model ships in the cinema

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Stand By For Action 1943

Nominated for best special effects in the 16th Academy awards in 1944.

A. Arnold Gillespie MGM's chief of special effects and his miniatures supervisor Donald Jahraus bring their considerable expertise to this wartime story of the re-commissioning of an old WW1 vintage 4 stacker destroyer.

The Warren, the destroyer featured in the movie was built in two scales, the larger at 1/16 scale and a smaller one for distant shots at 1/24 scale.

Also featured are a collection of convoy ships, again in the same two scales. The larger ones are featured close to camera and the smaller in the background. Simple painted cutouts are also used on the tank horizon to fill out the numbers required for a convincing convoy.

A miniature Japanese aircraft is shot at and the bursting shells were simulated by dropping "balloons" filled with a black powder onto the floor of the studio with a white background, while the camera was placed overhead. These powder bursts were then printed over the pre-filmed miniature plates in the optical printer.

The view of the convoy below from the point of view of the aircraft was shot using 8 to 10 inch (200-250 mm) ship models placed in 1inch (25mm) of water with foreground clouds painted on glass. The wakes from the ships were painted on clear celluloid with the tiny waves generated by fans.

Many miniature plates were used in the live action rear projection process scenes showing the miniature convoy in the distance behind the actors. The wake in the background plate from the ship they are supposedly standing on was generated by an out of frame outboard motor.

As usual all the night shots were filmed during the day using the day for night technique of filters and underexposure. To make sure the ship models remained as convincing silhouettes they were painted black.

The black smoke generated by the Warren as she lays down a smoke screen used tanks of burning crude oil.

During the climax a miniature Japanese battle ship is torpedoed by the Warren and the large explosions used a combination of mortars attached to the hull for the initial torpedo impact closely followed by further mortars on the deck. Eventually the magazines are depicted exploding and large fireballs are added to the mix. The model itself does not actually get destroyed though it looks like it does, and many successive takes were filmed in the MGM lot 3 tank.

Source: The Wizard of MGM, Memoirs of A. Arnold Gillespie published by Bear Manor Media.

Monday, 19 October 2015

Book Review, The Wizard of MGM the memoir of A. Arnold Gillespie.

This book was originally written in 1965 by A Arnold Gillespie who was the the head of Special Effects at MGM studios from 1924 to 1965. It was only published in 2013 and co-edited by Philip J. Riley and Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie's grandson Robert A. Welch.

For the model ships in the cinema enthusiast you wont find a better book. It is packed with photographs of miniature ships in action and some behind the scenes shots as well as interesting drawings showing the pre-planning and layout of the miniatures in the effects tank along with camera and control wire placement.

While there is a wealth of detail about how certain effects were done some information remains veiled by some antiquated terms in use such as "syphons" employed to produce the white water bow waves and wakes. The single criticism leveled at the book is the cheap paper stock and printing that masks some of the details in the photographs. Robert Welch told me that he had a choice between a publisher that would print the book as his grandfather intended or a publisher that would produce better photos at the expense of jettisoning the text. He chose the former to accede to his grandfathers wishes.

Those minor criticisms aside there is not another volume that is so overflowing with fascinating material to the old school visual effects fan and miniature model ship aficionado. I found a host of movie titles that I didn't know had model shjps in them which has led me to further research for this site. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Robert Welch kindly sent me copies of some photographs from his grandfather's archive which are representative of the material in the book, which I present below.