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It's the negative that counts. Each sub- sequent step of production reflects the quality of the initial, camera-formed image. Assignments scheduled to go on DuPont Negative get off to a good start. Du Font's three panchromatic emulsions bring to the camera the wide latitude, long scale gradation and uniform sensitivity essential for consistently superior cinematography.
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■ M A D I ■ Y
BELL
HOWELL
.A.MKRR A.S Cl.NKMATUl.KAPHfcK
■lanuarv, r.'42
VOL. 23
JANUARY, 1942
NO. 1
CONTENTS
The Staff
Birthday of the A.S.C By Fred W. Jackman, A.S.C. 5
Technical Progress in 1941 «3
Increasing- Focal Depth with the IR System. By Alfred N. Goldsmith 8
Coordinating Exposure-Meter and Processing for Effect-Lightings...
By John J. Mescall, A.S.C. 10
The Air Corps' Newest Camera-Gun. .By Reed N. Haythorne, .A..S.C. U
Determining the Sun's Angle for Any Location By Leo Kuter 12
How Desirable Is Extreme Focal Depth?
By Charles G. Clarke, A.S.C. 11
Aces of the Camera— XIII : Gregg Toland, A.S.C
By Walter Blanchard 15
A.S.C. On Parade 16
Through the Editor's Finder 17
New Photographic Books IS
Photography of the Month 19
Dodging Japan's Camera-Censorship By Fred C. Ells 20
Lamps — Without Priorities! By William Stull, A.S.C. 22
Meet Laraine Day — Professional Cineamateur By Wilton Scott 21
What Do We Mean When We Talk About "Effect-Lightings?"
By Phil Tannura, .\.S.C. 2.5
Getting Acquainted With Your Camera
By Alvin Wyckoff, A.S.C, D.Sc. 26
Professional .Advice on Making Films Easy to Edit .... i>.iy Hal Hall 27
.Among the Movie Clubs 28
Home Movie Previews 29
Here's How 30
EDITOR William Stull, A.S.C.
•
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Emery Huse, A. S. C.
•
WASHINGTON STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Reed N. Haythorne, A. S. C.
•
MILITARY ADVISOR
Col. Nathan Levinson
•
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Pat Clark
•
ARTIST
Alice Von Norman
•
CIRCULATION Marguerite Duerr • ADVISORY EDITORIAL BOARD Victor Milner, A. S. C. James Van Trees. A. S. C. Fred W. lackman, A. S. C. Farciot Edouart. A. S. C. Fred Gage, A. S. C. Dr. I. S. Watson, A. S. C. Dr. L. A. lones. A. S. C. Dr. C. E. K. Mees, A. S. C. Dr. W. B. Raylon, A. S. C. Dr. Herbert Meyer, A. S. C. Dr. V. B. Sease, A. S. C. • NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE S. R. Cowan, 132 West 43rd Street Chickering 4-3278 New York
•
AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVE
McGill's, 179 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne,
Australian and New Zealand Agents
The Front Cover
This month's cover shows Director of Photography Rudy Mate, A.S.C. (.second from right on parallel) and Director Ernst Lubitsch filming a scene for Alexander Korda's "To Be Or Not To Be." The set— an exact replica of a square in Warsaw — was constructed indoors on a sound-stage. Still by Robert Coburn.
Published monthly by A. S. C. Agency, Inc. Editorial and business offices:
1782 North Oranee DriTc
Hollywood (Los Ani^eles), California
Telephone: GRanite 2133
Est.'iblished l!t_'0. Advertising- rates on appli- cation. Subscriptions : United States and Pan- American Union, ?2..")0 per year; Canada, $2.75 per year; Koreiirn. .$3.50. Single copies. 2oc ; back numbers. 35c ; foreitrn, sinjrie copies 35c. back numbers inc. Copyright 1!142 by A. S. C. A.Q:ency. Inc.
•
Enterc<l as second-class matter Nov. 18, 1937. ."' the postoce :'t Los Angeles. California, under the act of March 3, l.S7!l.
January, 1942
AMEKICA.N ClNE.VIATOGRAlMlKK
Birthday Of
The A.S.C.
Bv FRED VV. JACKMAN
Prts dent, American Society of Cinematographerj.
THIS inoiiUi marks the birthday of the A.S.C. Twenty-three years apo, in 1919, a handful of cameramen formed an organization they called the American Society of Cinematographers. It was based very simply on an ideal: a sincere conviction that cinematography wa^ a great and dij^-nitied profession, and that not only the cinematographers themselves, but the industry, needed an organization of cinematographers, oper- ated solely by cinematographers, for cinematographers. Its purpose was not merely to set up economic standards for the men who had charge of photograph- ing the industry's pictures, but to estab- lish and maintain standards of profes- sional and technical skill and integrity, and to bring into closer personal and professional fellowship all of the lead- ers of the motion picture camera pro- fession in the same way the Medical As- sociations bring doctors together, and the Bar Association unites lawyers.
During the twenty-three years since the A.S.C. was founded, many changes have come to the industry, its people, and the conditions under which pictures are made. The A.S.C. has kept pace with the industry, growing and changing to meet each new change of conditions. Today, the American Society of Cine- matographers is the oldest organized grc>up of any sort within the motion picture industry, and one of the most resjiected. The original handful of mem- bers has grown to include every Director of Photography of recognized standing in the major studio world.
But in one thing, it has not changed. It is still dedicated to the same ideals of service to the camera profession and to the industry, to which its founders dedicated it twenty-three years ;'go. Its activities, now as in 1919, have provided constantly-advancing standards for the economic and professional welfare of its members. Its record of service to the industry is unequalled. Collectively and individually, the A.S.C. and its mem- bers have participated actively in every phcitotechnical and artistic advancement the industry has made in more than two decades. A list of the basic patents on equipment and methods held by mem- bers of the A.S.C. would embrace almost every phase of modern film technique, and would be impressively long. It would become even more impressive if it could include the informal contributions freely made by the Society and its mem- bers to the evolution and refinement of commercially manufactured equipment and materials. There is hardly anything used today in the production of motion pictures which does not bear some trace of these contributions of the A.S.C.
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The original of this scroll, commemorating the founding of the A. S. C, hangs in the library
of the A. S. C. Clubhouse.
No Other group has left a more imper- ishable imprint on the cinema and on the methods, materials and equipment through which cinematic entertainment is brought to the screen.
When the A.S.C. was founded, Amer- ica was just emerging from a world war. During these last twelve months, we have seen the Nation coming closer and closer to another and greater world war, and finally being forced into active participation. In this, too. the A.S.C. and its members are playing their active part. Many members have participated in the production of training films for our armed forces. Others have given up profitable positions to put on the uni- forms of the photographic sections of the Army and Navy. Men who were in uniform twenty-five years ago are in uniform again, volunteering their skilled services to their country. Yet others have given the products of their inven-
tive brains to the development of mili- tary devices which cannot be described until the need for wartime secrecy is past. Tho.se who remain at home are contributing whole-heartedly to the in- dustry's vital contribution to the War Effort — making better films to help up- hold the morale of the Nation and its allies.
So as the A.S.C. reaches its twenty- third birthday, we can look back with satisfaction on twenty-three years dur- ing which the A.S.C. has kept pace with the industry, and maintained its ideal of ser\ice to the camera profession and to the industry. We face the future with a pledge that that ideal will continue t'l be the governing principle of the Society, and that, come what may, the A.S.C. is big enough and mature enough to change with the changing times, keeping its place as a leader of the in- dustry's progress. END.
American CiNEMAT«x;RArHER
.Januan.-, 1942
Roofed-in sets and ex- treme focal depth were among the outstanding trends of 1941, as shown in this still from "Citi- zen Kane."
THE year 1941 might in many ways be chronicled as an "aver- age" year in so far as technical progress in the motion picture indus- try is concerned. Certainly there have been no spectacularly sensational tech- nical innovations to compare with the advent of sound, the coming of panchro- matic film or the introduction of the first modern super-speed emulsions. Yet when one looks backward over the actual technical advances in methods, materials and equipment that can be recorded for the year, the conclusion cannot be es- caped that 1941 was a genuinely fruitful year in cinematic technology.
Methods
Without doubt the most immediately noticeable trend in cinematographic methods during the year was the trend toward crisper definition and increased depth of field. Pioneered by Gregg Toland, A.S.C., in Orson Welles' "Citi- zen Kane," and extensively publicized as the "pan-focus" technique, this technique has been followed in other pictures by other cinematographers and studios. What is more significant, it appears to be a definite part of the trend, more extensively used both before and since the release of Toland's film, toward in- creased definition and realism, and strongly away from the softer style of photography popular a few years ago. It depends essentially upon minimized diffusion and the use of more strongly directional lighting and reduced lens- apertures — in some instances ranging from /:5.6 to as low as /:11 or /:16.
Of importance second only to this — and in the long run, of probably greater actual significance — has been the in- dustry's increasing use of IGmm. Sev- eral major studios have made extensive use of silent 16mm., both black-and- white and Kodachrome, for pre-produc- tion tests, location-scouting, and the like in place of 35mm., especially in the in- stance of Technicolor productions, and found it productive of worthwhile sav- ings of time, trouble and expense. In
at least one instance, a major producer has successfully used 16mm. sound-tests as a means of selecting the leading players for an important production.
Three color-film laboratories — Techni- color, Cinecolor and Hollywood Color Film Co. (Gasparcolor) — have announced that they are commercially enlarging 16mm. Kodachrome to 35mm. three- and two-color film. The short-subjects de- partment of one major studio (Warner Bros.) has produced several 16mm. short-subjects for 35mm. Technicolor release.
At the same time, the 16mm. nickel- in-the-slot "soundies" so hopefully an- nounced a year ago have lagged, due in part at least to difficulties in obtaining equipment and possibly to apathetic pub- lic response.
The Defense program has necessarily curtailed the manufacture of equipment of all types, both professional and ama- teur, as supplies of raw" materials for civilian use have been restricted, and the specialized skill of the manufac- turing plants has been redirected to the production of essential war materials.
The Defense program has born fx-uit in another field, however, with the in- dustry's active participation in the pro- duction of training films for the Armed Services. With the grektest producers, directors, writers, cinematographers and technicians in the industry, and the stu- dio facilities of the entire industry to call upon, a virtual revolution in the production of educational films has taken place which, in the opinion of edu- cators who have viewed some of the many Army films already made, will ad- vance the technique of educational films and visual education in general by twenty-five years.
In Russia, the Soviet inventor S. Ivanov announced the development of a system of steroscopic cinematography involving the use of a beam-splitting mirror system on camera and projector to produce and reproduce the essential binocular images, and a special wire
TECHNICAL
grille in front of the screen to assure proper selectivity by the eyes of the audience.
Film — Professional
There was no innovation in the field of 35mm. negative emulsions. However, there was something of a trend on the part of several of the industry's lead- ing cinematographers to make use of super-speed emulsions such as Super-XX on normal production interiors. In some instances, as in Toland's "pan-focus" technique, this was done to minimize the lighting problems incident to stop- ping down for extreme focal depth. In others, it was done because the cinema- tographer involved preferred the flat- ter gradational characteristics of these emulsions to the somewhat greater con- trast of more "normal" emulsions. In the first case, full normal development was usually given, while in the latter case, developing-time was somewhat shortened in the interest of grain-qual- ity. It seemed evident, however, that — especially when fine-grain prints are used — the faster emulsion still does not give objectionably large grain.
Several laboratories changed over completely to the use of fine-grain posi- tive emulsions for all printing, both daily and release, and to the use of fine- grain recording positive for recording and re-recording purposes.
Film — Amateur
There was very little change in the substandard emulsions. Agfa-Ansco, late in the year, introduced a double-run 8mm. reversal emulsion of unprecedent- ed speed and surprisingly good quality, rated at Weston 100 to daylight, and Weston 64 to artificial light. The same firm also introduced a 16mm. recording stock of improved fine-grain quality and resolving power.
Color
Without doubt the outstanding devel- opment in this field was the announce- ment that 16mm. Kodachrome can now be successfully enlarged to 35mm. Tech- nicolor. This development is almost cer- tain to have a far-reaching influence on the production of theatrical short-sub- jects and independent features, as well as commercial and educational pictures.
The Gasparcolor process, well knov\^\ in Europe for some years, finally reachetl the American market as a three-color and two-color printing method for both 35mm. and 16mm.
Cinecolor's three-color system ap- peared very near commercial utilization, and the firm actively entered the field of making two- and three-color enlarge- ments from 16mm., and also the field of making 8mm. reduction-prints in color from 35mm.
New kodachrome emulsions designed especially for duping, greatly improved
January, 1942
American Cineimatographer
PROGRESS IN r94l
the quality possilih' in UJniiii. kodachrotiie dupes.
In the still field, Kastman announced two services for making enlar^p*! I)aper prints in color from Kodachronio orig- inals. Trade-named respectively "Mini- color"' (for enlarg:e(l prints from .'i.^mm. oripinals) and "Kotavachrome" (from the larger - sized professional Koda- chrome transparencies) these somewhat similar processes appear to make use of a special cellulose base coated with a nionopack type of emulsion.
35inin. Professional Cameras
There were no startling innovations in the field of ."irmim. professional cam- eras, due probably in a large measure to the requirements of the Defense Program, which restricted raw materials and turned the output of the camera factories into other channels. The Twentieth Century Camera, evolved by Twentieth Century-Fox and manufac- tured by Cine-Simplex, went into manu- facture, but in limited quantities, and it appears the commercial introduction of this camera will not take place until after the war's end.
Increased use of l&mm. for professional pur- poses, and the success- ful enlarging of 16mm. Kodachrome to 35mm. Technicolor were among the most significant de- velopments of 1941.
Ifimm. Professional Cameras
The long-rumored Bell & Howell pro- fessional 16mm. camera finally made its bow as a remarkably excellent studio- type camera for the highest type of professional use. It was optionally equip- ped with a miniature of the famous Bell & Howell Type I registering pilot- pin movement, and every professional convenience. The further exploitation of this development, however, appears to be another that is sidetracked "for dura- tion" by the War Effort. 16mm. and 8mm. Amateur Cameras
The same considerations which have slowed developments in the professional camera field have exercised a similar retarding influence on new developments in amateur cameras. However one new 16mm. camera — ^the Victor "Aircraft" model — appeared; substantially the time-proven Victor design with a great- ly-improved governor mechanism. Sev- eral new double-run 8mm. cameras ap- peared, however. Among them are the Cine-Perfex Magazine-type camera for use with the f^astman double-8 maga- zine-film, and the Univex "Cinemaster" Duo-8, designed for use with both Uni- vex single-run 8mm. film and standard double-run 8mm. black-and-white and color film.
Lighting
The chief trends in lighting were two. One was toward an increased use of ai'c-lighting in monochrome cinematog- raphy, not only for illuminating the extremely large, stage-built exterior sets which came increasingly into use, but also for more normal scenes, to bring out textural values and to permit the use of smaller apertures as demanded by the increased-depth technique.
The second trend was toward the use
of properly-corrected incandescent light- ing for Technicolor photography, making use of the greater compactness of the Mazda lighting units, and their ability to burn in virtually any position.
The use of smaller lighting-units, such as the "Dinky Inkie" and the Bardwell-McAlister "Single Broad" in- creased. Some cinematographers devel- oped special lamps for mounting directly on their cameras for use in front-light- ing close shots and follow-shots. Lenses
The use of "coated" lenses met with a varied reception. Some studios turned definitely away from them. Others — notably 20th Century-Fox — turned as strongly toward them. The latter is equipping all their new cameras with coated lenses, and having existing lenses coated, as well. In addition to Bausch & Lomb, which is coating their new "Baltar" objectives, at least three firms are now coating existing lenses com- mercially. These are the Vard Mechan- ical Works, in California, the National Research Corp., in Boston, and the Photophone Division of RCA.
The Eastman Kodak Company an- nounced a new lens for still camera work, known as the Kodak Ektar, the interior surfaces of which are coated, though the outer surfaces are not. The same firm also announced the develop- ment of a radically improved type of optical glass which, however, will not be available commercially "for dura- tion."
Several studios and individuals ha\e conducted investigations of the relative transmission capacities of lenses, with the result that work is under way lead- ing to improved methods of calibrating photographic objectives in a manner which will express the actual trans- mitting power of the lens involved.
rather than an arbitrary mathematical formula.
Accessorie.s — Professional
During the past year, the industry finally reached the point where its ac- ceptance of the photoelectric light-meter might be said to be virtually 10(>'«^ com- plete. This may be attributed in part to the increasing number of "production" cinematographers assigned to Techni- color features, thus coming in contact with the color firm's accurate use of meters, and to the development of ad- vanced types of meters.
Clyde De Vinna, A.S.C., and Joseph Ruttenberg, A.S.C., developed a useful accessory by adapting the well-known S.V.E. "Picturol" 35mm. slide-film pro- jector as a means of viewing light-tests on the set, by projected light.
Charles G. Clarke, A.S.C., at 20th Century-Fox, developed a very useful device by which a suitable photographic transparency is suspended in front of the lens and permits the insertion of actual clouds into an otherwise cloud- less sky. Similar devices are being de- veloped in several other studios.
At the Warner Brothers Studio, an unusually compact and flexible lighting control switchboard has been developed. Built in the form of a mobile control panel, the device incorporates several dimming rheostats of high and low capacity, together with the necessary ballast resistances, switches, indicating- lights, etc., so that a large number of lights on a set may be separately con- trolled by a single operator, and dimme<i either individually or together.
At the Samuel Goldwyn Studio. Gregg Toland. A.S.C., develope<i a method for dimming arc-lamps by controlling the
(Continued on Pag? 45)
American Cinematographk:?
January, 1942
Increasing Focal Depth With The IR System
By ALFRED N. GOLDSMITH
Pflsl-Presldent, Society of ►•lotion Picture Engineers
IT is correctly axiomatic among op- tical experts that the depth of field of a lens is a function only of the focal len^h of the lens and its working or relative aperture (together with the permissible diameter of the "circle of confusion" forming the image of a point £oui"ce). Thus, for a lens of any specific focal length and aperture or "speed"), focused for a definite object distance, and for a given permissible size of the circle of confusion of the point image, the depth of field is readily calculable and is unchangeable by any known method. This is a serious and inevitable limita- tion of all lens systems, and naturally has a profound influence on optical imag- ery in the motion picture field. Furthei', it influences and indeed controls the method of studio photography, script writing, separation of and relationship between various takes, editing, cutting, and the final eff"ect of the produced pic- ture.
It has required the cameraman as well as the writer, director, actor, and editor to accommodate themselves to the rigid framework of a cramping optical law. Sincere tribute must be paid to the effort and ingenuity of these workers in their attempt to circumvent or at least to minimize the difficulties of photog- i-aphy within these restrictions.
But, at best, an artificially limited
Durinp: the pa.xt year, the problem uf obtiiinintr increased depth of field ha.s received consideiable attention. One of the latest and most interestinc developments is the "Increased RanKe" system originated by Dr. Goldsmith and his associates. and covered by U. S. Patents No. 2.244.687 and 2.244.fi88. We are proud to present herewith the inventor's description of the process, as abstracted from a paper presented by him at the Fall. liMl. Convention of the Society of Moti<)n f*icture En- gineers. The paper in full appears in the .lanu- ary, 1942, issue of the Journal of the S. M. 1'. E.
presentation has resulted, including a number of conventions which have been accepted by the producers and the audi- ence alike in the absence of anything better.
Sometimes, indeed, cameramen have resorted more or less in desperation to radical measures such as using extremely short-focus lenses stopped far down in order to secure somewhat increased depth of field. In so doing, they have inevitably introduced the exaggerated perspective and pictorial unnaturalness resulting from the use of such lenses, and have either over-illuminated the stage with re- sulting eyestrain and discomfort to the actors or have produced a contrasty, un- derexposed, "chalk and coal" picture or both.
