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Sunrise Semester: Basic Photography (Passport Photography)
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.
The setup
Watch on YouTube
Watch onYouTube
The premise
Here’s the bit.
On SCTV's early-morning Sunrise Semester, station manager Edith Prickley, dressed in leopard print with a camera around her neck, complains that passport photos always make people look awful and promises a better way, holding up her own glamorous passport as proof. Her model is her cousin Shirley, who is about to fly to London on a cheap Laker flight. Prickley explains that great photographers succeed by setting the mood, then works through her formula: first she has Shirley finish a bottle of Chablis, then she cues up some 'music with a beat' and dances around the studio barking encouragement while snapping pictures, and finally she puts on an umbrella hat for mood lighting and switches on a giant fan. Shirley ends up sprawled and dishevelled, but Prickley proudly shows off the resulting Polaroid, sums up the lesson as wine, music and fan, and teases next week's class on taking candid shots of husbands to sell to Playgirl.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 2
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
It's a passport picture, not a morgue shot.
We're talking music with a beat, we're talking music you can move to…we're talking Bartok!
Wine, music, fan. Your ticket to perfect passport pictures.
Behind the scenes
The people who made it.
John Blanchard
Director
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
Prickley ranks her method alongside the celebrated photographers Francesco Scavullo, Richard Avedon and Yousuf Karsh. The segment opened SCTV's "Midnight Express Special" episode, first aired on 23 January 1981.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:04
SCTV
- 00:05
Speaker 1
SCTV now begins its programming day with Sunrise Semester. Today's topic, Basic Photography with Edith Prickly.
- 00:15
Edith Prickley
Oh, hello. Just loading my camera. We're going to learn the technique behind great passport photography. Why do they always have to make you look so damn ugly? I always end up looking like Ma Kettle.
- 00:29
Edith Prickley
Well, I'm here to tell you you can look glamorous as well as official. You just have to follow the easy Prickly formula.
- 00:35
Edith Prickley
In a moment, I'm going to be using my cousin Shirley as a model. She's planning a trip to London on one of those cheap Laker flights Of course, she has to bring her own tuna sandwich So I said to her, Cheryl, I'll save you a few bucks Make you look gorgeous, we'll have a party at the same time
- 00:53
Edith Prickley
Here we go What makes this passport picture look so damn good? It's not the camera, it's not the lights It's not even the puss on this little gal It's the mood the photographer creates
- 01:04
Edith Prickley
And that's the secret of all those high-fashion photographers Scabullo, Avedon, Karsh, and now Prickly!
- 01:12
Edith Prickley
They know how to relax their models by creating the perfect mood So why don't we begin with the beginning? My cousin Shirley
- 01:25
Cousin Shirley
Hello, Edith
- 01:28
Edith Prickley
Loose enough, honey, it's a passport picture, not a morgue shot See, you got a head start in the Chablis
- 01:33
Cousin Shirley
Well, I did
- 01:34
Edith Prickley
Finish the bottle
- 01:35
Cousin Shirley
Don't mind if I do, Edith, thank you
- 01:37
Edith Prickley
That's number one relax your subject with a good stiff drink, then you're ready to begin
- 01:43
Edith Prickley
Now number two is music not just any kind of music. We're talking mood music. We're talking music with a beat We're talking music you can move to we're talking bar talk Roll it boys
- 01:58
Edith Prickley
Here and I got it I got it
- 02:02
Edith Prickley
it move, make it move. Go, Shirley! Go, Shirley! Go, Shirley! Yeah! Here we go, Shirley. Start it! Start baby. Go, Shirley. That's it, baby. That's it.
- 02:10
Edith Prickley
Down, Shirley. Down, Shirley. Flip those lips, Shirley. There we go. There we go. Make it happen.
- 02:14
Edith Prickley
Look at me, Cheryl. Look at me, Cheryl. Look at me, Cheryl. There we go. There we go, Shirley. We've got it down there. Down there. Up there. Go.
- 02:22
Edith Prickley
The important thing is to always keep your model moving so she stays alert. Now for some close-ups.
- 02:27
Edith Prickley
Let me look at you, sweetheart. Do you fall into a bucket of chalk or am I going blind? We've got to help that little mug along with a little mood lighting
- 02:37
Edith Prickley
we're talking umbrella light surely we are surely here we are alan bates is on your shirley he loves you he loves you he's coming in he's coming in shirley he's coming in do it do it you're gorgeous you're beautiful you're beautiful we got it
- 02:55
Edith Prickley
now for number three the prickly formula the piastre resistance the secret of all those top fashion photographers bring it in boys and turn it
- 03:06
I think I
- 03:12
Edith Prickley
we got it.
- 03:16
Edith Prickley
Here we are. Scavullo, eat your heart out.
- 03:23
Edith Prickley
So, what did you learn today on the Prickly formula? WMF. Wine, music, fan. Your ticket to perfect passport pictures. Where'd you hear it from? You heard it from Prickly.
- 03:35
Edith Prickley
Next week we're gonna learn how to take candid shots of the hubby at home. Playgirl's offering $50 a pic. so tune in you could get rich bye now from the eyes of edith prickly
- 03:47
you throw with that sheet
- 03:48
yes i am honey
- 03:49
Edith Prickley
you are hot out there lauren hutton
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
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