by Matthew Robinson
A day-by-day diary
of the making of the 1963 FSSW film
7 June to 1 July 1963
(transcribed May 1996)
INTRODUCTION
At a friends' School Old Scholars’ Reunion at the end of the eighties,
I mentioned to Richard Wright (who had taught me maths as enthusiastically as
he has kept the school’s archives) that I’d written a day-by-day
diary about the making of the school film during the 1963 summer term.He
asked me for a copy for the archives. Back home, I couldn’t find
the scribblings anywhere, but they turned up when I moved house in 1994. At the
quite extraordinary OS Mass Reunion in 1996, Richard - never one to let things
drop - reminded me about the diary and I had no excuse not to oblige. What
follows is a verbatim transcription of those few crazy weeks - warts and all.
I’ve added some footnotes, mainly for my own
interest. I was fascinated to see how ubiquitous are the problems and frustrations
- and, it must be said, joys - of film-making.
Matthew Robinson
24 May 1996
There were more details about the making
of the film in an article for The Avenue (school magazine) published in January ’64.
Pre-Production
Friday 7 June 1963
So far I’ve worked out an approximate filming script - that is, I’ve
written out thirty minutes worth of shots which follow a roughly chronological
order of school events during a typical day. I’m intending to stick to
this script as far as possible.
Ideas will probably present themselves at the time of shooting, just as some
of my original plans will probably seem useless. But it’s no use filming
without some sort of initial guide. [The idea of making
a school film came to me that March. Even though I’d
obtained my university place in February - having taken ‘A’ levels
in 1962 - I was still hanging around the school. I should, I suppose, have ventured
abroad like everyone else. But the fact I’d ‘made a film’ inadvertently
helped land my all-important first TV job in 1966.]
I’ve been very fortunate to borrow
a new modern projector which runs backwards as well as forwards, and will stop
on individual frames. This will be invaluable and will probably make it unnecessary
to buy an editor (which I can’t afford).
Also, it’s got ‘tape synchronisation’, a feature which we really
can’t really do without if the sound’s going to be any good. [Arnold
Jones, father of Richard, a day scholar, kindly lent it to me for the duration
of the project. The sound track was compiled and synchronised with the film in
his house - though the ‘sync’ was always at best idiosyncratic
and at worst a nightmare. That is, until the film was transferred to video in
1991.]
Also,
I’ve arranged to borrow a tripod and an exposure meter from a couple
of fifth formers [John Pilgrim and Jon North]. Kodak
have promised to sell me film at wholesale prices: Cyril Mummery has therefore
written an official school order for seven reels of daylight film and one reel
of photoflood film. I have the money ready to pay. [Cyril Mummery - acting
headmaster as Kenneth Nicholson was away on a sabbatical -had given his permission
for the film to be made. He did not ask to
see a script beforehand.]
Das Fenster contributed £4
and the rest I’ve
raised as shares from my friends at school. [Das Fenster
was a school newspaper I started in January ’63. There were
four issues, each one selling between two and three hundred copies - at sixpence
a time. I originally estimated the film would cost about £20 and must
have raised about £16 from these ‘friends’. Whether we remained
friends after they didn’t get their money back, I can’t recall.]
Filming starts as soon as the film comes from the factory. My luck is
certainly in at the moment. [The First Commandment of the
film business: Optimism is Essential.]
Monday 10 June 1963
Nothing in the post from Kodak so I rang their HQ to ask how long until the film
arrived. To my horror, I was told that the order must go through the Essex Education
Authority before we can get those wholesale prices. I envisaged having to wait
another week or two before starting. This I couldn’t face. Anyway, the
glorious sunny weather might have changed by then. So I cycled downtown to Saffron
Walden and bought two reels straight from a photo shop (losing seventeen shillings
in the process). Thus shooting could begin.
[I’d already
used up most of my savings on buying a much coveted second-hand 8 mm cine-camera.
Apart from trying one experimental reel of film in the Easter holidays, and one
test reel a week before the main ‘shoot’ began,
I’d had no experience of filming.]
During the first shot (a continuation
of a test shot last week), lots of people crowded round, asking all manner of
questions about the film and camera. I found it
hard to be civil, especially when they got in the way of various experimental
shots. But I suppose I must expect them to be curious. I would be if someone
else was filming. I took John Cadman walking to the changing rooms and showing
first-form boys where to go for games. Next was the domestic science rooms for
needlework shots. The temptation is to take everything I see but I must stick
to the script.
