A short television play commissioned from Maurice Shadbolt described as about a young girl in autumn

Cast and crew

Barry Hill - Tony
Glenis Levestam - Margaret
Sandy Chadwick - ?

Scriptwriter - Maurice Shadbolt,
Director - Romano Pianti
Director/producer - Douglas Drury,
Sound recordist -  Ian McIntyre,
Cameraman - Cyril Townsend,
Production Secretary Angela Nicoll
Location & Studio manager - Derek Morton.

Location shooting took place at Palliser Bay, and this production was the first NZ TV drama to include exterior action shot on film outside a studio.

 

Barry Hill (Tony) and Glenis Levestam (Margaret) have a Tete-a-tete by the roadside.

Location and studio floor manager for the show Derek Morton got in touch with some background information on the show, advising that location film shooting at Palliser Bay took place in December 1965, with the studio shoot and compilation in early 1966.

The studio interior set was designed to replicate the real exterior bach/crib that had been shot on film (which can be seen in a cast and crew photo) and included freestanding flats with exterior scenes 'outside', as though seen through the windows.

Derek believes that this must have been the first time they (or anyone in a NZ TV studio) had tried to 'extend' a studio drama set to include 'distant' views.

There wasn't enough space in the main WNTV-1 studio to place these flats at the most effective distance, so even though as far back as possible, hard up against the cyc, with groundrows removed to scrounge every available inch, they're still ridiculously close to the set windows, so difficult to make look realistic.

We got away with it for static shots, but any camera movement – all three cameras were mounted on peds (pedestals) – especially crabbing (moving sideways) revealed the 'exterior' background as obviously phoney, so when blocking action, any such camera movement had to be avoided if a window appeared in the frame.

  • Image 01 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). L>R: ???, Cyril Townsend, (Romano Pianti), Brian Bell, (Angela Nicoll), (Derek Morton), (Barry Hill), (Sandy Chadwick), Glenis Levestam.
  • Image #02 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). L>R: (Romano Pianti), (Cyril Townsend), (Sandy Chadwick), (Angela Nicoll), Douglas Drury, ???.
  • Image #03 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Date on slate = 5 Dec 1965. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Barry Hill, Glenis Levestam, Derek Morton.
  • Image #04 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). (Barry Hill), Glenis Levestam.
  • Image #05 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Barry Hill.
  • Image #06 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Romano Pianti, Cyril Townsend.
  • Image #07 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Derek Morton, Douglas Drury, (Brian Bell).
  • Image #08 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). L>R: Barry Hill, (Cyril Townsend), Derek Morton, Romano Pianti, (Douglas Drury), (Brian Bell).
  • Image #09 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Glenis Levestam, Barry Hill, Derek Morton, foreground Cyril Townsend and Romano Pianti.
  • Image #11 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury showing a location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Glenis Levestam, Barry Hill & Romano Pianti.
  • Image #12 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Jan 2015. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Barry Hill.
  • Image #13 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury Jan 2015. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Sandy Chadwick.
  • Image #14 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Jan 2015. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Barry Hill.
  • Image #15 v was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Jan 2015. VERTICAL. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Barry Hill.
  • Image #16 v was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Jan 2015. VERTICAL. Location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand. Lake Ferry Beach (area). Sandy Chadwick.
  • Image #17 was Scanned from print held by Douglas Drury, Jan 2015. Base for location shoot, Down by the Cool Sea (also shot as exterior to match studio interior set). Near Lake Wairarapa, New Zealand (co-ordinates a wild guess).
  • Image #18 was Scanned from print held by Derek Morton, July 2013 (the only 'Down by the Cool Sea' image not from a print held by Douglas Drury). Cast and crew of location shoot for Down by the Cool Sea, Palliser Bay (Wairarapa), New Zealand, near Lake Wairarapa (co-ordinates a wild guess). L>R: (standing) Romano Pianti, Barry Hill, Douglas Drury, Ian McIntyre, Cyril Townsend, Maurice Shadbolt, (partly visible, at edge of frame, Ross McIntyre); (sitting) Sandy Chadwick, Angela Nicoll, Glenis Levestam, Derek Morton.

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