Page 12 - Fujifilm Exposure_17 Africa_ok

TOILING
TOILING
IN THE RAIN
IN THE RAIN
An interview with Doug Hallows
W hen, in years to come, critics look
back at location film- making in the UK around the turn of the new millennium, they may well com-
ment on the distinctive “wet look” of British-based TV and feature produc- tion. As soon as the next drought takes shape, the fact that this past 12 months has been the wettest in Britain for more than 200 years will naturally be long forgotten.
But try telling that to cinematog- raphers like Doug Hallows who, with the constant pressure of budget and schedule, still had to make the best of things despite those seemingly relent- less watery stair-rods.
Hallows was shooting Arthur’s Dyke, his first feature as DP, in South Wales’ picturesque Wye Valley. Directed by Gerry Poulson for co-star Pauline Quirke’s Quirky Productions, it’s the story of three University stu- dents who 20 years after first walking Offa’s Dyke decide to re-unite for another stab at the gruelling trek. This time round they’re joined by Quirke, as a housewife enduring a midlife crisis.
Thrilled to be getting a break from his solid background in episodic TV and documentary, Manchester- born Hallows was soon confronted with the meteorological realities.
“The time scale and scheduling was relatively similar to TV, but we had to complete on time and there was no room for manoeuvre. However, the weather was constantly against us. When it wasn’t raining, the sun was shining, so in terms of continuity of
light, it was extraordinarily difficult. Gerry was very keen to have a very experienced camera operator, Seamus Corcoran, he’d worked with before and I had a gaffer with whom I’d worked for three years so we were somehow able to keep ahead.
“I remember one particular day at the top of the valley when it just didn’t stop raining. We had to do the scene
was strictly indoors at the BBC in London. After winning a place on a course which was, initially, all about desk-bound theory, six months train- ing followed at TV Centre. “If you were really lucky they then offered you a permanent position – which I took.”
By the time he’d completed about three years in the studios – pulling cables and the like – he’d also get the
Wise Show and, of course, Top of The Pops, “which was THE thing to work on,” he recalled, with particular nostal- gia.
Despite a “copper-bottom ground- ing in TV”, Hallows felt that he was unlikely to progress too quickly at the BBC and so switched back to his native city - and to Granada, “where things seemed wide open.” It was a good move and his career accelerated, first in the studios then outside broadcasts and finally, praise be, into the film unit.
“In some ways,” he said, “it was almost like being back to square one. Carrying bags, loading, clapper, the whole thing. But compared with video, it was a different technique. I was thrown into the documentary-making area with things like World In Action and, later, The Disappearing World.”
Then, as an operator in drama, it was virtually from show-to-show – “if you weren’t working, it was a surprise. And you often never knew what was coming next. I remember on the last day of a Sherlock Holmes, the phone went at lunchtime and I was told to get ready to fly to Lusaka the next day to do an interview with the Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda. Life was very exciting.”
But how to graduate to DP? “That was a tough one. Nobody really wants to give you the first chance because they don’t’ want to take the risk. You have somehow to convince someone you’re capable of doing the job. In a staff situation, there are occasions when the cameraman has to go off for a few days so that can provide an opportunity to take over.
“In fact it was when I was operat-
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whatever so you has these four people walking along with phenomenal scenery in the background which you simply couldn’t see because it was chucking it down. Yet the scene still managed to have a certain kind of atmosphere about it.”
As a Mancunian, you might think that Hallows would be perfectly used to precipitation. However when he started out on his industry career it
odd chance to operate, say, a fifth camera. “My main break on camera came with things like Play School and Jackanory. You’d start on captions and if you were able to manage that, they might let you loose on someone actually moving,” he laughed.
Though studio-bound, it was still a fascinating time for the ‘prentice cam- eraman with highlights including the Moon Landing, the Morecambe And
Photo above: Pauline Quirke with her Arthur’s Dyke co-stars on location in South Wales; opposite page: Doug Hallows
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