After lunch, I took
the Brighton Beach loafers with rolled-up trouser legs: quite successful. But
when I tried to shoot other boys loafing about on the field, they all fooled
around and made ‘V’ signs at the camera, ruining
precious seconds of film. I felt like kicking their stupid heads in, not to mention
sending them the bill. I took a few exterior shots during the afternoon before ‘The
Two-Mile Race’ on
the athletics track late afternoon. I used up most of my ‘games allocation
footage’ on this, but shots were excellent - providing they come out.
Completed
the first reel and posted it off for processing. With the second, I tried to
shoot Mopsa hurdling. She wouldn’t have it and chased me off with
a pair of spikes. “If we don’t want to be in your film,” some
people have already said, “we don’t have to”. Quite! But what
a ridiculous attitude. I only hope they’ll have got used to the camera
by Friday when we attempt the biggest set-up of the film: Assembly. We’ll
be on a trolley, tracking up and down the aisles.
Tuesday 11 June 1963
The time allotted in the script to the classroom scenes isn’t nearly long
enough. Initially, I wanted quick shots of pupils and teaching staff, followed
by shots of clocks at increasing times during the morning. This should give the
impression of time passing, but the film could seem too jumpy and quick, as indeed
most of it is already appearing to be.
But I don’t think I captured anything
particularly brilliant in the classrooms anyway. Professional film makers achieve
their results by shooting miles of film and then only using a few inches of it.
[A slight exaggeration. The ratio of shot-film to used-film
footage in TV is about 10 to 1. The ratio on the school film was about 1.25 to
1. It had to be! But with the bulk of programmes these days being made
on video tape, no one much cares about shooting ratios because tape is so cheap
compared with film.]
Obviously I can’t do this. Each
time I press the button, scant money is being used up. I have to use what I shoot.
Therefore I must shoot correctly each time. And that just isn’t possible.
What’s more, I can’t even get cheap film now. I rang Kodak to explain
our position with Essex. They said that photography is not a taught subject at
the school, so they won’t supply film at wholesale prices. Cyril Mummery
said “The old baskets!” when I told him. Somehow I’ve got to
find some more cash from somewhere. [The bursar, Eric Brown,
was eventually persuaded by Cyril Mummery to cough up £20 as a contribution
from school funds. The final cost of the film was just over £40.]
Gradually, all the outside shots are being covered. I ring the numbers in the
scripts with satisfaction each time a scene is shot. Just how many will be failures,
I can’t tell. Results will show when the first two reels I’ve sent
off come back from the processing factory. Another snag is that the projector
slightly jumps at each splice. This may prove most annoying.
But so far, things
are fine in general. It’s really quite emotional recording
people’s actions that will never be repeated. What will they all think
in years to come when they look back on the film? Will they wonder at the changes
that have taken place, both in the school - and themselves? [In
fact, the film was in great demand for the next three years at Old Scholars occasions.
Then people got a bit sick of it and - apart from a few showings in the seventies
and eighties - it lay deteriorating in the archives. In 1991, deputy head Martin
Hugall asked me if it could be saved by a permanent transfer to video.The job
was done at the Byker Grove studios in Newcastle - the cost of £500 partly
covered by sales of VHS copies to old scholars. The visual quality and the sound
track were both enhanced in the process, but not at the expense of the ‘original
spirit’ of the film.]
Wednesday 12 June 1963
Got up early to film ‘rising shots’. But when I arrived
at school, the prefect I’d enlisted to ring the early morning bell was
out of his pyjamas and had already rung it. Everyone was up. All he said was “I
thought you weren’t coming.” This didn’t make a very good start.
I had to send everyone back to bed. Because of the lost time, I was only able
to take a few shots, three in fact. The rest of the day I was away at Chelmsford
[at a three-day all-Essex schools
athletics meeting] so
no more shooting. Friday is the big day though - Assembly! That is if this glorious
weather holds. I just have a feeling it won’t.
Thursday 13 June 1963
No filming today because I was at the Essex Sports. But in the evening
Pege [Peter Bradley], Keir [Watkin] and I went to the hall to set up for tomorrow’s
Assembly. We took over an hour, working out the shots - including a long pan
down the hall and a pan round the back. The floor was marked out with chalk marks
which Keir and I followed, pushing Pege and the camera on a trolley. It should
be successful if the weather is fine . But today was cloudy - and it rained. [With
only two available lamps - and those usually locked away in the physics lab -
I was dependent on the weather being sunny for the interior shots.]
