American Cinematographer - November 1968 - 37

The next day, at the invitation of
Freddie Young, BSC, I journey out to
Pinewood Studios in the rolling hills of
Buckinghamshire to observe filming on
"THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN" set. Again
there is that "coming home" feeling
as I enter Heatherton Hall, the stately
Georgian former country manor which
now houses the Iver Heath Studio Club
and Pinewood's baronial dining room.
While waiting for Freddie to arrive
from the set, I greet old friends-
Managing Director "Kip" Herren (jov¬
ial as ever) and A. W. "Burt" Easey,
Head of Pinewood's Camera Depart¬
ment and one of my favorite peop'e.
David Samuelsan of Samuelson Film Service,
Ltd., London, shows author one of the un¬
usual antique motion picture cameras in the
Samcine House Museum.

-at this same studio-I watched him
keep photographic pace with "007"
on the set of "YOU ONLY LIVE
TWICE". Now, over lunch, we talk
about "THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN" and
the sticky photographic problems of
trying to create an authentic atmos¬
phere of bright blue skies for the air
battles,
during a
summer which,
weatherwise, has been the worst
England has experienced for years.
But mainly the talk is of the interesting
uses to which Freddie is putting frontprojection in photographing this epic
film (See Page 864).
After lunch Freddie takes me onto
Stage "A" where he is shooting.
There, hanging from the rafters before
a huge front-projection screen is a
full-size Heinkel aircraft. Special ef¬
fects technicians are clambering all
over it, setting explosive squibs into
the wings for an upcoming scene in
which all hell breaks loose.
I say hello to American special ef¬
fects expert Glen Robinson who has
been on the picture since shooting
began, and who, rather wistfully, tells
me he hopes it wraps up by Christmas
so that he can get home to Hollywood.
A veteran of M-G-M, his specialty is
explosives, and he has had his work
cut out for him on this picture.
"We've had smoking planes, crash¬
ing planes, blowing-up planes and just
about every kind of explosion you
can think of," he tells me. "But the
worst is yet to come. We're going to
drop planes from helicopters and

Massive set of "public school'' chapel under
construction at M-G-M's Borehamwood Studio
in England for filming of musical version of
"GOODBYE MR. CHIPS."

crash them into the Channel and also
on land near one of the Army bases.
They're supposed to go down in simu¬
lated gunfire and smoke-so there will
be some problems. But I've got a very
good crew here and that helps a lot."
I know all about how front-projec¬
tion works, but this is the first time
I've seen it in action. While waiting
for the Special effects boys to do their
thing, Freddie has the background
scene run off for me and tells me to
look through the lens of the camera.
Viewed in this way, the background
scene (moving clouds and sky) is very
bright and there are absolutely no
shadows (visibly) cast by the aircraft
or the people on it. However, when I
take my eye from the viewfinder and
move just a bit away from the axis of
the lens, the shadows become visible
and the intensity of the image project¬
ed onto the screen falls off sharply.
Continued on Page 896

Freddie Young, BSC, enjoys a rare quiet moment between camera set-ups on the Pinewood
Studios Stage "A" where "BATTLE OF BRITAIN," on which he is Director of Photography, is
currently being filmed. The aircraft behind him is a Heinkel full-size model suspended before
a 75-foot front-projection screen. Front-projection scenes of air battles include those which, for
technical reasons, cannot be filmed actually in the air.

I haven't seen Burt since his visit to
Hollywood a year ago, when I took
him for a wild ride on the freeway in
an XKE roaring full out. What "cool"
the man has-he didn't bat an eye¬
lash.
We have a most interesting talk
about the state of the cinematographic
art-one which space limitations pre¬
clude reporting here, but which I shall
publish in an upcoming issue of AMER¬
ICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER.
Then Freddie Young arrives-the
master craftsman, imperturbable veter¬
an of "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA",
"DOCTOR ZHIVAGO" and a hundred
other films. It's been two years since

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, NOVEMBER, 1968

American Cinematographer - November 1968

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