On the other hand, the human eye has in effect a practically unlimited depth of field. The re-focusing of the eye for any desired object distance is so nearly instan- taneous that the viewer is unaware that any part of the field of view is ever out of focus. Thus, in natural and real life, persons with normal sight are totally unaware of any limitation in the visual depth of field. Again, anyone who, in viewing a legitimate stage performance, found that he could see the people in the foreground sharply defined but that the people in the background were hluried or fuzzy, would at once and properly con- sult his oculist.
The follow - focus adjustment is oT course no solution of the problem since it applies only to one given object dis- tance at any instant and does not in the least solve the majoi' pictorial and dra- matic problem of successfully depicting significant action occurring slmuUfnu'- oiisli/ at widely difTerent distances from the camera.
Left, Fiq. 7, filmed conventionally. Right. Fi-; 8, filmed by IR System.
It is necessary to stress here the pre- ceding points since many studio workers have become so accustomed to present- day practice that its limitations have come to be regarded as inevitable, riatu- ral, and inherently to be accepted. In- deed, present motion picture technic is fundamentally based on these opdcal limitations of the objective lens. Studio practice simply does its best within the limits of present-day optics. Some cameramen and a part of the audiences have become so accustomed to the pres- ent restrictions that they hardly realize the wealth of improvement which would be available were these restrictions to be removed. It does not occur to most people that the present abrupt succes- sion of long, medium, and close-up shots necessarily results in large measure from the limitations of the lens. Present prac- tice requires continually shifting the point of view, wearisomely accumulating many takes of each scene or action, pain- stakingly matching up successive takes, "covering- up" in cutting and editing, delay and increased cost in production, unnaturalness in the acting and in the corresponding effect on the audiences, and a less economic and dramatic set-up than would otherwise be attainable.
The availability of increased depth of field would gradually bring about a marked revolutionary change in methods of production, greater flexibility, con- siderable economies, and simplifications in camera technic. To the audience, the pictures would more closely resemble legitimate-stage perfonnances or even real life.
In view of the confusion which has existed in some quarters as to what con- stitutes a system for true increase in depth of field, it is deemed appropriate to list below the specifications and gen- eral characteristics of such a system. The following description then covers an acceptable method for adding to depth of field without optical or esthetic de- terioration of the picture rather than a system which merely sacrifices important optical or pictorial qualities to secure an apparent increase in depth of field. The following are, however, admitr-dly strict specifications.
January, 19-12
American' CiNEMATocRArnER
\^':
I
I-
LeH, fig. I. principles of IR System; Center. Fig. 2,
comparison between depth In IR System and stopped-
down lens; Right, Fig. 3, lighting and definition
regions in typical IR System set-up.
{(I ) The system sliall he usable for either hlach--(in(l-ivliite or color pictures.
(/)) It shall be usable for st ill-pic- ture or motion-picture photography.
(c) It shall be usable for pliotofj- rnphii or for television and the like.
(rf) The system shall enable using standard lenses of the highest degree of correction of optical aberrations then current in the art.
(e) It shall enable using lenses of any noi'mal and usual focal lenc/ths.
(/) It shall enable the use of normal lenses at the usual Inrc/e apertures.
i'g) And above all, there shall be no deterioration of picture qualitt/ or sharp- ness as the result of the use of the system.
(/() The sharpness of focus of ob- jects in ani/ portion of the object space shall be reasonably controllable. This condition, which is preferred but not mandatory, is met by the IR System.
(i) Xo extensive or unduly cumber- ."tomt changes in camera construction shall be necessary.
ij) The liandling of the camera and its finder shall be essentially con- ventional; and increased-range pictures shall be available in the finder to guide the cameraman as well.
(k) It shall require no more total light on the actors than for ordinai-y photography.
ih It shall enable the use of light- ing to obtain any of the effects obtained by conventional lighting and photog- raphy.
(«() Setting up the lighting of the set shall require little specialized optical knowledge, and shall be conveniently possible by the usual experienced elec- tricians.
{n) It shall be flexibly adaptable to composite or process shots as well as to miniature work.
(o) It shall preferably enable mak- ing a number of simultaneou.'^ angle shot.-^ from different viewpoints, with different types of lighting; and each of these shall have increased depth of field as required.
While the above are e.xtiemely diflicult specifications, they have been met by the newly developed IR System. So far as is knowni, they have never previously been met ; and there is reason to believe that no other method of meeting these specifications with conventional optical elements alone is possible.
In ordinary photography, each frame or picture represents a view from a
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uniciuely focused lens of an entire and overall-illuminated object space. In the IR System, each frame or picture rep- resents the composite of a number of views made by a multiply focused lens, each of which views covers only a region or division of the object space so selecti.-d that the picture of such region is alto- gether in focus. Thus the IR System in- cludes the photography within a single exposure iieriod (single frame) of the various adjoining regions of the object- space in such fashion that
(o) each region has an identifiable illumination, with minimized spillover of illumination of other types, and
(/>) the identifiable illumination from each region is first identified and in effect segregated, and, second, brought to the same focal i)lane as that from all other regions by means of a differential- focusing device.
The identifiable regional illumination may be of the following types:
(a) It may be suitably polarized light. This method is not lecommended in gen- eral because of the non-retention of the plane of polarization of light on reflec- tion from most surfaces.
(/)) It may be appropriately colored light. In this case, each region in the object space is illuminated by light oc- cupying a different spectral range, thus enabling its later identification either by color filters or by the differential re- fraction (dispersion) of some refracting system. The method amounts to estab- lishing a selected color configuration (<". g., a spectrum, broadly speaking) axially through the object space, and then introducing a compensating amount of longitudinal chromatic aberration into the objective lens system so that the colored light from each region is brought to the same focal plane and there cor- rectly imaged.
(c) It may be correctly timed illumi- nation. In this instance, the total time for each frame exposure is divided into a number of portions. Each region in the object space, as defined below, is illuminated during a selected portion or portions of the total available exposure time and w not illuminated at ang other times during the exposure period. This last proviso is fundamentally novel, and is impoitant in the realization of the method. At the camera lens, a differen- tial-focusing device is synchronized with the light coming from each correspond- ing region in such fashion that the light from each region is bi-ought to the same focal plane. The resulting picture there- fore has increased depth of field since it consists in effect of the composite of a number of pictures each of which is in-
A
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Above, Fig. 4. diagram o* action of "Diffo" plate; beneath. Fig. S, special aperture-plate and "Diffo" shutter used in IR cinematography; bottom. Fig. fr, experimental lighting set-up, using synchronized shut- ters, for IR System tests.
heiently in focus, which pictures in their totality form a complete picture of the object space.
This method amounts, in its simple.>t form, to sending a wave of illumination (in the form of an axially extensive and steadily deepening slab of illumination) in some systematic fashion through the object space, and pacing it by a syn- chronized wave, so to speak, of corre- lated focusing of the objective lens such that the light from all objects on the set is brought to the same focal plane. It also amounts to a sort of third- dimensional luminous scanning of the set followed synchronously by the appro- priately coordinated focusing of the len.- (Continued on Page 38)
American Cinematographer
Januarv. 1942
Director of Photog- raphy John Mescall, A.S.C., illustrates method of making the tests described. "Gobos" In front of camera are moved between takes, and dimmer in foreground con- trols lighting-bril- liance.
Coordinating Exposure -Meter and Processing For Effect -Lightings
By JOHN J. MESCALL, A.S.C.
THE various methods of using' both the reflected-light and the incident- light types of photoelecti-ic meters for key-light measurements and normal lighting's have been so frequently dis- cussed, in and out of print, that they are thoroughly familiar to most cinema- tographers. The technique of using meters as a guide to exposure values and lighting balance in effect-lightings, ho-wever, has not received so much at- tention. Yet, to my mind, it is in this type of measurements that the meter can often be the most useful, for such lightings depend on delicate gradations of lighting and exposure -which are often difficult to measure visually.
While it is probable that either an incident-light meter or a reflected-light meter could be used for measurements of this kind, my own experience has been solely with the reflected-light type — my Weston "Master," which I have found capable of furnishing a quick and accurate guide in making effect-light- ings.
The first, and most essential step in ' using a meter for this type of work is to find an accurate basis by which the meter's readings may be coordinated with the processing given your negative by the laboratory individually involved. In my case, I have keyed my system to the negative development of the Para- mount laboratory, as my last several pictures have been made at that studio. For some previous pictures, however, I employed the same basic system with negative processing done by the Consoli- dated laboratory, and of course the prin-
cipal may be used, with suitable modi- fications, for film processed in any lab- oratory.
Every laboratory has what might be called a "pet" printing-light: a point, usually in the middle of the printing scale, at which they like to have their negative print. Most cinematographers, too, have similar favorite printer-set- tings which they feel will get the utmost from their negative. In the present in- stance, both the Paramount laboratory chiefs and I favored light 12, so I have keyed my meter and its use to that point.
The next step is to determine the range of illumination necessary to pro- duce the full range of photographic den- sities froin complete black to clear white with negative developed to the labora- tory's noiTnal standards and printed on that favored printer-setting.
It is a well-known fa-ct that, regard- less of the intrinsic color of an object, we can, by varying the intensity of its illumination, make it appear on the screen in any tone we want, from black to white. A white object, with no light falling on it, will photograph black; a jet-black object, if sufficiently over-lit, can be made to appear pure white.
For my test, I set up a fairly large sheet of neutral-gray cardboard (about three feet square) in front of the cam- era. At the top, running horizontally, I placed a strip of black velvet. At the bottom, also running horizontally, I placed a similar strip of white card- board.
In front of the cardboard test-sheet I placed two flat black screens or "gobos,"
so that only a narrow, vertical strip of the cardboard was visible. During the test, I moved these so that, by rewind- ing the film in my camera between each exposure, I photographed successive parallel, vertical strips of the test-card.
Each of these strips received a dif- ferent intensity of illumination, care- fully measui'ed by the meter, and with the meter's reading pencilled in below the strip on the white panel. The ulti- mate result in the completed test was essentially that of a graduated gray- scale, produced by changes in illumina- tion, instead of variations in the sub- ject's actual tone.
The meter-readings were made with the meter about three inches from the subject, and with the hinged light-baffle over the photocell swung back, increas- ing the meter's sensitivity and bringing the low-intensity scale into place on the dial. In the successive takes of the test I varied the illumination (by means of dimmers) until virtually the whole of the low-range scale had been coveied.
The first test, for instance, was made with the light so dimmed that I got the meter's minimum reading of .2; the next two exposures were made with the me- ter's needle pointing respectively to the next two, unnumbered, blocks above .2; the third take was lit to a reading of .4 (the next numbered calibration), and so on until we had reached an illumina- tion-reading of 50.
The negative was then put through Paramount's usual time-and-temperature development, and a print was made us- ing printer-light 12.
The results on the screen showed me that at any light-value below a 1.6 read- ing, my subject would be rendered as black, regardless of its actual coloring. From that point on up to a brightness- reading of 25, I obtained a normal raiige of halftones. At readings of 25 and over, my subject — again regardless of actual color — would be rendered as white. With the actual black and actual white sections of the test-subject, this region was naturally narrowed consider- ably. Differences in the gradational quality of each laboratory's negative processing will also compress or expand these limits somewhat.
Putting this data to work under prac- tical conditions thereafter becomes a simple matter of taking separate bright- ness-readings as the nature of scene and lighting may indicate, and modifying the lighting accordingly. For example, sup- pose that in effect-lighting a set I want a chair to be silhouetted against the back-wall. I take a reading on the chair: if the meter indicates a brightness of 1.6 or lens, I know that it will be rendered as black. I can then adjust my illumi- nation of the wall behind the chair to whatever intensity will give me the tone I want there: if I want it pure white, to form a strong contrast, I know that a reading of 25 or over will give a clear white rendition. If I want a bare mini- mum of contrast between the chair and its backgi-ound, but still preserving the silhouetted effect, I light the wall so that (Continued on Page 38)
10 .January, 1942
American Cinematographer
The Air Corps' Newest Camera Gun
By REED N. HAYIHOKNE, A.S.C.
Washington Staff Correspondent
HIGH above the clouds two tiny pursuit planes in combat man- euvers jockey for position. One pilot gets "on the tail" of the other plane, and plunges toward him with his trigger switch iiressed hard. There is no burst of tire, however — no airplane falling in flames. The sequel to this ex- citing drama of the skies comes a few hours later, in an Air Corps class room.
Here the instructor and the students view a movie, composed of machine-gun camera pictures, obtained when the trig- ger was pressed by the two pilots in their mock dogfight. These are pictures which indicate whether the pilots would have scored hits on their adversaries, had they been using "live" ammunition instead of movie film.
The use of gun-cameras for training pilots in aerial gunnery dates back to World War I, as does the actual use of machine-gu!is in aerial combat. But just as the actual armament of heavy- caliber machine-guns and aerial cannon, now in use on our newest planes is far superior to the one or two hand-oper- ated guns which armed planes of the first world war, so is the new training equipment far more efficient than the first gun-cameras.
Today the Air Corps is putting into use its new gun-sight aiming point cam- era, the GSAP, so named because of its optical sy.stem, which shows in the finder not only the target of the gunner but also a picture of the sighting ap- paratus used, and records both of these on each frame of film taken. In addi- tion, the new equipment has an "over- run" device, which keeps the camera going after the pilot ceases "firing" for a predetennined time, to record what happens after he ceases to fire.
Earlier gun-cameras were mounted on machine-gun mounts, necessitating i-emoval of part of the armament, but today's cameras are fixed behind the gun-sights, so that the plane may carry its full complement of guns in addition to its I'ecording device. By this means the camera may be carried into actual combat, and worked simultaneously with the guns to provide a record of the combat. Here again the overrun device is an advantage, for the pilot may fol- low an enemy plane down to its crash after it goes out of control, and the camera will continue taking pictures of it after he has ceased firing his guns.
The new air corps GSAP camera is electrically driven, equipped with a 50-
Above, loading the GSAP Camera: middle, camera is "fired" by pressing trigger on plane's control - stick; bot torn, the G S A Camera, with over run control device Official Photos U.S. Army Air Forcce.
foot film magazine using standard black- and-white IGmm. motion picture film. The pilot may vary the speed of the camera from 16 to 64 frames a second by a reset knob. The machine compen- sates for atmospheric conditions by aper- ture controls for bright, hazy, and dull weather, which are accessible in flight. But the film latitude is sufficient for the camei'a to produce satisfactory pic- tures if the setting is within the equiva-
lent of a stop-and-a-half of the i)roper setting. Like most aerial cameras, the focus is at infinity, and the camera is equipped with a film-footage indicator. The device is so designed that the optica] system showing the gunsight in each frame may be replaced with a stiaight lens arrangement to get ordi- nary pictures without the gun-sight, if desired. Also; provision is made to heat (Continued on Page 37)
American Cinematographer
January, 1942
11
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HELIOCATOR
A'Lt T.ME Shaft
TOP AT (C)
Determining The Sun's Angle For Any Location
By LEO KUTER
THE need for an instrument that would readily indicate the position of the Sun in the sky at any hour of any day of the year led to the design, construction and subsequent use of the "Heliocator," or Sun Pointer, herein de- scribed, at the Warner Brothers Studios, at Burbank, California.
The photographing of exterior motion picture settings, or locations, during the day, is of course almost entirely depend- ent upon the astral presence of the Sun. It follows therefore that the various positions assumed by the Sun, in its movement across the sky, must be care- fully considered in the design and orien- tation of such settings, and in the choice and selections of such locations.
Settings and locations which involve the seasonal shadows of hills, mountains, canyon walls, huge trees or nearby high buildings, etc., may be found, upon the shooting date, to be in complete or par- tial shadow, if the directional or angular variations of the Sun have been merely guessed at, or completely ignored, as sometimes happens.
In order to obtain the best photo- graphic results, and to intelligently set up shooting schedules and accurately time company "calls," it is most neces- sary to have advance knowledge during the planning period, of just what the
exact position of the Sun will be at all hours of the day, in relation to the set or location to be photographed upon any specific date required. This information the Heliocator gives easily and quickly, and a brief description of the instrument follows.
It consists of a base into which is fixed a compass and a two-way spirit level, and having an upright, circular segment on which Degrees of Latitude are indicated. This is the Latitude Quad- rant.
Arranged to slide upon this quadrant is an erect yoke, between the arms of which is set a rotating split shaft. Piv- oted in this shaft and revolving in a line with its axis is a hollow tube, or pointer, whose movement is i-egulated by a small quadrant upon which are indicated the days of the year. This is the Date Quad- ra tit.
The split shaft is the Daily Time Sliaft and, rotating on its axis, carries with it the Date Quadrant and the Tube Point- er. Fixed to the end of this time Shaft and also rotating with it across a dial fixed to the yoke, is the Time Indieator Hand.
The setting up and opeiating of the instrument is extremely simple.
1st. The lower cui-ved slide of the yoke is set and locked to the latitude of
Diagram and photograph of the Heliocator,
the observation on the Latitude Quad- rant.
2nd. The indicator attached to the Tube Pointer is set and locked to the Date Quadrant at the date for which the observation is being made.
3rd. The instrument is leveled and oriented with the compass needle point- ing to the Compass Declination of the locale. (Not at N. or North on the com- pass, except when knowledge of this Declination is missing. More about this later.)
The Tube Pointer may now be revolved on the Time Axis, and will follow the Sun's path throughout the day. The ob- server follows this path by sighting- through the Tube and the time any shadow will fall upon the position occu- pied by the instrument is found by read- ing the time on the Time Dial when any obstruction appears between the observ- er's eye and the open sky.
This time, however, is True Sun Time, and except in a few comparatively rare locations and dates, will not vary from Standard Time by more than 30 to 40 minutes. The explanation and method of arriving at accurate Standard Time will be found later in this article.
The principles upon which the instru- ment is designed are well known to any- one familiar with the operations of a marine sextant, or the equatorial mount- ings of a telescope, but are here reviewed for the benefit of those without that knowledge.
As the Pointer must indicate the Sun's location at all times it must follow the two principal apparent motions of the Sun. These are:
A. The daily East to West movement from sunrise to sunset due to the Earth's rotation on its axis, and:
B. The annual North and South travel
12 January, 1942
American Cinematographer
(if the Sun (liic Ui the iiicliiiatioti of the Earth's axis to the plane of its orbit around the Sun.
The i)r()hlein presented by "A" was solved by havinp the Pointer mounted to lotate aiouiul a Daily Time Shaft, whose axis can he adjusted to duiilicate, or parallel, the axis of the Earth, and. since the ani^le of the Earth's axis with re- spect to the horizontal i)lane, oi- \isual horizon, in any latitude varies with each location, (from heinji- parallel, or zei'o, at the pA|uator to vertical, or !H) deu'i'ees, at the Poles,) a secondary adjustment was necessary to allow of the instru- ments use in all latitudes. This is the large lower, or Latitude Quadrant, in the base.
The problem of "B" was solved by allowing the pointer to rotate in a line with the Time Axis Shaft, controlliTin this movement by the Date Quadrant.
When viewed from the Ecjuator, on the dates of either of the Equinoxes, March 20 or September 28, the Sun rises exactly on the East, sets exactly in the West and at noon is in the Zenith, oi- exactly overhead. Its pathway describes a true vertical arc, dividing etiually the Northern from the Southern hemispheres.
But six months later, June 21 or De- cember 21, the dates of the Summer and Winter Solstices, the Sun's apparent North and South movement has reached its limit and at noon, or meridian, of these days is 23 "a degrees from the ver- tical. This is, of course, the angle of inclination of the Earth's axis from its orbital plane.
