed about three times.\u00a0 Again, there was the \u2018As from tomorrow, we don\u2019t use this type of film any more.\u2019\u00a0 Out.\u00a0 If you use this type of film \u2013 accidentally put it through the processing \u2013 which we had a couple of times, some twit forgot about it and used some stock he had in the car or what have you!\u00a0 It was a different temperature \u2013 a hotter temperature.\u00a0 And the emulsion would melt off and you\u2019d have completely clear film coming up, and all the chemicals would be completely contaminated.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Then you have to clean out the bath!<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to chuck everything out and start completely from scratch.\u00a0 That happened twice.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What were the advantages?\u00a0 Those film stocks, each time there was an improvement, what was the improvement?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 The colour temperature, the warmth of the film.\u00a0 The early Kodachromes and Ectachromes were harsh, there was no warm tone transition.\u00a0 Your shadows weren\u2019t grey, they were either black or red.\u00a0 So each time they had a new improved emulsion you just had to shoot it differently, and correct it with filters.\u00a0 And then of course you had film that you can use for daylight and film that you can use for night time.\u00a0 The Tungsten.\u00a0 And each time you had to change it.\u00a0 So they developed a film that you didn\u2019t, that all you had to do was put a filter in front of it.\u00a0 You either use Tungsten or daylight. \u00a0If it\u2019s a Tungsten *film and you use it for daylight, you put a Rattan 85 filter on, and then later on next emulsion was 85B which was nice beautiful graduated change.\u00a0 Film was developed \u2013 today\u2019s film is absolutely superb.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The news cameraman besides having that news sense, also had to have an artistic ability to recognise how to use his equipment.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 \u00a0Yes of course.\u00a0 You could change your colour temperature, you can use split filter that\u2019s got two values for effects.\u00a0 Oh yeah, you had to know your emulsion and how to use it.\u00a0 And you still had to know how to use your filters.\u00a0 Basically you did have to know your trade before you use it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And in fact, the progression was you didn\u2019t just become a news cameraman did you?\u00a0 You had assistants to help you.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah, you had assistants.\u00a0 From the beginning we didn\u2019t have assistants because we couldn\u2019t afford them \u2013 didn\u2019t need them anyway.\u00a0 And when assistants came in, they just served their apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It was a good training ground?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, crumbs was it ever.\u00a0 A very good training ground for assistants.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What about lights?\u00a0 What kind of lights did you use?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 \u00a0Well, usually you have three lights.\u00a0\u00a0 I very seldom used three lights, I mostly used two lights.\u00a0 Because basically your light source \u2013 you\u2019re not doing portrait photography \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t use photography.\u00a0 Which means in the daylight you would have one light source, and that is the sun.\u00a0 With the lights, if you just had one light you\u2019d have a harsh shadow behind the subject.\u00a0 So you\u2019d use one light to light a person\u2019s face, and the other light diffused the background so that it looks a little more pleasing.\u00a0 But you\u2019re not modulating to the point where you\u2019re showing \u2013 like in portrait photography where you have screens \u2026 in a studio for instance they shoot through gauze etc, all sorts of tricks.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have time for that with the news.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you often had a light just on your camera?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 You just have one light on the camera run by battery.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The same battery that\u2019s running the camera?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 \u00a0Oh crumbs no.\u00a0 That\u2019ll be flat in about 30 seconds!\u00a0 I told you my story about me and Bob Menzies, with my four lights \u2013 you screw it onto the camera and you\u2019ve got it square, bang and you\u2019ve got one source of light and you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

