OT: Cameras in movies

[wlewisiii]

Over the weekend, while unable to access RFF, I watched a fluffy little movie that our babysitter/family friend had rented. "13 Going on 30" it's essentially a feminine version of "Big". What caught my eye was the protagonists best friend is a photographer. At the begining of the film, set in 1987, he's shown with a Nikkormat, a 50mm of somestripe (no clear closeup to say what f), & a Vivitar 283 flash all hanging off a hippy strap. Reasonable for the time the movie is set.

But what was interesting to me is that either the young actor already is a photographer or someone gave him very good lessons as he used the camera correcly - changing apertures, shutter speeds, focusing manually, cocking after each shot and so on. If he had film on board, they probably would have come out...

I just found it pleasant to see the camera being handled as a manual camera should and not just as a prop p&s camera or worse.

Anyone else seen other movies that took similar care?

William

 

[Jocko]

William, I too look out for cameras in films. Like you, I'm pleasantly surprised if they're used well, but sometimes the results are quite intriguing. For example, Murray Melvin playing a London street photographer in "Alfie" (1966) has a Zorki 4 and a Fed 4 turns up in "Personal Services" (1987). In the context of the films, both are very plausible, although Melvin had clearly never used a RF camera...

A similar case of horrible missuse can be enjoyed in a Joan Collins' masterpiece, "Monte Carlo" (1986). Set in 1941, Joan has a "special" Leica II, which never needs reloading, focusses automatically to within 2 inches and takes pictures in total darkness. Having worked on the edges of the movie business I think I can explain why such nonsense occurs - essentially there is seldom any real communication between the people who supply props and the director/ stage manager, easily leading to errors which instantly destroy a movies' credibility. The classic case has to be the Hammer clunker "The Viking Queen" (1967). Produced in great haste it has two main problems, both down to lack of communication -

1) There are no vikings in it.
2) The ancient Roman soldiers have army-issue wrist watches.

"13 going on 30" may be fluff, but's obviously made with some thought: often lower budget films are made with tight, efficient crews and this pays real dividends . Yet personally I still pine to see "Notes of a War Correspondent" (1981) a vehicle for North Koprean dictator Kim Jong-Il's girlfriend O Mi Ran: to judge from stills, our Kiev 4 toting heroine has a camera very like Joan's!

Cheers, Ian

 

[ywenz]

I just watched Rudy and noticed someone using an Electro 35 in the last scenes when Rudy runs onto the field at the start of the game.

 

[jcline]

I just saw the The Notorious Bettie Page in the theater... cameras all over the place... the only one that looked like it was being used propperly was a leica or convincingly leica like. My favorite seems to be the Graflex's that you never have to load. Just shoot away. I was driving my companion crazy 😛

 

[wrenhunter]

I just watched Chinatown again, where he uses a Leica (III?) and what I guess to be a 135/4 early on. Also just saw City of God, where the young guy becomes a street photographer. Some cool crazy Brazilian cameras in that one, but I have no idea what they are!

 

[pesphoto]

Ally Sheedy in Fine Art. She plays a Nan Goldin type of photographer and shoots with Leica and there are scens where she is printing in her darkroom. Highly Recommend!!

 

[pesphoto]

oops! its actually "High Art" with Ally Sheedy

 

[jonasv]

I think the young photographer does quite well in with his Nikon F and 135mm in Cidade de Deus... Well, at least he focusses the thing and holds it correctly 🙂

 

[Kat]

I'm afraid I can't answer the original question of the thread, but I also have a question. Has anyone seen "Mystery Woman" from Hallmark channel? The lead was using a camera in the beginning of the movie, and I'm just curious what it was.

 

[bmattock]

In the Anime cartoon series "FLCL" or "Fooly Cooly," one of the characters carries and uses a recognizable Olympus XA.

 

[titrisol]

Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow....
The girl uses an Argus and only has a few frames left.....
pretty cool really

 

[lushd]

Blow Up - Antonioni- camera heaven!

 

[physiognomy]

M6 Spotted...

M6 Spotted...

Ater stuffing myself at lunch yesterday the TV was on and I saw the first few minutes of what I think was Mighty Joe Young... In the opening scenes a hot blonde (Charlize Theron?) was using a chrome M6 to take pictures of Gorillas. I hardly noticed whether she was using the camera properly! :angel:

Peter

 

[physiognomy]

Doing a quick search for Movies & Leica I found this site... Looks like it is kept up to date as well...

Leica spotting at the movies

Peter

 

[oftheherd]

Anybody watch the NGC show on the 1906 SF earthquake, last night?
The most famous photos were taken with a Kodak Autographic 3A.

I caught that too. He went into a local shop and picked up a camera and extra film, with the clerk/owner telling him to take what he wanted as it would all be burned up anyway. He had apparently been a fairly successful portrait photographer before that but got many really good shots on the earthquake aftermath.

 

[Socke]

I've just seen one film where somebody used a Contax G, can't remember the name of the film and the story line, only that it was some thriller which didn't thrill me much 🙂

 

[SDK]

Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow....
The girl uses an Argus and only has a few frames left.....
pretty cool really

Like everything else in that film, what looks like a plain Argus C3 (like my mom's) is really something way more sophisticated. The Sky Captain version has a way better viewfinder than the real camera, more like a Contax G2. Of course the movie has evil robots, rayguns, a flying aircraft carrier, and a Curtis P40 fighter that converts to a submarine with the flick of a switch, so in context the camera isn't too ridiculous. And Polly screws up her last shot by leaving the lens cap on!

 

[pesphoto]

Dont forget Salvador with James Woods and Jim Belushi. 35mm cameras I know, but cool flic.

 

[nyx]

In the Anime cartoon series "FLCL" or "Fooly Cooly," one of the characters carries and uses a recognizable Olympus XA.

She also has Olympus OM-1 (or maybe OM-2, I'm not sure now).

It's my favourite anime.

 

[telenous]

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

I just watched a fine old British sci-fi, "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" and the protagonist uses a rangefinder but for the life of me I cannot tell what it is. I think it may be a Nikon S/S2/SP (the lens looks to me like a Nikon 50) but I am not sure as I have never seen one in person. I 'm adding three pictures in the end.

Can anyone tell?