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Differences between documentary and feature filmmaking

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Documentary as a dramatisation of reality
Billy Williams Film-maker
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I some... I remember something about Grierson which stuck with me all through my career really in that he described documentary as the dramatisation of reality and, of course, I spent all my early years in documentary, and then later on when I was to get into feature films, this... this sort of early training and appreciation of cinema was really to affect the work I did later on, this dramatisation of reality. But just to stay with British Transport Films for a bit longer, we... we also did films on the canals, on the narrow boats, in the early '50s and it was extraordinary how primitive things were, because very often these barges were horse drawn still and they had to negotiate tunnels and the only way to get through a tunnel sometimes was to... to lie on your back and push your feet against the roof of the tunnel, to push the boat through, and the... the conditions of these people living on these narrow boats was... was really very primitive; immensely hard work and I did a couple of films involving work on the canals.

Billy Williams, London-born cinematographer Billy Williams gained his first two Oscar nominations for the acclaimed “Women in Love” and “On Golden Pond”. His third nomination, which was successful, was for the epic “Gandhi”. He was President of the British Society of Cinematographers, and was awarded the Camera Image Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Listeners: Neil Binney

Neil Binney began working as a 'clapper boy' in 1946 on spin-off films from steam radio such as "Dick Barton". Between 1948-1950 he served as a Royal Air Force photographer. From 1950 he was a Technicolor assistant technician working on films such as John Ford's "Mogambo" (photographed by Freddie Young), Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (Bob Burke), and Visconti's "Senso" (G.R. Aldo/B. Cracker). As a camera assistant he worked on "Mind Benders", "Billy Liar" and "This Sporting Life". Niel Binney became a camera operator in 1963 and worked with, among others, Jack Cardiff, Fred Tammes and Billy Williams. He was elected associate member of the British Society of Cinematographers in 1981 and his most recent credits include "A Fish Called Wanda" and "Fierce Creatures".

Duration: 1 minute, 26 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008