Page 14 - Fujifilm Exposure_38 As You Like It_ok

Maintaining t
The 1978 smash hit Superman was memorable for many reasons. Technically, it made you believe, as the hype had it at the time, a man could fly, and also established Christopher Reeve as a new star. Perhaps most remarkably, it was also responsible for getting an organisation off the ground that this year is cele- brating its 30th anniversary.
For while that film was in produc- tion, back in February 1977, a group of four camera technicians were dis- cussing the fact that it was their con- tribution that always seemed to be taken for granted. The feeling was that the operators and focus pullers, clap- per loaders, grips and the rest were unsung, under appreciated and unrep- resented – and so the Guild of British Camera Technicians was born.
“I think that’s true,” says one of those original four, John Deaton, “because we were proud of what we did and how we did it.” His “co-con- spirators” were Terry Cole, Mike Fox and Geoff Glover, but it seems that the idea of forming some kind of official body to represent camera technicians was initially met with suspicion in some quarters.
“At the time some people were stirring it up,” recalls Alec Mills, who would become the first chairman of the GBCT, “accusing the Guild of forming another union or something similar. That was a bit unfortunate, because it had nothing to do with trade unions. At the time, I thought I’d better go along to this meeting to find out exactly what was happening, and I found I agreed with everything they were saying.”
"We want everyone to sit up and take notice that it takes us to make movies as well as the heads of department."
12 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture
THE GBCT THIRTY
he highest standards as the Guild of British Camera