The Positive Dystopian - Part Four. Now the Work Begins

The Detective reviewed the emails he received from the Collector. At first the response was questioning. The detective decided to just play the thorough procedure junkie stating “Anything which helps......!”. Within an hour a complete list of serial numbers of the stolen uncut currency sheets emerged. In addition large scans of the sheets were also supplied. The collector then reported that on the reverse of the notes, on each single one was a symbol placed using invisible dye only visible under a certain frequency of ultraviolet light. The collector also named the brand of dye just in case that proved useful.

The Detective emailed the new information to Wilson.

Wilson tapped into an older legacy database system which had been kept as a contingency with older seemingly dead cases. He located the section which dealt with bank notes stolen or recovered in connection with crimes. As old as the system was someone had designed a useful feature whereby one could load in a batch of numbers and the system would complete a search for each one. Although the number of searches was limited to 20 notes per batch it did make it less onerous to fit the searches in to his normal work. The slowness of the system somehow made it easier to work with as he was able to click “run” and complete other tasks while waiting. This way he looked like he was busy even when checking the electronic logs.

The first batch, as expected, yielded nothing, as did the second. The fourth batch registered one hit – one ten-dollar bill. Wilson noted down the file number on a notepad. He ran further batches and got seven further hits. He noted those file numbers down too. Wilson called the Detective, “I don't believe this – we got a match!”.

They met at a diner to eat and discuss what they found. Wilson spoke first “I don't get this – this should not be. The only logical explanation is the collector got given, obtained or sold some very sophisticated forgeries.”

The Detective countered “That is a very logical assumption. What element of this would lead you to that?”.

Wilson paused and swallowed a couple of fries, “Well the system I checked was an old one – very old. No new data since 1989. The first note was taken into evidence regarding a low level drug dealer who got mixed up with some – and I quote from the report – 'beatnik types' and got busted moving a couple of pounds of grass. This happened in 1964. The rest of the notes were all put into evidence for various shit until 1969.” Wilson slurped on a giant soda. “Now we know that occasionally the currency printers make errors – hence the logic is the notes recently stolen could not have been original. But judging by the look on your face – this case is not 'logical!' is it?”

“I am making no assumptions as to the logic – just to the unexpected extent of the coincidence.” The detective grinned as he spoke – clearly enjoying the strange tangents and twists this case was producing – and all without treading on the toes of some City Hall limp dick. “Well if those notes have been on record for more than half a century there is probably no chance they haven't been destroyed”.

“Probably?” Wilson snorted, “On any other day and with any other case I would say 'Definitely' – but on this one it is worth rolling the dice to see if there is a chance we can get our hands on these miracle notes.”

Milton sat quietly, a sense of apprehension and happiness. He watched as the 1st Assistant Director clapped the clapper board and shouted the scene and take number and ended with “An that is a Wrap!” The crew and cast applauded as the final shot on the final day of principal photography was completed. Milton saw Skouras walk onto the set followed by caterers, food, beers and some champagne.

“Congratulations on getting this done – and good news you are two days ahead of schedule! I am happy with that – for now!” Skouras boomed. His presence was both welcomed and feared. The fact the principal photography had been completed with minimal difficulties, the stars had known their lines and their marks and accidents, delays and incidents had been small and easily worked around meant that the money-men would not be panicking.

Milton allowed himself a small level of relaxation and realised a huge amount of tension was now over. Now came the problem of post-production, dubbing, optical effects, scoring – the dreaded re-shoots and the final mixing and piecing together of the elements into a semblance of a reasonable story.

Milton joined in the party as tales of narrow escapes, practical jokes, crazy equipment failures started to be regaled. At first he was alarmed by some of what he heard until he realised they were talking about other projects and films. He knew that in about an hour the drinking would loosen the tongues further and the really juicy gossip would emerge.

