t e n
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
LI t_ rin e
Most hauliers are used to dealing with demanding clients, but they don't come more demanding than the movie directors who depend on the equipment delivered and powered by Michael Samuelson Lighting's specialised fleet...
Before long Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire will be buzzing with activity as filming gets under way on the latest James Bond blockbuster. It will be shot, naturally enough, on the 007 set which is Europe's largest sound stage.
Michael Samuelson Lighting is one of many companies hoping to win a slice of the action and it is in with a good chance as its operation is based inside the studios. But as general manager John Rossetti explains, nothing is . certain in the film industry. When things happen they happen very quickly: "People are used to ringing up the night before and ordering 10 truck loads of lights and getting them." Samuelson provides lighting and portable generators for film and television productions throughout the world. With depots in Pinewood, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester it runs a fleet of 80 vehicles, more than half of which are TrArs.
EXPENSIVE NECESSITY
Rossetti wishes he did not have to run vehicles, which he describes as an "expensive necessity". They fall into three broad categories: generators (categorised as plant which do not require 0-licences); 7.5-16-tonne box vans on restricted 0-licences with walkthrough interiors racked to carry lighting, and dual-purpose vehicles which carry generators and have some racking, they require 0licences and are subject to full plating and testing regulations because they include loadbearing space: with the backing of the Freight Transport Association Rossetti is lobbying the Department of Transport to get the classification changed to plant.
A further problem he faces are the sixweekly inspections required for vehicles such as the Scania 93M. If it is on location it is likely to be providing power for catering and lighting: "You can imagine the inconvenience of having an inspector come out who needs 14days notice when the film people don't know what they are doing from one day to the next," says Rossetti. "If it's a sunny day they may decide to go out filming."
The fleet also includes half a dozen milk floats for delivering kit around Pinewood with 4x4s and a Stonefield six-wheeler for roughterrain work on programmes such as Emrnerdale Farm, set in the Yorkshire Dales.
The vehicles are built by bodybuilder Smiths of Great Bentley which is supplied with low-mileage chassis by Samuelson.
LIGHTING RIGS
One of the Scania 93Ms, fitted with a 95kW generator, costs about £75,000 to body. Roofs are strengthened to allow technicians to walk on top or lighting rigs to be mounted.
The drivers are primarily electricians who often work very long days on location: "They say in the film industry that the electrician is the first to arrive and the last to leave," says Rossetti.
To be on the safe side all vehicles are fitted with tachos even though the drivers may only drive a couple of hours each day. The situation is complicated by the fact that the television and film industries are governed by separate transport regulations.
"The television industry has an exemption on tacho regulations and drivers' hours according to UK domestic regulations," Rossetti explains, "but the film industry is covered by EC regulations and no exemption applies."
The driver/electricians have to be aware of the complexities of transport legislation. The company has an apprenticeship scheme at Westminster College in conjunction with the BBC where it sponsors 12 students. During the four-year course they learn to be both electricians and drivers with a sound grasp of transport law.
DRIVING BANS
The company prizes its FTA membership which Rossetti says is "crucial" when working overseas for providing information on regulations. Some countries, for example, grant broadcasters exemptions from driving bans.
The generators are soundproofed for use during filming; they are powered by a mixture of Scania, Perkins and Ford engines. Six of the Scanias date back to the 1960s, having run up to 70,000 hours without a major overhaul. They are often in use at Pinewood which, despite having five enormous generators of its own, does not have enough electricity to meet the demands of the film and TV world.
Samuelson's generators are designed to run at a range of frequencies to meet the separate requirements of film and television. In the US, for example, TV runs at 60 cycles a second while in the UK it operates at 50. Film shoots at 24 frames a second and requires the generator to operate at 48 cycles: operating at the wrong speed causes "strobing" on screen.
None of the vehicles has been involved in a major accident but minor scrapes are frequent when filming on location. The Stonefield six. wheeler slid down a gully and turned over during filming of Last of the Summer Wine.
The company currently has work on location in the UK and Europe. Work in progress includes Minder. the Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Anna Lee, a new detective series starring lmogen Stubbs Feature films include Sharpe, starring Sean Bean filming in Russia; and Tom and Viv, starring Miranda Richardson and Willem Dafoe.
Eddie Dias is in charge of client contact and making sure everyone knows where they are supposed to be.
MAKE-UP BUSES
While filming Poirot in the Derbyshire Dales a crew of 60 were snowed into a hotel for a week. Everything was held up including lighting trucks, catering and make-up buses: "We were asked to send generators from Leeds," Dias recalls. "Only the Stonefield six wheeler managed to get through." On another occasion, Dias sent two vehicles out to Thailand where Mel Gibson was filming Air America. Regulations required all fuel to be drained out of the returning vehicles before shipping back by ferry.
What Samuelson's drivers didn't know was that the Thais also drained the engine oil. "The Scania drove all the way back to Pinewood whereas the Leyland Daf conked out after five miles," says Dias The company turns over about £6m a year but health and safety, training and transport all erode the margins. This is not helped by the growing practice of film makers asking for payment to be deferred until the film opens: "We end up funding the British film industry," bemoans Dias.
Pinewood is a giant adventure playground. The Bond set is the size of one and a half soccer pitches. An outdoor water tank—Europe's largest—was used in the film Raise the Titanic and features a 60ft backdrop.
Elsewhere, redundant monsters lie behind fences. Odd bits of aircraft, including the fuselage of a Russian Mig lie abandoned along with a rusting cannon. You can walk from the streets of Batman's Gotham City (the fibreglass buildings have now been pulled down into the spectral landscape used in Alien 3.
But Rossetti denies that the film industry is glamourous. Instead, he says, it demands long hours and hard work. The company's motto is "No surprises". He rarely mingles with the stars, although he did meet Catherine Zeta Jones on the set of Darling Buds of May. "She was very interesting and fun to be with," he observes of Miss Perfick.
Li by Patric Ctinnane