American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

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the magazine ADVANCED AMATEURS l^eadf WHY? — Because American Cinema¬ tographer takes up where magazines for the beginning amateur leave off. WHY? — Because American Cinema¬ tographer gives the advanced ama¬ teur more pertinent information about movie making than he can find in any other magazine. WHY? — Because American Cinema¬ tographer mirrors the activities of cinematographers in all movie making fields — studio, business and industrial films, TV films — as well as amateur movies. THESE ARE THE REASONS why more advanced amateur movie makers prefer American Cinema¬ tographer than any other photo¬ graphic magazine. ADVERTISERS — ... let us tell you how Ameri can Cinematographer can sell more of your products to ad vanced movie amateurs — the group that buys the most and uses the most amateur cine equip ment and films! AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER The American Society of Cinematographer’s Magazine of Motion Pictire Photography lo most cinematographers, is the fact that exposure meters are not used in lighting. Light balance is achieved solely through a combination of eye, ground glass and viewing glass. This simplified technique is possible for Kline because in the several years that he has been shooting films for TV, he has developed a sure feel for the medium and its light¬ ing requirements. “I think of set dressing, costumes, and the players themselves as masses of composition,” Kline explained, “and I try to compose them in arrangements that are pleasing to the eye, and effective from the dramatic standpoint, as well. 1 always try to include a substantial white area in each scene, because this helps control the face tones. If a white shirt or dress is the whitest thing in the scene, the other values are scaled down accordingly, and there is no danger of faces becoming washed out." In explaining one of his reasons for not using an exposure meter, Kline ob¬ serves that a single source light will give a certain reading from, let us say, a front angle — but that reading will be entirely different when the camera adopts a different angle. His success in operat¬ ing without the standard technical aid, is attested by the consistency of density evident in uneorrected prints from the original footage. Kline has complete free-rein in pro¬ duction, and he has standardized light¬ ing and make-up procedures to give the best possible results on film. He uses camera movement with restraint, “To make the audience unconscious of the movement itself, but more conscious of the players,” Kline said. Kline is considered by many to be an outstanding authority on photo¬ graphy of television films, and it is in¬ teresting to note that during preparation periods between shooting schedules for Wisbar Productions he has aided in launching several other top film shows in the new medium. He photographed the first six “Racket Squad" TV shows, the first six films of the “Amos ’N Andy” series, the first six “Rebound" featurettes, and the first four of the “Screen Video” series. Although Kline enjoyed playing “godfather" to these new TV shows, he admits that his heart belongs mostly to “Fireside.” The production of “Fireside Theatre” TV films is under the direct supervision of producer-director Frank Wisbar, who is also the fountainhead of ideas from which spring plot ideas for a great ma¬ jority of the scripts. “One secret in making successful TV films, we have found, is having the courage to make last-minute script changes if it will benefit the production,” Wisbar said. “It is these on-the-set changes and additions that give our scripts authenticity and spontaneity. We never hesitate to polish a script right on the sound stage as we are shooting.” Liaison between sponsor and the pro¬ ducer is maintained by ad agency repre¬ sentative Brewster Morgan. Having brought to Fireside his wealth of ex¬ perience of many years of top radio pro¬ gram production, Morgan maintains that the key to successful TV films is giving video viewers programs that not only will hold their interest from start to finish, but make them tune in on the following week’s program, and the next. A secret toward this end is the exten¬ sive use of closeups in all “Fireside” films. In comparing the behavior of movie¬ goers with video viewers, Morgan said, “Motion picture theatres have what we call a ‘captive’ audience, which sits and gives it undivided attention to the screen. In the home, if video viewers do not like a show, they quickly flip the dial to another program. Our aim, therefore, is to keep sets tuned to ‘Fireside Theatre.’ One way we do this is through skillful photography that makes the story so interesting that viewers won't even hear the doorbell ring. In this, the shot that best holds attention is the closeup. That is why we use lots of them.” STEREOSCOPIC MOTION PICTURES (Continued from Page 66) turbances that may induce nausea in some observers if they look at the an¬ aglyph longer than a few minutes. Since this process — the anaglyph — has played an important role in the advance of the stereoscopic art, it would be well to describe it here briefly. Its invention is credited to Ducos du Hauron, who ap¬ plied it in 1895, although there is some evidence that its possibilities had been explored many years before that. In one form, the anaglyph images are on two separate films. One member of the stereoscopic pair is projected through a filter of one color, the other through a filter having a color complementary to that of the first. In another form, the one that was used for “Audioscopiks,” the anaglyph images are printed in com¬ plementary colors directly on film and projected in a standard projector with¬ out filters. The projected images are viewed with spectacles having windows of the same 78 Am krica x ('in km atograi1 i i kr Fkbruary, 1952