This angle of the Sun's declination both North and South from a line per- pendicular to the Axis of the Earth is duplicated on the Date Quadrant of the Heliocator, with respect to the axis of the Daily Time Shaft.
The apparent speed of the Sun in this movement is not constant; faster at the Equinoxes, decreasing towards the Sol- stices until it ceases, turns back and with increasing speed again reaches the Equator. This variation of speed is of necessity taken into account and plotted on the Date Quadrant.
This yearly movement of the Sun with respect to the Earth's axis is true whether viewed from the Equator or from any other place on the Earth's sur- face, but its (ipijearance varies in each latitude exactly as the angle between the visual horizon line and the Earth's axis vaiies. This variation is measured in Degrees of Latitude.
The Date Quadrant of the Heliocator, following this movement of the Sun, like- wise cannot change in respect to the axis of the Daily time Shaft, but with the aid of the Latitude Quadrant, the angle of the Time Shaft can be changed with respect to the horizontal plane and the Pointer kept to the visual path of the Sun.
Reference was made previously to the Declination of the Compass. The direc- tion of True North and Magnetic North from most localities is not the same; Magnetic North being either to the East or West of True North. The angular
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difference between the two directions at any jilace is known as the Compass Dec- lination for that place.
The Compass on the instrument is set with the indicated North in line with the Time Shaft, to set the shaft in a true Northerly plane the compass needle should point to the Compass Declination, and not to the N. The Compass Dec- lination at Los Angeles is approximately Ifi degrees East, therefore the needle should be pointing to that place on the compass when setting up the machine in that city.
The difference between Standard Time and Sun Time will now be explained.
The meridian of any place is an imaginary line drawn across the sky from true North to true South, passing through the Zenith directly overhead.
The Earth's orbit about the Sun is not circular, but elliiitical. In conse- (luence, its speed in making this annual revolution is not constant, speeding up when near the Sun and slowing down when farther away. Principally because of this, the actual lapsed time from one meiidian Sun to another varies from day to day. To compensate for this diffei-ence and keep all days in lapsed or measui> able clock time, certain adjustments have been made for each day of the year. This is known as the Equation of Time, and the result is Mean Siui Time. There- fore, measured by Mean Sun Time, which is Clock Time, the Sun's arrival at any Meridian rarely occurs at 12 o'clock noon, being sometimes earlier and some- times later. (See Table No. 1).
Mean Sun Time is the basis of Stan- dard Time, which is simply the allot- ment of a uniform clock time of one hour to each zone controlled by a Stan- dard Time Meridian 15 degrees East or West of the adjacent Standard Meridi- ans. 3fi0 degrees divided by I.t equals the 24 hours of the day.
Each Zone Meridian is about cqui-
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distant from its Zone boundaries on each side. Since the Clock Time (Standard Time) for the entire Zone is the Mean Sun Time at the Zone's Meridian, only rarely is the true Mean Sun Time at any place in the Zone more than 3(i minutes earlier or later than Standard Time. In all portions of the Zone East of the Meridian, Sun Time will be later than Standard Time and it will l>e earlier to the West. Each degree of longitude equals A minutes. (See Table No. 1.).
For accurate Standard Time from Heliocator readings, allowances for both the variation from the observed, or true Sun Time, to the Mean Sun Time and for the distance of the obsei-^ation from the Zone Meridian must l>e made.
Most atlases and maps show longitude lines, locations of Standard Meridians and time zone boundaries, while Com- pass Declinations and Table? of the
(Continued on Page 37)
American Cinematographer
Januarj-, 11*42
13
This type of diffusion characterized
the finest photography of twenty
years ago.
How Desirable Is Extreme Focal Depth?
By CHARLES G. CLARKE, A.S.C.
DURING the past yeai- there has been a great deal of discussion as to the merits (or otherwise) of the so-called "pan-focus" system of stop- ping down to unusually small lens aper- tures to obtain exti'eme depth of field, as Gregg Toland, A.S.C, did so spectac- ularly in filming "Citizen Kane." Some cinematographers have urged that this technique represents one of the outstand- ing artistic advances of i-ecent years. Others have argued just as insistently that this type of wiry-sharp camera- work was something we had discarded twenty or thirty years ago, and that, moreover, it tended to make the screen's story-telling technique dangerously static.
I wonder if the actual truth doesn't lie somewhere between these extremes?
Cinematography, it should be remem- bered, began its existence as a strictly mechanical process of making a photo- graphic record of scenes and objects in motion. It was not until after the turn of the century that it was discovered that motion picture scenes, properly strung together, could serve as a me- dium for telling a dramatic story. Since then, the history of the cinema has been a constant search for the best way of combining the inherently accurate me- chanical record of the camera with the dramatic and emotional values necessary for true story telling.
In the early days, the lenses avail- able for cinematography were, to put it mildly, not of the best. Neither were emulsions or laboratory-processing. And as the cinema was just emerging from the mechanical record stage when the
only aim was to get some sort of a pic- ture on the screen, the ideal of good cinematography became that of getting not only a picture, but a clearly recog- nizable picture on the screen. Detail in every portion of the frame was the most cherished goal.
In still-photography, too, it was the day of super-crisp definition. Photo- graphy was just emerging from the "rapid rectilinear" era, and the almost unnaturally perfect detail of an anas- tigmat stopped down to /:64 was entic- ing.
But before long cinematographers and still-camera pictorialists alike began to discern the artistic limitations of this /:64 definition. Still photographers com- menced to realize that a picture in which you could count every leaf on a tree a hundred yards away showed you more than the best eye could hope to see in reality. They discovered that injecting a softer optical quality into the picture made it more pleasing, and gave it an artistic feeling none of the /:64 school could ever capture.
At the same time, cinematographers, confronted with the task of making the tender and romantic moments of their pictures emotionally moving, also found that softness heightened the pictorial and dramatic value of their scenes. They discovered that flawless definition could tend to exaggei'ate the two-dimensional flatness of their pictured image on the screen, while softness, especially the sort obtained using lenses are relatively open apertures, worked hand in hand with lighting to suggest roundness and reality.
So the pendulum began to swing. A.^
the years went on, it swung to an ex- treme of softness. Look at any picture of fifteen or twenty years ago — still or movie. If it had any pretensions of being an example of good photography, it was almost certain to be an extreme case of "fuzzyography." On the screen espec- ially, scenes of any dramatic value, or close-ups of women stars were almost invariably photographed with compar- atively soft lenses, at maximum aper- ture, and further softened by incredibly strong diffusion — discs, gauzes, and the like — until the result on the screen was very sketchy indeed.
To gain this added softness and round- ness, we went to great extremes. On exteriors, where ordinarily one would inevitably have to stop down to get a normal exposure, we employed Neutral Density filters and the like to permit us to shoot our exteriors, as well as our interiors, at apertures close to the max- imum— /:2.5 or thereabouts — in the in- terests of soft quality and natural round- ness. We plagued the film manufacturers of film for softer and yet softer grada- tions in emulsions, and our laboratories for softer quality in their development and printing.
Inevitably this trend carried to an extreme, and the pendulum began to swing back the other way. Cinema- tographers began to realize that not all pictures could stand this visually soft treatment. Some — like the gangster stor- ies, and some types of horror pictures — demanded harsher, crisper visual qual- ity. Other stories had a more or less documentary flavor, which demanded camerawork that stressed realism, so that the story reached the screen with more the quality of a well-photographed newsreel than of a studio-made produc- tion.
Today, it would seem that the pendu- lum has very nearly reached the oppo- site extreme in its swing; certainly, it would seem difficult for any films to go much farther in the direction of crisp definition and realism than Toland's "Grapes of Wrath" and "Citizen Kane." And though this basic technique has been more or less extensively used by other cinematographers on other pictures, both before and since "Citizen Kane," it would seem likely the trend is about to swing back toward softer quality again.
Certainly, we are seeing it demon- strated that in making constant use of short-focus lenses and abnormally small apertures we often gain extreme depth and definition at the price of that illu- sion of roundness which — fully as im- portant as depth or definition — is a necessity in conveying the illusion of three-dimensional reality in our two- dimensional pictures.
In this straining for exaggerated focal depth, too, there is definite danger of overlooking one of the basic factors which makes the screen so powerful dramatically: its selectivity. In the pio- neer movies, as on the stage, the story was told from one angle only — that of the long-shot. Intimate action had to be
(Continued on Page 36)
14 January, 1942
American Cinematographer
SINCE the release of the .spectacii- larly-photojcraphed "Citizen Kane," the name of CJrejrK Toland, A.S.C., has probably been more extensively publicized than that of any other cine- matoprrapher in the history of the in- dustry. Thousands of people who had previously never Ki^^'i » thought to the men who photograph the pictures they see, now speak knowingly of the import- ance of the cameraman's contribution, and refer to Toland as Hollywood's foremost master of the camera.
Most of Toland's fellow cinematop- raphers also ag'ree in rating him very close to the top of the camera profession. But with one ditt'erence: they base their judgment on the many superbly-photo- graphed productions he had filmed be- fore "Citizen Kane" and its attendant publicity came along. For "Kane" and Toland's treatment of it sharply divided the opinions of the professional photo- graphic community. Some feel he has made a tangibly worthwhile contribution to camera technique. Others feel just as strongly that the "Kane" technique is reminiscent of methods discarded before cinematography reached its present ma- turity. But they all agree in praising the artistic and technical skill which produced such films as the Academy Award-winning "Wuthering Heights," "Intermezzo," "The Long Voyage Home," "Grapes of Wrath," the Techni- colored "Goldwyn Follies," and innumer- able others.
Most of them feel, too, that Toland's acknowledged brilliance has placed him in the most nearly ideal position any Director of Photography has enjoyed since the halycon days when D. W. Grif- fith and Billy Bitzer were between them creating the basic technique of the screen. For Toland, as Chief Cinema- tographer for Samuel Goldwyn, enjoys the confidence of a producer whose chief aim is to turn out the most nearly flaw- less productions possible. Inevitably, Toland's hand is more free than most; he is able to participate actively not alone in the actual shooting of Goldwj'n productions, but to a surprising extent in shaping and completing them as well. Most important of all, he is able to ex- periment, both technically and artis- tically, on a scale impossible where cinematographer and producer alike are botmd by the restrictions of a rigid schedule and budget.
One of those experiments, first tried out on a conservative scale in scattered scenes for "Wuthering Heights," led to the "Citizen Kane" pan-focus technique. But he has made many others, in other directions. He was among the first, for example, to utilize Super-XX negative as a production emulsion, and among the first, too, to enthusiastically endorse today's fast films when they made their bow some four years ago. He was among the first, if not actually the first top-flight cinematographer to experi- ment with coated lenses and to stake his photographic reputation on their performance on an important produc- tion.
Aces of the Camera XIII:
GREGG TOLAND, A.S.C
By WALTER BLANCHARD
Gregg Toland himself is as unlike the popular conception of a top-rank direc- tor of photography as can easily be imagined. For one thing, he is young. The official records of the A.S.C. give his age as only 37, which makes him almost without question the youngest of the industry's ace cinematographers. Slim and rather slightly built, he car- ries himself with a slight stoop which makes him seem at once smaller and older than he really is, and probably in- dicates, as well, something of the tre- mendous burden of responsibility that rests on his shoulders.
He is, I should say, very fully con- scious of that responsibility. He throws himself into his work with the same tensely nervous energy that character- izes so many of the photographic lead- ers of the industry. Indeed, he gives the impression of being physically tired — until you get him started talking about his work. Then he brightens up, flashes a disarmingly youthful smile, and speaks with almost boyish enthusiasm about this idea or that he is working with.
He's keenly conscious, too, of the vital part a director of photography can play in preparing and making a picture if the studio heads will only realize he
can be more than merely a photog- rapher. If you know him well, you sense a consuming desire on his part to make the opportunities and acclaim that have come to him as an individual help "sell" the camera profession as a whole not only to the public, but to the indus- try itself.
His own association with Goldwyn, Orson Welles, Howard Hughes and other outstanding producers has given him unusual opportunities not only to dare to do the unusual in camerawork, but to put the imprint of his picture-trained mind on the making and presentation of every production with which he is associated. But — and you can feel him mentally underscoring this — he isn't the only cinematographer capable of play- ing such a part in the planning and realization of a film. There are many other directors of photography who, granted similar opportunities, could con- tribute just as outstandingly to making their productions better examples of screen entertainment. What he does in this direction, he hopes, will help give some of those others a chance by mak- ing other producers ask themselves. "If Sam Goldwyn gets so much help by giving Gregg Toland a chance to take (Continued on Page 36]
American Cinematographer
Januarv, ll'l^
15
A.S^O on Parade
We're glad to report that the latest news from the 20th Century-Fox unit on location in Honolulu tells that all members of the troupe, including Direc- tor of Photography Harry Jackson, A.,S.C., Technicolor " Specialist Wilfrid Cline, A.S.C., and Assistant Cameraman J. Stout, son of Archie Stout, A.S.C., were safe aboard one of the Navy's battle-wagons at sea when the Japs made their knife-in-the-back attack. We understand they've obtained some out- standing Technicolor footage, all or part of which may be taken over by the Navy.
•
Director of Photography Gregg To- land, A.S.C., has doffed his civvies for the uniform of a Lieutenant in the Navy's Photographic Section. Accom- panied by Lieutenants Sol Halprin, A.S.C., Arthur Arling, A.S.C., Harry Davis, A.S.C., and several others, he's off for active service "for duration." Before leaving, the A.S.C.-Navy lensers prudently raided the Mitchell camera factory and made off with every avail- able camera.
Yachtsman Vernon L. Walker, A.S.C,
is also doing- his bit nautically. His 38- foot cruiser "Relax" has gone into vol- unteer service with the U. S. Coast Guard — in wartime part of the Navy — as a patrol-boat. Skipper Walker stands by to go to sea with his ship as Master, and Dick Davol, from RKO's Camera Dept., is Mate, with a crew of coast guardsmen. What with reports of Jap subs off the California coast, it looks to us as though Verne had maybe given his boat the wrong name — !
Lieutenant Victor Milner, Jr., U. S. Army Air Force, is reported to be one of the few Army fliers to rate a Christ- mas vacation. Son of Victor Milner, A.S.C, young Milner is recovering from injuries received in a serious crash while instructing a student at the Air Force's training school in Texas, and was granted a holiday furlough to visit his celebrated dad. We'll bet he made some of the other Army airmen doubly envious, for when he dropped in at Para- mount to say hello to his old friend Billy Mellor, A.S.C, the still-man in- sisted on taking his picture with lovely Madeleine Carroll.
If you saw those sensational Pathe News scenes of the Japs' attack on Hawaii, thank I^n Roos, .\.S.C, F.R.P.S. who lensed 'em. Len, so we learn, has just I'eceived his appointment as the official representative of the newsreels' wartime pool of camera-crews. He cov- ers the Hawaiian front.
Friends of Roy Overbaugh, A.S.C,
who have been wondering why they haven't heard from him in all these months ought to know Roy's been mighty sick, almost fatally so, in fact. He's been in the hospital since last April, undergoing two operations. But he's better now, and would appreciate visits from his friends.
• With Solly Halprin. A.S.C. called away on active duty with the Navy, his place as Head of 20th Century-Fox's Process Department has been taken by Edward J. Snyder, A.S.C.
• James B. Shackleford, A.S.C, sailed December 19th for South America. He'll be filming an adventure and animal film in Brazil. Present plans are that "Shack" will begin his trip by a two- months' trip up the Amazon, followed by a visit to Rio de Janeiro, after which he'll head into the famed Matto Grosso country. He promises to send us appro- priate stills and reports of his travels.
•
We ran into Ted TetzlaflF, A.S.C, on
the street one day just before Christ- mas. We gather his prayer to Santa Claus w'as for a really good story to direct, 'counta he'll still on Paramount's payroll as a Director. Why is it, any- way, that no producer has yet handed any cameraman an even half-way decent script when they promote him to direct- ing?
•
Leon Shamroy, A.S.C, with "Roxie Hart" (nee "Chicago") duly committed to Plus-X, draws the lensing assign- ment on 2()th Century-Fox "Ten Gentle- men from West Point" as his next. •
Harold Lipstein, A.S.C, off to the
desert to lens special desert scenes for MGM's coming colossal "Rio Rita."
•
We hope there's nothing to the rumor we hear about one rising young member of the A.S.C. who, when another ditto visited him on the set recently, asked his visitor to leave. There's such a thing as professional courtesy, you know- — also swelled craniums. •
Did you know that during the last year or so Alvin Wyckoff, .\.S.C, has been putting in his spare time at the university, annexing a Doctor of Science degree? That makes at least the fourth member of the .A..S.C. who can be prop- erly addressed as "Doctor." The others include Ted Sparkuhl, A.S.C, who used to be a practicing medico; Floyd Jack- man, A.S.C, who is one of Hollywood's best toothpullers, and Floyd ("ro.sby, .V.S.C, who we understand also has the right to the handle of "Doctor," though he never uses it.
Speaking of Floyd Crosby, A.S.C, he's still deep in Mexico working on Orson Welles' forthcoming Dolores Del Rio starrer. He took the assignment over when Al Gilks, A.S.C, was called into Navy service, and we understand he's going to town on it. He recently sent for one of those new Norwood expo- sure-meters, by the way. •
James Wong Howe, A.S.C, is even talking Chinese with a Brooklynese-Irish accent, they say, since he's been lensing Warner's "Yankee Doodle Dandy," the filmography of George M. Cohan.
Tony Gaudio, A.,S.C, very much Americanized in spite of his Italian birth, tells this one about the state of his native country under the chap Tony politely refers to as "that soonabeech Mussolini." He says if you're an opti- mist in Mussoliniland, your slogan is, "We're going to lose the war." If ypu're a pessimist, you say, "Yeah — but how long do we have to wait before we lose it?"
Miss Bette Davis, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, lately announced the appoint- ment of a Committee of Directors of Photography to consider rules to be used to govern this year's Cinemato- graphic Awards.
Membership of the Committee con- sists of: Ray Wilkinson, Chairman, John Arnold, A.S.C, Dan Clark, A.S.C, Charles Clarke, A.S.C, Robert DeGrasse. A.S.C, Elmer Dyer, A.S.C, Arthur Ede- son, A.S.C, Fred Gage, A.S.C, Merritt B. Gerstad, A.S.C, Ernest Haller, A.S.C, C Roy Hunter, Milton Krasner, A.S.C, Art Lloyd, A.S.C, Sidnev Lund. Rudolph Mate, A.S.C, E. B. McGreal, Arthur Miller, A.S.C, Ernest Miller, Victor Milner, A.S.C, L. William O'Con- nell, A.S.C, Robert Planck, A.S.C, Charles Rosher, A.S.C, Joseph Rutten- berg, A.S.C, Mack Stengler, A.S.C, Karl Struss, A.S.C, Ted Tetzlaff, A.S.C, Leo Tover, A.S.C, Charles J. Van Enger, A.S.C, Joseph Valentine, .A..S.C., Joseph Walker, A.S.C, and Gordon S. Mitchell, Manager of the .Academy Research Council.
•
Did you notice the credit-titles on the recently previewed "Shanghai Gesture?" Director of Photography Paul Ivano took his credit MINUS the A.S-C he's entitled to append after his name. But Director Josef Von Sternberg, also an A.S.C. member, proudly took credit in large letters as follows: "Directed by JOSEF VON STERNBERG. A.S.C I" Thanks, Joe, for a very fine compliment.
Jack Guerin, A.S.C, took time out from his Gasparcolor activities to spend the holidays with his folks in Louisiana Wonder if he ran into the alphabetical Paramount Newsreel ace, John L. Herr- man, A.S.C, F.R.P.S., F.R.S..V.. down New Orleans way ?
