Home Movies (1954)

MOVIE Mining Films When vacation time comes, most of us take to the highways and roam the woods and mountains in search of fun. new sights and exciting experiences: yet in our search we sometimes pass up the best things. These are the industrial buildings and enterprises of the locale. As an example, recently, while on a trip to the east we passed through the Colorado Mesa area. Here, since the beginning of time, the elements have plotted to keep man from becoming conqueror but in the past few years man has. in his search for new minerals, found a vast deposit in this region. In particular, new and exciting deposits of urnaium have been found in this wild area. Once the news of this exciting discovery was spread throughout the land, miners and companies began ex cavations to uncover this most precious of all minerals. I would have passed it all up had it not been for a short glimpse of a newly worked mine just off the road. I pulled to the side of the road to watch the ore cars crawl up from the earth. The more I saw. the more interested I became. Finally. I could stay away no longer and I drove my car to the mine gate. At the gate the supervisor was kind. He told me of the operations and of the work which was involved in tearing the mineral from the earth. It was immensely interesting. I asked if I might make a few feet of film. W hile certain areas were prohibited. I was permitted to film even into the shallow depths of the mine where the miners were working. The fact that I was not permitted into the deepest parts was not particularly discouraging to me. In fact, just filming the areas which were opened to me provided me with enough material for an excellent film. I'm certain that on future trips I shall not shy away from construction projects or mines "just because they are a maze of machinery ": they are most interesting and the films are one of the greatest highlights of my trip. — Jerry Bronson Seattle, W ashington. Peter Pan Walt Disney's recent adventure into fairy tales with child actors stirred me to duplicate his efforts . . . not that I"m a second Disney, but because in his film his actors seemed to be real and seemed to live their parts, while the actors in my films have been shy. self-conscious, and uncomfortable. I wondered if. perhaps, the fact that children can believe in fairy tales while adults find it extremely difficult to even believe in paychecks, might not be the key to good films. To find this out. I purchased a copy of Peter Pan from my local book store and prepared a shooting script from it. I then explained the story to my cast i assembled from local neighborhood kids I and went to work. I was quite amazed. The kids are great actors, even though they are terrific hams, and the scenes went right through without much re-shooting. Sure, they muff the action once in a while, but just as soon as I explained that the story was just a beginning and I let them play the scenes in their own way. the story moved right along. I suppose that mv Peter Pan bears only a surface resemblance to Disney's because the children added refinements of their own. but my" film has more sparkle and polish than any I've ever done. I thought, perhaps, other readers might find this interesting. As long as the children know the basic action and are allowed to "plav" rather than follow a rigid pattern of action, they'll come through with flying colors. If you want to rehearse before shooting, don't tell them. Just let them plav at the same scene two or three times and shoot when you feel the scene is right. — Rhoda Burke, Fond du Lac. Jl isc. Lens Tests The glass we photograph through is vastly more important than any other item except the idea behind the film. With it. we can underline the truth or distort for effect. The quality and characteristics of that lens means so much. Before we begin shooting it behooves us to know just what our lenses can do. Here are some simple tests which can provide the answer. In these suggested tests we can see how the lens works in regards to: focus, sharpness, depth of field, degree of depth from stopping down, distance and I in which way I method of increase in focus from stopping down, and exposure relation to f-stop. Focus can be checked easily. Simply cut a piece of frosted or ground focusing glass. Place that glass over the film frame, in the position normally occupied by the film. Open the lens to its widest f-stop and focus in the normal manner. Then, \\hen the object upon which you've focused seems sharp, check it with a magnifying glass on the ground glass. If the object is sharp you'll know your method of focus is correct. If it is not sharp, then make adjustments in that method until you can select correct focus every time. To check on depth of field, follow the same set-up as just described. Focus on a given object then with the magnifying glass check the objects in front of and behind the object upon which you focused. See how far in front and behind these subordinate objects are sharp. That distance is your true depth of field. Even though the manufacturer has given you a chart with the depth field on it. it is best to check, for their charts are made for the "average"' lens. Increase in depth is checked in the same way. Focus with the lens wide open then stop down. At each f-stop check for an increase in depth. When that increase has reached its maximum i and this point will be long before the minimum f-stop i you'll know just how far vou have to go to reach your maximum depth of field. The degree of depth is simply a ration which you can work out from the information supplied from the above tests. In this way you can arrange sets with specified objects in sharp focus just using the chart which you have prepared. The method in which your lens stops gain focus, will be interesting to watch, for each lens has its own characteristics. Some lenses gain more depth of field behind the object as the f-stop is closed. Others gain in front of the prime focus i the object upon which you focused). This is important to know for it effects the way in which vou focus upon a scene when vou want maximum depth. I For example, if the lens focus forward you will focus further back before stopping down to sharpen up the foreground. ► — George Ronde. Des }loines, Ioua. 54