American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

WHAT ABOUT THE COST? (Continued from Page 64) The settings to be used in the studio will have been designed. They will not only respect and represent the period and tone of the film but its action, and they will have what is needed to achieve the screenplay’s requirements. The shooting angles will have been worked out in some preliminary detail. No more of a set than is required will be built. If a scene is aboard a ship, for instance, and the action is confined to an engine room, there is no need to build a whole ship. Now— while all of this is going on — the production manager of the studio will be calling for a Budget Meeting. This is an affair which will be attended by representatives of all departments having to do with the film. In solemn conclave assembled, and in weary de¬ tail, the producer and director will hear every inch of what they plan to make ticked off and weighed in the financial balance. What, in brief, will it cost to ride 400 Indian warriors across the desert in a sandstorm? Wind machines cost money. So do horses — and Indian riders. How many cameras will be needed in a spectacular battle scene? How many extras will it take to fill a city street? How many days will they be used? Detail and endless detail is the order here but it is the basis upon which the whole thing must be computed and computed it is. I should like to add here a word of protest against a common practice of gauging a picture’s importance by its cost. This is a false evaluation, for any film is as good as its story and the skill and rightness of its presentation. Mere money — that’s a sneering expression, isn’t it? — has never yet replaced a good concept or the good execution of that concept. Some films by their very nature, are to be done for one sum, others of greater physical size, for an¬ other. The great trick, in making very big pictures, if I may use the expres¬ sion, is to make the mental and enter¬ tainment size match a great expenditure. When this happens you have the screen at its overwhelming best. It would be imposible, I think, in a series of articles like this, to recount and illustrate the entire detail of film pro¬ duction because all of us have learned what we have learned by one process and one alone — experience. To the de¬ gree by which individuals differ, we have or haven’t profited by our experi¬ ence. We have had no text books and no formal teachers. But inevitably we have observed the work of some great people and we have had some great (Continued on Page 87) C. ROSS FOR LIGHTING EQUIPMENT Inkie and Arc Lamps including Required Accessories Generators — Cables — Boards — Boxes • Raby Camera Crane— Dollies — Blimps — Geared Heads GRIP EQUIPMENT FOR LOCATION AND STUDIO Parallels — Steps — Platform Ladders Century Stands — Reflectors — Flags — Scrims • SOLE EASTERN MOLE-RICHARDSON CO. DISTRIBUTOR RENTALS • SALES • SERVICE CHARLES ROSS, Inc. 333 WEST 52nd STREET NEW YORK 19, N.Y. Circle 6-5470-1 FRANK C. ZUCKER (?flm€Rfl€!ouipni€nT(o. i6oo BRonDujfla \ newyoRKCiTu no voit ac/dc VARIABLE SPEED MOTOR with TACHOMETER for EK Cine Special Furnished complete with rubbercovered cable and plugs. Write for complete details. Now you can motor drive your Cine Special with confidence. Motor shaft equipped with spring steel drive arm which will shear if camera jam occurs. This drive arm is easily replaced. Tachometer is mounted in clear view of operator. It is calibrated from 16 frames per second to 64 fps. with a definite RED marking for 24 fps. Electrical governor control for ad¬ justing speeds. Steady operation at ALL speeds. “OFF-ON” switch built into motor base. No adaptors re¬ quired, except motor coupling which attaches to camera and couples to motor. £MFii3ters, In World-Wid* Uss Produce moonlight and night effects in daytime* fog scenes ‘diffused focus and many other effects. Information mailed on request. SCHEIBE FILTERS COMPANY ORIGINATORS OF EFFECT FILTERS P.O. Box 16834, Hollywood46, Calif. SPECIAL OPTICAL EFFECTS AND TITLES On “Wild Bill Hickok” TV Series by RAY MERCER & COMPANY 4241 Normal Ave. • Hollywood 29, Calif. Send for Free Optical Effects Chart February, 1952 American Cinematocrapher 85