Home Movies (1949)

MAKING 8Y LUKE HAMMAR PHOTOS BY GEORGE BOARDMAN MO (Above) There s not much action in this version of Daughter meeting Dad to obtain car. YES." scr,.ip' says action, get it even if it means shooting a scene over and over again (right). Check each shooting script in advance for opportunities for more closeups. Does script say, "Daughter speaks to Dad"? It's a spot for a closeup of daughter. "Dad gets out of car and replies to Daughter"? Closeup of Dad. "Girls on bicycles appear. Daughter waves." Closeup. "Gals on bicycles wave back." Closeup. That's the way to plan it, C.U., C.U., C.U., at every opportunity. A home life incident need not take more than 25 to 50 feet of 8 mm. film. Allow about one to two feet for each take, depending on its nature. One foot of film runs five seconds. Count slowly up to five while filming the average shot. With script in hand, we go out "on location" to give our episode a dry run. Each take is visualized as if we had film in the camera. Where is the camera placed for each shot? Shall it be an L.S. or C.U.? How is the lighting? This dry run experience crystalizes each scene so when we proceed to shoot it with live models we know exactly what we want, like a dyed-in-the-wool motion picture director. But how about problems of camera handling, focusing, exposure? Those come under the heading of the cameraman's responsibilities to be considered in the next article in this series. LONG SHOT (L.S.) I An LS shows not only the subject, but also ils surroundings. It is generally used to introduce a new set or incident. MEDIUM SHOT (M.S.) An MS shows all of a subject. Use this shot sparingly. Plan for more long shots and, especially, closeups. CLOSEUP (C.U.) A closeup or medium closeup shows part of a subject. Camera may be brought close enough to show only hands or face.