1970s Series Scene Numbers

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hello Blyton TV friends,

I find myself wishing for knowledge of scene numbers for the 1970s episodes when I am trying to organise or research TV locations, particularly on the many occasions where there is doubt surrounding where shots may have been recorded. I know there is some information out there that sheds light on this; chiefly the series scripts and the many call sheets possessed by some researchers of the series.

I know how big a job it would be to photograph or check through pages and pages of scripts and don't expect anyone to share copies of pages from private collections ( unless they want to ) or things that may have been shared privately with them, so no pressure at all is intended along those lines from me. Nor do I want to make lots of work for people.

What I am trying to do with the information is compile a list of scenes and locations for each episode, starting with what I know / have gleaned from pictures and posts kindly shared by others up to this point. I am not nearly smart enough to recognise with confidence when one scene in a TV show cuts to another, though thanks to the small percentage of script pages I have managed to assemble so far, I am getting better at it. For a start, knowing the total number of scenes for each story/episode seems a logical beginning.

It appears to that there might be two versions ( at least ?? ) of the scripts existing or once existing for the episodes: a clean, freshly written and edited version, like the version of Fall into Adventure that was shared with the Society for a Blyton bay back in 2010, which would be given to a director early on I imagine, and other, working 'cut and paste' versions of the script with scotch tape , pink pages and green stick ons etc for rewrites and reorganisation that presumably was happening while the episode was being filmed, when constraints of time, locations, talent availability etc all played a part.

Any knowledge or intel that people have gladly read to build this small list I have started. Have also asked another few friends here and there about this and will update with info I get ( if any ) back here.

Series 1:

Caravan at least 53 scenes ( thanks to a Call Sheet posted to Facebook ) for the last day's filming ... scene 52 close to episode's end
Secret Trail 45 scenes ( gleaned from a photo posted to a Facebook page )

Series 2:

Into Adventure 1 38 scenes
Into Adventure 2 Scenes 39 - 91 ( thanks to the Script shared with the EBS )

Don't know much do I??

[timv]

The episodes for Season One for which I have some callsheets , thanks to Gary , are: Mystery Moor (the first to be limed, from 9 June 1977) , Caravan (one day's filming only, ie 21 July 1977, until the recent second callsheet turned up which is for the following day's filming), Go Off to Camo, and Finniston Farm. The discovery of the missing callsheet for 22 July 1977 shows the way that the docs were compiled - ie with a list of the locations set against the relevant episodes, plus the relevant actors and any additional extras, animals etc (with who was to collect the latter and bring them to the sets, and notes of what trains to meet when in Southampton.) Each location has a number of scenes listed after it. But the location lists do not always say which episode they were filming when if they were doing shots for 2 or more episodes at the same site , though some do - in season 2 filming, there is a code number for scenes shot for Fall Into Adventure which is useful. The episode list for the day's filming will give the relevant episodes - but if two episodes have scenes shot at the same location it can be tricky to work out how many scenes were shot for each of the two. I suppose you have to count the number of scenes at this place in the TV final version of each episode and try to work it out from that!

Nor do the callsheets give the complete number of scenes shot for each episode overall, though you may be able to work this out by noting the highest number given to a scene for each episode. But where we do not have all the filming days' callsheets this may be impossible, and some scenes may have been cut out or re-shot. If there are , say, numbers up to 55 for one episode, presumably it had 55 scenes - but can we trace all of them?? Doubtful, if some were binned or re-takes.

For Caravan, first day of filming on 21 July 1977, we have:

Locations A (Circus Camp), B (Interior, caravans), C (exterior, lane - probably the shots of the caravan coming down the road to Gatewood Bridge), D (exterior, cottage - is this the ice cream shop shot in Exbury Village?) , E (exterior, village - is this the children eating ice creams?), F (exterior, lake), and G (interior - tunnel).

A, B, and C are listed as 'Gatewood Car Park' (probably the lay by on the lane running from Exbury to Gatewood Bridge and Blackwell Common past the junction with Gatewood House drive, which is close to the junction of G drive, or else a temporary car park set up on Gatewood drive itself).

D and E are listed as 'Exbury village'; F and G are listed as 'Exbury gardens'. But does this man that the tunnel was actually in Exbury House , as per usual, or was it listed as 'E gardens' as it was in some other building in the Exbury grounds? Gary says that the usual procedure was to do all the tunnel shots in rooms on the ground floor at Exbury House.

The scenes at A are: 6, 7A, 12. (No idea where '7B' is, or if a sub-division into A and B means that two takes were done and one not used, or if two scenes were shot at the same time.)

B is: 8, 9, 10, 26 'Pt' (ie part of), 35, 38Pt, 42.

C is 1, 3.

D is 45.

E is 27.

F is 16A, 19.

G is 37, 39, 43, 47.

