Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

270
THE PROGRAM ANGLE
producer cannot send a camera crew out to shoot the train and relay
the pickup back to the station at the right time. The obstacles are
so obvious that they do not need to be recounted. However, the pro-
ducer can send to the library and either buy or rent what is called
a stock shot, or film clip of an express train running through the
night. It would probably be about twenty-five to thirty feet in length.
This would run just under one minute. Or, he could, if he were very
particular about the type of train and he could not get what he
wanted from the library, send a camera out to make a shot of the
train he wanted; or perhaps he could get
it from the railroad
running that particular train.
Now, the story is timed. It is rehearsed time and time again until
the timing is perfect, and the producer has decided that he needs
the film insert (which is what this operation is called) to last forty-
five seconds. It will be a simple shot to time and insert since there is
no action or dialogue. It is what is known as a passive scene. If the
technician should switch to the projector too soon, or a little late,
it will not matter for no lines will be lost. In the action that is being
discussed, the hero leaves his compartment and makes his way down
the train to the lounge car in the rear of the train. It ( may be that it
was necessary to show a storm scene outside, in which case the in-
sert film will have been suited to the mood in the selection.) Studio
space is always at a premium, so it is not likely that it will be possible
for the producer to erect one set merely to show passage down the
corridor; also, this would not give as much atmosphere to the production
as an outside view of the train ploughing through the night.
On the other hand, the continuity would be completely broken in
the case of a cut on the man leaving his compartment and then
suddenly appearing in the entrance of the lounge
car unless it had
been previously established that he had one of the compartments
in the lounge car ! While there is no reason why he should not have
one, it never seems to happen in scripts! So, the man has to get
down the train. What is more natural than to insert a piece of film
showing the outside of the train as it snakes along,
our hero as he enters the lounge?
and then cut to