The Production GuideFilming
by Martin Willey
The Production GuideFilms and TV series can save money by reusing footage from earlier productions, and selling their own film to stock film companies. A futuristic science fiction series isn't going to use a lot of stock footage, but a few episodes did include some shots from libraries.
Footage from Space: 1999 special effects was sold to a library and was used in numerous later productions, including the TV series Dr Who (1979, 1980), Wonder Woman (1978), The Tomorrow People (1979) and The Two Ronnies (1980). Films include God Told Me To (1977), Spaced Out (1979), The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid (1979) and Los Nuevos extraterrestres (1983). Music videos included bands such as The Rockets (1978), Kansas (1981), Peter Schilling (1983), Flock Of Seagulls (1984), Rush (1984), the Rah Band (1985), Fuzzbox (1989) and Renegade Soundwave (1990).
See World Backgrounds and Kinolibrary video links
In War Games a real nuclear explosion is seen. The original black and white film is tinted red- the explosion is the Baker test of Project Crossroads, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 24 July 1946. It is a 21 kiloton bomb, seen displacing two million tons of water and sinking 9 ships (ships can be briefly seen in the third shot). The footage is seen in many film and TV programmes, including Dr Strangelove.
Journey To Where showed the "pollution of the twenty first century" with mid-20th century footage of a polluted river and a desert.
The Rules Of Luton, the stock footage of the lion is from the 1958 movie Nor the Moon by Night, starring Patrick McGoohan (released in the US as Elephant Gun). Cinematography is by Harry Waxman. The location is Kruger National Park in South Africa.
When Maya is a bird looking for water to clean Koenig's wound, we see a point of view aerial shot of some cliffs. This is Northumberland. The long straight cliffs with scree base is the Highshield Crags section of the Whin Sill, and the lake is Crag Lough. Along the top of the cliffs, a path is clearly seen. This is the Pennine Way, alongside Hadrian's Wall. The wall, built in 122 by the Romans, is not really visible here, but there are more substantial stones at Sycamore Gap, shortly before this location, and under the Scots Pine trees. Near the end of the shot, a modern field wall is visible perpendicular to the cliff.
The Bringers Of Wonder part 2 has the Pilot Ship landing in New York. The stock footage is from early to mid 1972, as the first shot shows the Bankers Trust building (later the Deutsche Bank Building, at 130 Liberty Street) is still under construction, with a yellow stripe around it.
Copyright Martin Willey.