16 January, 1942
American Cinematographkr
THROUGH the EDITOR S FINDER
WITH America's participation in this war not yet a month old, the motion picture industi'>' is already set- tling into the pattern of its participa- tion in "all-out" war. Many there are in all branches of the industry who have joined the Nation's Aniied Forces. Pro- ducers, Directors, Cinematojiraphers, Writers, Sound-engineers, Actors and many others ha%c gladly abandoned safe and lucrative jobs to put their particular skills actively to work in uniform.
But those who remain have a task no whit less important, fraught with diffi- culties and responsibilities, as well. Theirs is the twofold task of carrying on under wartime difficulties — even, it may be, under fire — and at the same time turning out steadily better screen enter- tainment to the end that morale on the vital "home front" may remain high.
We in the cinetechnical community are going to have to learn how to make pictures in spite of shortages of many type.s of equipment and materials we once deemed indispensable. .And no wonder: factories capable of turning out cameras and projectors of the type that made American cinemachinery su- preme thi-oughout the world have the uniquely high skill needed to produce in ijuaiitity many types of precision war implements. The factories which made lamps and many other accessories have skill which is already solving many perplexing problems in making aircraft assemblies to defend our studios. Plants which have served the motion picture in- dustry in peace time, with its perpetual array of unconventional problems and its perpetual rush when in need of a new device, are uniquely adapted to meeting the unconventional problem, and solving it speedily and well in wartime.
We can be thankful for this, and doubly thankful that these firms which supplied our peacetime needs habitually built into their products ruggedness and endurance far exceeding those any other nation ever built into similar pi-ecision machinery. Our cameras, recorders, lamps, dollies and accessories may not aJl be new: but thanks to the American ways of design and craftsmanship, we can depend on them to keep on doing their job "for duration," even as their human users do theirs.
WITH the threat of bombings and blackouts, the studios have re- vised their daily time-schedule. As this is written, they have just gone on a strictly daylight basis, working from 8 to 5 daily, with night work eliminated. Night exteriors are barred, save as they can be photographed by day with filters, or filmed indoors under lights.
It is a strange commentary on human nature that it took the world tragedy of a war to bring this about. For years, eveiy employee group in the industry has been fighting to bring the industry's
leaders to a realization that lilm work- ers, no less than other people, work best if they can keep normal working hours with time for a normal home life in be- tween. The reply to this has alway: been that such hour.s — sometimes six- teen or twenty out of the twenty- four- were economically necessary to keep pro- duction costs and receipts profitably in line.
Already, the reports of the first day of the industry's new daylight schedule are disproving this. Studios are saving some money by the elimination of the large oveitime payments made to mo workers for working unusually loni- hours; the workers are off"setting this loss to some extent by the slight ex- tension of schedules needed to turn out equivalent footage without overtime work. Most important, the heads of oui- industiy ai^e discovering that men and women who put in a normal working day can work better and faster than men and women forced to work all the day and half the night. Reports from every studio indicate that on today's wartime eight-to-five basis, more scenes are being shot daily. We've an idea they'll prove to be better scenes, too, for on-the-set creators can turn out bet- ter work when they're no longer physically and mentally tired.
Predictions of any sort — especially in times like these — are usually hazardous. But we'll venture one: when this war is over, the industry will find this new daylight working day, adopted original- ly solely as a war measure, will be wortl- keeping because, in war or peace, it is more efficient, producing more and bettei work !
THE professional, theatrical motion picture has been recognized al- ready as a wartime essential. Non- theatrical and amateur movies should, we believe, receive very nearly similar recognition.
The value of employee-training films made for use in Defense Industries will be readily appreciated. Anything that can contribute to greater efficiency among Defense Workers is vital: if 16mm. movies can help increase the ef- ficiency of workers so that they can turn out one plane, one tank, or even one shell more per day, those films shall have rich- ly served their country. In other fields, similar films can serve importantly in showing the general public how to make existing supplies and sei'vices go farther, in spite of wartime curtailments. Such non-theatrical films, too, should be en- couraged.
But the value of strictly amateur home movies may not be so immediately apparent. Yet it exists. Civilians in wartime need some means of mental es- cape from the nervous strain under which all must live and work. The- atrical entei'tainment has been recog-
nized as one of the.Mf psychological safe- ty-valves. But it is only one, for there are times when it may not be posHible to go to the theatre just to get an even- ing's respite from nerve-strain.
That is wheif such personal-partici- pation hobbies as amateur jjhotography and movie-making can play their vital part. They can be practiced largely in and around the home; certainly, the na- tion's amateurs are sufficiently patriotic to avoid using their cameras on subjects of military' or tactical importance, if, of course, they are given warning of what those subjects are. But to the enthusi- astic amateur photographer, there i.- nothing so completely relaxing — nothing in which one can so completely lo.se himself from the cares and worries of every-day life in peace or war, than piacticing his hobby. How he does it may take diff"erent forms; some like to shoot pictures; others, to develop or print stills, edit or title movies, or tinker up some needed gadget. Thi.^ writer, for example, finds nothing .so relaxing when frayed, tired nerve* are shouting, as to take a few hundred feet of substandard cine-film and lo.<e him- self for an hour or two in editing it.
The availability of new amateur cine equipment has already been considerably curtailed by the Defen.se Program; it i.< likely to be still further reduced by the "all-out" War Effort. And very prop- erly so. But in behalf of the nation's 2,000,000 amateur still and cine enthusi- asts, we urge upon the Nation's leaders that they look understandingly on the real value of the hobby. We urge that the supply of film and similar materials for civilian use may still be kept flow- ing, and that authorities — particularly local ones — may be wise enough not to place unnecessary lestrictions on the use of cameras. Amateur photography and cinematography is too valuable a safety-valve for a big and important section of our people to be restricted un- necessarilv when it is needed most!
As we commence our second year as Editor of THE AMERICAN CINEMA- TOGRAPHER, we'd like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all of the many friends whose encouragement has meant so much to our efforts to improve their magazine. Some of them we know per- sonally; others we know only through correspondence or through articles sub- mitted for publication. But all of them we count on as friends. And to them we want to say a sincere, and humble, "Thank you" for their heartwarming encouragement. During the past twelve months we've received more letters and other expressions of approval than we've ever seen come across this desk, and fewer complaints, despite the fact that to us each issue seems to fall distressingly short of the goal we've set ourselves.
.American Ci.nfm \t<k;kai'hkk
January, 1942
17
New Photographic Books
The Photographer's Rule Book, By Larry June (McMillan, $1.25). This lit- tle book is intended primarily for the benefit of the still-photographer with an inexpensive camera and little or no un- derstanding of picture-making- beyond the "you press the button, we do the lest" stage. It should serve its purpose admiiably. It is almost the first book of its type we have seen which didn't overreach itself through trying to tell the beginner too miicli and confusing him with semi-advanced information about developing, printing, and enlarg- ing for which he certainly isn't ready until he can turn out better, more inter- esting snapshots with his "Brownie" and drug-store finishing.
June hews strictly to the line of tell- ing, in simple, understandable language how to use a cheap camera to make real pictures. He illustrates it with excellent pictures, made with the same, simple camei-as his readers will probably use, supplemented where necessary by sketches which cleverly visualize such abstractions as /: -stops, shutter-speeds, and the like.
But just because "The Photographer's Rule Book" is intended for still-camera novices, don't pass it un. If you do, you'll also be passing up some chapters on composition and the like which should be helpful even to the owners of Lordly Leicas, Speed Graphics and cine-cam- eras! W. S.
"Hollywood" by Leo C. Rosten
UNDER grants from the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations, Leo C. Rosten, author-sociologist, with the aid of eleven assistants, have investi- gated the movie colony of Hollywood.
The result has been a book that should not only be widely read but mentally digested by every individual who wishes to be factually enlightened about semi- mythical Hollywood, especially by those unenlightened remote individuals living in the environment of their own ro- mantic dreams, those emphatic souls who believe they have a wee spark of genius resting within them undevel- oped, waiting to be discovered and tu- tored into dazzling brilliance and fame.
Dr. Rosten lets you study Hollywood; he does not gossip with you. He tells you about the real Hollywood; the final result of long days and nights stretched over a toiling period of three years of laboi'.
The horrors of Hollywood have not been catalogued, nor has its virtues been whitewashed. Facts. You do with them as you wish. Hollywood is X- rayed and pulled apart — diagnosed.
The author has not been content to skim over the surface of scintillating- brilliance, he has dug deep into the dark pits of blasted hopes and the wreckage of public opinion; far beneath the glam- orous appearance of the surface.
He has lighted the treacherous, idiotic, scramble for padded publicity in the defense of the human nature of Hollywood to prove it is no different than the gilded aristocracy of other places.
He draws a sharp line of contrast. Hollywood is laid bare to the public gaze. The truth of fact is exposed. Statistics of interesting data stand out boldly to prove the fact; figures are truthful.
We are told that the outside world believes, "The movie colony to be more or less dominated by maniacs, operated under the laws of lunacy, and populated by an assortment of illiterates, di- vorcees, crackpots, and poltroons." In defense, it is said that, "Hollywood was not created out of a void; its charac- teristics were not invented; its people did not descend from Shangri-La.
"The men and women who work in Hollywood came to the film colony from other parts of America and the world; and they brought to Hollywood appe- tites which have been gratified, aspira- tions which have been realized, in this rich and indulgent community on the Pacific.
"The citizens of Kalamazoo who pos- sess the unique and sometimes distress- ing temperaments of actors, writers, directors, producers and others of many crafts would not behave differently if THEY had the money, the opportunities, and the sanctions afforded the mortals who live in the movie colony."
Contrasts are sharp. ". . . unedu- cated captains of industry are praised as 'self-made men,' uneducated movie executives are dismissed as 'illiterates.' Erratic bankers are called 'eccentric,' but erratic movie makers are called 'crazy.' Hard-bargaining business men are admired for being shrewd; their counterparts in Hollywood are de- nounced for being 'mercenary.' And where the private indiscretions of Park Avenue are -winked at as all-too-human peccadillos, those of Beverly Hills are paraded forth as proof of movie licen- tiousness."
It is admitted ". . . that things do happen." And so do things happen at other spots in these United States where people get together that would be just as severely criticized if the glare of pub- licity was turned on. However, "The mad days of Hollywood have passed their peak. There is an increased ser- iousness in the movie colony, and an approximation of dignity. . . . there is much in the town to command re- spect . . . those pi-oducers, writers, directors, performers, photographers, publicists, make-up artists, and mem- bers of a hundred other crafts who are skilled and who are i-esponsible for the best that is on the screen are earnest, talented men and women who would stand out in any company."
Hollywood possesses the same degrees and levels of society as any other com- munity. It has its poor, rich, and great.
"The movie colony is the high court of Hollywood; the movie elite is the regency council. ... Its people are characterized by notoriety, not pedigree; its position rests on money, not birth : its fame depends on publicity, not an- cestry. . . . Hollywood represents an aristocracy of wealth. . . . Its magnificos are young, untrained in the art of the good life, untempered by old codes of behavior. ". . . In such an elite, gradually enlarged and diversified the people sees itself mirrored and seeks its models." — A. W.
The A m e ri c a n Cinematographer's Hand Book and Reference Guide — Fourth. Edition; Compiled by Jackson J. Rose, A.S.C. (Published by Jackson J. Rose, Hollywood, $3.50.) During the past ten years the "Jackson Rose Handbook" has become without question the world's standard practical reference work on cinematography. Today's Fourth Edi- tion worthily carries on the tradition established by the three successive print- ings which went before. It includes all of the highly practical phototechnical information in the previous editions, in many instances brought up to date for modern materials, methods and equip- ment, and incorporates some thirty ad- ditional pages of new data.
These additions include up-to-the- minute information on 16 mm. and 8 mm. cameras, lenses, film, projection, etc., and a considerably expanded cov- erage of still photographic materials and methods, including such timely mat- ters as the use of the new Infra-Red "blackout" flashbulb technique for mak- ing speed-flash pictures by invisible light. Reflecting the increased import- ance of 16 mm. sound-on-film for both professional and amateur use, sections on 16 mm. recording and equipment make their appearance for the first time.
Our own experience with previous editions of Mr. Rose's volume is that it is essential for anyone active in cine or still photography. The new and larger edition bids fair to be even more valuable. We'd say it's well worth 83.50 of any photographer's money! — W. S.
Photography as a Vocation, By An- drew B. Hecht (Did George J. Berkowitz (American Job Series, No. 24; Science Research Associates, 1700 Prairie Ave., Chicago.) This little booklet is an in- teresting survey of the vocational pos- sibilities of photography in its various forms, giving at least an idea of what photographers in various types of work do, and the possibilities of making a career of such work. It appears to cover the various fields of still photography quite well, but unfortunately it makes scant mention of cinematography, com- menting- only briefly on studio and news- reel cinematography and ignoring the growing field of industrial or business- film cinematography. W. S.
18
January, l'J12
American Cinematographer
PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE MONTH
THE NIGHT OF JANUARY I6TH
Paramount Product ion.
Director of Photograph): John Moscall,
A.S.C.
"The Night of .January lUth," we sus- pect, was intended to be more or less of a routine, propram-picture "who- dunit": but John Mescali's camera lifts its very much above the program class. He gives it some of the finest dramatic camera-treatment we've seen in some time. From start to finish the film has that sort of photographic smoothness only the industry's top camera-experts can consistently maintain — a silkily- smooth visual quality that gives even the non-photographic viewer the feeling he has seen a "class" production.
Me.scall's effect-lightings are particu- larly interesting, especially those in the earlier part of the picture. They do a great deal to build up the required melo- dramatic suspense: but thev go farther than this. Mescall has handled his light- ing of these sequences in such a way that the effects are logical and believe- able — a very welcome change from the all too-common practice of planning ef- fect-lightings for pictorial or dramatic effect alone, without regard to their credibility. John Mescali's handling of these sequences are exceptionally well worth study by professionals, as well as amateurs. They're models of their kind.
His treatment of the players is fully up to his usual fine standard. The men, of course, have their share of strong character-lightings, and Ellen Drew's screen appearance, so surprisingly bet- tered in her recent release, "Our Wife," continues its improvement.
The process-work, as usual at Para- mount, is uniformly excellent, and is particularly interesting in one scene where the two stars look from the win- dow of a transport plane at the City of Havana, and the camera dollies up to and apparently through the porthole to a fine aerial view of Cuba's capital. The direction and cutting are interesting ex- amples of fast-moving tempo; some of the cutting, for that matter, is almost too quick. There are several interesting transitions, not only the very well-used wipes, but also those employed in the courtroom sequence, to speed up the pa- rade of witnesses on the stand. In this, the prosecuting attorney asks his ques- tion, then walks between camera and witness as the reply is finished, block- ing off the view; as he passes, another witness is seen on the stand and dialog and action continue virtually unbroken. The settings by Hans Dreier and Hal- dane Douglas are also worthy of special notice; excellent in themselves, they are made particularly attractive by Mescali's lightings, and help give "The Night of January 16th" the impression of being an unusually well-mounted production.
THE MEN IN HER LIFE ( 'olunibia Production.
Directors of Photography: Arthur Mil- ler, A.S.C, and Harry Stradling, A.S.C. Directors of Photography Arthur Mil- ler, A.S.C, and Harry Stradling, A.S.C. have, in "The Men in Her Life," turned out one of the most completely expres- sive examples of fine dramatic cinema- tography the season has seen. Sensitive- ly keyed to the dramatic moods of the story, their camerawork is at times al- most hauntingly pictorial.
This is particularly true of the earlier sequences of the picture — perhaps the first half — in which compositions and ef- fect-lightings build the production's basic mood like a powerful overture, with a power and beauty scarcely equalled since last season's Award-winning "Rebecca." Scene after scene in an eloquent tribute to the emotional power of the camera in skillful hands.
Production designer Nicholai Remisoff, too, has done a beautiful job on this picture — one that well atones for his overly aggressive sets which so marred "My Life With Caroline." There are several touches, too, such as the moving shadows on the tent-canvas which in the opening sequence plant the atmosphere of the circus, which show praiseworthy originality.
All told, "The Men in Her Life" should be on the "must" list for anyone inter- ested in fine cinematography.
THE FEMININE TOUCH Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production. Director of Photography: Kay June. A.S.C.
One could hardly say this diverting comedy is typical of the very best work Ray June, A.S.C, can turn out, though it is photographed with much of the usual June deftness and skill. From what we saw on the screen, we'd be inclined to suspect June's hand had been forced here and there by a director or execu- tives who were for the moment more interested in speed than in the all-around production quality for which MGM is famous. Photographically, it shows in little things one usually doesn't see in one of June's pictures: a little lack of smoothness in diffusion continuity here, a trace of uneven halftones there, and so on.
On the other hand, there is photogra- phically a great deal that is excellent in June's work in this film. His general treatment of the players is pleasing — especially in the instance of Kay Fran- cis— and his compositions and set-light- ings are excellent. The real photographic highlight of the picture, perhaps, is the surrealistic "nightmare" sequence, which is not only-amusing, but unusually in- teresting pictorially. For that matter, "The Feminine Touch" is very diverting
• ntertainment from start to fini.sh, though dramatically it could have stood .sotnc cutting to good advantage.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE Paramount Production (Techni( i)lor). Directors of Photography: Kay Itenna-
han, A.S.C and llarr> Hall»nb«ri;<r.
A.S.C
How you will like "Loui.siana Pur- chase" depends on how you like your Technicolor. If you favor it strong, after the fashion of the "Mississippi river water" upon which Victor Moore be- comes boiled in the picture, you'll like "Louisiana Purchase." But if, on the other hand, you've seen enough other Technicolor films like "Blood and .Sand" and "Blossoms in the Dust" to favor a more restrainedly artistic use of color, Paramount's favorite musical will prob- ably disappoint you.
In any event, you'll agree that Direc- tors of Photography Ray Rennahan, A.S.C, and Harry Hallenberger, A.S.C, have done their part of Technicoloring the film excellently indeed. Their light- ing-treatment is necessarily largely in high-key "comedy" lighting — sometimes done with a good deal more contrast and sparkle than is usual in conventional Technicolor technique — and graced sur- prisingly by several really excellent, low- key effect-lightings in which excellent use of color is made. They have dealt excellently with the players.
Compositionally. "Louisiana Purchase" is delightful. The spectacular settings afford innumerable opportunities for spectacularly eye-filling compositions, and Rennahan and Hallenberger take full advantage of every pictorial possibility. The opening sequence, and especially the following one in which the "Louisiana Belles" very decoratively sing the pic- ture's denial of "any resemblance to any places or persons, living or otherwise," gets the picture off to a novel start both dramatically and pictorially.
On the other side of the ledger are the settings and costumes which are publicly blamed on Raoul Pene du Bois. who seems to have been above the art supervision of the dependable, studio- wise Hans Dreier and Robert Usher, to say nothing of Technicolor's Natalie Kal- mus and Morgan Padelford. Mr. du Bois very evidently set out to create "a riot of color." In this, he was wholly successful; but in designing a back- ground for motion picture entertainment, he was more nearly a failure. Repeated- ly the background, with its use of strong colors and baroque designs, forced itself into the foreground of the viewer's at- tention. Such settings might, when used on the stage, where the audience has a wide field of view and can select what- ever it wishes to see or to ignore, per- haps be considered decorative: but on (Continued on Page 31)
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•lanuarv, P.M2
19
DODGING JAPAN'S CAMERA-CENSORSHIP
By FRED C. ELLS
THIS afternoon of December 17th, 1941, I was happily engaged in trying out the beautiful unearthly effects of various colored gelatins on a seascape. You know, just experiment- ing and figuring until the right combi- nation would justify fifty cents' worth of Kodachrome. The scene of my activity was the end of the Santa Monica pier. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed, but still no shot, when a young gentleman of 22 or so, in a natty outfit donated by a grateful government, stepped up. He wore a metal soup-plate, inverted, and a pleasant, but apologetic smile. He intimated politely that inasmuch as his present employers were at outs with a certain oriental people some 6,000 miles due west west by north, photography of Santa Monica seascapes couldn't be al- lowed, either now or in the indefinite future. So I carefully folded my gela- tins, and silently stole away.
