PERMANENT RECORDS OF THE ROYAL TOUR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 758, 29 January 1954, Page 6

PERMANENT RECORDS OF THE ROYAL TOUR

— -- PLB PIE EOP OOOO JOURNALISTS, as well as historians, have often had reason to feel rueful about the shortage of good written and pictorial records of past State occasions in New Zealand. It seems hardly possible that future writers could have the same complaint to make about the Queen's visit. Thousands of photographs, thousands of feet of film, tens of thousands of words have so far been made ready for the archives, and the work @one by New Zealand official teams-described below-is only a fraction of the whole. ee eee eee ee! ee eee ee ee Se eee ee eee 6 ~- eee

Na fireproof vault at the National Publicity Studios, Wellington, is preserved the still photographic record of the Royal Tour. When The Listener called at the Studios’ photographic section the Royal couple were still in Wellington, but the total of pictures had reached 500, and was growing rapidly. The fina} total was expected to be the better part of 1000, with subjects ranging from the Queen and the Duke to an anonymous child in the crowd, from Air Force trumpeters to an order of. service, from Maori welcomes to military cordons. One photographer from the N.P.S. travelled continuously with the Royal party during the tour. Others assisted, at points where the programme was too éxacting for one man. The_ principal difficulties encountered were obstruction by enthusiastic amateurs (one example is seen below), and unpredictable flash failurés. According to E. P. Christensen, the N.P.S.’s touring photographer, the most Serious of the latter occurred at Wellington and Waitomo. At Wellington, the failure of the electronic. flash occurred as Mr. Christensen was about to photograph the meeting,of the Privy Council. But, with the help .of strong daylight and all the ballroom lights of Government House, a picture was made. At Waitomo rigorous pre-testing of equipment showed it to be in perfect order, But at the crucial moment (it always happens at the crucial moment) the flash failed. "You'l] have to try again, Mr. Christensen," © said the Queen. The photographer fiddled with his equipment-and the flash went off in his face. "Now," said the Duke, "you’il know how we feel!" , Wherever possible, however, the accredited photographers with the Foyal party shave spared*the exploding flash. Only where. light conditions have been unsuitable have flashes been used, and the photographers have ceased work when éach is satisfied he has a good shot. Mr. Christensen found, too, that in spite of the supposed "dog eat dog" tradition of daily journalism, the news ‘photographers on the tour co-operated in friendly fashion, helping one another to get better shots, and collaborating in ‘the darkroom work and dispatch of pictures which is a large part of their work. This has been particularly noticeable on ‘occasions when only one photographer thas been permitted. Then the entire party has had to rely on a "pool" photo--grapher. who takes the required pic‘tures and» supplies prints to all his colleagues. : The "pool" photographer has a somewhat frightening responsibility. P. W. Walker, of the N.P.S., who was the only stil! nhotoerapher allowed in the Coun‘cil Chamber at the opening of Parlia‘ment. confesses to "butterflies in the -stomach" before the event. He had three "-cameras lashed to the railings «f the gallery (see picture at foot of page 7), and had to work. them by reaching through the openings between rails, In the

ae St « 2 mii ode bit. >.) silence of the chamber the loading of the cameras sounded (to him) like the rasping of coarse sandpaper, and the click of the shutters like rifle shots. The shots he took were distributed to the press of the world. Apart from the negatives and prints which go into the archfves, the N.P.S. has supplied prints as usual to Gov2rnment bodies in New Zealand and abroad. The country’s representatives in London, Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, San Francisco, Tokio, Sydney, Melbourne, Colombo, New Delhi, Singepore, New York, South’ Africa and Fiji have received their quotas of Royal Tour pictures for exhibition. Many of these are in colour, and though they are delayed to avoid competing with news-photo services, they are expected to provoke considerable interest abroad. Editors, technicians and cameramen of the National Film Unit have been working round the clock since the day the Royal Yacht Gothic arrived at Fiji. Their task has been threefold: to make a feature-length colour film covering the New Zealand tour, a two-reeler in colour and a two-reeler in black and "white covering the Visit to Fiji and Tonga, and six one-reelers in. black and white for immediate release as each successive stage of the tour of New Zealand = is completed. The seven black and white shorts are being shown in theatres as weekly Royal Tour releases in the Pictorial

