Business screen magazine (1946)

PARADOX: lliL-\ iliiln I leave us alone lo go make ihem a picture any way we wanieil lo. 1 hey were available lor script meetings, they were at the studio shooting, thev checked the location dailies and the stojk shots, the\ were at the music recording, the narration, the mix. the interlock, and the first answer print shi>wing. And they exerted their controls at all ol these ke\ check points But . . . they listened to reason. They didin't try to impress us with their machismo. They didn't lean on us . . . the\ inspired us. And the picture that resulted is inspirational. Not just to their own people, but to people who never heard ol them or their company or their product. It's a great picture. It will win every single lestival it is entered into. And it will set new guidelines for excellence in financial public relations films. The irony of these two pictures being made, both at the same time, for the same budget, and directed at the same audience, has not escaped me. I am proud of one of them and ashamed of the other. And I now think that I should have taken a stronger stand on the lirst picture and refused to make the changes, even if they calleil in another writer. Over and over again we kept saying to each other . . . "Believe me, if it wasn't lor the monev v^e wouldn't do this." But humor can only help up to a certain point. The line between comedv and tragedy was never fuzzier. I ailmire people with integrity. I admire people who do their work well. I like to watch a good technician at work, even it I don't understand what he's doing or how he does it. I am lortunate to work with a great many people whom I can admire for all of these foregoing reasons. I here arc many production people, sources, and companies listed in this issue of Business Screen. I am proud to know a lot of ihem personalK. I have watched a good timer work on an answer print for hours without being satisfied although I can't imagine how he learns his trade. 1 have sat in the next roi>m making changes on a scirpi while a good lilm editor goes back and forth on the moviola over the same scene thirty limes, moving the voice, cutting the music, adding a frame of picture here and cutting two frames away there, and 1 find myself in awe of this insistence upon perfection. 1 try to emulate it whenever I can but I suppose thai I fail more often than 1 succeed. I only wish that I had some way of helping vounger people who get into the lilm business at a level where they must accept bad suggestions Irom the people who pay the bills or sign their paychecks. I have no romantic notions about the young. I know how often they are wrong, but , . , I also think they deserve the benefit of the doubt whenever they come up with something really original. I'm lecturing to two groups ol young filmmakers this month, and al though I will be talking to them as the '"expert." I expect to learn as much from them as they will learn from me. I. ike that mother of nine I mentioned at the beginning ol this column, I hope to give them the bene fit of my own experience, so that they can go on with a sense of security to their own "deliveries" of the future First you have to know your busi ness very well, and then you have to go on to take a stand for what you know is right or wrong. I didn't realK want to get into the youth thing in this column, because I'm going to devote an entire column to that subject in another issue, but the basic point is that we can learn something from these Noungsters with the strength o their convictions, but only if we're not too stubborn to chante. The Linguist. Crashing through language barriers is a snap for the handsome, new Master mat ic II 35mm filmstrip projector. Ever try lo make a sales point to a roomtui ol brokers with a lilmstrip that talks Distributorian'' Forget it' They talk languages as different as Latin IS Irom Swahih Or Elementary from High School Level English Imagine how great you'd feel walking in lo give a presentation conlideni that the voice track on your lilmslrip will talk in the idiom ol that particular audience That confidence is what Mastermatic II is all about And Unipak '" is the heart o( It Unipak is tfie nitty little snap-in cartridge that holds the 35mm filmstrip (a continuous look of up to 200 frames), the audio track sutx:anridge (with a continuous loop ol up to 30 minutes). and the prism mirror And that's the whole ball ol lacts! Nice thing is that the audio track snaps right out so you can snap in the track that talks in whatever language or level your audience understands best And look, no hands' You never touch the film or the audio tape so both ol them last as long as you have audiences to show them to More'' fvlastermatic II has all solid state. plug-in circuits so you can llip it on and go Now No warm up And IC s lor reliability And a big, bright 500 watt lamp so both Iront and rear projection IS clear and sharp Irom any angle in the room And a Irame lock to hold the picture where it belongs And separate advance and THC MASTCRMATICK II ProiKlor it cov*r.d by iMu«d and p«ndin| US. (nd for*i|n i Circle 125 on reader service card 14 hold Irequencies lor response and restart so you can program pauses to suit your presentation to your audience And a more efficient cooling system And a jack for optional remote control And. just for show, a really great looking slimline case that says a lot about your presentation before you even start And you thought our Mastermatic I had everything a 35mm filmstrip sound projector needed Write now for Mastermatic il specs They'll prove our point In your language Optlsonic* Corporation Monlgomeryvllle, Pa. 18936 BUSINESS SCREENl