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and, according to Thornton, the designer had built the sets without a real understanding of the practi- calities of shooting.
“The actual tomb was on ground level but the entrance was about thirty feet in the air - as was the real tomb in Egypt. But that didn’t help us when try- ing to film it. The only way we could shoot was from camera cranes but no-one had booked a crane for about three weeks. So that we wouldn’t have any more delays, they brought in a succession of differ- ent cranes, for a few days at a time. We must have used about every available crane in the country, but it was a fantastic experience for me.”
Trying to get advancement at HTV West was, said Thornton, a question of “dead man’s shoes” but just as he was deciding, after eight years, to leave the company, Channel Four and S4C were starting up and an “offer I couldn’t refuse” materialised from HTV Wales. This meant a cameraman’s post based in Cardiff where, for the next eight years, he got a won-
derful opportunity to work on a whole spectrum of television - from films and drama in both English and Welsh language, to documentaries, light entertain- ment and comedy production.
Even when he finally quit HTV in 1989 to go free- lance yet again, he never really managed to get away properly because producers and directors down there still continued to queue up for his services. This past ten years have proved a particularly fruit- ful time for Thornton as he divides his time on tele- vision and feature work in his adopted Wales - includ- ing substantial second unit cinematography on recent cinema films like Up ‘N’ Under, Solomon & Gaenor, The Tichborne Claimant and House! - with more exotic overseas lighting assignments, notably in South Africa, for the prolific Gloucester-based pro- duction company, Peak Viewing, including its first
PETER THORNTON
Photos main: Peter Thornton shooting The Dragon Has Two Tongues in Wales; above from left: Philip Madoc and Ffion Wilkins in Shadow Falls
Bob Pugh in The Company Of Strangers; crew line-up on Mind To Kill left to right: Ollie Tellett (Focus), Martin Stephens (Camera Operator), DP Peter Thornton front row: Sherie Lund (Costume), Jane Vank (PA), Steve Lawes (Loader) and John Robinson (Grip)
EXPOSURE • 24 & 25