Equus recording report..ahem..nice comment fr Jenna of dr.com

"The opening scene in each act, and a couple of other scenes – the worship and the cinema – were far too dark to work out what was happening, if you hadn’t seen it blankety-twelve times, but the camera work on everything else was superb.

The side-view cameras zoomed, panned and focused on the faces when two characters were talking across the stage to each other. The front view covered the whole scene when "stuff" was happening right across the stage."

So. What do you have to do?

You e-mail the Archive for an appointment, and they e-mail back a map and a confirmation, then you go and ring the buzzer and they open the gate and let you in.

Once you go in, you go up to reception and show some ID and sign in and get a pass that beeps you through a turnstile and two locked doors, until you reach the Reading Room.

There the lovely chap wishes you a happy birthday… no, wait, that’s just me… gives you a form to fill in, to get your reader’s ticket (valid for a year) and he takes you next door to the viewing room.

The viewing room contains four TVs, a fiche reader and a photocopier… each TV has a DVD, VCR player and two pairs of snazzy headphones, so you can bring a friend, but there are no dark curtains, or anything, so there is reflection on the screen.

And then you are left to it.

Just you and your tape and your remote control and your rewind button - not that anyone would actually use the rewind button...

The production was filmed using three cameras, one directly in front of the stage, and one probably in a box on either side. Apart from a couple of scenes that were best viewed from the stage seats, they really did surprisingly well with a production that was not set up to be filmed.

The opening scene in each act, and a couple of other scenes – the worship and the cinema – were far too dark to work out what was happening, if you hadn’t seen it blankety-twelve times, but the camera work on everything else was superb.

The side-view cameras zoomed and panned and focused on the faces when two characters were talking across the stage to each other. The front view covered the whole scene when "stuff" was happening right across the stage.

The director – who was called Ron – put a lot of effort into choosing which of his three angles to use – when Alan crouched to groom Nugget, they managed a shot behind Dysart’s back of Alan’s face nuzzling the horse’s leg; some of the scenes when Alan was standing over Dysart looked like they’d been staged especially to have his face over Dysart’s shoulder.

The two climactic scenes were covered beautifully.

The side cameras zooming in on Alan’s face as he rides Nugget at the end of Act One, but the front camera showing the galloping.

Yes, there is nudity visible at the end of Act Two, but it is usually from the hips up, or deep in the shadows, until he finally stands with his back to us and faces Nugget. The blinding scene is surprisingly fluid, seeing as he runs very fast and the three cameras have six horses and a long shot to cover, in just one take.

I was very impressed with the camera work. Very.

The film could not be sold, even if they wanted to, because there are some dramatically lit scenes that are just impenetrable, and the sound is not of DVD quality, obviously.

But for someone who has already seen the play, it was perfection! It should definitely be on the tourist highlights of London!