This gives an idea of how complicated the callsheets are even for one day's filming of one episode, and on other days which I have callsheets for in series 2 we have 4 or 5 separate episodes being partly filmed on each day. I reckon the easiest approach is to try to count the number of scenes in each episode, one by one, then count the number of filmed scenes listed for each location shoot on each day that episode and see if they match. But the latter is only possible, I would suspect, if we have all the scenes on all days of filming in the surviving lists - easier for series 2, but even then I suspect that we lack any refs to omitted scenes or evidence of multiple shots taken of one scene where only some of these were used.
See what you can come up with, FFDU, in terms of numbers of scenes per episode; I can check how many listed scenes there are in the callsheets for them, as and when I have time, but I have assorted other projects on at the moment too (timing unclear and up to my editors) so free time will be patchy. It's certainly intriguing, though, and anyone else who has free time and fancies counting up scenes or has any ideas is welcome to join in. I have worked on film scripts a bit, back in the 1990s, but never done any work on actual filming so my knowledge of the latter is sketchy - what would be useful is if any more lost scripts or background info turns up, eg via the film crew and families who know the procedure.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Great Tim,

That's a very very helpful post.

The Society's 'Adventure' script was very helpful in showing the scenes ... though it wasn't always obvious to me when one cut to another when looking at the episode. Sometimes, very obvious. And photos I have seen of working scripts do show a lot of editing or rewrites, just in the few pages I have seen.

It does sound a little more complicated than I would have thought, and I do recall Gary saying on a number of occasions that S2 was very different with episodes distributed throughout different shooting weeks, as opposed to the one episode a week approach to S1.

So thanks! If and when you do get a chance to check for the highest number listed in the scenes for any story you are looking at, I would be glad to hear it.

I found it helpful to list the scene numbers in that new call sheet in order, and when watching against the episode it became a bit clearer again. There seems to be quite a bit of duplication on the call sheet you are talking about and the one that I have seen.

I think scene 45 is Gary ( Dick ) calling for help from the lady cutting roses; on the Friday sheet this set is listed as EXT farmhouse cottage. That is the Captain's Cottage ( I think it is called ) in the Gardens. The roses have long gone I think. And the last of the tunnel/cave scenes, where Lou is arrested, is 53. That would leave 54 and maybe 55 as the last scenes in Caravan; 55 only if the shots of Pongo and the children counts as an additional scene, just before the end titles.

Without the script, especially where call sheets are missing, it's still a fair bit of guesswork. But very interesting.

I'll let you know if anything else turns up. I know of someone else with a handful of scripts, and might be lucky to have them check the last page for us. Would be a bonus if it's a non call sheet story.

Again, thanks.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Greetings Tim and any other readers,

Have been having a closer look at Caravan in terms of scenes, thanks to the info posted here these last few days.

Tim, I wonder if the call sheet you have described ( being a Thurs ) would be towards the end of filming for Caravan, as in series one it was usually a week per story, and the newly re-discovered call sheet ( 30 ) mentions that the episode is expected to be finished on the Sat. I am not sure whether that means some extra shooting was to be done, or whether this is about editing etc. Otherwise the Monday was to be used to finish, but we've no call sheet ( well I don't ) for that.

It also looks strange that the Caravan set is listed as INT as all those scenes before and immediately after the first circus camp scenes are EXT.

It is quite easy to identify 'key' scenes, especially where a change of location or unique set removes the ambiguity, but for the most part, without scripts, only guesswork would enable anyone ( well, certainly anyone like me ) to be able to point to any screen grab or moment in the action and say ... 'that's scene [x].' There are a few reasons for this: in some parts of the action, such as the tunnel scenes, there are a few very similar looking sets and a number of rapidly changing scenes, and quite a few occasions where shots might be cut together across a scene ( as far as I can tell ) to help viewers follow along. It may also be that a scene might be cut from the final film, though I have only ever heard mention of stories running short rather than over. I am wondering this as I can only find one 'lake' ( swimming ) scene in the story, but a definite reference to two scenes, close together, in the list posted here by Timv a few days back.

Despite the doubt, and to keep the conversation flowing along, I have grabbed the following shots:


No doubt whatsoever; first scene after the titles, and again as S3, probably where the Five are lined up along the fence. That might make the shot of the elephant a scene in and of itself ( S2 ), and the shot of everyone washing the elephant should be S4.





This is the first of the van scenes, before any sight of the circus camp, so must be S5. Seems a sunnier day than some of the other scenes, and there's no listing of it on Thu or Friday; must have been done earlier in the week? The first Circus camp scene ( 6 ) is below. This is the Gatewood Car Park site that I think has been well spotted by others in earlier pages of the locations forum.



A pretty safe bet for S27, as suggested by Timv; the only village shot we get, and it's definitely Exbury.


The mystery of the lake; we arer supposed to get two scenes here, 16A and 19, but this is the only swimming shot.


No mention whatsoever of a bus INT scene, must be one from an earlier missing call sheet day. It would not be a surprise if all of the bus shots were done on the one day.



Two early 'tunnel' Exbury scenes; the lower photo is the first look at INT tunnel stream set, where four scenes were shot 37, 39, 43, 47. This was on the Friday. I am almost certain this same set was used in Secret Trail, with water still present, but no sign of the waterfall. I think ST call sheets are all missing, hence no knowledge of locations for this one.