Milton looked out of the huge barn doors of the set and noticed Jack Whalen leaning against a wall. Milton was about to walk over when he noticed Jack has a script in his hand and he appeared to be learning lines. As much as he was an enforcer for hire – Jack Whalen was erudite, intelligent and cultured, having attended for a while the finest military school in Los Angeles. Jack was also married into one of the oldest families in Los Angeles – who had been there when it was part of the Spanish Empire. Milton allowed him his privacy while whistfully knowing Jack would never live to see 1960.

Because of the near production line setup at the studio the post production process worked like a well oiled machine. The right technicians were on hand and could step in to fix some of the problems which emerged. Small insert shots could be arranged quickly and more junior technicians would cut their teeth directing quick re-shoots at the instructions of the editors and studio heads. Often done with hastily set up set portions, trans-lights or process. If this went well it was invisible – but too often they were almost embarrassingly bad due to bad lighting, change of style or pace, sometimes it was clear different cameras and film were being used.

When Milton investigated how the sound was to be constructed he was amazed at how they were able to get something to sound so good from equipment so basic. He realised these technicians knew the limitations of their equipment too well, but also knew which microphones could be matched to which tape machines. All with the knowledge of the equipment the sound was to be finally heard from in the cinemas. He learned that the re-recording artists would literally re-record sound from a master and copy it time and time again rather than use the master to prevent wearing. When he listened to the recordings in their original formats they sounded rich – but he knew the loss which would happen would render these to a soft dullness of their original beauty. But he was also amazed a the speed these technicians worked and how expertly they were able to design sounds as required, a little tone change here, speed change there, a slight tonal boost. And there were the sound libraries where thousands of effects were stored, some dating back to the early days of sound, bought from other studios, copied and carefully preserved and stored.

The introduction of stereo sound in the 1940's created another problem as the old sounds sounded flat. So a whole new set of recordings were being created in Stereo, gunshots, cannons, trains, air-planes (people used to buy these recordings to try out their new Hi-fi systems). Milton appreciated the work the sound engineers put in – but also realised how much easier such work was with a computer and how the quality of the re-recording would not diminish in the same way as the generations of re recordings in the 1950's would eventually show the levels of deterioration. He also learned how the engineers would create compensations for recording noise and other problems and how the crudity of the amplifiers would hide many of the deleterious effects.

With the music recordings Milton noticed how little time the orchestra had to prepare and rehearse – but yet how note perfect they were so quickly. The studio orchestration was prepared well in advance and with the kind of presentation the film was designed for, those destined for grander presentations were set out differently. Sometimes the same pieces were recorded separately for mono and multi-track screenings to maintain the tonal ranges. When he listened to the studio master recordings, they were as rich and glorious as the newest digital recordings – but they would lose up to 70% by the time they were in the final mix and print. But he also knew even with digital there losses and compression – but the effects were less noticeable in the end.

When Milton checked the progress on the call sheets, he saw how quickly some parts completed and others took more time – but still it moved smoothly and without delay. However Milton also realised that the studio had a person with whom the buck stopped – who would walk in and change an entire crew with no notice if progress was not moving, bouts of pretentiousness if they caused costs would not be tolerated. The studio was a machine and entertaining films were its product and they had to be made on time.

However the studio also knew what not to shoot. If a scene was planned which clearly would never end up in the final cut the Production Manager would veto the scene. There was no point in wasting technician time, cameras and equipment which would be better employed elsewhere. But then again the the scale cost of the equipment also meant it would be rare for a two or three camera set up to be permitted as the complexities of lighting, rigging and marking out would be complex. Milton had learned in the 1950's equipment and film was expensive – people were cheap. In the 21st Century the equipment was still expensive but the people were more so – and the change in lighting technology reflected this reality.

As Milton had first warned the studio – the special effects were going to be the biggest challenge. But as he caught the dailies from the models and effects units what he saw pleased him. He had to also remember that these were the days of the locked down camera and movements were simple and linear at most – but some of those shots were beautifully executed. His direction about the colours for the space shots had been followed and the matte paintings of earth more closely matched his description rather than the blue and brown which passed at that time for pictures of earth. Milton learned that the limitations to the number of elements was small compared to films from the 1970's onwards due to the grain size and structure of the film stock itself and so the complexities of mattes had to be reduced. But still the effects masters presented solutions which worked to an extent – at least enough for the expectations of audiences in the 1950's.