Now later on we had battery driven lights with a small 12 volt battery and a little head that you clipped on top of the camera, and you just switched that on when you wanted it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Where was the battery pack kept?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 On your back.\u00a0 You carried it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 So you\u2019ve got a pack somewhere on your body with the batteries for your lights\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes, and you have a camera \u2013 late cameras had batteries built in \u2013 but the early cameras you had to carry your batteries around in a little box.\u00a0 Plus you had a camera battery, you had an amplifier, you had a camera, you had lights and you had a light battery.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You also would have lights eventually that ran off electricity.\u00a0 What kind of lights were they \u2013 what capacity did they have to light up a press conference?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I think they were about a thousand watts.\u00a0 Before that they had flood lights from the very beginning.\u00a0 Little 500 flood globes.\u00a0 They were bloody dangerous!\u00a0 You\u2019d be in the middle of a press conference and all of a sudden \u2018POOFFF!\u2019\u00a0 (Laughter).<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen one of those go \u2013 One went behind Bob Hawke once!\u00a0 And they burn hot!!<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh they burn hot alright.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Very hot.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You mentioned the CP16.\u00a0 That was probably the last of the news cameras?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 That was the last of the news cameras.\u00a0 First we started with reflex \u2013 actually a non reflex \u2013 with a view finder going through the lens in front before you get to the film, and the last was a through the lens viewing which means you had a mirror in there and you saw exactly what you were filming and there was an instant start.\u00a0 There was no eauuuuuuwwwwwwww \u2013 just an instant start when you click the button.\u00a0 Beautiful.\u00a0 Absolutely beautiful for news.\u00a0 It was perfect.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 We sometimes look at progress and say well we haven\u2019t really moved forward here.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a bit of new equipment but it\u2019s not as good as the last\u2026 but was the CP16 as good as it ever got from a news cameraman\u2019s point of view?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Well, yes.\u00a0 Well, they still worked on others..\u00a0 The CP16 was a bit clumsy to carry because you had to carry it virtually in front of you.<\/p>\n

Later on they developed cameras with a magazine on the bottom instead of on the top, and it went on your shoulder so it was easier and closer to your face, plus lower profile up the top.\u00a0 Because if you\u2019re in a situation where somebody shoots at you and you have a great big profile with mickey mouse ears coming off the top, you cop it.\u00a0 So you had to lower the profile of the camera which Arriflex has done by now, and it\u2019s a different story.\u00a0\u00a0 Like horses for courses.\u00a0 Whatever you want the camera for really.\u00a0 But CP16 was, as far as I was concerned (being a dinosaur!) as good as I ever wanted a camera to be for news coverage.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It\u2019s really brought us all that journey hasn\u2019t it.\u00a0 From black and white to colour.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Silent, black and white, double perforated little noisy cameras going \u2013 ohhh \u2013 advance to a movie camera that\u2019s silent, easy to handle\u2026<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The camera though, I remember the assistants always having to come in and fill up the magazines.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 The best thing was when we were running a hundred foot spools on cameras, and we usually had 600 feet of film come in, in the can.\u00a0 So we just lock up an assistant in the darkroom to break it up into hundred foot spools.\u00a0 So he just stays there for half the day!\u00a0 (Laughter).\u00a0 Hard time!<\/p>\n

But they had to see.\u00a0 Look, like any trade you have to have a discipline.\u00a0 You have to have certain things that you do a certain way.\u00a0 \u00a0And that certain way has to be shown to you.\u00a0 Once you learn how to do it certain way, once you\u2019re disciplined enough and you can do it with your eyes shut, then you can be as arty farty as you want.\u00a0 But as long as you have the basics, you can\u2019t go wrong.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what the assistant has to have, especially for news.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You had to be an assistant for a fortnight before you got your hands on a camera.\u00a0 You were an assistant for a long time..<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 All depends on the guys you know.\u00a0\u00a0 I used to have boys that were alert and good, and we\u2019d go out on the job\u2026 I remember going out on one particular job with an assistant.\u00a0 He\u2019s shooting all the car racing stuff you know.\u00a0 Henderson was it?\u00a0 Dean Henderson went out on the job and there was a stack on the freeway somewhere.\u00a0 We arrive there, get out, he brings in the camera and gives it to me.\u00a0 I said \u2018Okay mate, you shoot it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018WHAT?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Go on, shoot it.\u2019\u00a0 Just pack him off!\u00a0 (Laughter).<\/p>\n

