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American
Cinematographer
July 1967
Vol. 48, No. 7 • Pages 478-479 | |
 | | | Photographic Special Effects “Emmy” Award for The Time Tunnel |
Special effects wizard L. B. Abbott, ASC, receives third consecutive statuette for work on imaginative science-fiction series
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At the 19th Annual Awards Presentation of the National Academy of Televison Arts and Sciences, held on June 4th, L. B. “Bill” Abbott, ASC, for the third consecutive year, received the “Emmy” statuette in the Photographic Special Effects category—this time for his work in “The Time Tunnel” television series.
Abott, head of the 20th Century-Fox Photographic Special Effects Department, competed against himself in that he was also nominated for the “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” series. Other nominees for the Photographic Special Effects award were Darrell Anderson, Linwood G. Dunn, ASC, and Joseph Westheimer, ASC, who worked jointly on the “Star Trek” series.
In the Cinematography category, only one series, “Bonanza” (photographed by Haskell Boggs, ASC, and William F. Whitley, ASC) was nominated — and no “Emmy” was awarded. Just why this peculiar state of affairs developed seems to be something of a mystery—but clearly there is a glaring fault in the system of nomination and award which somehow managed to bypass almost completely the many fine accomplishments in cinematography achieved by skilled Directors of Photography working under the extremely demanding conditions imposed by television filming budgets and schedules.
“The Time Tunnel,” magnificently photographed by Winton Hoch, ASC, concerns the adventures of a pair of young scientists who enter the electronic maw of their own time machine in order to prove its worth to a skeptical Congressional committee. Due to the fact that the contraption has not been quite perfected, they are subsequently ping-ponged back and forth at random between various time slots existing in the past, present and future. This totally flexible premise permits them to mingle freely with lavish stock shots from such previously produced 20th-Century spectacles as “Titanic,” “Drums Along The Mohawk” and “The Black Swan.”
Abbott has earned his reputation for wizardry by being able to conjure spectacular and seemingly complex effects with a minimum of time, equipment and budget — enormously important items in television film production.
For example, in “Time Tunnel” it was neccesary to create a unique illusion that could symbolize the actual repeated journeys of the Time Travelers into the past or the future. To this end, a drum 9 feet in diameter with a band 5 feet wide was covered with scraps of colored cellophane, Christmas wrappings and other tinted items that were lighted with colored gelatins over the lamps. A camera with a Kinoptic 9.8mm ultra wide angle lens was set up very close to the surface of the drum and framed so that the image photographed would fill exactly one-half of the frame as the drum revolved toward it.
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| | (LEFT) Los Angeles Room of the Century Plaza Hotel, scene of the West Coast portion of the 19th Annual “Emmy” Awards Presentation. East Coast Presentation was held simultaneously in New York. (RIGHT) L. B. “Bill” Abbott, ASC, shown at the awards presentation with Mrs. Abbott and his third consecutive “Emmy” for Photographic Special Effects.
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| | | | Subsequently, this scene was flipped over to fill the blank half of the frame and the two complimentary images were printed through a “ripple” glass to form the master background scene. The result was a stunning, jewel-like kaleidoscopic effect of colorful “time fragments” flying by.
To play against this background, scenes were shot of the Time Travelers suspended by wires in front of a blue screen in such a way that they could be revolved about an axis. The camera, mounted on a crane, was equipped with an image inverter prism before the lens which created the illusion of the actors revolving in the opposite direction. Filmed at 64 frames per second, the players seemed to float gracefully end over end. When these scenes were optically matted against the above described background scene, the characters did, indeed, appear to be soaring through a glamorously colourful Time Tunnel.
Similarly impressive was the effect created for the key locale of the series: a cast secret underground complex wherein is located not only the Time Tunnel, but the thousands of technicians who make it work.
The design for this huge subterranean city seems to have been inspired by the futuristic sub-level colony featured in the M-G-M film of several years back, “Forbidden Planet.” In addition to the glowing, burping, flashing mechanisms on a gigantic scale needed to operate the Tunnel’s mysterious mechanism, there are the 800-story ultra-modern living quarters for the staff, each one of which can supposedly house 12,000 souls. They are connected by ramps and causeways across which the inhabitants can scurry in times of emergency.
In order to create this colossal illusion on a television budget, there was constructed a large miniature 30 feet high and 10 feet across at the top which presents the view one might see when looking down between buildings from 800 stories up. Glowing elevators are seen plummeting through translucent tubes on the outer surfaces of the buildings. At various levels (presumably every 100 stories) people can be seen crossing the connecting ramps on foot or in vehicles.
Again the 9.8mm ultra wide angle Kinoptic lens was brought into play to exaggerate the perspective of the miniature, making it seem to plunge for miles. After the miniature had been photographed with elevators dropping at full tilt, there remained the problem of putting in the multiple ramps with the live action.
An area of floor limited by railings was photographed on the sound stage with people moving and driving across it. Several takes were made with different action patterns. Then these scenes were matted off and reduced down in diminishing perspective so that seven ramps of decreasing size (each with its own moving figures) could be seen extending the full length of the towers. In order to assemble the total effect from its various bits and pieces, 15 separate runs of film through the camera were necessary.
The Time Tunnel itself is pictured as being housed in a cavernous hall crammed with impressive electronic gadgetry. In reality, only the bare shell of the tunnel was built on the stage along with railings enclosing a ramp and working area. The remainder of the intricate set is a skillfully executed painting which gives the scene tremendous scope and perspective when matted in with the live action portion.
The images projected at the mouth of the Tunnel, supposedly those seen by the technicians as they watch their erstwhile associates cavorting in time, were simple double-printed opticals in which the “time” scenes (courtesy of the 20th Century-Fox film library) were masked with a soft-edged oval matte to fit the contour of the Tunnel opening.
One of the most striking effects — that in which the surrealistic patterns flash up as the elevator drops 800 stories in “free fall” — was created simply by poking the camera lens through the cardboard tube of a toy kaleidoscope to film the ever-changing design.
The Photographic Special Effects for “Time Tunnel” may have been created out of Christmas wrapping paper and toy kaleidoscopes, but on the screen they add up to an illusion of tremendous (and expensive-appearing) production value. It is not, after all, the materials used, but the knowledge of the men who use them that counts.
It is in tribute to 40 years of such know-how that the American Society of Cinematographers congratulates Bill Abbott, the “Wizard of 20th Century-Fox” — and extends hearty congratulations, as well, to his colleagues (Anderson, Dunn and Westheimer) responsible for the imaginative illusions of “Star Trek.”
These men are the true magicians of the cinematic art.
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| | | Frame blow-ups from “The Time Tunnel” TV series, showing some of the effects created for it. (TOP LEFT) 800-story underground complex accomodating 12,000 people was created by filming 30-foot miniature of structures, with live-action on ramps matted in—requiring 15 separate runs through the camera. (TOP RIGHT) “Nerve center” of the Time Tunnel complex. Only floor areas and basic structure of the tunnel were photographed on the sound stage. Vast and intricate background is actually a painting added by means of optical printing. (RIGHT) The face of the Time Tunnel with superimposure of scene supposedly taking place in another time period. This involves simple double-printing with “time” scenes masked by soft-edged oval matte. | |  |
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