Well, that's tired me out! Thanks again to Tim for the info.

[timv]

Thanks for the thoughts on the first few scenes, FFDU; I can add a bit more on the locations for numbers 6, 8 and 9 in your stills from your above post, given my visits to the sites. On photos 1-4 and 7, yes I think you've nailed these.

Scene 5, good idea that there may have been shooting earlier in the week; this is logical.

Scene 6, at the 'Gatewood car park'> We have a line of tall trees in the background; this seems to be either (a) the line of tall trees along Gatewood drive, going E to W from its junction with the Exbury to Blackwell Common lane. In this case we are in a field to the N of the drive, probably close to the junction, looking S to the drive; the 'car park' is thus the Gatewood drive or a shorthand term for an informal car park set up on the field, just inside the drive. The car park would probably be close to the junction so the bigger vans only had a short way to drive over the grass?
(b) the line of trees along the Exbury to Blackwell Heath lane, running S to N, by the junction of Gatewood drive. There is a patch of open grass on the E side of the lane here, and it was probably there in 1978 as there is not sign of clearance and it is common land not a private field so probably untouched. In that case the 'car park' is on the grass, on the E side of the lane by the drive junction; we are looking W to the lane.

Scene 8, the 'lake' - not actually a lake, it's the stream at Gatewood Bridge which is pretty wide here; the bridge is off shot to the right and we are looking N across the stream. There is a patch of grass on the N bank that you can see here; this is also where in Camp, Anne was fetching water when she saw the mystery puff of smoke. The 'washing the elephant' scene was set a few yards away, to the right (E). A Southern TV editor who didn't know the site could easily mistake it for a lake. We are looking N; the circus camp on the Heath is uphill out of sight.

Scene 9: the bus interior. We can see trees in the background, so the bus is probably crossing Blackwell Common from S to N, with the Gatewood Bridge valley behind ie to the South, visible through the window; shot is looking S.

One more general point; I have had a quick look at the Series 2 callsheets, and a lot of the numbered scenes are labelled not only 'A' but 'AN', 'N', or 'M'. It is not just a matter of a simple 'A', 'B', and 'C' for three separate shots of a scene, and the letter does not mean 'Part' as we have separate labels 'Pt' which must be 'part'. Anyone who has any ideas on what this is code for ? It may be common filming terminology, or a special Southern TV code - it's not a simple use of all the letters of the alphabet, as only A,B (very occasional), M, and N appear. Intriguing.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hi Tim,

I think that's the spot with the circus all right, as spotted earlier on the forum by the locations crew. I think the colour and placement of the rocky / stony ground was also a good match for here, with those Gatewood Drive trees as a backdrop. This was pointed out to me by a sharp-eyed location spotter!

https://goo.gl/maps/m78b4qurcwCjDHcq7

Also I think def correct with the bus location, I think heading up to Blackfield. The Emery Down always made a friend of mine, Sarah, smile, as it was obvious to her ( and other locals ) that the bus was definitely not heading that way!

The codes on the scene numbers sound interesting; I nominate N for night as this might be an important reminder for shooting of exterior scenes to have the dark filter on ... I don't have any snippets of a Caravan script, but the Fall Into Adventure script has quite a few night scenes shot EXT at Blackwater House that could be checked. I don't know whether the N would also be noted for INT scenes at night, but there are heaps early on that look like Gatewood interiors. I suppose it's important where shooting takes place near a window, like the Mystery Moor scenes where the thick fog appears to have dispersed in some of those 'girls tied up / Sniffy rescue scenes in those old huts, to maintain the night feel.

The other wild card is errors, like the inexplicable INT note on the EXT caravan scenes you noted a few days back. There were INT scenes with Julian hiding in a van, but these were much later.

The FIA Kirrin ( Blackwater ) night scenes could be checked for N codes or not against the script if you have it , there are both night and day shots The episode definitely has B/water house EXT, but suddenly moves to Gatewood as is the usual trick. Don't have any further bright ideas for the other combos of letters.

Good work as always. Do we know of any film or television archive / library that has digitised copies of scripts? That'll narrow it down!

[SarahJaneM]

Hi, I came across this site whilst searching FF photos. My dad was one of the camera men in 78. His name was John Mills and I have 12 of the scripts he used for filming. I maybe able to help with info if you still need it.
I’ll list the scripts I have.
Treasure Island
Go Adventuring Again
Smugglers Top Ep 1
Smugglers Top Ep2
Kirrin Island
Go off in a Caravan
Off to Camp
Hike Together
Mystery Moor
Secret Trail
Billycock Hill
Finniston Farm

[MarkL]

Wow, looks like that's the complete first series. That's really cool. Would be awesome to see a scan/pdf of those, if at all possible. Bet a lot of fans here would love that.

[SarahJaneM]

Hi, I had planned to post photos on here and have discussed in another thread but I can only post from an iPhone and can’t work out how to get photos on here!

[MarkL]

Hey Sarah, I saw that post earlier. I'll see if I can figure it out on my own phone tomorrow and let you know.