I remember young Terry Carlyon.\u00a0 He\u2019s doing well now.\u00a0 I was in Yallourn and something going on *with the power station.\u00a0 I was there.\u00a0 Young Andy Carroll was the journalist.\u00a0 The night before we did some filming, had dinner and got stuck into the grog.\u00a0 It was pretty windy in the morning, rotten bloody weather.\u00a0 We were going to book the plane to do some aerials.\u00a0 So we get up to the airport and I give Terry the camera and say \u2018Oh fine, you go and do the aerials!\u2019\u00a0 And he did it!\u00a0 He did it.\u00a0 He was sick but he did it!\u00a0 He remembers.<\/p>\n

You have to be ready for any situation, and that\u2019s how I train them.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 And I think they probably remember you for that as well.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh shit yeah.\u00a0 And for things I do deliberately just to emphasise a point.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t matter what happens \u2013 I couldn\u2019t care less what goes on.\u00a0 You first get your pictures.\u00a0 After that you can do what you want.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t do that forget it, go and get another job.<\/p>\n

They did it to me you know!<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You got a tough time?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh shit yeah.\u00a0 On 35 mil, magazines and tripods and car batteries and oh shit.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 The tripod\u2019s never gotten lighter has it?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It can\u2019t because you need solid base for it, you know.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0\u00a0 Bet it\u2019s a good weapon to have going through a crowd!<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 No, not really.\u00a0 A camera \u2013 a Bell and Howell is a better weapon!\u00a0 I used to have a Bell and Howell with a coach bolt screwed under it and I used to hold onto it.\u00a0 It was an ideal thing.\u00a0 You\u2019d film it and if come a journalist or still photographer \u2013 some of those Pommies who came in for the Royal tour, they didn\u2019t give a stuff who was behind them, you know.\u00a0 So they\u2019re right in front of us \u2013 and you\u2019ve got this camera down there and you\u2019ve got a coach bolt sticking out, and you just go \u201cOOMPH\u201d down here between the shoulder blades.\u00a0 \u2018Oh, sorry mate!\u2019\u00a0 (Laughter).\u00a0 But you can\u2019t do it with another camera.\u00a0 Got to do it with a Bell and Howell.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 That may be why you loved it so much?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, it was good.\u00a0 And why nobody else liked it was because you had to adjust your focus by feet, *and you had to adjust your aperture.\u00a0 And you had to adjust your parallex?\u00a0 Because if you change the distance that you\u2019re filming, you\u2019re slightly one sided.\u00a0 So you have to adjust the parallex to bring you straight, square bang. \u00a0Which means you had to have one, two, three, four things to think when you\u2019re filming.\u00a0 With a reflex camera you don\u2019t have to worry about all that.\u00a0 It\u2019s all there.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 What you see is what you get.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Except your aperture.\u00a0 After a while you can judge your aperture by experience to what to go for.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 How did you maintain your gear when you were on the road \u2013 if anything went wrong?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Nothing ever did go bloody wrong because we didn\u2019t have\u2026 well, I did have some problem with the sound gear when I was working for 7, because nobody ever cleaned it or maintained it.\u00a0 That was in Melbourne when I was using their gear.\u00a0 I remember I was covering the Voyager disaster.<\/p>\n

Geoff Raymond and I got packed off by John Maher to cover the Voyager.\u00a0 And we arrived in Sydney, the bloody thing.\u00a0 The batteries wouldn\u2019t work and the contact wouldn\u2019t work and this wouldn\u2019t work.\u00a0 I got a hold of a length of flex which I stripped it apart and then just all sorts of connections\u2026 I got it, I got it myself!\u00a0 But it was effort.<\/p>\n

