Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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Pacific Television, so they were all “within six blocks” of each other. King recalls that
they divided up the scenes so “if there was something that Vincent was particularly
keen on laying” he was able to work on the scenes that interested him. White worked
mainly on the atmospheres, Ward worked on the scenes he was interested in, and King
worked mainly on the key tracks. 381 They were limited by the sound mixing
capabilities of the equipment, since they “couldn’t ever hear more than two audio tracks
at a time”, but despite this, the way the different sounds were layered was successful, in
King’s view, and most people viewing the film remain unaware that almost all the
sound in the film is post-production sound. By the end of the long weekend, the
soundtrack had still not been completed, but White was able to take away a reel of about
twenty-five minutes to show the Film Commission. 382 In the light of Ward’s interest in
the visual qualities of silent film-making, it is striking to consider that he and his
collaborators shot A State of Siege effectively as a silent film, before its highly stylized
soundtrack was added.
King says of working with Ward and White: “there wasn’t much common ground
[between us] other than the piece of film we were dealing with”. They were students at
that time, while King was making commercials for a living. Although they got on well
together, King felt it was very much their project. He tried to listen to what they
wanted, feeling that “it was extensively their film, so it was my job to find out the
rhythm of the film and make it”. He was pleased with the film when he saw it at its first
screening at the Academy Cinema in Christchurch, and when he saw the film projected,
he was struck by “the power of the big projected image”. He had initially worked
mainly in television, but one of the things he had learnt from making commercials shot
on 35mm film and shown in cinemas was the importance of “holding onto shots and
realizing these shots could be held”. 383 This is again a Bazinian insight seldom
encountered in the commercial world.
As soon as the track-laying was complete, the rolls of film were sent to Pacific Film
Productions but “the one factor which hindered progress just before the film was due to
go to the ‘Lab’ was the lack of a ‘slash dupe’ (i.e. a duplicate workprint)”. 384 Normally
the sound editor works with one workprint, while the original workprint is sent to the
381 Lynette Read, interview with Chris King, 2 February 1999.
382 Lynette Read, interview with Chris King, 2 February 1999.
383 Lynette Read, interview with Chris King, 2 February 1999.
384 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 17.