Summer 2000 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

LETTING OFF STEAM
AMPS Meeting at Twickenham Studios 717100
Sadly the turn out was very poor - about a
dozen, including our guests from New Zealand,
AMPS member Kit Rollings and his wife Lee.
Happily it was a high quality attendance and the
UK members made our guests feel very welcome.
There was a fine spread of Tony Luptons's tasty
sandwiches along with good red and white wine to
wash them down-
Kit and Lee,like most New Zealanders were
very sociable, mingling and talking easily with all
present. I had, that afternoon, driven them out to
Pinewood Studios where Graham Hartstone gave
most generously of his time, taking them on a
thorough, personally conducted tour of Pinewood
Sound Department' s state-of-the- art facil ities. Kit
was most impressed and so was Lee; being a
sound man's wife she comprehended most of the
goings on.
On our way back to the Twickenham meeting I
took them to see Denham Old Village, a time warp
curiosity for those who live in the UK but it is
exactly what every antipodean visitor expects an
English village to look like. During the journey
back they also got a good idea of London's Friday
night rush hour traffic.
Back to the meeting, we managed to get Kit to
talk to us about his work in New Zealand. He gave
a most interesting account of the New Zealand
National Film Unit where he started off in the
sound department in 1965. At that time the sound
department staff were allocated jobs and looked
after alJ the sound requirements for that production
ie production souhd, FX recording, post synch
when required, commentary recording, track
laying, final mix and transfer to photographic.
When the NFU ceased being, six or seven years
back, the studios and processing lab were sold and
Kit started out on his own as a freelance sound
designer. He set up a studio and cutting room in
the lower floor of his home situated on the hills
overlooking Wellington Harbour. He uses Pro
Tools and still treasures his veteran Nagra 45.
Although he is in far flung New Zealand (Sydney,
Australia, 1200 miles away is the nearest overseas
city) he is not in a backwater. Most of the big
equipment manufacturers have agencies in
Auckland or Wellington who are able to supply all
the latest gear and provide the know how to back it
up. If problems arise that can't be coped with,
there's always the internet to fall back on for direct
communication with the manufacturer.
According to Kit, there is a reasonable amount of
film and TV work going on in NZ. The big job is
local film maker PeterJackson's Trilogy of L,ord
Of The Rings-- three features shot back to back
involvins masses of dieital effects and crowds of
800 to 1OO0 extras. Peter Jackson seems to be New
Zealand's film wonder boy. He bought the NFU
studio complex and lab, saved the only surviving
70mm cinema in NZ. raised the monev for Lord Of
The Rings, and has invented a spokenlanguage for
the Hobbits.
Unfortunately Kit is not involved with the project
but we hope that when it comes to post production
his expert sound design talents will be called upon.
Other productions made in New Zealand and
aired in the UK by Channel 5 are Xena, Hercules
and Dtnk Knight. Xena and Hercules use NZ
production crews but post production is done in the
US.
With talk about Maori politics, non-linear
equipment crashes, tolerant attitudes to downtime
caused by crashes, the lasting life of ll4' tape,
digital tape and CDs plus other topics, a
delightfully relaxed, informal evening was enjoyed
by all who turned out as well as by our guests. Pity
you missed it.
BOB ALLEN
11
FROM HONORARY MEMBER
JOHN ALDRtrD
Congratulations on such a fine looking
Spring issue, and what an enhancement
colour makes, as well as a slightly stiffer
cover. Well done! What a change from the
1994issues of a few pages stapled together.
I was interested to read the item about
Doltry's 35 years of hard work. I first came
across a Dolby A-type unit whilst I was
working in Canada, and made several
generations of a magnetic recording without
any apparent deterioration. But my boss at
that time thought the unit was a waste of
money! Back in the UK I was involved with
all the preliminary tests which Dolby were
making on photographic film sound, and the
first Dolby Stereo recordings were quite
exciting. They also excited the SMPTE
Toronto Conference tn ITl2 where the
system was unveiled. Ray Dolby deserves
all the credit he has been given, but his film
man Ioan Allen should not be forgotten. He
was the engineer in charge of the film
programme, and his efforts have been
documented elsewhere as ['m sure you
know. He has been suitably honoured by the
BKSTS and the SMPIE, and I would like to
propose that his name goes forward when
AMPS are next considering Fellowships. He
was a member of the ISO film sound
committee when I was Chairman, and I
learnt a lot from him. I also helped him with
the Russians who hated all Americans - even
though Ioan is British.