Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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negative-matcher for the “conforming” and assembly of the A and B rolls, but because
there was only one workprint, it took ten days before the conforming was complete and
the A and B rolls were sent to the National Film Unit laboratory. Meanwhile, the final
sound mix had been transferred to an optical negative master in readiness to be
‘married’ to the picture in the answer print, and Ward and White “sat through the entire
workprint with the colour-grader, as the grading was not simply a matter of correcting
for skin tones”. 385
Unfortunately, during the processing at the National Film Unit, the film negative was
damaged. This came as a great blow to the filmmakers. A colour reversal intermediate
was necessary, and the only laboratory able to do this reliably was the Atlab laboratory
in Sydney. Reversing the damage to the negative resulted in considerable extra costs –
the budget had to be increased by almost ten percent. This part of the process was
clearly one in which White and Ward’s inexperience was a considerable disadvantage,
and from which they learnt a great deal from their mistakes. As White comments, in
retrospect: “I cannot stress just how important it is during this period to have a close
liaison with the laboratory. After spending so much time, money and energy making a
film such as A State of Siege, it is utter madness to simply hand it over to someone who
is not the least bit involved with it”. 386 Ward and White were discovering that not
everyone in the film industry was as much a perfectionist as they were.
Marketing and Distribution
In terms of marketing and distributing the film, White makes the point that: “One must
appreciate that we ventured into the production determined that marketing
considerations would not unduly influence the structure of the completed film”. 387 This
resulted in some problems recouping the costs, since the completed film was neither
long enough to be a feature film, nor short enough to be classified as a ‘short’, so in
White’s view, “it could only gain theatrical release as part of a ‘double bill’. 388 At one
point, the Film Commission hoped to release it as a “double bill” with David Blyth’s
Angel Mine (1978), a relatively short feature film, sixty-seven minutes in length, also
made by a film student but emerging from a different aesthetic. (The Censor tried to
385 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 17.
386 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 17.
387 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 18.
388 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 18.