OK, it’s the New Year and I should really stop boring everyone with some of the errant minutiae I notice in the films I watch. Nonetheless, here’s one more example of an electrician who was a little late on his cue at the 10K dimmer. The movie was Funnygirl (1968). It was directed by the legendary William Wyler and photographed by the equally impressive Harry Stradling, ASC. Watch Streisand’s cheek as she turns toward camera right…
He was also the creator of the ‘Stradling Wheel,’ a gobo that somewhat resembled a wagon wheel. It was used to break up shadows on actors and sets and is still in use in some quarters. I’ll be sure to post some examples the next time I notice them.
To be fair to the electrician, there’s so time in that shot design to hide the cue – the light that fades out is her key when she’s in the mirror reflection so you’d see her face in the mirror get darker if the cue was earlier. And if the cue was faster it probably would also be more obvious!
Maybe so, David…but Gordon Willis would have chewed him out!
As a former gaffer, I wonder with the set-up was. Practical location vs Set? Crew size? Time restraints? All could play a part in this.
Robert – I think what we’re looking at clearly indicates a scene that was shot on a set. Crew size and time constraints? Funny Girl was a major studio release that was photographed by one of the all-time greats, Harry Stradling, ASC (not to mention the all-time great director, William Wyler). There’s no question that Stradling would’ve had the best of everyone\everything available to him. Most likely, Wyler elected to use the take for the sake of performance, in which case Stradling was forced to bite the bullet and live with the consequences. It’s a situation we’re all familiar with – and whose results general audiences never notice.
There are tons of examples of Harry’s use of the wheel. I have many different sizes and I’ll try to show some examples.