AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
been built there, were originally
intended for a steel refinery. However,
a law was passed, confining the heavy
iron and steel industry to the North,
and the buildings were left standing
empty.
At this point, an architect, Antonio
Valente, stepped in, suggesting that
buildings be converted into film
studios, and presented the complete
plan for the project and all the services
necessary, to Angelo De Paolis, who
was very enthusiastic and gave the
go-ahead. And this was how the first
of the De Paolis Studios came into
being.
In 1943, ELICA FILM took over the
management of these Studios,
augmenting the technical facilities to
make them more complete.
In 1944, the Studios were bombed, and
three of them, plus the offices, were
completely destroyed; the scenebuilding
department and the dressing rooms
were the only things left standing.
And that was the end of that for a
while.
It was only in 1946, that with more
good will than money, the rebuilding
began. In 1947, in N° 2 Studios,
Foto del primo film girato nei teatri De Paolis nel 1947
«Action!» was called out, and the first
take of a film, ironically entitled:
«Accidenti alla Guerra» was shot
with a hand-turned camera.
Gradually, the Studios managed to
equip itself with a range of cameras,
lighting equipment, generators and
transport vehicles.
Next, N° 5 Studios, measuring 103
mts. x 37 mts., and the largest in
Europe, were built, which was really
the beginning of the De Paolis Studios
as we know them today.
Florestano Vancini's having
constructed the main street of Ferrara
in them, with the walls of the Estense
Castle on the one side and a long line
of porticos on the other, for his film,
«La Lunga Notte del '43» in 1960,
was proof of their capacity to
accommodate a Hollywood-style epic,
although they had already
demonstrated this with the sets
constructed for many of the so-called
«historical» epics.
Through Corti De Paolis, the ICET
De Paolis group of Studios (which now
house independent television's Channel
5) were built at Cologno Monzese near
Milan; while three more Studios were
added to the Rome group. There were
then nine De Paolis Studios, but the
largest of them burnt down in 1968,
could not be re-constructed because of .
City Planning regulations, and its
4,000 sq. mts. of space was eventually
built on.
Today, there are eight De Paolis
Studios, all functioning in the old
tradition. Many times it has been
proposed that one or more of them be
converted into T.V. studios, a
temptation that has not always been
easy to resist: the attraction of
advanced technologies, and the study
and research they would necessitate;
for traditionalists like us; the desire to
be more competitive and to operate in
a more modern and incisive way, have
often rendered us indecisive.
However, it was the fact that we didn't
have the necessary capital (how is it
other companies manage to obtain
subsidies and financing so easily ?) that
really made us decide to leave the
Studios as they were. After all, any
locale can be converted into a T.V.
studios, all you need is a good range of
technical and electronic equipement.
But, a group of Studios, which is large
enough and structured in such a way
that it can accommodate various
productions simultaneously, provide all
the relative services and asnswer every
need, is not something you find every
day. The 2,000 films (not counting all
the commercials and T.V. projects)
that have been made in the De Paolis
Studios over the last forty years, are
proof that they function very well as
they are. And they will continue to
function, also because of the quality of
the set building, and all the creative
talent and craftsmanship, fantasy and
technical invention that goes into it.
Which is in no small part, the merit of
the skilled craftsmen who work on the
sets, and them, who have been
patiently trained by people who live for
their profession.
All this is evident in our achievements:
the De Paolis Studios are certainly not
perfect, mainly due to economic factors
(Oh! the poor Italian cinema, beset by
one crisis after another...), but we do
function on a human level, and the
results are consistent. Anyone who
works in them, or uses us to create the
kind of images they believe in will
confirm this.