American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

Six AMERICAN CINEM ATOGR APHER August, 1926 Location Library is Founded bij A.S.C. y Cinematographers Devise Expert Means of Determining Locations' Film Qualities A location library, designed to meet the needs of A. S. C. members as well as those of motion picture producers generally, is the latest unit in the program of the American Society of Cinematographers for the current year, according to an announcement from Daniel B. Clark, president of the A. S. C. Cinematographer's Angle The library is being formulated with particular regard to the expert and pictorial eye of the cinematographer, and is intended as a specialized aid to those producing organizations which already maintain their own location bureaus. The new A. S. C. undertaking, it is planned, will contain pictorial reproductions of locations throughout the world, with emphasis being laid on those in the American West, which is nearest the film capital, the base of operations of all production activities. Motion Picture Film Included Arrangements are also being made to include not only still photographs in the library, but to list motion picture film as well. By carrying cinema positive as a part of the enterprise, cinematographers and their producers will be enabled to see just how a given location will appear on the screen before they risk company money and time in traveling a great distance to the spot in question. Filming Data The photographing of such locations will be done under the direction of the American Society of Cinematographers, with complete data being kept as to what lenses, exposures, stock and the like were employed in the making Backed by Resources Clark and his fellow members of the A. S. C. believe that a location library, maintained strictly from a cinematographic perspective, will serve to reduce this phase of film production to something of an exact science. All of the resources of the American Society of Cinematographers, Clark states, will be marshalled to make this venture a success. Well Started Already included in the library, are representative scenes of the following locations: Painted Canyon district, 38 miles east of Palm Springs, Calif.; Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon, in the state of Utah; Puget Sound and Seattle, Wash., and vicinity ;San Juan Islands; Lake Washington; Rainier National Park; Lake Chelan; Olympia peninsula country; Poodle Dog Pass and the attendant snow-capped mountain district; the Monte Cristo region; the country about Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan and Green River Gorge; Sooke river canyon district; forests in the Jordan River valley; Mr. Arrowsmith; Cameron Lake and numerous other scenes in British Columbia. Lighting Equipment Received For A. S. C. Experiment Library Lighting equipment, valued at several hundred dollars and manufactured by the Cooper Hewitt Electric Company, was installed during the past month at the headquarters of the American Society of Cinematographers as a part of the A. S. C. test and experiment library. The equipment was installed under the special direction of John T. Shannon, manager of the Keese Engineering Company, Hollywood representatives of the Cooper Hewitt company. Following the installation of the apparatus, Shannon and R. A. Keese, of the firm that bears his name, appeared before the A. S. C. open meeting of July 19th, at which time Shannon lectured on present and coming advances in cinematographic illumination. Shannon recently spent several weeks on a trip in the East, during which time he held numerous conferences at the Cooper Hewitt home offices, particularly with his firm's research laboratory officials.