A few minutes after I arrived home the telephone rang. It was the Editor of The American Cinematographer, suggesting that an article on photo- graphic censoi-ship in Japan would be timely and instructive. Somehow, he caught me right in the mood.
I think I can qualify as an export on .lapanese photographic censorship, which for years has been the most severe in the world. From 1925 to 1940 I took pictures constantly there, and never got locked up, in spite of the expectations of all my acquaintances. That is a record few foreign photographers can equal. Accurate knowledge and discretion was
the seci-et of my success. Not that I ever got to feeling cocksure over my photographic success. You don't when, as I did during the last few years of my stay in Japan, you know there is at least one plainclothes member of the Japanese Gestapo trailing you con- stantly!
In 1925 the sole legal restriction on photography was in certain specified Fortified Areas. Each of these areas was outlined on maps, and warnings were plainly posted in both Japanese and English on roads and paths leading into such areas. The restrictions also ap- plied to sketching and surveying. Resi- dent photographers naturally knew where these forbidden areas were, and if they had a modicum of brains, avoided them. But frequently a tourist would get caught, and lose some hours explain- ing all about it to the police. In such cases the films would be confiscated. Us- ually, but not always, the camera would be returned.
There were several pitfalls into which the unwary visitors fell. First, there were not many signs, and the newcomer didn't notice them when passing in an automobile. Chauffeurs and other civilians were too polite to protest to the visitor, but would turn the information over to the police after the damage was done. Theii, second, the visitor might be outside the area, but unwittingly shoot over the line. Thirdly, in some places inside the areas photography was winked at, because of a popular subject located there. An instance is the great
bronze Buddha at Kamakura, perhaps the most photographed object in all Japan. But woe betide the wight who snapped a shutter outside that temple compound. And then, there was always the smart guy who tried to get away with something. For him, no sympathy.
Under this Fortified Area restriction I was questioned twice by the police. The first time I was five miles outside an area — I had found a Japanese making geta (wooden shoes). It was a subject I wanted badly, and after the usual preliminaries, shot fifty feet or so. Of course a crowd gathered, and just as I was leaving, a cop arrived on a bicycle, complete with saber. He wanted to know what was going on. After some discussion he agreed that taking the workman was all right, but not to take anything showing the road or mountain contours. I confused the issue by ask- ing whether the workman was a car- penter or a cobbler. While the cop was thinking that one over, I departed hastily.
The second time I was well outside the sacred line. I was making a picture of rice culture. One of the interesting aspects was the fertilization of the fields. The farmers came into the cities, where there is very little modern sewerage, and go from home to home collecting nightsoil from the outhouses and privies. In the spring there is a steady sti-eam of handcarts loaded with this odorous booty outward bound to the fanns. It took me some time to get the shots I wanted. The next morning a policeman arrived at the office, and asked me what I was doing, surveying without a per- mit. Someone had seen the camera on a tripod, taken my auto license number, and reported me for sui"veying. When I explained that I was taking pictures, there was no further inquiry.
Sometimes it was possible to get a permit to photograph inside a Fortified Area, and the procedure was rather in- teresting. I once needed some shots of fish, and the only aquarium in the Yoko- hama area, where I lived, is in a For- bidden Zone. The director, a famous marine biologist named Dr. Eri, was edu- cated at Yale, and had studied his sub- ject at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts. Dr. Eri is one of the most cultured gentle- men it has ever been my good fortune to meet. He was most helpful, and wrote to the Commander of the district.
In due course I received a number of forms to fill out, giving my name, why I wanted the pictures, the type of equip- ment, the exact day and hour the pic- tures were to be taken, and a great many other points. I sent these off and in a few days was requested to come to the army headquarters at Yokosuka. I had an interpreter with me, and at the headquarters we picked up an army officer.
At the aquarium we found a plain- clothes-man and a private soldier. A careful record was made of all the film I shot, and at the beginning and end of each roll I had to shoot a few identify- ing frames of the faces of lihe plain- clothes-man and the soldier.
20
January, 1942
AMEaiicAN Cinematographer
Miiiil you, every iiuh of {\u- .shootinK was inside the buildinp. At the end I was allowed to kei'p the film for process- ing. When it returned from the labora- tory I took my projettoi- and screen over to Yokosuka, and a board of five officers reviewed it. They pronounced it harmless, and pave me a cci-tificate to that effect. Note that my permit was pood only for that one appointment. A Japanese could get a permit pood for several months.
Two Fox Movietone friends of mine, Alexander and Tappan, were taking a .35mm. news short of the race track one day. They had a policeman assigned to watch them, but because the track over- looked the P'ortified Area, and in spite of the jiolice guard, the film was confiscated, moch to their disgust.
As the nationalistic spirit grew stronger in the early 1930s, new restric- tions appeared. The National City Bank of New York wanted pictures of the big buildings around Kobe and Osaka for .*ome publication, and got into serious difficulties over them — in spite of the fact that every publication in .Japan carried such shots regularly. Then it be- came unlawful to take pictures of any waterfronts and seashore anywhere, railroad stations, bridges, power plants or any sort of industrial plants, power lines, police or military activities of any sort, any public buildings, or any shot from a height of over 100 yards. So many visitors got in trouble that the steamship lines forbade visitors to take cameras ashore, and any foreigner seen carrying a camera would be trailed. It was at this point that I switched from filming agriculture to insects and flowers. It was much healthier, I found, if less adventuixjus !
An officer was stationed at each of the various film-processing plants, and in theory at least, reviewed every inch of film developed. Any roll containing any shoreline or other identifiable physical feature, nr ;>nv "distress subject" reflect- ing on the dignity of a sensitive people with plenty of distress available, would be confiscated without hesitation — not only the offending footage, but the whole roll — and occasionally there would be folow-up inquiries as well.
As the situation tightened, a law was passed forbidding the exportation of ex- posed but unprocessed film. This ruined the foreign newsreel business, as the processing done in .laiian was of in- ferior quality, and further, spot news would have whiskers by the time a sub- ject could be processed and passed by the censor. At one time there were camera crews working for Fox, Hearst, Pathe, and Paramount, as well as occa- sional free-lancers on short subjects. .All of them were squeezed out one at a time.
At present the newsreel business in Japan is run by the big newspapers, like the Asahi Shimbun, or the Nichi Nichi Shimbun. They have large staffs, all equipped with Bell & Howell Eyemos, spring-driven type. Several of the.se photographers have been killed in action
ill China. They each put out one r»<l a week, and the runoff is one hundred copies. Processing is by the tank and rack method. Before the "China Inci- dent" in 19;n, practically all the film stock u.sed in Japan came from abroad. I understood that the locally manufac- tured films and papers were coated with imported emulsions. With the tighten- ing of exchange regulations, the local manufacturers began turning out emul- sions. These were extremely contrasty, with no range of tone, and the sensi- tivity was exasperatingly uneven. Ameri- can news-photographers, like "Life's" Paul Dorsey, have related that the most prized present they could give a Japan- ese officer (practically all of whom use cameras) was a load of genuine Ameri- can-made film.
Japan's factories turned out several types of still and cine cameras, usually close and not always licensed copies of American or European types. A favor- ite type of still-camera, for in.stance, was a Japanese-made composite of the Leica and Contax designs. In the pro- fessional movie field, I understand their studios often used painstakingly Japan- ese-made copies of the Bell & Howell and Mitchell. In the amateur field, most cameras and projectors bore startling resemblances to familiar American types. It was somewhat disconcerting, though, to run your films on a Nipponese pro- jector of hybrid design which might com- bine an imitation-Bell & Howell lamp- house on a synthetic Ampro movement and carefully-reproduced Eastman or Victor base!
Naturally, all films, amateur or pro- fessional, had to pass the police censor- ship before being publicly shown. "Pub- licly shown" means any projection out- side of a private home. There were brokers who made a specialty of ner- fonning this service. First, all titles, dialogue, and printed matter appearing in the picture had to be written out in detail in the original language. Then this material had to be translated into .Japanese, and bound into a book. This book was then duly stamped with offi- cial seals. There had to be one copy of the book for each print of the film, and the book had to accompany the print at all times, so that it would be immediate- ly available to any police official who de- sired to check a performance. I've often wondered how some of the lan- guage in our musical comedies and gangster pictures must sound when con- verted to Japanese — I'm sure our slang must have been a headache to the trans- lators. I also must mention that the prints also bore an embossed imnression. pressed deeply into the celluloid, of the censorship seal.
The censorship cut out protracted love clinches, and anything that might reflect on the dignity of any ruling head of any government — especially an .Axis one. Imagine what a circus they could have had with "The Great Dictator"! The censorship' wasn't unifomi, and changed its ideas from time to time. For ex- ample, one of my films showed a temple
null- with a Japanese jantt-rn Ix-aring the formal sixtecn-petal chrysanthemum design of the Imperial family. It pus.sed the censorship the first time, but wa.s cut out of a copy that was made later. How- ever, they didn't come back to ask about the first copy, so I still have the scene. The night.soil cart picture I mentioned above passed the cen.sorship, as appar- ently that had become so much a normal part of Japane.se life that it was ac- cepted without much thought as to its effect on a foreign audience.
For an amateur, there was a further step. To show a film in a school, church, or other .semi-public place, not a thea- tre, it was necessarj' to have a special permit from the police, giving full par- ticulars as to the film, the cen.sorship number, the name of the projectionist, and many other bits of information. A diagram of the hall was required, with all windows and exits, and a diagram of the streets in the vicinity, and indica- tions as to the points of the compass. If an admission was to be charged, that had to be given. After the performance, a further report had to be made, and the amusement tax paid. All in all, it was a bit discouraging to amateurs.
I got the above infonnation the hard way.
One day I was asked by the principal of the International School in Yokohama, to show one of my pictures. This school was privately owned and operated by the resident foreigners, and had no connec- tion with the Japanese school system. The picture was to be projected by my wife in the afternoon. She ran off the first reel, and when she tried to start on the second reel there was no current. She thought she had blown a fuse and that finished the show.
The next day the police came to me and requested that I come down to the station with the film, which I did. The film was taken away from me, and about two weeks later I was called to the pro- curator's office. The procurator is a combination of judge, jury, and prose- cuting attorney. I was not allowed to use my translator, or have a lawyer. .After some questioning, I admitted that I had projected the film without a i>er- mit, but pleaded ignorance of the law. So after signing a confession, and prom- ising never to do such a thine again, I was dismissed and recovered the film.
Later it developed that the janitor of the school was one of the ultra-fanatics, and had pulled the switch on the show and reported to the police. The police knew there was nothing to the case, but didn't dare not to go through all thf motions, as otherwise they would be onen to accusation of favorinc: foreigners. The janitor got fired on charges of ineffi- ciency as soon as the truth came out.
Now the peculiar part of this is, that I showed mv films for years before the above incident in Japanese public schools, and in assemblies of foreigners, and then got caught. -After that I had to in'sist on a police permit before a nrojection before any group. But the Tokvo ama- teur cinema club had lon«T progran.- (Continued on Page 36)
.AMKRKAV (iwm \T(i..i; m'UKK
lanuarv, 1942
■21
A big tin dishpan, some wire and lamp- sockets mal<es an excellent, wide-angled floodlight at low cost.
half of a discarded double-boiler. The body of the lamp was made by cutting away the bottom of the percolator and fitting it into the double-boiler. The holes that took the handle-bolts on the original utensils can usually be lined up so they'll hold a bolt that will hold the two parts of the lamp together.
You'll need ventilation, so leave the hole in the percolator which originally took the upper bolt that held its han- dle, and snip off the spout from which the coffee was originally poured. Flat- ten out this little piece of metal, and you'll have a flat piece which will make an excellent light-baffle when placed over the old pouring-opening, and held in place by bolts and small separating-washers.
For a lens, remove the glass top of the percolator and substitute the plano- convex lens of an old flashlight, mount- ed curved-side out.
There are several ways of mounting the light-globe inside this spotlight. Teorey used a standard Photoflood, which he mounted endwise in the lamp. He attached his lamp-socket to a length of brass tubing — discarded curtain-rod, if I remember aright — which in turn passed out of the lamp through what was originally the bottom of the double-
THE way the Nation's War Effort must necessarily cut into the avail- ability of cinematerial of all kinds is likely to prove an asset to the cine- gadgeteer. Of course "store-bought" equipment is and always will be more efficient than the home-built variety: but if your dealer's shelves are giving an imitation of Old Mother Hubbard's cup- board— well, just join the ranks of the gadget-builders, and you'll be imrprised w^hat workable equipment you can tin- ker up for yourself.
Take the matter of photographic lamps, for instance. Photoflood bulbs and similar high-power light-sources are still comfortingly available, but the sup- ply of lamps to use them in is dwindling as their manufacturers find they can better turn their men and machinery to turning out aircraft parts and similar wartime products. Yet we still need lamps to light our home-movie interiors. So let's make some for ourselves! All we'll need, in most cases, is some of the cast-off junk which collects around any household, a dime-store lamp-socket or two, and a good supply of ingenuity. For tools, a pair of tin-snips, a dime- store drill, and maybe a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
Exhibit "A" in this discussion is a Lwin-photoflood floodlighting unit which cinefilmer Bob Teorey of the Los An- geles 8mm. Club built from kitchen cast- offs and the outlay of a whole nickel in cash. For reflectors (big enough to take a No. 1 Photoflood) he used a pair of worn-out, lightweight aluminum sauce- pans which had passed the days of their kitchen usefulness. (Maybe tin would be more patriotic today, what with alumi- num needed for defense; hut the prin- ciple's the same.)
Lamps— Without Priorities!
By WILLIAM STULL, A.S.C
Teorey cut a neat hole in each sauce- pan, at the spot where the handle or- iginally joined. Into this hole, he screwed a metal lampshade-fitting — you know, the metal part that covers the 'works' of a lamp-socket — purchased for a nickel at the dime store. Into this fitting, he put a discarded, but still serviceable electric lamp-socket.
To the bottom of this fitting, he fixed a short length of gas-pipe, also culled from the salvage-bin. Being hollow, the tube permitted him to run the wire feeding his lamps down the middle of the gas-pipe.
Drilling suitable holes jn the bottom ends of his two gas-pipe arms, he mounted his lamps on a simple swivel- joint made from a bolt and a couple of bits of strap metal.
This, in turn, he mounted on a .stand which, in his case, was salvaged from the supporting base of an old dress- maker's form. It could, of course, be made just as well from an old music- stand or, as I've sometimes done, by fitting a small metal block beneath the swivel-base, and drilling a 'A-inch, threaded hole in the block so the lamp can be supported by your second-best tripod.
So you want a spotlight? Well, Teo- rey made a very fair one out of a dis- carded coffee-percolator and the lower
boiler, moving through a set-screw col- lar soldered to the end of the lamp. He focused his lamp by sliding this rod in and out.
But using a Photoflood in a spot- light— any spotlight, home-made or "bought'n" — has one drawback: it gives a very soft beam; you can't make it give a sharply-defined circle of light. But you can rig a spotlight like this one to utilize a small, clear-globe lamp like those used in the "Dinky Inkie." This globe, as you probably know, is a stand- ard 100-Watt or 150-Watt projection- type globe identical with those used in most minislide projectors. It takes a small, bayonet-type socket. And it isn't much trouble to get one of those sock- ets from, say, an auto-wrecking yard; they're identical with those used in headlights, etc., on many older-model cars. Fasten that to a wood or metal base, into which you can screw or solder the brass tube that moves your globe into and out of focus. In using a globe like this, by the way, it is important to line things up so the filament of the globe is held pretty well centered with respect to the center of your lens.
And with this, you'll have a fair, home-built "dinky." Of course, with the old type plano-convex lens, it won't be as efficient as a commercially-built "dinky" with its scientifically-designed
22
January, 1942
American Cinematographkr
Fresiiel lens, but it will work well enough, anyway.
If you want some extremely simple tloodlights, save the tinfoil that (so far, at least) wraps your ciKarettes, ranch- bars, and chewinp-pum. It makes a tine reflecting surface.
Next, take a pood-sized piece of me- dium-weijjht cardboard, and make your reflector. There are several ways to do this. If you cut out the cardboard in the shape of four truncated triangles — that is, triangles with their j^oints cut off square across (as in sketch B) — you can make a square, tapered reflector. If you cut it as shown in the sketch, (A), you can curl it to make a cone-shaped reflector.
For that matter, you can cut the name shapes out of light sheet-metal — say tin — if you want a more permanent re- flector.
Now, cement or glue your tinfoil, as flat and smooth as you can get it, on one side of the cardboard or tin that is to make up your reflector. Coat the other side with white enamel. Now, you'll have a double-purpose reflector. Used with the foil-covered surface in- ward; you'll have a reflector that casts a fairly strong beam. Used with the white-enameled surface in, you'll have a reflector that throws a much softer, flat- ter light.
If you use cai'dboard, you can fasten your reflector together with wire staples or with the split rivets used to fasten legal papers together. If you've made tin reflectors, you can bolt or even solder the segments together.
The smaller opening is of course fitted around an ordinary lamp-socket, in which you use a Photoflood bulb. You can attach simple clamps for mount- ing the lamp if you want to, or you
can make a simple, wooden stand by fitting a wooden upright — say a 1x1 — with four wooden braces at the bottom, either simple ones like those you used to hold the Christmas-tree upright, or triangles of plywood mounted one on each side of the upright. Screw your lamp-socket to a short, wooden arm about 18 inches or two feet long, and drill a series of holes in the upright to which you can bolt the arm to get your lamp at any desired height.
There's one type of lamp which, though extremely useful in either pro- fessional or amateur interior lighting, ust isn't commercially available at all. It is a small lamp which can be placed on the floor behind furniture, etc., to light up walls and the like. But you can easily make one. Rather, you can make yourself a pair of them.
The raw material is a large, tall can such as your wife buys tomato or pine- apple-juice in. Cut one of these cans in two, as shown in the sketch, mak- ing a sort of S-shaped cut so that you get two pieces, each including one end and about half the sides of the can. For safety's sake, you'd better turn dow-n the edges, so you won't cut your hand when you grab hurriedly at your lamp!
Then, mount this on a wooden base, a little bigger than the bottom of the can. Inside, mount a standard lamp- socket, and run the feed-wire out through a convenient, small hole low down at the rear of your reflector. This will give you a lamp, suitable for either a Photoflood or a projection-type bulb, which you can hide handily on the floor behind furniture, to light up walls, and produce separation between your set and the furniture or actors.
There's another type of lamp which
rjnefilmer Bob Teorey of the L. A.
5mm. Club made these floodliqhti
(below) and this spotlight (above)
from household junk.
isn't available commercially, but which is very handy. You might call it a super-floodlamp. Often in filming in- terior scenes, especially on today's super-fast types of film, you'll want something to provide a fairly .«trong general-lighting over a wide area with- out tying up the stronger, narrower- angled floods and spots you'll use for modelling and highlighting effect.s. I made a lamp of this type several years ago which, eciuipped with up to 0 Photofloods, will give a broad, even illumination of about the same inten- sity as a single Photoflood in a regular commercial reflector: but instead of concentrating this illumination in a rel- atively narrow angle of about 60 de- grees or less, this spreads it over an angle of almost 1.50 degrees. With it, you can provide general lighting on a whole room, and use your other lamps to build up the desired intensity on your players.