Milton had learned that computers had enabled film makers to be more creative and to fine tune films to a level not dreamed of in the 1950's. But film makers in the 1950's had learned the limitations and breadth of the equipment, film, lighting to ensure most times the shot was in the can and right rather than being fixed or altered later – which again saved time. Computers enabled a film maker to spend time fine-tuning a film to the frame, rejecting and then re-cutting. Editors in the 1950's had to handle film itself and this could have the effect of damaging the negative, or dirt being collected; but this didn't mean an editor could not be frame perfect – he just had to know sooner in the process. Computers enabled sound mixing and design to be played with, recorded tuned and mixed with much greater ease and with using a variety of programs from free systems to complex multitrack sound programmes and all while keeping the original sound master completely safe – and often even inexperienced technicians could come up and use these effectively. Sound recordists and editors in the 1950's had fewer resources but access to complex and complete sound libraries; they had to know how to carefully read the meters, know the recordings, understand the noise levels, navigate their way through and put something together which would suffice. Sounds like rumbles could not have such low frequencies as although the recordings claimed to have full range, in reality sounds below 40Hz caused problems for the speakers of the day. The mixing itself required greater care so that each of the elements did not block each other out. As more tracks became available the clarity of the mixing would improve, but those 1950's technicians often had to design their sounds in their heads first as experimentation would have been expensive.

Milton thought about the memo's that came his way and where he had to respond. His way of handling them as manual emails, he realised did not quite do justice to the way way they really worked and the level of delay in construction. That was because he knew when an email came in he had responded quickly and often answered with his initial thoughts. Memoranda had to be drafted and handed to a secretary – who then typed them up.

Those secretaries often took the rough drafts and re-shaped them and re-wrote them into the professional language of the office, and then they were checked before they were sent – or not sent. Emails were often deleted – memos were kept and stored in the appropriate files. Milton realised also that the size of staff handling the small minutiae such as the budgets, reports, script changes, purchasing and settling invoices, billing, payroll and cash handling in the studio was extensive- and all with typewriters and mechanical calculators. But those staff knew their business due to long years of experience. But the simpler techniques hid the fact about the amount of work should a small change be needed was a long process. Milton realised that with computing in the office the number of staff needed had fallen away to about a tenth of what had been – but those remaining would have to divide their time or even multitask. Emails, would be typed quickly and sent – budget alterations were just worked through spreadsheets and distributed electronically – no having to totally re-type a new Gestetner master and copy them out (photocopying or Xeroxing not emerging until the 1960's). The subtlety of a change was far greater in the 21st century because the cost of making and passing a change on had been reduced to just the cost of the paper (and even that was cheaper than in the 1950's).

Even phone calls – the one area one would have thought had the least amount of changes were handled differently. Studio executives in the 1950's did not dial their own calls (or rarely) they got their secretary to contact the secretary of who they wanted to call – the calls were often staged or even scheduled. It was not always possible to reach a person not because of their availability but there were not sufficient line. Calls to New York often had to be booked. As for international calls – these had to be planned, booked and what was needed to be discussed laid out as there might be a strict time for the call (in 1938 the cost of a call from the UK to New York was £5.00 for a three-minute call, although the price had fallen somewhat it was still frighteningly high in 1958). Milton looked at the costs of these calls and whistled. In the following six decades most of the calls became cheaper – or even became practically zero cost as phones went from simple transmission devices to small computers. Milton realised the length of time organising a call did give pause for initial reaction to be tempered and a more considered call to take place. But the phone bills for studios was huge, the internal operators and their equipment was an enormous cost. But the immediacy of calls, coupled with systems like Teams or WhatsApp meant that issues could be handled quickly – and even budget changes could be handled, made, finalised and distributed while travelling on a bus, train or plane – and the cost could effectively be zero if one was using free Wi-Fi. Milton then smiled to himself as he realised even the scene could be shot using the same phone.

