IRANIAN SNAPSHOTS

[Music] Mitchell Goldring William nama issues I have filled man Axios is all the no-huddle and Johnny exotic Persian fabled desert land of the Orient dry colorful and intriguing and these are the people of Iran this land their home [Music] here in this modest mud hovel lives the Syracuse University film crew modest but home light it serves as shelter here the crew holds their daily conferences every member of the crew contributes his share John Humphrey dick Kennedy Frank Ferguson skip Loudermilk Joe buddy Phil gala Burt Jessie sin and Jim Ken air off against great odds they bear untold hardships each day these men are working at a killing pace and they hope for a raises in the near future hey Kennedy cut his fries out it's over the wrong scene cameramen like Bob Kubrick often come up with good ideas of these meetings good suggestions receive their just rewards basic research is important for a writer John Humphrey gets right into his research on Iran's serious water problem bill Gelbart who presides at these meetings stands firm on all questions of policy now there's no pushing him around but little pulled was a long way for him but Gala Burt always has the last word close cooperation between members of the staff is encouraged dictation of letters to Don Williams takes up a big share of the boss's day writer Jessie sin keeps jumping for new ideas this can be an irritating thing yes these were the hardships of life in Iran in 1952 real after real film after film and conference after conference it's a hard life they sweated and worked long hours making films in the villages near Tehran this setup is on the set of a film pregnancy it is a typical village compound this village wife takes a pan of water from the fire and her open-air kitchen her husband stays nearby keeping an eye on things as always smooth pan go break never fails however he shoots some scenes over and over he says is the tripod technical advisor interpreter and director follow the action carefully as the actress places a pot of water on her kitchen fire these films are paced slowly a simple point like boiling water must be presented in detail while the cameraman sets up his shot the technical advisor and the director go over the fine points of the script the technical adviser on this film flora Howe sofyan is a point form midwife she has worked on other health films our interpreters circle PACU Avakian handles the language problems with the villagers he speaks English French Armenian Arabic Turkish turkey and of course Persian Frank Ferguson shoots in a village street the technical adviser makes a call in the village and looks at some ailment there are a great number of health problems 4.42 work on many involved nutrition and so the emphasis is on health and agriculture here wherever we shoot the village children are always there looking on some watch intently and some are just tuckered out this is a typical village like most of those where the films are shot these people of the Middle East are worth helping and the village of NamUs on skiff Loudermilk in Joe buddy shoot skip is a last survivor of the old USC crew the film is on the care and feeding of chickens these typical village men are eager to learn new ways of caring for the livestock they are paid in normal day's wages thirty to forty reals a day interest is usually high among the crew as each film presents new problems village life is always interesting the village barber for example hand clippers will do a close enough job once a week but every questioned the barber will use cold water a straightedge razor and soap that he has it the village shoemaker puts together and repairs shoes for the village and his tiny open front stall no power no machines just two hands trained from childhood a village teahouse and wooden lounge cots the ever-present boy and a donkey the village religious man the general store and it's true Coleman lanterns light the world this is village life a village street and these the people point for is helping helping by providing technicians drilling wells spraying DDT building village baths planting trees and making films films for the people people like these water is life and Iran this is the theme jube without a supply of water a village cannot exist for centuries the lucky villagers have had shallow wells but a well is slow and laborious and the water often contaminated by seepage from pit kirbys nearby and there is never enough water point 4 is changing this by digging deep wells capped with diesel power pumps and giving a thousand gallons an hour clean water for drinking and cooking clean water for washing clean water for every household need and water to spare for the fields water to grow food water for more income water for a higher standard of living our interpreters often double on log sheets for newsreel assignments like this one the village cop right out a Mack Sennett Studios keeps a little order during the ceremony at the opening of the well villagers greet familiar point for midwives on hand back home ma Bergman has prepared the usual daily luncheon of dandelion greens and buy all turnips Ferguson reads his mail but normal people are hungry lunch has served at 2:00 p.m. on the second floor balcony of the house the jangle of a camel Bell is the dinner Gong the house dog snorky tries to scrounge from macaron dobrik and Loudermilk dish up the evil flavored medicine which is prescribed as prevention against that most dreaded of all diseases terror on tummy agonize crew members take their doses corinne gets hers down when grimace is on his jo fingers buddy pretends it's only ice cream and likes it and dick kennedy gulps away gosh that stuff sure tastes off of glow break and Loudermilk so this is the home these are the people and that's the way they live in tehran in 1952 but what is tehran itself like Tehran has wide beautiful avenues which makes driving to work a pleasure this modern network of roads links all parts of the city the new Minnesota truck a converted ambulance glides gently over the super highways Barney Oldfield go break thoroughly enjoys driving in Iran Taran's lesser travel cowpats shah resolve boulevard give us brother go break the thriller - is he narrowly misses a horse-drawn water wagon a common driving hazard horse-drawn wagons still transport huge loads of raw and manufactured goods about the city white fender modern taxis and the ancient horse-drawn carriages apply every city street nalli affair 15 cents for any distance one of the most interesting places in tehran is the sound and editing lab here men edit the scenes which will bring better living - every year on e'en Persian language soundtracks are recorded for each film in the studio a magnet card and a stencil Hoffman are used for sound recording on the sound editing bench are a for Bank synchronizer of your and two modified Megan chord reproducing heads one head monitors voice the other music and effects while checking sync against the picture Ferguson checks the last Reserve magazine in preparation for sync sound shooting writer hum protects the final script with recordist Bergman cameraman goobric goes over the cine special in the homemade Minnesota blimp using a Brent Mauer sink drive and a Mitchell type finder Joe buddy adjusts a final light go Greg finishes locks the blimp positions everyone the suspense is killing whoops how free roll it speed when the port Rogers a cannabis fan John this is the pot Rogers of the 21st century this actually is a test the sink test for the chars shooting next week one two three test hello everyone hope to see you next year at the UFT I'm in a hurry have to send a wire to salt workin for five thousand feet of black and white and five thousand feet of color goodbye hello I'm taking you along hello I'm Sarah Parker virgin and I've been working here for two years and I hope to go to the stage and I hope I'll see you all of you boys over there next year I'm Norma Bergman and I always need money for household funds I am Muhammad Ali Mata they called me more which is rather funny impression that means great truth and everybody will start laughing I'm in the option of the so-called secretary of this bunch of crazy people I'm Nizam the writer I hope I don't fly state and visit that country why I don't know buddy cameraman we'll see you next year in Chawla I'm Frank for this week and I am low man on this totem pole I'll see you next year I'm skip watermark hope to see you next year convention I'm sorry no time to talk now I want to get back to my script on the pregnant I'm dick Kennedy and I'm just doing everything that no one else does oh that's most of the crew we've just missed two of them here comes Robert go Bryce well I hope that the convention next year will be over here so you can all look at this beautiful city that's the Syracuse crew in Tehran Iran hello test one two three four what else would you expect from a sound man that's when Birds Minh and we all hope that everybody will be either coming over here or we will be going over there for next year's convention of ufp a [Music]