Parade series. Master negatives of all Roya} Tour films made by the N:F.U. will as a matter of.course be stored in their vault, said the Unit's director, Geoffrey Scott. The full-length colour film-its title is still a. well-guarded secret-will 'be between 6000 and 7000 feet long, and is being made in conjunction with the J. Arthur Rank Organisation. The director is Oxley Hughan, and the scenario of the film, which has been scripted down to the Jast detail; was done in the N.F.U. offices. Five cameramen are working on it, including one from the Rank Organisation, Edward Candy. The fina]. colour processing and editing will be done in London, the type of colour

film being the same as that used in:the Canadian Royal Tour film of 1951. The film will. be released throughout the world. Although many overseas cameramen. including a representative of the Newsreel Pool in London, are covering the. tour, the Film Unit is. also supplying a great deal of material taken by its own men to the Newsreel Pool, to Australia, and- to United States television circuits. The negatives are processed in the N.F.U. laboratories and fine grain master duplicates are flown immediately to the countries concerned. Organisations which draw from the Newsreel Poo] in-

i a Sa or re es: pe ee) clude the BBC’s Television Unit, so that British viewers will see the tour largely through the lenses of N.F.U. cameras. In the case of the Royal opening of Parliament the N.F.U. was the only organisation with suitable equipment for such a special job, where blimped ‘cameras (shielded to eliminate camera noise) had to be ‘used. The general opinion of men working on the tour is that the Queen makes an idea] subject. "She is always peffectly composed and calm, even when faced with batteries of cameras and banks of the very bright lights required for colour

photography, and she has a wonderful sense of co-ordination,’ Mr. Scott said. One cameraman noticed that the Queen was always carefu] to turn towards the cameras when she saw they were operating. The*Duke of Edinburgh was noticed to be solicitous for the Queen’s welfare, and at the rehearsal for the opening of Parliament he was heard to ask the Queen whether the lights were not too bright for her. She answered no. Lighting problems ‘on .such Royal occasions as the visit to Waitomo Caves and the opening of Parliament. presented one of the larger . difficulties associated. with, filming the tour. At Waitomo the Film Unit had to freight in its-own heavy generators. Half a mile of cable, one and a half. inches thick, had to be laid into the Caves to~provide bright lights at the entrance to the grotto, where one sequence was shot, This was a very difficult location, but -good results were obtained. Similarly the task of lighting the Legislative Council Chamber in Parliament House was a problem, because of: the need to make the lights as unobtrusive as possible, yet strong enough to record the béauty and dignity. of the ceremony effectively on colour film. Some lights’ and cameras were placed in corridors outside the room and directed through grilles in the walls. Other problems were. those of. transport, accommodation, and similar organisation details associated with the extensive location work. The ‘director of _the black and white coverage is James . Harris, and to make the black and white shorts of the tour, which have been-re--léased to theatres within a few days of the events recorded, three teams of’ cameramen. and directors have been Jeap-frogging along. the route of the . wotk, and Frank Chil»Royal journey. In addition two camera- _ men are officially attached .té the Royal | "party, and travel in the entourage. They are H. H. Bridgman for colour

ton, for black and white work, and mobile tape recorders, with sprocketed tapes for synchronisation with the film, are used -to record natural sdund on_ location.* In cases where the Queen is speaking into a microphone, the NZBS has supplied the Film Unit with a separate line foi making its own soundtrack. Natura! sound and other effects are later fixed in on a multiplehead moviola during the editing process at the Unit laboratories. The immense crowds which have gathered at every Royal — occasion have made the work of those engaged in filming the tour more than usually complicated. Camera positions are allocated beforehand, but once the cameras are. mounted and the crowd.moves in _

around them there is no chance of moving. This has meant camera duplication at many points in order to get the different angles which give variety and interest «to the film record of. the scene. The police have been most cooperative in helping cameramen on location, as have the Royal tour public relations officials, who have invariably approved the placing of» lights and cameras. The work of technicians, editors and laboratory assistants has been heavy, and in most cases the real work of processing and editing begins at night when the loaded cameras are rushed back to the Unit’s headquarters at Miramar after the day’s «shooting. But in the words of Geoffrey Scott, the final products of. this immense task (some have already been shown in theatres, and the: full-length colour film wil] be released three. or four weeks after the end of the New Zealand tour), are the result of magnificent team-work. "No one. person makes a film. It is a product of the*concentra-_ tion of many ideas from many people, ‘a result of the co-ordination and channelling of these ideas towards one goal -the completed, film." Film-goers throughout the world will soon have the chance of judging for’ themselves the quality of this film record, made largely by New Zealanders, of the New Zealand Royal. Tour. A permanent record of the tour as it was broadcast by the NZBS will be made up from recordings of all broadcasts made, taken on tape at the station of origin. Auckland, for example, used. 60 tapes-a full tape normally runs for half an hour-to cover Auckland, Northland and parts of the tour as iar south» as Rotorua; and Wellington used. about 50 for the Wellington district and B'enheim. The tapés are being sent to Cyril Browne, who has been in charge of relay lines for the tour. Duplicate recordings of all important speeches are being neld, Mr. Browne’ said. And the written record? This is seing prepared for the Government ‘yy C. H. Williams, Press and Public Relations Officer on the Royal Tour staff; who has travelled with the Royal Party throughout the tour. 2