Milton looked at the new memos coming into his office on the lot – he noticed the invitation that afternoon to view an incomplete rough cut of the film. These were held to see if the editing was flowing, the colour grading was consistent, if looping was needed due to poor recordings and to ascertain if additional photography would be required. These viewings were nerve-wracking no matter what decade you were watching them in as they could highlight problems and draw into focus the steps required to fix them. He was about to leave for the showing when he felt the buzz from his pocket again. He looked around but could not see anyone out of place.

Present Day

The detective printed out the results of his search so he could have the serial numbers to hand. The search he had undertaken earlier in the day also gave the possible location where the banknotes might still be stored. He contacted the owner of the banknotes and double checked any symbols or text which might be hidden using invisible UV ink – not that he was realistically expecting to see anything.

He approached the huge warehouse which acted as the repository and walked into the reception. The receptionist had that blank-eyed, slack-jawed look as if actually dealing with a person was interfering with her you-tube watching. She looked at the numbers twice “Y'all know these numbers is so old – dey crusty? Might not be nothing left.” she tapped the numbers in and then looked, stiffened her back and looked at the detective “What the.... Hey Earl! Take the Detective down to the catacombs - Indiana Jones here done find the Lost Ark.” She looked at the Detective “Today is your lucky day. I don't know how but they are still here. Earl here will take care of you.”.

The Detective smiled to himself – what else would it be but one more impossible thing on a case which was impossible to start with. He sent Wilson message on WhatsApp along with a picture of Harrison Ford “Found the banknotes – just about to look at them.”

The Detective followed Earl as the long journey through the repository commenced. Earl seemed to walk so quickly and he knew exactly where he was going. The reached a section which appeared untouched and somewhat dusty – but less so than expected. Earl pointed the Detective to a table and said to wait there as he pulled the items from the shelves. The detective waited a few minutes. Earl returned with several small boxes, the labels clearly new but the boxes were old. Earl then disappeared pointing to a phone on the wall - “Just call when you're done – you're on camera anyway!”.

The Detective pulled out his list and placed it on the table. He put on some latex gloves, found the first box and opened it. He picked up the plastic pocket which held the note. The note had faded somewhat but the detective reached into his pocket and pulled out a small UV light and pointed it at the note. At first it looked like nothing was there, but he noticed a small level of glow but it was the shape of the faded illuminance which caught his eye. It matched the design he was told about, it matched the style of the other notes he had been shown and the pattern the note collector had put on them. What's more the UV dye used did not exist until 1990. This impossible case had thrown up another impossibility. The Detective took a breath and then proceeded to check the other notes – they all matched, they all glowed and they all had the same symbols.

The telephone on the wall started to ring, at first the Detective but then something inside him indicated the call might be for him. “Hello!”

The Receptionist answered “There are some people here who need to speak to you – Earl will bring the boxes. You do remember your way back?” the line went dead.

The Detective almost instinctively checked his pistol and walked back to the receptionist – passing Earl, who was smiling “don't often get interestin' days here!”.

All too quickly he reached reception. He looked carefully and saw Wilson standing with some others, Wilson looked unconcerned. “There you are – I hear you found what you were looking for and what you weren't expecting!” Wilson indicated to the other men, “These gentlemen here need to speak with you!” The Detective looked carefully at the men, they had the brooks brothers suits but were not wearing the jackets. They didn't have bulges where snub nosed .38's usually resided and their demeanour was relaxed.

“Looks like your prize has arrived!” the obviously senior one spoke. “Come with us and have your mind blown!” They all walked into a car park where a silver Cadillac SUV pulled up. The Detective got into the back seat. The vehicle filled up and then another pulled alongside. The leader of the group spoke up “You are now off duty and I say this because it is a hot day and I need a long beer - and you need time to digest what you are about to hear.”

The Positive Dystopian Part III

Positive Dystopan part II

The Positive Dystopian Part 1



End of Part four