Friday 14 June 1963
It’s six in the morning - I’ve woken early through the excitement
... I’ve just looked out of the window. It’s miserable, cold, cloudy
with no sun at all. Will it clear up in two hours? Why are things always so awkward?
Surely, there can’t be a reason.
Sure enough, it wasn’t nearly light
enough to take any film in the assembly hall. But we recorded the sound track
instead. [Apart from bells being rung, this was the only
part of the sound track that needed accurate synchronisation. At the time, I
didn’t appreciate this was utterly
impossible with our available equipment. Even with the technical control of the
1991 video transfer, the hymn is miles ‘out of sync’. Somehow, though,
it doesn’t seem to matter.]
Richard Sturge [Head of Music] of course
had to have a hymn practice with the whole school before letting it be recorded.
When nobody cooperated very well, he lost his temper. “Shut up!” he
shouted. “Either this
film is worth making or it is not. And if the school authorities have decided
it is worth it, then it is up to you to make sure it is a success.” When
he heard the recording played back, he said it was “too ragged” and
suggested Small Choir sing the hymn instead. To humour him, I suppose I’ll
have to agree to at least record Small Choir. But I’m not having any marvellously
perfect singing in my film - which is supposed to depict a normal school. [Small
Choir: A select band of the twenty or so best singers chosen by Richard Sturge
from the school’s main choir. Small Choir performed
at special occasions. For many years it represented FSSW by singing carols in
Trafalgar Square when the Christmas tree lights were illuminated. In the end,
I used the ‘ragged’ version
sung by the whole school.]
As the weather was awful all day, there was no further filming. I can tell in
my bones that tomorrow will be sunny - just right for Assembly. Naturally, I
can’t be there. I have to leave for the Essex Sports at eight o’clock.
Saturday 15 June 1963
The morning was, of course, beautifully sunny, the very day I had to
be away.
Sunday 16 June 1963
Light very bad. In the afternoon, we set up the school rock group, The
Nomads, in an assembly hall window, turning the stage spotlights to shine on
them. Probably there still wasn’t enough light which is a pity as there
were some interesting angles . To my annoyance, I wasted about thirty seconds
of film by not turning the focus back after a close-up . It looks like being
miserable weather again tomorrow.
Monday 17 June 1963
Horrible cloudy sky with not a scrap of sunlight anywhere so no Assembly
today. It cleared up about an hour later and the sun shone brightly. I HATE FATE.
Why can’t I do Assembly?
I asked a group of boys to look annoyed when the
end-of-recess bell rang. How they overacted! It was terrible but I’ll probably
use it. Then I arranged to shoot lunch. Miss Ellinor agreed, providing the girls
looked “neat and
tidy”. Then she lapsed into a long harangue about the horrors of photographing
schools “naturally” and her hatred of “true-to-life” shots
which don’t always show schools at their best. She said I must avoid taking
them. But this film is going to be about what really happens here , not what
Jennie would like to happen. [Jennie Ellinor, headmistress
- who’d
had to be persuaded by Cyril Mummery to agree to the film being made. ]
Lunch wasn’t an unqualified success. I felt
self-conscious, walking round the tables with a camera. My plan was to have a
quick succession of different people stuffing food into their mouths. Whether
this will work or not, I can’t
tell. But I stupidly took the back the camera off without winding on the necessary
amount of film. So quite a bit of lunch may be spoilt.
The first film came back
from processing today. Most of it is good: only one or two shots are underexposed.
However, they are some startling lighting differences between the previous reel
and follow-up shots on this reel. The audience, if there is one, will just have
to stomach that. I’m no professional. How
I long for more film!
Tuesday 18 June 1963
Clouds prevented the long-awaited Assembly shots today but, in the middle
of Assembly itself, the sun came out. I really am hopping mad. What’s more,
the forecast said it’s going to be fine tomorrow, the very day we don’t
have Assembly.
