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Show each plays special role in film production " ' .i " a ,. ' .,. "'.. - , ", " V- -v. " - ... ' , ' P ' ' ' i ' . ' I . ' ' . ' "' j-nf ztl 5 . - - . - . J f 1 - "J" r fk ; ,J V By Becky Cantwell Orange parka'd folks frequently fre-quently seen promenading up and down Main Street may look alot like visiting ski clubbers. Usually though, they are dashing between Sun Classic Pictures' production office (the old bank) and their sound stage (the Elks Lodge). The regulation parkas seem an outward manifestation of a highly interdependent movie crew, each performing a special task on the set. Through the Elks door, they pass from intense mountain sunshine to the splotches of articifial light. Inside, the ski resort atmosphere passes away and people scurry to recreate the interior of Noah's Ark. A few minutes of expensive celluloid images necessitates hours of preparation. Even before the early-February arrival of the cast and crew for "In Search of Noah's Ark", the lodge's lower level was converted into an electrically prepared sound stage. Since then, Noah's story and its 5,000 years of repercussions have been reenact-ed reenact-ed in and around Park City. An ark the size of a city block was built to Biblical specifications high on a Tooele mountainside which represents the Mt. Ararat resting site of the three-tiered ship. A one-sided exterior of the famous b oat was also constructed on a flat bed trailer and hauled with a semi-trailer to near Kanab where Noah's animal gathering was portrayed on film. Some of these beasts worked in Park City this week, including a bear, fawns, chimp, parrot and cougar cub dutifully fed by Vern Adix, who plays Noah, and actors cast as his family. About 30 animals were used, all owned and trained by Steve Martin, who has a five-acre wildlife compound near L.A. He is one of about two-thirds of the "In Search of Noah's Ark" staff hired by Sun Classic for this film. The others are full-time employees em-ployees of the booming movie company which makes only general audience films. Martin said about 90 per cent of his animals are acquired when very young. While still babies, the animals are taken on the job so they will get accustomed to sound, lights, and lots of human activity. Most, he reported, like Sun Classic crew clustered around the ark at the Tooele shooting location. people, and he knows them well enough to tell when they are frightened or nervous. He trains them at the compound to respond to certain kinds of conditioning, for example, a buzzer. Animals learn the basics of movie work and he trains them to do what's needed on a set at the time. The difference between his and circus animals is that the latter learn a routine which never varies whereas movie animals must perform according to unique conditions each time. Martin explained that as long as he rehearses his animals a few times before shooting, making clear what he wants, few , problems ensue. He tries to set up shots so that safety is maximized, but admitted, "we've had our moments mom-ents like everybody." Animals required to perform several frightening takes may never recover from the scare, and he said that although people may think the charge for wild animals is terrific, they often don't realize the years it takes to raise and condition an animal so it may be brought on a set without resulting in an injury. Martin's been in the business since 1964 and has used his animals in numerous films, commercials, com-mercials, and T.V. series, including includ-ing "Daktari" and "Swiss Family Robinson." Lee Sollenberger (Tall Boy), who plays Noah's son Japeth in the film is also an experienced animal trainer who's worked previously with Martin. He claims any animal can be trained to a point, and gave the example of a fly-training session. To highlight the paralysis of a former ballplayer in a film, the director wanted flies to crawl on the actor's face. Sollenberger put some flies in dry ice to keep them dormant and then sprayed them with honey. He released them on the actor's face and they docilely crawled about, cleaning themselves. them-selves. The animal trainer is usually in the background of the bustling production crew. The producer, Charles Sellier, supervises the whole operation, and is currently travelling a lot between Park City and Los Angeles where a second film is under his producer's eye. Production Supervisor Jerry Fleck, coordinates all crew activities with Sellier and tends to problems with equipment, lodging, lodg-ing, etc. The director, Jim Conway, age 25, is making his directing debut in "Noah." He co-wrote the original screenplay with Sellier and has worked in several capacities for Sun . classic previously. He works on the sets with the director of photography, George Stapleford, who sets up i . ( v v L.4 Daniel Wadiaeff , Sun Classic friend Billy, public relations man. with more noah 1,4 fit ,-4 :u w ,J f .t.M i'Alt t i the film. About two days after shooting, the film, developed and sound-synched sound-synched is down back to Park City where principals view it. Re-shooting Re-shooting of sequences is sometimes some-times necessary, because of various unforeseen problems or unacceptable quality. The Sun Classic crew expects to finish work in Park City by the end of this week. Then the director, cinematographer and assistant, sound man and gaffer (responsible for lights and power) will travel around the country to record interviews with scholars who have special knowledge know-ledge of the ark, to achieve the immediate and factual style of a newsreel presentation. camera angles and supervises lighting. The art director, Richard Sawyer, is responsible for set decoration and works with a property master who has collected col-lected hundreds of props in L.A. and Utah. Steve Gray, Cinematographer, Cinema-tographer, is the actual camera operator. He works with an assistant who manually moves man and movie camera about the set. The equipment is rented from "Cinema Equipment Co." in New York and Hollywood. Scott Terhark is the sound man, recording only the dialogue part of the sound track on location. He uses a shot gun microphone as a "fishpole" or boom, and must choose positions carefully so as not to interfere in the shot. In some sequences, Terhark uses hidden mikes under actors clothes which transmit to his NAGRA recorder. re-corder. The film's actors were recruited recruit-ed from a Salt Lake talent agency. Adix, making his film debut here, is a veteran stage actor ac-tor and director who also writes and directs children's theatre at the University of Utah and is a noted author on scenic design. Terhark said this film doesn't have a budget to cast "big name" actors, since most have a starting salary of about $100,000 a film. The narraator of this docu-drama, who will appear on camera throughout, is Brad Crandall, a veteran of 30 years experience as a radio and TV announcer, including two years as host of the NBC radio show "Monitor." Once a day's shooting is complete, com-plete, the film is flown to L.A. to be developed. This movie is being shot in 16 mm since earlier 16 mm footage from Mt. Ararat (on the SovietTurkish border) will be intercut. Once complete, the product will be enlarged to 35 mm. Sound, recorded on Vt inch tape is transferred to full-code magnetic tape and shipped to a Sun Classic editor to be synchronized syn-chronized with the visual image. Special effects for both film and sound are created in professional L.A. studios. Terhark said five takes is average for each shot in Cinematographer Steve Gray "r"""""" .!ut'q''Miw,,.,M,11 . ,.,. ,LJ....t.m, u.lllul!W "WW f ..vi --r ...I IH .-: ill v V " I . ' 4 t Director Jim Conway with Noah and family. |