The foundation of my lamp is a big, tin dishpan. When I made the lamp, getting that dishpati was about the hardest part of the job; tin wasn't in style, though I could get any number of big, expensive aluminum or enamel- ware ones. Today, tin kitchenware is very much in style again, with the ob- ject of conserving aluminum for the defense industries, so that part should be easier. You can suit yourself about dimensions: my dishpan is IT inches in outside diameter, tapering to 14-inch diameter at the smaller end, and 6 inches deep. It cost me $1.35. There's room in it for six Photofloods — either No. I's or No. 2's— without crowding and with ample ventilation.
These lamps are mounted in bakelite (Continued on Page 34)
.Americ.\.n Ci.nematocraphkr
.Januarv, UM2
23
Meet Larme Pay-- Professional Cineamateur
By WtLTOH SCOTT
TO some people, the business of being a rising young film-actress means the relatively simple matter of knowing your lines and doing what the director tells you to, with no ques- tions asked. But not to Laraine Day. She feels that to be a successful actress, she must know something, at least, of the why of all that goes on around her to put her image on the screen. Why the director tells her to play a scene thus and so — why the cinematographer em- ploys this angle or that lamp — why the film-editor assembles the individual takes as he does. In short, the practical details of movie-making, as apart from movie- acting.
And being a smart girl, as well as an attractive one, she realizes that the an- swers to these questions don't come out of theory alone, but out of practice.
Watching someone else do them in the studio isn't enough. Neither is asking questions.
So she has set out to learn the answer the hard— and lasting — way: by doing it all herself. A few months ago she bought herself a 16mm. camera, and, as she puts it, enrolled in the college of cinematic experience.
Now, a movie-star with a home-movie camera is no novelty in Hollywood. Plenty of them have them, and grind out occasional shots of the baby, or of tennis at Palm Springs and bathing at Malibu. But Laraine Day isn't that kind of a movie-maker. You may have fun turning out haphazard cine-snapshots, she reasons: but you're not likely to learn much from them that will help you when you step out in front of a big lilimm. cameia on a studio stage.
So she has organized what might be called a cinematic "Little Theatre" group for the express purpose of seriously attacking the hardest kind of home- movie making: producing scenario pic- tures. "Creative Pictures, Inc.," her group is called, and they really make pictures. It's a democratic group, too. With Miss Day as Director-Cinema- tographer, the personnel of Creative Pic- tures, Inc., includes young men and women of every walk of studio life — there are secretaries, messenger-boys, prop-men, aspiring young players — all bound together by a common interest in learning what makes movies move.
All told, there are thirteen "regoilar" members of the Creative Pictures group. They form the nucleus of a production staff which expands almost overnight to thirty or forty enthusiastic volunteers when a picture is in production.
Last summer they made their first picture, a comedy. "We took what we thought was the safe, consei-\'ative course," Miss Day will tell you. "That is, we chose a story that was all exte- riors. But — it was a comedy, which is, we found, one of the hardest things a group of amateur actors and techni- cians can tackle. Especially when your picture is, as ours had to be, a silent picture.
"We're not very proud of that first attempt. But it taught us a lot about screen comedy — timing, tempo, and all the other things that are so impoitant. And it showed us plenty of technical things we — and particularly I, as direc- tor-cameraman— had to learn before tackling our next picture.
"But we had a lot of fun making it, too. We had things organized as care- fully as any studio location unit — organ- ization is half the secret of doing a good job in any sort of amateur dramatic work, you know. We had certain people told off as a transpoi-tation unit; others as a wardrobe and prop staff; and oth- ers— they were the really important ones — as our commissary, to see to it our hungry filmsters were well supplied with a picnic lunch at noon!
"During the actual shooting, we all had to "double in brass," and do what- ever was necessary. I guess in that it was a good deal like the early days of the professional movies, for sometimes when our actors weren't needed in a scene you'd find them holding a reflector, or carrying the camera, or almost any- thing.
"As I've directed a number of 'Little Theatre' plays, I had the job of direct- ing our picture, and photographing it, as well. That experience gave me a new respect for the few people who have had the courage to direct and photograph a professional picture! Each assignment — direction and photography — is really a full-time job. And as if that wasn't enough, in one scene we ran out of 'extras' — and the rest of the group pressed me into service in a 'walk- through' bit!"
When the picture wa.-; completed, "Cre-
jContinued on Page 34)
24
January, 1942
American Cinematocraphkr
I DON'T think anyone v\ov bothticd to work out an exact dclinition of what a professional cineniatoni'apher means when he speaks about "ert'cct- lij!;htinRs." So it's no wonder hoine-niovi*' enthusiasts often ask us if "effect- liKhtinjrs" are soniethinjj- exclusively pro- fessional, or if they can be used shooting IGmni. and 8mm. interiors at home.
Certainly they can ! What's more, they should be, for if you use them in their proper place they can do a threat deal to inake your interiors seem more )iat- ural, and take away the impression that somebody just set up a pair of lights and said, "Let's shoot a mo%ie."
Just to get the record straight, my impression of the meaning of the term ■■etrect-lightings" would run something like this: it's any tyjie of lighting which attempts to reproduce the effect of the illumination you'd actually see in any particular room or place under the con- ditions of the story, as apart from the smooth, overall illumination of a con- ventional lighting.
That, you may say, covers a lot of territory — but so do effect-lightings! They, can range from the most extreme and obvious instances like night-effect interiors in a mystery-story, where the room is in total darkness except for a beam of moonlight splashing through a window, to the rather less obvious effect- lightings which might reproduce, say, the effect you'd noi-nially get in your living- room at night, with the illumination coming from one shaded lamp on the table and a reading-lamp by your pet armchair.
From the amateur's viewpoint, the really beautiful thing about this whole business of effect-lightings is that they can very easily be done with modern amateur cameras, film and equipment. You don't have to have a set-full of professional spotlights, and so on, though I'll admit a baby spot or a "dinky" or two helps. The one thing you really need is an eye capable of seeing the natural effects you want to reproduce.
Let's take that living-room shot I mentioned a minute ago. With the fast films, like Eastman's Super-XX and Agfa's Triple-S, available for 16mm. and 8mm. use today, it's a cinch to put a shot like that on your home screen. All you have to do is slip a Photoflood into the table-lamp and the reading-lamp in place of the regular globes^and there you are. You'll get the same effect pho- tographically that the regular globes gave you visually: a spot of bright light on the person beside each lamp, surrounded by a fairly bright glow of light, falling off into shadows in be- tween. The difference is that the level of the lighting has simply been raised to useful photographic intensity.
Now, it's possible you may not want the shadows to go absolutely black and empty between these two highlight-areas. If that's the case, .just take one (or, if it's a large room, two) of your photo- graphic floodlighting units and put it fairly high and well back — possibly sev- eral feet behind the camera — so that it
What Do We Mean When We Talk About Effect-Lightings?"
By PHIL TANNURA, A.S.C.
throws a soft flood of light all over your scene, lightening up those shadowed areas. You may sometimes have to use more than one of these "filler" lights, so that you'll get the desired exposure everywhere in the shadowed area. For safety's sake, it's probably best to take individual meter-readings on objects, not only in the highlight-area, but also in those shadow-areas, and adjust your "fill-in" illumination so that it's unifonn, and also so that it is in correct ratio to the highlight-illumination.
.Just w'hat that correct ratio is depends on several factors, most important of which are your own preferences, and the characteristics of the film you use and the processing it receives, so the best way of determining it is by making a practical test or two. Begin with a lighting in which your meter tells you the shadows are getting, say, half the light the highlights receive. Then, keep- ing your highlight-illumination constant, make two or three further tests, each time reducing the "filler-light" illuminat- ing the shadows a bit more. Once you've determined this ratio, it "will hold good as long as you use the same type of film; but if you switch to another make or type of film, you'll probably find you'll have to repeat the tests, due to the differences in contrast, shadow-speed, and so on between different emulsions.
When a professional wants to make one of tho'se extreme night-effect light- ings in which the inside of the room is dark except for a beam of mooilight
coming through a window, he usually sets up a big spotlight (an arc, if he can get it) outside the window. That's hardly practical for the average ama- teur. But you can often get a very similar result by letting a beam of real sunlight double for the spotlight. Ex- pose for the people or things in that beam of direct sunlight, and keep the rest of the room fairly dark, and you'll get the "effect-lighting" you want. It often helps if you use a slow, rather con- trasty type of film for this, so you won't find yourself getting exposure in the shadow-areas where you don't want it.
Another simple type of effect-lighting is shown in the illustration. With the strongest illumination coming from the fireplace, it gives the illusion that the people were illuminated by a comfortable fire. Actually, of course, the source of light was a Photoflood, conveniently hidden in the fireplace, just out of the frame. If you want a flickery effect to simulate real firelight, a good idea is to get a low-based kerosene lamp, turn the wick fairly high, and burn it, with the chimney removed, directly in front of the Photoflood in the fireplace. Without its chimney, the lamp will give off a high, flickery flame, burning with quite a lot of smoke. Being in front of your real source of light, it will give you an excellent flickering effect.
Some kinds of effect-lightings can simplify photographic problems for you, and suggest something that didn't ac- (Continued on Page 32)
American Cinematographer
.lanuarv, 11M2
While he was in Junior High, he had managed to get together enough money to purchase a small 16mm. camera at an auction; before he could make pictures with it, he had to start saving for money enough to get it repaired. By the time he was able to use it, it had be- come rather an expensive camera. How- ever, he battled along with it, applying his analytical mind to the study of its possibilities, and its limitations, with the result that when he started to make pictures, he knew his camera. The sub- jects he made were of a documentary kind, a visual explanation of an impor- tant class subject, and he, likewise, be- came popular as the "Movie Professor."
Encouraged, he commenced to lay aside small sums of change toward the purchase of a better camera, one not so limited in its application, and with which his growing knowledge and interest could expand with better results. He
Getting Acquainted With Your New Camera
By ALVIN WYCKOFF, A.S.C., D Sc.
HE held the lucky number! He won the prize! . ■ ' '
The thing had fascinated him. It had been in his dreams at night dis- turbing his rest. During the day he turned a deaf ear to the silent voice that kept giving life to the hope that the number he held would be the winning one.
The announcer for the great Olympic Club drawing was calling the name of the winner of the Christmas contest and awarding the prize.
. There it was, posted across the bulle- tin board in great black letters that smiled at him; his own name. Now he could hear it coming out of the loud- speaker as the announcer's voice blared it out loudly. Joe was embarrassed. Heads turned to look at him as the an- nouncer hailed him. "Come up and get it Joe." Then there was a lot of hand- shaking. Joe began to feel what it was like to be the winner of a Cine-Kodak Special, complete with tripod, three lenses, cases, and all the accessories.
Since he graduated, two years back, he had been holding down a small job that paid just enough to get bin: over the "bumps" with a little change to play with. Since the early days of Grammar- school, photography had been his absorb- ing hobby. Now, that hobby was to ger- minate and grow into an avocation. Per- haps later — well, who knows . . . ?
kncv/ what he waiited; it was pictured in his mind 'till it tormented him, at times. Now he had it. He held it in his arms, almost afraid to touch it. Dame Fortune had not only knocked at his door, she had opened it wide!
He was interrupted; jarred out of his vision-dream by the voice of Bill Has- kins. Genial Bill, he was called by his friends, was saying things to him he had not heard; now he listened.
"Well Joe," said Bill. "That's a beauty, isn't it? Now, you can make real moving pictures! S'pose you'll ditch the old box that's carried along the be- ginning of your photographic career?"
Joe looked up, his face_ beaming with real joy. "Hello Bill. Gee, but Pm a lucky guy! Guess Pll have to learn all over again. These gadgets 'n things, focusing lenses, fade-out and dissolve lever, tripod with a panoram and tilt head!" Joe picked up the old camera, worn and dull. He looked at it affec- tionately. "No Bill. Pll not throw it away, Pll keep it. Maybe use it for test- ing. You see Bill, this old box has been a companion on a lot of joy-occasions — sometimes a headache too, but it'll be good to experiment with." Putting it down on the bench, he lifted the new camera out of its case, tenderly. "It's a beauty all right; now if I can only use it correctly — "
"Joe," broke in Rill. "Remember when
you asked me to show you what it was that made the wheels go 'round in the old camera? Well, that first camera of yours was just as much a mystery to you then, yes, I'll say more of a mystery, than this new camera with all its ac- cessories."
For a moment, Joe's expression was blank. He didn't want to contradict Bill, he relied on him, his advice had always been good, and Bill had taught him what he knew of the basic principles of photography. He had taken many hours out of his time to demonstrate the prin- ciples he advanced. Bill was a profes- sional cinematographer; what they called an "Ace Cameraman," he made his liv- ing through his knowledge of his pro- fession; he should know. Joe always turned to Bill when he didn't feel secure in his own amateur-cine knowledge, and he did it now when he said.
"Bill, I realize there is much more to this camera than the fixed-focus box I've been working with; its set shutter open- ing, set speed, and small lens-aperature. This new camera is the first violin of the orchestra, not just a whistle of one note. I know Pll not be confined to just a few hours of bright daylight for oper- ating time as I have been. With this new camera I'm going to be able to go places and do things, that is, after I know the camera."
"Right." Bill became almost affection- ately confidential. "Joe, with this new camera you can produce photographic results equal to those of scientific pro- fessionals; but you're going to have to study; a lot of study and research by yourself. Your problems are your own. The answers to them will have to come out of your own mind. According to the study and research you put into the thing you want to accomplish, will be the degree of your proficiency. The re- sults you can achieve ? The sky's the limit!'"'
Joe got serious. The dazed expression had faded away. "You know what Pm goin' t' do Bill?" Now it was Joe who was confidential. "Bill, I'm not goin' t' try t' make a picture with this camera until I have sat down with it, lived with it, for a month, or longer if need be, getting acquainted with all its features, till I know what every button, every dial and lever, and all the marks are for. and what happens when they are manipu- lated. And the lenses! Look at this one. /:1.9. Why, I can almost make pictures in the dark with some fast film behind it! Isn't that a beautiful piece of jewel - glass ? And look at these other two lenses — "
"Yes," interrupted Bill, "A wide-angle, and a three-inch telephoto. With that telephoto, like Mohammed, you can bring the mountain to you. Joe, when these lenses need cleaning, for the love of Mike, don't breathe on 'em and then rub 'em with a piece of cloth, or the end of your necktie: many fine lenses have been ruined that way. Never blow your breath on a lens to clean it! Use the
(Continued on Page 31)
2G
January, 1942
Amkrican Cinemato(;i<ai'hkk
Professional Advice On K
Making Films Easy To Edit
By HAL HALL
Former Editor, "American Cinematographer," and film-edi+or on many professional and amateur travel films.
i^BOUT a year ago a man came to r-\ me and asked me to edit approxi- ■^ mately five thousand feet of KJmm. film he had shot in a foreign country. He explained that he wanted it pre- pared as a lecture-film; that he plaimed a two-hour lecture and wanted the film edited to run that length.
Quite naturally, before I could cither quote him a price or decide whether or not to do the job I had to see it on the screen. I'll never forget the feeling of sadness that surged through me when the last foot had been run and the man turned to me and a.sked me what I thought of it.
You see, this man had explained to me that he had quit his job in Cali- fornia, had used up all his savings and spent a year traveling and shooting the film. He was back, practically broke, and had found visions of becoming both famous and financially well-off by using it on a lecture tour. This man was just a rank amateur movie maker, and that was what he had brought back after a year of hard work. He had brought hack five thousand feet of the same type of stuff that all too many of our ardent home-movie makers bring when they re- turn from the annual vacation or a trip to foreign lands.
Of course, I had to tell him that his stuff was terrible. I can't forget the look on his face when I told him that I couldn't take his money on an editing job on that material. He was just about the sickest-looking individual you can possibly imagine. His money gone, a year of effort wasted. And all because he made the same mistakes most of our amateurs make. The only difference was that this man wouldn't be .showing his stuff to a lot of bored visitors, but the amateurs would. Yes, sir, to every quest who came to their house. Tell me, if you i.an, what can be wor.se than havino- to sit politely for two hours and look at pictuz-es that are so bad they make you want to scream?
The editor has asked me to relate, from mv editing experience, some of ths most glaring mistakes amateurs gen- erally make when .shooting travel film. That is whv I started out by telling of the man who made a lecture-film that couldn't be saved. I'll tell you .some of the things he did and didn't do, with the hope that some of you may profit by his mistakes.
In the first place, practically ninety percent of the material he photographed which might have been good subject- matter was shot at such a distance that
you wouldn't know what it was unless he was on hand lo say:
"Away in the background there is a machine-gun. Tho.se specks behind it are the maihine-gun crew. They were really very effective in the matter of defense. When the enemy met them he knew he liad met something."
But, dear reader, motion pictuies are supposed to be visual things. The man had neglected to get close and interest- ing shots of the machine-gun and its crew, although he explained that he had permission to do anything he wanted. He just thought it was exciting to .see the gun in the distance as he was film- ing, but he never thought to move up and get something an audience •.ould see.
That's what a lot of amateur movie makers do on the summer vacation. They drive along the country road, for example, and see some farmers loading hay in the hayfield. They sit in the car, turn the lens in the general direction of the hayfield, and shoot an agonizingly long amount of indistinct long-.shot foot- age. When they get home their friends will see a title flash on the screen say- ing: "Haying,"' and then they will squint and try to see how haying is done, while the enthusiastic makei- of this master- piece will try to explain.
If the amateur would shoot his long- shot, then get out of the car, climb the fence and really go to work making close shots of the interesting work from vari- ous angles he would come out with an interesting little sequence that would really mean something.
The man who made the lecture-film had hundreds of feet showing bombing planes flying thousands of feet in the air. They were so high they were merely specks on the screen. He explained they were flying to bomb a city. Following this he had some scenes of a town after the bombs had hit. But there were no scenes of the bombing. There weren't even scenes of people digging in the rubble. No action. When I asked him where were the scenes showing the bombs falling, houses crashing to the ground, etc.. he rather blankly remarked that he had not made those.
-Amateurs, please, please, get action, and get it as close as possible. I saw a 16mm. picture not so long ago of the tearing down of a high smoke stack. The amateur had made nice close-ups of the men putting dynamite in chinks at the base of the stack. He then showed a lone shot of the stack. .And next he showed a closeup of the mass of bricks after the stack had fallen. But he had
!»?*.*>
been so excited when the dynamite went off that he forgot to make ihe really interesting part of the picture— the crashing of the stack!
I was editing some film that a wealthy amateur had made in .\frica some time ago. It was supposed to be in the ele- phant country. It was, but all ihe ele- phants were so far away they looked like blotches. In order to make the stuff presentable to his friends, we had to go out and buy some stock — shots of elephants close enough so you could tell they were elephants.
Another very general error is that amateurs forget when they are photo- graphing moving objects, such as pa- rades, and the like, that the objects should continue to move in the same direction. I mean if you see the men in a parade marching by heading to your right that is the way you should make (Continued on Page 32)
.A.MF.RU A.\ C'lNEMATOr.RAPHF.R
•lanuarv, HU2
AMONG THE MOVIE CLUBS
Blackouts
We notice with regret that practice blackouts and the generally unsettled conditions following America's sudden entry into the war seems to have blacked out the regular December meetings of a number of amateur movie clubs from coast to coast. We hope this cessation of activity is only temporary, for con- tinued activity on the part of America's movie clubs can serve two valuable pur- poses. First of all, we need the relaxa- tion a hobby like movie-making can pro- vide, if we are each to carry on at his best under wartime strains. Second, and no less important, America's organized movie amateurs can serve their country importantly in many ways. Among them are such projects as aiding in the ex- hibition of government-made Civilian Defense Films; the production, in co- operation with local and national au- thorities, of such Alms, specifically adapted to suit local needs; and public showing of outstanding amateur-made films as a means of raising funds for the U.S.O., the Red Cross, and similar patriotic organizations.