In recess, I’d planned a scene with the lower forms rushing out of the
New Wing, across the asphalt and fighting to get in the bread queues. [Martin] Weatherhead
held them back until (a) the sun came out (it had been shining gloriously for
an hour beforehand) and (b) the bread queues got bigger. But after holding up
the hungry hordes for several minutes, neither had happened so I had to shoot
it anyway, unsunny and unprepared. Sure enough, the sun came out seconds afterwards.
Two more lunch shots followed (which I forgot yesterday) including Jenny pinging
the small bell but she was wearing different clothes . Hope it won’t matter
(i.e. no one will notice).
I shot David Gray’s English lesson but the class
just messed about and he did nothing to stop them. In fact, he rather messed
about himself. [Actually,
David Gray was one of the more cooperative masters during the shooting. He was
always a bit of a thespian: watch the way he pops bread into his mouth in the
staffroom scene - dead on cue.]
The
film’s now at the stage when people say “Oh no!” and
groan when they see me plus camera. They just don’t realise how hard it
is to put a film together. Sent the fourth reel off and loaded the fifth. The
second reel should be back tomorrow. Persuaded two sixth-form girls to start
tracing out letters for the opening titles. [I can’t remember who
they were. But I soon discovered that professional filming often involves persuading
a lot of people to do things they don’t
necessarily want to do.]
Wednesday 19 June 1963
Naturally, the very day when there’s no Assembly, the sun shone
marvellously! I took some shots at recess and was infuriated yet again by the
changing weather. One moment it was fine, the next cloudy. What’s most
exasperating is waiting for a shot until the sun comes out and then, because
it doesn’t, deciding
to shoot the scene anyway - with a wider aperture (which means the definition
is much less sharp). On such occasions, the sun can always be relied on to come
out immediately afterwards.
I tried to film in the staffroom later but, because
no one seemed much interested in helping to set up anything special, I took general
scenes. In the afternoon, I made and shot the letters for the titles ‘Mount
Pleasant Studios Present’.
I can’t wait to see this effect .
Thursday 20 June 1963
Lousy weather so no Assembly today. In the morning, I tried something
different with the opening titles, defocusing then focusing on the letters. Nothing
else today except for one or two evening shots with the school against a dying
red sky.
Friday 21 June 1963
The morning seemed fine. So, after breakfast, Pege and I went to the
hall to set out the chairs and chalk in the guide marks. Then Keir said he didn’t
want to do it because he was working for an exam. So once again filming was cancelled
- this time because of a strike. In fact, no shooting at all today because the
sky clouded over very quickly. Besides, there are only a few more daylight shots
to take. The rest are photoflood shots which we’ve earmarked for Sunday.
Tomorrow promises to be fine. We have set out the hall ready for filming.
Saturday 22 June 1963
Although the light was not perfect, we decided to go ahead with Assembly
only to find that Cyril Mummery had banned us from the hall. He said the other
school activities arranged for today were already going to cut into classes.
At recess, I took one or two extra shots on the field to make up the ‘after-lunch’ sequence.
Sunday
23 June 1963
No Assembly on Sundays and naturally the weather is absolutely beautiful.
However, today was the day I’d arranged to start shooting the inside scenes
using photofloods. But it was the worst day for tragedies, confounded nuisances
and general disillusionment. Weatherhead and I unlocked the physics lab and borrowed
the two lamps which last week Donald Benson [Physics master.
nicknamed ‘Dobbin’] had promised to lend me.
We’d
hardly started filming before Dobbin stormed down the corridor and blew us to
high heaven. Apparently, he’d left tomorrow’s ‘O’ level
exam papers in the lab. He threatened expulsion and all sorts of things. Ridiculous.
School teachers can be so small-minded. As if we wanted to crib questions for
an exam we weren’t
even going to take! Next tragedy? After humping the lamps up onto the dining
room gallery to shoot the big clock, we immediately blew two fuses. And we couldn’t
find the fuse box anywhere. So we connected up elsewhere only to burn out the
complete circuit .
In the afternoon, we moved to the centre corridor but filming
there was very tiring and extremely boring. I could feel people in the library
hating us for making so much noise .
Next tragedy? In the evening, we moved up into the bedrooms
for one of the last shots in the film. But, just before we completed it, we blew
yet another fuse, wasting a lot of film of course. It was then too late to find
the box, mend the fuse and film again. Ivan Cane , tonight’s Mod [Master-on-duty],
put on his officious face and started making comments about why hadn’t
we let him know we were up there etc.
