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JAMES WELLAND
“It was important to be able to cope quickly in all the various situations without having to change stocks.”
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tormented last act of Tony Hancock’s life. It shows him in love with Joan (Maxine Peake) who at the time was married to his friend and fellow actor, John Le Mesurier (Alex Jennings). But Hancock’s love for Joan was overshad- owed by the demons that followed him to Australia where, in 1968, he chose to end it all.
With Ken Stott playing Hancock, Laxton’s film captures the curious love affair and tragic aftermath of Hancock’s suicide. But as the director notes, with a tight budget he was reliant on the speed and economy of his cinematographer whose challenge was to help recreate a bygone era, and suggest Australian locations when the production never left these shores.
“Of course, I read that in the script,” Welland chuckles, “but I’ve been doing this long enough not to fall for that one. We had one house we shot in for a couple of days, a 1960s modernist, rectilinear sort of house that was supposed to be Australian. It had a bit of a different feel to it. And of course we had a few accents in there and in the viewing gallery of the ABC studios, which we shot in London. We just got the flavour of that, to indicate to the audience that we’re in a different place.
“We also used Hedsor House, which is a 19th century country house which we used for quite a few loca- tions. It also had some fancy rooms with ornate plasterwork, which dou- bled for a Paris hotel, and also for Joan and John’s Kensington apart- ment. We did a reasonable amount of work there. You can achieve a great deal if you find a location that does a lot for you.”
As for stocks Welland opted for ETERNA 250D, as well as some ETERNA 250T, ETERNA 500T and Super F-64D.
“It was important to be able to cope quickly in all those various situa- tions without having to change stocks. We shot 98% of it hand-held, which in a way is a more modern technique to use so intensively. There are times I might use a lower contrast stock but light something slightly more con- trasty than I would do normally.”
The decision to use hand-held cam- erawork also enabled Welland to bring a degree of intimacy to the piece.
“It occurred to me when I was looking at the script that you wanted
to be in Hancock’s head; you wanted to try and understand what he was going through with this relationship, and get under his skin. There’s some- thing interesting about being hand- held in that situation.
“If you’re in a little closer you almost feel like you’re a voyeur. It’s
didn’t do hand-held. Classically, you wouldn’t shoot a lot of stuff hand- held, and then for a particularly poignant moment you would. We did it the other way around, shooting virtually all of it hand-held with a few particular ones that we kept absolutely fixed.”
Obviously we had to be careful in choosing our moment.
“But somehow I feel that being too intense and seeing peoples’ faces too clearly gives the game away. Filming someone when they’re crying from behind, seeing their shoulders heave or their head move in a particular way can be a very dramatic technique. So we didn’t feel we had to get in there, to get close to get the feeling across.”
The other significant relationship Hancock enjoyed in his later years was with audiences who had followed his career on radio, television and film. His rapport with them is communicated in a set piece sequence shot at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank.
“He did a big show at the Festival Hall which we recreated in a slightly smaller version,” Welland continues. “But even then, when Ken comes up on stage it’s really about what’s going through Hancock’s head and how he’s dealing with the whole situation and not really about a huge show that’s going on to lots of people and all that sort of stuff.
“For that reason, some of it was shot from the front, giving the audi- ence perspective to replicate what was happening on the television show. Quite a bit of it was shot from the side and even trying to get round to the back a little bit to show a little more of what’s going on with the man.”
While he might share elements of Hancock’s introspective nature and a clear desire to learn more about his craft in all its infinite variety, Welland also possesses humility that will serve him well.
“You could probably learn 50% of what I do in a few days,” he suggests. “To get it roughly right is not particu- larly difficult; it’s about getting it more right. Getting 60% right might take a year, and getting it 70% right might take three years and so on, the incre- ments of improvement are exponen- tial. Then once you get it to a certain stage it takes quite a lot of effort to make it that little bit better.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Hancock & Joan, to be aired on BBC4, was originated on 16mm ETERNA 250D, 8663, ETERNA 250T 8653, and ETERNA 500T 8673 and Super F-64D 8622
interesting because it’s not something I’ve ever liked as a style in the past, but I really enjoyed doing it here.
“I’m finding I’m becoming more and more interested in what the actual cam- erawork really can try and convey - not necessarily in individual shots, but I think more particularly over a series of shots to try and get a certain atmos- phere going or capture a certain feeling.
“That also meant that there were a few shots which we deliberately
If this decision was counter-intu- itive, then the typical route of favour- ing close ups in highly charged emo- tional scenes was also eschewed in favour of other techniques.
“Richard joked that I often thought the most poignant moments were when you’re not necessarily in a big close-up on the eyes,” says Welland. “Sometimes I think you can get a very dramatic feel shooting peo- ple from behind or relatively wide.
Photo top: Ken Stott as Tony Hancock and Maxine Peake as Joan in the BBC4 drama Hancock & Joan (Photo: BBC); above: a scene from Magicians
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