In this latter connection, THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER gladly offers to any Amateur Movie Club the use of any of its extensive li- brary of International Prize-Winning 16 mm. and 8 mm. films, waiving the usual restriction that these films may not be exhibited for paid admission, in any case where the proceeds are devoted to raising money for any of these patriotic funds.
It is worth noting that in England, where blackouts and wartime precau- tions are the real thing, Amateur Cine Clubs and Societies are carrying on in spite of the war. The December issue of "Amateur Cine World," just received, publishes a list of nearly two dozen such groups reporting activity, and fur- ther states that the Federation of Cine- matograph Societies reports a full list of film-bookings up to April, 1942, and that the Institute of Amateur Cinema- tographers is reviving its annual Contest and also its film-production unit.
If England can do it, America's ama- teurs certainly can, too — so CARRY ON AMERICA!
Sound In Philadelphia
The December meeting of the I'hila- delphia Cinema Club featured two sound- on-film pictures made by members of the Club. "Paradise," by Member Rob- ert Henderson covered a number of na- tionally-famous processions, featuring the bands and especially the drum ma- jorettes. Member Leon Hardfield showed the difficulties of making and showing home movies through the medium of .sound. Both films were of interest be- cause of the development of amateur movie sound-effects and showed con-
siderable progress with non-professional apparatus.
Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Hirst showed two 8 mm. Kodachrome films, one on "Yellowstone Park," and the other on "Glacier National Park." Both were very finely done, with a keen appre- ciation of composition, lighting and sub- ject-matter. In addition to the usual views of geysers, falls, canyons and mountains associated with the North- west, Mr. Hirst was successful in se- curing some rare pictures of animal and plant life and some very interesting and intimate close-ups of Blackfoot Indians in Montana.
B. N. LEVENE, President
Contest In Indianapolis
The December 17th meeting of the Indianapolis Amateur Movie Club was the announcement of the results of the Club's Annual Contest. Winner in the Scenario Division was "Lathe Project," (180 feet 8 mm., black and white) filmed by J. W. Sovine. In the Documentary Division, "Meridian Hills Activities," (320 feet 16 mm. Kodachrome) took first honors. Judging was done by the Editor of THE AMERICAN CINEMA- TOGRAPHER and the Offi.cers of the Los Angeles 8 mm. Club, who gave "Lathe Project" a score of 83.7 out of a possible 100%, and "Meridian Hills Activities," 82.7. The runners-up were, in the Scenario Division, "Photograph- ers' Model," (125 feet black and white 8 mm.) by C. E. Luethge (63.8), and "Repousse Work," (100 feet 8 mm. black and white) by J. E. Willenborg (72.8) among the Documentaries.
ELMER M. CULBERTSON,
President
L. A. Cinema Elects
The December meeting of the Los Angeles Cinema Club featured the Club's Annual Election of Officers, and also the Annual Contest. Officers for the Club's 1942 Season are: A. A. Ander- son, President; Jacques Shandler, Vice President; and Raymond B. McMillan, Secretary-Treasurer. Committees will be announced at the January meetings.
The Club's Annual Contest brought out a greater number of excellent films than any Contest the Club has held in a number of years. Winners were, Re- tiring President William Hight, First Prize; Guy Nelli, Second Prize; and Earl Memory, Third Prize. Additional Awards went to more than a dozen other contenders, some of whom had entered films which, like Fred Ells remarkable film on the praying mantis, were so completely away from the usual run of movies that they richly deserved special classification and Awards.
JACQUES SHANDLF.R. Secretary.
Utah Amateur Club
Highlights of the December meeting of the Utah Amateur Movie Club in- cluded a demonstration-talk on Titling by F. K. Fullmer, the ever-popular "I Have a Problem" question-and-answer session by members of the Club's Tech- nical and Advisory Committee, the screening of member C. A. Thomas' 1940 Contest film, and, as the feature of the evening, the Western Premiere of "Minnie's Mince Pie," furnished through the courtesy of the Gopher Movie Club of Minneapolis.
The Club has completed plans for its Annual Contest, to be held at the Club's March meeting. Three Divisions are contemplated: Class "A," Class "B," and a special division for Musical Films. Each Division is to be judged separately, by outstanding judges outside the Club. February 1st is set as the deadline for entries.
TED GUERTS, Secretary.
San Francisco Dines, Nominates
Scheduled for the December meeting of the Cinema Club of San Francisco was the Club's Annual Banquet. Screen entertainment was to include two out- standing films by Allyn Thatcher. One was "Ice Follies," which won the recent "Ice Follies" Contest, and the second one, "Summer Vacation." Both are in 16 mm. Kodachrome, with sound-on- disc.
The Club's Nominating Committee announced the foUovdng slate of nomi- nees for the Clubs 1942 officers. For President, Rudy Arf stein; for Vice President, Anthony Kleyn; for Secre- tary, Mrs. John Seitz; for Treasurer, Fred Youngberg; for Directors (three to be chosen) Dave Redfield; John Smurr; L. J. Duggan; Fred Wells and L. M. Perrin.
JOHN B. SMURR, President.
Tri-City Banquets
The Tri-City Cinema Club of Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, and Daven- port, Iowa, held a Banquet-meeting De- cember 15th. President Raymond Schmidt acted as toastmaster, and sev- eral members recited amusing or inter- esting camera-experiences. Program- Committee Chairman Tom Griberg pre- pared special Club End-titles in Koda- chrome, and distributed them to the members.
Member John Hoffman of Moline, filmed the banquet in Kodachrome, mak- ing a series of shots of the guestsr — more than seventy in number — seated at the various tables. The evening was a great success.
GEORGIA T. FIRST, Secretary.
28
January, 1942
American Cinematographer
SHOES
Scenario-travelogue, 200 feet 8mm. Koda-
chrome. Filmed by John E. Walter.
One of the c-hit>l' weaknesses of most home-movie travelogues is that while they may be long on .scenery, they're short on story-interest. But here's one which cleverly combii\es a thread of story with excellent scenic photojjraphy. And, for added measure, the story is cleverly humorou.s — one of those "it happens in every home" affairs.
The film itself is a record of a three- day F'ourth-of-July holiday trip to the mountains. For story-interest, cine- filmer Walter didn't content himself with mere occasional haphazard shots of himself and his wife walking- through the scenery. Instead, he opens the pic- ture with the two deciding where they'll spend their holiday, closing the sequence with the wife's announcement that on the trip she'll wear her new sport san- dals.
The rest of the film deals with the ine\'itable sorrows of wearing openwork shoes on a hiking-trip. Walter gives us plenty of very excellently-photographed scenery — some shots showing extremely high pictorial ability; but he dishes his .scenery out in small portions, so that before any scenic sequence has a chance to become boring, it is supplanted by another, natural story-sequence, culmin- ating finally in a deftly surprising "O. Henry twist."
In making the scenic shots, Walter has dared to use his camera at times when the rule-book would pronounce it taboo. He's filmed campfires, excellently im- pressionistic low-key shots of a camp- fire smoke rising through the trees, back- lit effects on Whitewater rivers and steaming falls, and occasional shots made late in the day, with very pictorial, long shadows.
Our only suggestions would be that he could have saved footage by cutting some of his spoken titles into the mid- dle of the close-ups showing the char- acter speaking, and that in one instance — where he has two titles reading "We pitched our tent — " " — and loafed around the campfire" he let too much footage elapse between the two titles. The scenes showing the pair returning from the hike also came unexpectedly, as there had been nothing previous to indicate they'd .started their return.
OUR HERO
Seenario; 200 feet 8mm. black-and-white. Filmed by L. B. Reed.
This is a surprisingly amusing little comedy, filmed by the members of a Naval Reser\-e Aviation Squadron. De- tailing the adventures of a more or less
intrepid explorer who finds he can't be a hero in Africa, and joins the Navy, the film is considerably better than the average amateur comedy, and in some ways reminiscent of the professional Ab- bott and Costello films.
There's a sequence which makes clever use of professional camera-tricks when the bandy-legged hero, after deciding he's too exhausted to .scale a high cliff, suddenly sees a lion — and changes his mind. The lion is cleverly cut in by means of a shot made in San Diego's famous barless zoo. W^e'd suggest, how- ever, that this scene would be more effective perhaps if cut in ahead of the scene in which the hero "does a take" and his topee flies off.
Some of the scenes, especially in the middle and latter .sequences of the film, seemed a bit on the underexposed side. But when you consider the circumstances of the film's making, and the laughable results achieved, this hardly ranks as a major flaw.
PHOTOGRAPHER'S MODEL Scenario Film; 125 feet 8mm. black-and- white. Filmed by C. E. Luethge.
This is a praiseworthy attempt at a family scenario picture, and misses fire largely because of technical limitations in film and subject-matter of a key se- quence, and by unsure handling of the titles. As a story of a day's work for a little girl who poses for commercial photographers, the idea and basic treat- ment of the picture is clever, and a bit out of the ordinary. However, too much footage is devoted to showing the pho- tographer at work in his studio, and be- cause of the disparity in speed between the 8ram. film and the film in the still- man's camera, practically all of this foot- age is lost in underexposure, so that it ?eems repetitious and unintelligible. Now that a much faster 8mm. film is avail- able, however, this sequence could easi- ly be remade, and the picture improved 100%.
The titling w-as rather awkward. A picture like this needs spoken titles; none were used here. And such titles as were used, were rather dull, explana- tory ones, and incorrectly cut into the picture. Sometimes there was a definite repetition between an explanatory title and pictured action which really told the same story. For example, there is a title givnng the name of the still-photogra- pher's studio. This is followed by a shot of little Betty and her mother driving up to the studio, with the camera pan- ning over to the studio's name-plate. In this instance, the title could have been eliminated. It would, also, have been better to handle the action this way: Close-up of .the studio's name-plate, then pan over and down to show either the
car driving up and mother and daughter entering, or merely the two people enter- ing the door, leaving the audience (which has already seen them drive from home in the car) to assume they had already parked the auto.
In the same way, the title at the end of the picture, referring to the adver- tisement in which the girl's picture ap- peared, could have been eliminated. It would have been much better to cut ((uickly from the scene in which the mother sees it in the paper and calls the girl, to an insert of the ad itself. Simi- larly, early in the picture the title "Stu- dio call," could have been replaced by a spoken title (set off in quotation-marks) making the mother say, "Yes, I'll have Betty at the studio at 2:30 this after- noon."
THE MAGIC CLOSET
.Scenario; 125 feet smni. Black-and-white.
Filmed by W. D. Garlock.
The story of this diverting little pic- ture is told by its opening and closing titles "Once upon a time was a man who had a movie camera. And he also had a wife — ■" and "What's sauce for the goose is applesauce for the gander." In between are 125 feet of comedy action sure to strike a responsive note in the heart of any married man who owns a camera.
The technical treatment is excellent. Garlock's lightings are unusually effect- ive, and convey much more of an im- pression of naturalness than is the case with most home-movie interiors. His continuity and editing, not to mention the acting of his players, are excellent.
We might suggest, however, that the "punch" of the picture would be stronger if he could show, early in the picture, a shot of the inside of the closet, show- ing it crammed with the husband's pho- tographic equipment. This could be cut in either at the time he places his mys- terious package there, or when, later, his wife finds it. Also, while the panto- mine is clear, and there are a fair num- ber of spoken titles, a few more titles would help the picture quite a bit.
REPOUSSE WORK
Documentary; 100 feet 8mm. black-and- white. Filmed by: J. E. WiJIenborg.
The filmer here had a subject definite- ly out of the ordinary, and has filmed it quite well. But he needs considerably more explanatory titles to make the meaning really clear. He gets into his picture rather too suddenly: most peo- ple don't know what repousse work is in the first place: this should certainly be established at the outset. Thereafter, more titles should be used, to make each step clearer. Some of the footage seems (Cont'mued on Page 32)
American Ci.nematocrapher
•lanuary, 1942 29
HERE S HOW
Making Fades
On interior scenes, I make fade-outs by stopping down the lens of my camera as far as I can. But on exteriors, I can't do it, because my lens won't close com- pletely, and I can't get my fade-out to go completely "out." How can I get around this difficulty?
William H. Morrison
The simplest way to do it would be to use a fading-glass or one of the auto- matic or semi-automatic fading gadgets like the Harrison "Rotofade." However, if you can't do this, we'd suggest that you get a .100 Neutral Density filter. This is a colorless, neutral gray, and does not change the color-rendition of your scene, so it can be used with either black-and-white or Kodachrome. Its fac- tor, for all types of film, is 10. Shooting outdoors with this filter on your lens you will have to increase the exposure 10 times to get a normally-exposed picture: if you're shooting in an /:16 light, you'll have to open up to /:5, if it's an /:8 light, you'll have to open up to /:2.5. This will give you plenty of latitude to make a lens fade-out, even though your lens won't close completely.
Diffusion
I'd like to reproduce in my own movies some of the slightly diffused effects I see in professional pictures. Can this be done in Ifimm.?
F. R. Benson You can use diffusion in either 16mm. or 8mm. as well as you can in 35mm., with one difference: your diffu- sion in either of the substandard sizes must be a great deal more delicate than in .l.Tmm. filming, if the picture on the screen isn't to appear badly "fuzzed." A bit of extremely fine, black lace netting, or even a piece clipped from a very sheer silk hosiery, can be used for some diffusion effects. If you want to use commercially-available diffusion filters, we'd recommend for substandard cam- erawork something on the order of the Scheibe diffusing filters No. 1/128 or No. 1/2.5(5.
Double-exposures
Can I make some double-exposure titles, with a moving background behind my title-lettering, with my 8mm. cam- era? I haven't got a wind-hack.
Ralph Schirk
We haven't a wind-back on our own 8, but we've made plenty of double- exposed titles, and made them very easily. Our method is this: shoot the background scenes first, making a care- ful note of the starting-point where you loaded your camera, the amount of leader run off, and the footage of each scene. When this sequence is completed, expose the rest of your roll in the usual manner. On double-run 8mm. film, this gets your film bacK onto the original spool, with the original starting-point
out. Now, thread the same roll of film into your camera, and get the marked starting-point to the same place (usually the aperture or directly above it) that it occupied on your first take. Then run off the same footage of leader your notes show you you did before. Now, you're at the starting-point of your first back- ground scene. Shoot the title-lettering that should go over that background, exposing the same footage as when you filmed the background. Then shoot the next title, and so on. When you've fin- ished the title-sequence, put the lens-cap on your camera, and run the rest of the film through, preferably twice, so the roll is again "heads out," and the people at the processing-plant won't return it to you thinking maybe you've only ex- posed half the roll. That's all there is to it: if you balance your two exposures correctly, and keep accurate track of the footage on both takes, you should have perfect double-exposed titles. If you want a little leeway, you can fade your titles in a few seconds after the start of the background-scene, and fade them out similarly a few seconds before the back- ground take ends. For your title-letter- ing, always use a black card with white letters, and split your total exposure between the two takes.
Finder Parallax
Although I frame my scenes carefully in the finder, I notice that whenever I make close shots, I seem to cut oflF the tops of my subjects' heads. What's the matter?
Hal Petersen
The cause of this trouble is what is called "finder parallax." It is caused by the fact that your finder and your lens necessarily are spaced a little distance apart. When you are shooting a close shot, your finder naturally can't cover precisely the same field your lens does. Since you are cutting off the tops of people's heads, it is evident your finder is placed above the lens; if it were at the side, you would find in close shots you'd have too little room at one side of the picture, and much too much at the other. The remedy is to make allowance for this difference in lens and finder viewpoints when you shoot close scenes. You can do it mentally, if you like. Some cameras have a pointer or a scribed line to indicate what you should take as the correct top-line (or side-line) for fram- ing shots under 6 feet from the camera. With a little experimenting, you can make such an indicator on your finder if you wish. Another remedy is to use an alignment gauge, of which several types are commercially available for the different types of cameras, so that you can swing your camera into a lining-up position in which the finder occupies precisely the position occupied by the lens in shooting position, and shows the same field. After lining up, you can swing the camera into shooting position.
and film your scene, disregarding the image you see in the finder so long as you don't have to pan or tilt your camera.
Are Titles Necessary?
I believe that a good motion picture doesn't need titles — that the camera should tell the whole story without the intrusion of printed words. Some of the other members of our movie club believe otherwise, and argue my pictures ought to be titled. Can you settle the argu- ment?
H. T. Winterton
You're both partly right. A really per- fect silent picture would be one in which the camera told the story so perfectly there wasn't any need for titles, but it is almost impossible to make a picture that perfect. In all the years the in- dustry made silent movies, we can recall only one picture — "The Last Laugh," photographed many years ago by Karl Freund, A.S.C. — which was successful without any titles other than the open- ing and closing ones. Even it would have been clearer had titles been used at one or two points.
You can easily settle the argument yourselves. Take one of your untitled pictures and show it to a group who have never seen it before, and who are preferably not familiar with its subject- matter. Note down every time you have to say something to explain what's on the screen, or when someone in the audi- ence asks a question about it. Your picture will need titles at those spots, giving that particular information!
Cellophane For Filters
Recently in "Here's How" you men- tioned using gelatin filters. This makes me wonder if I could not get the same effect by using a sheet of colored cello- phane over my lens. Is this possible? R. K. Parker
It is possible, but we do not advise it except as an emergency measure. The colors in the better types of commer- cially-available photographic filters are scientifically compounded so they will ab- sorb certain bands of the spectrum, and transmit others. You know, therefore, that a given filter will have a definite and predictable effect on a given film. Most important, you know precisely what its exposure-multiplying factor will be when used with a given film. Using colored cellophane, you have no exact informa- tion upon which to go: exposure-factors and color-correction can be determined only by tests. Also, remember that visual appearance is not necessarily^ any cri- terion of photographic effect: just be- cause a piece of red cellophane looks to be about the color of a 23-A filter doesn't imply that its photographic color-trans- mission characteristics are anything like that of a 23-A; you might find, on measuring it with a spectroscope, that it actually has less photographic value than the visually much lighter, orange-toned "G" filter.
Remember, also, that a good photo- graphic filter is made of either colored (Continued on Page 32)
30
-January, 1942
American Cinematografhkr
Get Acquainted With Your Camera
( Co nfinued from Page 26)
best It'iis-cleaiier .\<)u can buy and the softest lens-tissue.
"You've got the rifjht iciea about kiiowiiifj your camera. Before you put film in it, set it up and jret acquainted with it. Operate it without film until you can make it work almost without thinkinp of the mechanics of what you're <ioin>r; very much as you drive your automobile. Be thoroughly familiar with every feature of it. When you can do that, you can concentrate on the subject you want to produce, whether it be black- and-white or color, artificial light or natural liprht. With this camera, and the many grades of film, from low to extreme sensitivity, to choose from, you can photograph "Arounci the clock."
"Unlike your old camera with one set speed, and fixed shutter, this new one has five speeds as well as a "One-stop." With all those speed controls, and dif- ferent grades of film, together with a variable shutter, and fast lenses, you've got the world by the tail photographic- ally. Its wonderful to contemplate what you c.an achieve with such a camera.
"You made some real decent pictures with the old camera, considering its limitations. Now, as you have said, 'You can go places.' But where you went around with the old one in your hand, or found a solid base to set it on, you're going to use a tripod with this new one. Occasionally, when the right moment calls for it, you'll shoot this one from the hand too. But the better pictures, the professional ones, are shot from a tripod; that's why they're rock-steady.
"Y'ou're going to have to fight that urge to make panoram shots too. That panoram and tilt top invites a lot of troublesome pictures for your audience if you don't keep it under control. Many times, what could have been good pic- tures, have been almost ruined by too much waving around of the camera. There is rarely anything artistic, or good, to come out of a panoram shot; seldom does it improve the subject. The purpose of the panoram, mainly, is to follow some kind of important action close up, and then it must be done so expertly that the audience is unaware of the technique; the same applies to tilt- ing too.