I feel tired out, miserable, let down and
generally awful. Thank God Weatherhead was extremely helpful.
Monday 24 June 1963
Cloudy and rainy therefore no Assembly filming. Things are becoming
desperate now as the hall will soon be turned over for fulltime exam use. It
must be fine tomorrow. It must! I took the projector to Cambridge for an overhaul
and they said they’ll try to clear up the jumping problem.
Back at school,
we set up a complicated shot of people rushing to the dining room. The lamps
were strategically positioned. Hundreds of people were lined up, waiting. The
gong went. Everybody rushed. I pressed the button. There was one click. Someone
had turned the camera to ‘single frame mode’ and
all I took was one picture. I could have sworn. (In fact I did.) But I managed
some good scenes in the radio club later. I only hope I haven’t overexposed
this part with the artificial lighting.
Donald Benson stormed down the corridor
again and blew his top about our leaving his lighting equipment in the Boy’s
Well. He was so furious that he removed all the cable and one light (we were
using the other) and banned us using any more of his equipment. I’ve still
three photoflood shots to do. How can he be so small-minded?
In the evening we
filmed (with the one lamp we still had) the prefect-on-duty locking up. I was
the prefect and Weatherhead the cameraman. We created a terrific shadow effect
on the wall.
But I discovered that I couldn’t act in front of the camera
at all. This came as a great shock. I found myself terribly self-conscious, even
in those few seconds.
Tuesday 25 June 1963
Having cursed and sworn about Dobbin yesterday, I now feel quite ashamed
. This morning, I asked him nicely if we could borrow the lights and he said,
yes - as long as we looked after them. He seemed so hurt that we hadn’t
asked before and really very willing to lend them to us.
I shot one scene today
- using the lamps in a bedroom. Assembly of course was impossible. I spent much
of today cutting and editing on the new machine I’ve
just bought (had to raid my Post Office account). It’s incredibly useful:
in fact, I don’t know how I managed before .
One section is complete. This
is pleasing but time is the all-important factor now. We shall only just finish
it - if at all - for people to see it by the end of term.
Wednesday 26 June 1963
I rose early for the remaining morning shots from the church roof and
the road. [This involved dragging Canon Roy Sinker from
his bed to unlock various church doors.] During the day, I filmed clocks
at various times to match the classroom scenes. I edited for the remaining part
of day and have now almost reached a standstill until the two reels sent off
yesterday are returned developed. At dusk, there was the most glorious sky and
I finished the evening sequence.
Thursday 27 June 1963
Finished all the editing possible with the film I have available. Some
parts I think are quite professional. But, as I feared, some shots are far too
short. I took one or two of the few remaining shots left and set Tony Paine on
to the graphics for the credits. Things are now hotting up.
Friday 28 June 1963
I rang Kodak at Hemel Hempstead to see if I could have a film developed
quickly if I took it to the factory myself. I had to talk my way into it - but
in the end they said I could use their ‘urgent service’. If I drop it over
there on Monday, they’ll send it back to me by Wednesday.
I’d like to have the whole film finished by General Meeting, a week tomorrow,
but that’s hoping. For example, Tony Paine, who promised the finished credits
today, went home instead and left me high and dry.
Saturday 29 June 1963
Today was our last chance to do Assembly. But no go: the weather was
foul. Nothing else added.
Sunday 30 June 1963
Nothing further done, apart from difficulty over the credits lettering.
Paine, back from his trip, said he’d have a go before dinner. During dinner, I
visited the art room and found a futile attempt which he’d ripped up and
shoved in the bin.
So I asked Tartle to do it instead. She started with good intentions but then
said she wouldn’t be able to complete it and handed it all back to Paine
who produced another futile attempt and gave up again. Great!
Monday 1 July 1963
Filmed ‘The End’ in the art room, longing to see the result. Jim
Samuel said that he would ‘unofficially’ print the credits for me.
[JS was a professional print setter I'd met in 1961 during
a holiday job at Harts, the Saffron Walden printing firm.] This
evening he rang to say everything was done. I collected his sheets from his house
and they looked fantastic. The final reel goes over to the Kodak factory tomorrow.
The film is finished - with the exception of... Assembly.
This sequence was finally achieved - on a gloriously fine morning with sun streaming
through the windows - about two weeks later and dropped into the otherwise completed
film. It took about an hour to shoot.
