We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
Initiative
THE statement has often been made that the daily work of a motion picture technician consists of achieving the impossible as a matter of routine. The unfailing technical skill and resourcefulness which enable cameramen and others to rise to these demands have become almost axiomatic. But it has not so frequently been pointed out that many of these remarkable achievements have also been due in no small measure to the far-sighted courage and adaptability which enable the leaders of the camera profession to keep themselves abreast of new developments in materials and methods, and to put them to new and perhaps unusual uses when faced with unexpected demands.
That this calls for technical adaptability will not be doubted, though it is possible that in some quarters it will be wondered why courage should be men tioned in the same connection. But when one considers the tremendous responsibility placed upon Hollywood's key production technicians, and the reputations of these men for unfailing technical dependability, it is easier to see why courage is required to apply new and unconventional materials or methods to use on actual production. It is one thing to apply thoroughly known factors to the solution of an unusual problem; it is quite another to stake one's reputation — and possibly several thousand dollars of one's employer's money — upon the performance of new and relatively unfamiliar products.
* * *
To illustrate this point by a concrete example: recently one of the companies of a major studio had an entire night sequence to photograph in the daytime on location. Due to a comparatively short schedule it was determined by the production department that the sequence should be completed in one day's shooting.
After considering the topography of the location and the nature and angles of the scenes to be photographed, the cameraman elected to use Agfa Infra-red Type B negative. This film, having been available for a year, was of course a thoroughly familiar tool.
Shooting proceeded throughout the day in the usual manner. But as darkness came on, it was found that there was still considerable work to be done before the location could be finished.
Faced with the necessity of matching night scenes shot in the daytime with night scenes actually photographed at night, the cameraman immediately switched to the new Agfa Ultra Speed Pan negative and continued shooting, using only one-quarter the amount of booster light that would have been necessary had he been using standard panchromatic material. This was in truth pioneering, for this type of film was introduced so recently that neither tests nor production experience have succeeded in piling up sufficient information about its possibilities and limitations to make it a familiar, commonplace factor.
Page Two