"There must always be a good reason for everything you put into a picture. Every action, effect, and sequence should be closely related. Don't use anything that doesn't help advance the story you are trying to tell. Plain, straight, sharji photography will leave a better impres- sion in the mind of the observer than a lot of meaningless, disturbing effects. Good long-shots to introduce the locale, jumping into a closer interest of the scene with a normal, closer view, pick- ing out the vital interest of the same scene with a good closeup, will always tell a good story convincingly. A good steady picture on the screen is a mark of the master cinematographer.
"With the five speeds your technique
widens. There are many advantages, to you, in those speed controls, through which you can devise intimate interest for your picture. For instance, with the "One-stop" you can interestingly repro- duce the opening of a flower bud to the richness of its full bloom, either in black- and-white or color. Then there are the animated cartoons, titles and maps, in- sects that fill the screen, and no end of things that will make really unusual pictures.
"The 'high-speed' will let you .slow down rapid motion to a rhythmic, liquid flowing motion of beautiful effect, or the study of driving a golf ball, diving, jumping hor.ses, moving machinery, etc. With the combination of the telephoto, or long-focus lens, and 'high-spee(l,' the fast-moving parts of delicate machinery can be enlarged to fill the screen in slow- motion movement for intimate study. The 'Low-speed' is just the reverse, and many mirthful comedy stunts can be produced that will break the monotony of a serious sequence."
"W^ait a minute, Bill." Joe was get- ting bogged down with so much to assimilate all at once; not that Joe was slow in grasping and stowing away knowledge, but because he wanted to take things in a steady stride, one step at a time. He was putting things back into the cases. "Let's go out and get a sandwich. Waiting for this drawing, and the excitement, has made me hungry. What d' you say we get together Sun- day and you point all these things out to me. By that time I'll have absorbed some of the talk we've just had."
"All right, Joe, but take it easy. You've been a winner! Keep on being one! Here, let me help you carry some of those cases. You carry the camera. Give me the tripod. Come on!" END.
Photography of the Month
(Continued from Page 19)
the screen, where the audience's atten- tion must be concentrated for an hour and a half within the confines of a rela- tively small rectangle, such sets are dis- tracting. In fully two thirds of the scenes, the settings, like an irrisistable magnet, drew attention from the players to the background, much to the injury of the film's entertainment value. We'll wager that both Director Irving Cum- mings and the cinematographers would have had an easier task, and turned out better work, with less gaudy settings to compete with.
must inevitably have been carefully planned, but the results on the screen seem so easily natural the average audi- ence is likely to overlook the real skill that went to bringing theRe Rcenes to the screen.
Some of these shots appear to have been obtained through very efTective use of the wide-angle lens, as, for instance, the very interesting angle-shot made ap- parently from slightly ab<jve the surface of the crap-table in the dice-game se- (luence. In others, the distorted perspec- tive of such lenses detracts a bit from the perfection of the scene, and at times there seems a definite lack of roundness, especially in the background. His skill in composition for this increased-depth technique is, however, eminently well worth the study of any cinematographer.
A melodrama, the film naturally gives Barnes full opportunity to display his skill with effect-lightings. In these, he combines pictorial effectiveness and na- turalness to an unu.sually high degree. His treatment of the players — especially Laraine Day and Marsha Hunt — is well up to his usual standard. The montage effects, especially those showing the growth of Edward G. Robinson's tabloid newspaper through its headlines and stock-shots of well-remembered news thrills of the l!)20's, are another note- worthy point in the picture. Some of the process-work, especially the scene in the oflice of the sports-promoter, ap- peared definitely inferior to the rest of the production.
UNHOLY PARTNERS Metro-Gold wyn-Mayer Production. Director of Photography: George S.
Barnes. A.S-G.
"Unholy Partners" is the sort of pic- ture which lends itself ideally to the modern technique of stopping down for increased depth. George Barnes, A.S.C., again shows -himself a master of this style of camerawork. His use of it
THE SHANGHAI GESTURE
Arnold I'ressburger ProduiiKni, United
Artists Release. Directed by Josef von Sternbtru. A.S.C. Director of Photographv: Paul hano.
A.S.C.
It goes without saying that any pro- duction with which Josef von Sternberg, A.S.C, is connected will be a photo- graphically outstanding production, for von Sternberg, in addition to being a great director, is one of the world's greatest cinematographers. "The Shang- hai Gesture" is no exception. It is most interestingly photographed by the Ivano- von Sternberg combination.
The opening sequence is softly efTective, excellently planting the Shanghai at- mosphere. With the following sequence, which introduces the gambling-house locale, the photography takes an abrupt transition, changing to a mood of crisp brilliance which excellently matches the diamond-hard atmosphere of the locale. It is in the climaxing sequence of the New Year's banquet that the camera- work really tells, however. Much of the pivotal action of this sequence is told in a series of close-ups of the principals. \'on Sternberg and Ivano have made these close-ups some of the most force- ful ever screened, yet without any in- trusively obvious straining for pictorial effect. It is without doubt one of the finest examples of mood-photography we've ever seen.
A.MERICA.V Cl.VEMATOGRAI'HER
Januar\-, 1942
31
Here's How
(Continued from Page 30)
glass or a sheet of dyed gelatin sand- wiched between two pieces of glass. In either case, the filter is optically flat, and does not harm the definition of your image as a sheet of wrinkly cellophane might. Gelatin filters, when used profes- sionally, are held flat in a metal frame. On all counts, we'd advise using the cello- phane for wrapping, and sticking to the regular filters for photographic use.
Home Movie Previews
(Continued from Page 29)
repetitious, as it shows the craftsman interminably hammering at the metal. Some of this footage, if it can't be ex- plained in titles, could well be elimi- nated. This is especially so in the case of some scenes, in which the exposure could have been improved considerably. The picture ends rather too abruptly: we see the finished work compared with the artist's original free-hand sketch, but get no idea of where or how the piece is ultimately to be used. A few scenes showing this, if possible, would end the picture much more smoothly.
Easy to Edit
(Continued from Page 27)
all your scenes. Then when you edit them and throw them on the screen the parade will go marching by just as you saw it, and just as it actually was. But many amateurs duck around and shoot them going to the right in some scenes, to the left in others, with the result that when the sequence reaches the screen you see the marchers going by you to your right and then, all of a sudden, you blink as you see them marching the other way. "Are they suddenly coming back?" you ask yourself, "or are there TWO parades marching on opposite courses?"
In the making of professional motion pictures the director is always careful to see that when a character enters a door in a long-shot and starts right toward a chair, in the closeup showing him taking the last step before sitting down he is still going right, and not left. Go to see a picture directed by a man like Ernst Lubitsch at your first opportunity, and watch how a master craftsman really handles his people in action.
Especially if you are shooting koda- chrome, watch out for clouds that sud- denly pass overhead, practically killing your light. Recently I had to sacrifice one of the most interesting scenes of an amateur's travel picture because after the first five feet of the scene dai'k clouds had hidden the sun and the pic- tures were so dark you couldn't see them. If that man had waited for the clouds to pass he would have saved his scene. He won't make the same mistake again. Neither should you.
Another cute little ti'ick so many ama- teurs do is to stop the camera in the middle of some excellent action. Then suddenly start it going again. That makes the editing job, either for the amateur or a professional, if he hires one, a real headache. I recall seeing a home movie of a baseball game. The amateur cameraman had set up his camera and shot several feet of a close-up of a player at bat. The player was holding his bat right-handed and was swinging the bat out waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball. The camera- man stopped his camera to wait also, I presume. In the meanwhile the batter decided to shift his position and bat left handed. So what you saw on the screen was a right handed batter swing- ing, and then suddenly he was a left handed batter swatting the ball great guns. What you didn't see, and couldn't figure out, was how that switch came about, for the man with the camera didn't photograph the batter's switch- over.
Another very frequent mistake ama- teurs make is that of not shooting enough footage when they have a really important subject to shoot. Frequently in editing films for amateurs I have been heart-broken to find they had hun- dreds of feet of tripe, but only a few three- to four-foot flashes of the shots that really would have made their films worthwhile.
There is no reason whatever why any amateur who knows how to use his camera from the point of technicality cannot make just as pleasing, just as fine, travel-films as any professional. Just last month, for example, I had the pleasure of editing a film of Guatemala and Costa Rica made by a Los Angeles man who had never shot such a film before in his life. He shot it on koda- chrome, and believe me when I say it is a better and more entei-taining film than half the professional travel shorts you will ever see. It is so because the man has an unusual sense of composi- tion, and he decided that he would take plenty of footage of the most intei'esting subjects, feeling that it is easier to cut them down than to find insufficient foot- age after he had come home. With all the skill of a professional this man made long-shots, then moved in and made the finest closeups you will ever find. And he didn't photograph a lot of uninter- esting stuff. When he , didn't see any- thing worth photographing, he just didn't make pictures. Perhaps that is one of the gi'eatest failings among all amateurs. They feel that they must shoot everything — but at long range.
In closing, let me advise amateurs in making travel pictures to r€>member that the people who will be looking at their pictures on the screen in the living room will not be equipped with binocu- lars. They will have just normal eyes with which to see your film. So make it so they can see it. Don't shoot just for the sake of shooting. Wait for interest- ing subjects: then shoot them showing lots of interesting action. Never photo-
graph people just standing. Always hav.e them doing something, and if they can't do something interesting, skip the shot. Just remember that ten minutes of really interesting scenes will make your friends want to come back and see more of your pictures, but two hours of boring long-shots will keep even your best friends away ! END.
Effect-Lightings
(Continued from Page 25)
tually exist when the camera was grind- ing. For instance, suppose you want to make a scene in which two people are riding in a car. For a day-effect, you can mount your camera somewhere out around the radiator-cap and shoot it with the car actually driving along, though it's rather inconvenient. But for a night-effect, even with today's fastest films, you can't get enough exposure to do this.
Instead, though, you can park the car somewhere that's convenient to an elec- tric-light outlet, and let your lighting suggest that the car is moving!
Begin by composing your scene so that the camera sees only the inside of the car. Then be sure and pull down the shade over the car's rear window, so your lens won't be looking out through that.
Next, fix a clamp-on reflector unit either on the floor of the car, or perhaps clamped to the dashboard, so it throws a beam of light up into your actors' faces, giving an effect rather like the light from the instrument-board.
Now, put a considerably stronger light — a spotlight, if you have one — outside the car, shining in onto your players' faces from the side. It's got to be enough stronger than the illumination from the lamp inside the car so that it appears as a definite highlight.
By moving a large piece of cardboard with a vertical slot in it past this lamp, in a horizontal direction, you can, with a bit of practice, reproduce the effect you'd see in a real car as it approached, passed and then receded from real sti-eet lamps. Remember, by the way, that if your camera-angle is straight into the car, and your "effect" light is on the left side of the car, the moving beam of light should move from left to right to give a natural effect. Next time you go driving at night, just watch the way the beams of the street-lamps play across passengers' faces, and you'll see how easily you can simulate that effect for a home-movie effect-lighting.
The same general trick can often be used to suggest that the car is moving in the moonlight, along a tree-shadowed roadway. Only in this case, your "effect" light shouldn't be quite so strong, and the effect is produced by moving shadows instead of moving highlights. To make these shadows, you can use real branches, or pieces of cardboard cut out in irregti- lar shapes that will make shadows sug- gesting branches. If you want to be downright professional about it, you can make a dium large enough to fit ever
32
January, 11)42
American Cinematographer
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your lamp, with the edge of the drum cut out to give these shadows, and then revolve the drum slowly (and horizon- tally, of eoui'se) about the lamp to make the shadows move.
Another useful trick of effect-lighting is used when we want to suggest that our actors are on a boat, or seated beside a romantic lake or stream. We put a shallow pan on the stage floor, with some pieces of broken mirror in it covered by about half an inch of water. Then we shine a strong spotlight down- ward into the pan, at such an angle that it reflects upward either onto the people, or into some part of the set. By gently shaking the pan, we produce a ripply beam of light which excellently suggests the reflected light from a lake or river's surface. You can work this trick just as well in your home films, too.
And finally, don't forget the most common "effect-lighting" of all — even though it's so common the professional never thinks of it as an effect. It is the trick of suggesting natural depth in a long-shot by using contrasted planes of highlight and shadow in lighting a set. If, for instance, you make a long-shot of your living-room, you might have the immediate foreground fairly well lit — say by a conveniently-placed stand-lamp — then a region of less illumination, then another highlight-region, and so on. This trick of semi-silhouetting the various planes of the picture will add depth to your shot, and make your scene seem much more real than if everything was fully illuminated. And — it's easier to light, and can be done with less equip- ment than a full lighting!
Once you've gotten the trick of effect- lighting from making a few experiments such as those outlined, you'll find the possibilities are almost unlimited, even in the simplest of home-movies. As we said at the start, equipment is by no means the most important element: an observant eye is the real essential. If you're really interested in effect-light- ings, keep your eves always on the alert: study the effect-lighting by which all of us are surrounded in our every-day life. And you'll find that with only a little thought and effort, you can reproduce most of them in your own home films, so that on the screen your pictures will become more natural — more real — than ever could be if you contented yourself with conventional, run-of-the-mill "full" lightings. END.
Laraine Day
(Continued fronn Page 24)
ative Pictures" held its own Gala pre- miere. For a theatre, they used the Cul- ver City Women's Club. A couple of "Dinky Inkies" served the purpose of the huge arcs that sweep the sky to call attention to Hollywood's professional premieres. Even the rite of making hand and footprints in the cement of Grau- man's Chinese Theatre's forecourt was reproduced — this time in the form of a box filled with sand !
Since then, the "regulars" of the group
have been spending week-ends making tests, and trying out short sequences to prove their technique and ideas. Cine- matographer Day proudly admits one of the great moments of her career was the week-end when she first tried the wind-back on her 70-E Filmo for mak- ing lap-dissolves and double-exposures — and then, in her home projection-room, saw that they actually worked success- fully!
"We're just about ready to start our next production," she says. "Our tech- nique is still a long way from profes- sional, but we feel we've learned enough so we can go ahead with another full- length production without blushing too badly. This one is going to be a serious drama, and it will be our first attempt at interior lighting. Every scene in our script is an interior — and we expect to learn a lot about lighting, technically and artistically, from this picture.
"There's one great advantage to being connected with a professional studio, as we are. There are so many helping hand volunteers as soon as the folks learn we're really sei'ious about our movie- making. We chose our story, for instance, and then one of the studio's best writers showed us how to put it into script form. The cinematographers with whom I work gladly offer advice on how to use my camera and lamps, and so on.
"So we're learning doubly. Already, I've learned why the director and the cinematographer make me do so many apparently inconsistent things on the set: when you see things through the camera's viewpoint, instead of from the other side of the lens, they're perfectly logical — and necessary if you want the scenes to cut together into a satisfactory sequence.
"Yes, this picture, too, is going to be silent. But we're hoping we can later synchronize it with sound-on-disc with my home recorder. And of course event- ually I'd like to have a sound-on-film recorder, too, so that we can make pro- fessionally-synchronized sound-films.
"But that's well in the future. Right now, we're just a group of amateurs trying to learn enough about silent movies so that some day we can perhaps work out a few new ideas in treatment, and the like, that may eventually prove helpful professionally. And maybe — if our picture is good enough — we might submit it for review in The American Cinematogr.*pher's "Home Movie Pre- views Department!" If our amateur work can get a good review there, we'll feel we've really begun to progress as 'professional cinemateurs.' " END.
Lamps
(Continued from Page 23)
sockets from the dime store. Since the rim of the dishpan tapers, it's a good idea to grind the bottoms of the sockets so the lamps will stand fairly straight.
That's why plastic sockets are better for this job than porcelain ones, by the way.
The sockets are mounted radially around the rim of the dishpan, so that the big ends of the Photofloods con- verge toward the center, and are well toward what was originally the bot- tom of the dishpan, to minimize "spilled light." I simply drilled holes in the rim of the pan, and attached the lamp- sockets to it with bolts.
The lamps are wired together — in parallel, of course — with fairly heavy, single-wire cable. At one end of the string of lamp-sockets, I drilled another hole in the pan, this time at what was originally its bottom, but now its back, and passed the cable out through that, to a dime-store switch, also bolted to the dishpan. From this I ran some 25 feet of two-wire insulated cable to the usual two-prong plug which connects with the house current.
At the base of the lamp — any handy point along what was once the rim of the dishpan — I mounted a small brass block, properly tapered on one side to fit the taper of the dishpan's bowl, and fitted with a threaded, ^,4 -inch hole so the lamp can be used on a spare tripod. And a tripod is a particularly good mount for this kind of a lamp, for its size makes it a bit topheavy, so that the spread of the tripod-legs is useful in holding it steady.
I've found it to be a surprisingly flexible unit. It throws a wide flood of fairly strong illumination which is just the thing for providing a good, even foundation of general lighting. It's fine for Kodachrome, and doubly so for the new super-speed films, for it gives you a good, basic exposure-level from which you can build up your modelling and highlighting effects with your other lamps, and at the same time not have to worry about having your shadows, back-walls, etc., go absolutely black. And since the globes in the dishpan are wired in parallel, you can adjust the intensity of its light over a very considerable range by simply using more or fewer globes as may be re- quired, using all No. I's, all No. 2's, or mixing No. I's and No. 2's as may be required — all without making much change on the spread of light the dish- pan throws. You'll find that feature is especially useful when you're working with super-fast films.
There's another variation of this same idea which ought to be useful with some of these fast films, for which you really need a soft, diffused general il- lumination if you want the most pleas- ing results. Take a good-sized pan like this, either of tin or white enamel- ware, or even in a pinch the top of a galvanized garbage-can. Use this as a reflector. Mount a photoflood facing it, in a smaller reflector, either home- made or commercial. The light from the Photoflood shines into your big pan, from whence it is reflected out at the subject, in the form of diffused, and therefore soft light. Mount the Photo-
34 January, 1942
American Cinematographer
American Cinematographer
January, 1942 35
flood and the smaller reflector so they can be moved in and out with relation to the big- reflector, and you'll have a very useful piece of diffused, indirect- ' rcuipnient which will help you a lot in making pretty girls look pretty in shots made on fast film. Try it! END.
Jap Censorship
(Continued fronn Page 21)
every month, and not an inch of the film was censored. Perhaps that was because Marquis Yamashina was the president, and hence the club was exempt! I never bothered to inquire, and probably wouldn't have found out if I had.
After the China trouble started, it became necessary to have another spe- cial export censorship to take any films out of Japan. That is, scenes that might pass for internal use might not pass for export. I had some thousands of feet of 16mm. when I came to leave in May, 1940. Some of it was near the distress ban. I couldn't see wading all through the official red tape, so my wife stuck the cans around in the dozen or so bags and trunks we carried, and fortunately no seaix-h was made before we left, so that my troubles with the authorities ended happily. But I'll admit I did breathe a little easier when the "President Cool- idge" dropped the Japanese pilot out- side Kobe harbor!
Most censorship is pretty dumb, but the Japanese weren't quite as thick- headed as you might think. I rather feel that a few recent shots of Japanese in- dustries and power-plants might be rather welcome in certain quarters right now, and I have a further feeling that such information will be scarce and hard to locate. Every Japanese tourist in this country wore a camera. It was as much a part of -his costume as his trousers. And not a Brownie, either. They had the best Germany could pro- duce, and they used their Leicas and Contaxes ad lib. There will be, I sus- pect, no shortage of pictures of U. S. plants in the Tokyo War Office. Whether they will be of any assistance, of course, is another question. They might