VLVL(6) - Ch 10 Notes & Questions 3

[Sebastian Dangerfield]

198.35  Strikers battled strikebreakers and police - the farm workers
again

This calls to mind a major battle that occurred between the farm workers
union and the Teamsters around (I think) '71.  The growers got into
cahoots with a Teamsters local to have Teamster workers (who generally
weren't farm hands) replace the striking pickers (and terrorize them)
sufficiently long to break the strike.  A number of farm workers were
killed (beaten to death) in the ensuing ugliness.  All of this was caught
on film by some 24fps types in a powerful documentary called _Fighting
for Our Lives_.  Absolutely worth seeing if it's at all available.  

201.33  quartz lamps and PAR bulbs - made me think of our old friend
Byron

Quartz lamps--the standard tungsten lighting in the industry (and the
sole type before the advent of HMI--a Mercury Iodide technology that
produces artificial light that burns at the exact color temperature of
sunlight).  PAR=bulbs with a Parabolic Aluminum Reflector in back.  These
are lamps that cast a pretty wide, hard light.  they resemble auto
headlights.

202.11  meters and tie points - just before a meter or at places where
elements of the grid interconnect are the best places to steal juice
without it being noticed

Yes indeed; Pynchon's extensive research and usually unfailing ear has
got the lingo of the trade (almost) spot-on here.  When a tech (usually
the Best Boy) seeks to tap the grid to power a movie set, this highly
hazardous operation is called "tying in"  and the resultant laocoon of
heavy cable is called a "tie-in."  And if you are guerilla filmmaking,
yes, you would endeavor to tie in somewhere above the electric meter (an
even more hazardous undertaking).

There's lots more to come in VL on the trade of film lighting, something
of a *light-motif* throughout the novel.  More on this from sebastian
(who in a former life was also a gaffer). 
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]