I came home and had a go at the people up at 7 because, even then, that was just a back yard for the *Herald? \u00a0At channel 7.\u00a0 \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t want to know about that.\u2019\u00a0 Stuart Lake was news editor, he was ex cadet officer, and had no idea.\u00a0 And Mike Bradshaw was film department.\u00a0 He knew what he was doing but he couldn\u2019t care less about news you see.\u00a0 It\u2019s a funny sort of a situation you see.\u00a0 Because there\u2019s always been a little bit of a friction between production department and news department.\u00a0 Because news department always wants to run its own race the way they want.\u00a0 They have to.\u00a0 Because they can\u2019t fart arse around.\u00a0 And production department always thinks \u2018we\u2019re the best.\u00a0\u00a0 We don\u2019t do things like that.\u00a0 Oh, news.\u00a0 Oh, rough.\u2019\u00a0 You know.\u00a0 There\u2019s always been a bit of a friction in it.\u00a0 Always has been, always will be.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Yeah, kind of\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say they were cowboys in news, but they\u2019re a different breed.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 Oh there are a few cowboys there too.\u00a0 Oh there are a few cowboys.\u00a0 Yeah!\u00a0 But they\u2019re a different breed altogether.\u00a0 But they\u2019ve got a different mentality.\u00a0 Because you go out somewhere, and things you see.\u00a0 You see dead bodies and you see this and you see that.\u00a0 You can\u2019t just all of a sudden become a compassionate human being.\u00a0 Because you recording this, you a cameraman, you\u2019ve got pictures to take.\u00a0 You can\u2019t say \u2018Oh, gee whiz, look at that.\u2019\u00a0 Otherwise forget it, get another job.\u00a0 Sooner or later you learn that you are just stringer.\u00a0 Once the camera comes up you are neutral, it doesn\u2019t matter what happens.\u00a0 As far as I\u2019m concerned anyway.\u00a0 The only thing that upsets me is smell.<\/p>\n

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

MP:\u00a0 If I sniff something that stinks badly, I\u2019m sick.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do a thing.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And a body would have done that to you, in its time?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh a few bodies have done that to me, yeah.\u00a0 Spew and then take some more pictures.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But the image\u2026?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 The image, nothing.\u00a0 I could sit here and watch your head cut off and it wouldn\u2019t mean a thing if I was filming it.<\/p>\n

JF: \u00a0But if you weren\u2019t filming it?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Then I would think \u2018Oh, shit!\u2019<\/p>\n

Pause.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 How would you go travelling with your magazines and that when you were travelling up the bush?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh we had a black bag.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 How did that work?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh easy, just put your magazine in the black bag, put your two hands in there and fiddle around \u2013 unload your magazine, reload your magazine\u2026.\u00a0 What I used to do to my assistants in the city\u2026<\/p>\n

I had to take the film out of the magazine to send back to the studio, and they are working on the bonnet with hands on the magazine.\u00a0 So I would come from behind and pull their pants halfway down their bums!\u00a0 They can\u2019t get their hands out.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Oh right.\u00a0 So you\u2019re in the middle of Swanston St\u2026<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 I did a couple of them, yeah.\u00a0 (Laughter).\u00a0 \u2018You bastard!\u2019\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 It\u2019s been a good life?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh, I liked it!\u00a0 It suited me fine.\u00a0 It just suited me fine.<\/p>\n

Actually, I always wanted to be nothing else but a news cameraman.\u00a0 From waaaaaaaaay back when I was sitting behind the screen and watching the movies.\u00a0 A couple of news cameramen competing in China.\u00a0 Competing for the news, and competing for the girl \u2013 they\u2019re good friends, but they\u2019re still competing.\u00a0 And I thought \u2018shit, you know, I\u2019d love to do that.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to do that.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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). MP:\u00a0 Well, I started out.\u00a0 I got a job as a chief cameraman on a recommendation because I was working *for … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Equipment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":167,"menu_order":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-303","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/303","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=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/303\/revisions\/307"}],"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=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}