Home Movies (1954)

CLASSIFIED Continued LABORATORY SERVICES • SOUND RECORDING at a reasonable cost. High fidelity 16 or 35. Quality guaranteed. Complete studio and laboratory services. Color printing and lacquer coating. ESCAR MOTION PICTURE SERVICE, INC., 7315 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland 3, Ohio. Phone: ENdicott 1-2707. CAMERA FILM • SAVE 50% on developing sets, chemicals and bulk movie film in 100 or 400 ft. rolls. Send us postal card for Free Circular. FROMADERS, Box 637-F, Davenport, Iowa. • SAVE 50% on double 8mm. or 16mm. movie film with 24-hour free processing service. Send postal card for free circular and sample film. FROMADERS, Box 637-F, Davenport, Iowa. • We develop all makes of black and white movie film. 25 ft. double 8mm. 75c — 50 ft. 16mm.— $1.00 — 100 ft. 16 mm. $1.35. We return spools and magazines. FROMADERS, Box 637-F, Davenport, Iowa. • GUARANTEED FRESH 8 mm roll, magazine; 16mm roll, magazine movie films. Color, B&W Free catalog. ESO-B, 47th and Holly, Kansas City 2, Missouri. MISCELLANEOUS • FREE BOOKLET — Make better home movies — PROSPECT PROD. CO., 9 Crary Ave., Mount Vernon, New York. • "HOW to Expose Ansco Color Film" by Lars Moen should be on your movie library shelf. A working handbook for the photographer using Ansco color material, it discusses shutters and lenses, color lighting, three-dimensional color pictures, portraits, color temperature, exposure meters, composition, exposure tables, mixed color light sources and many other subjects so valuable 1o the movie maker. Only $3.00. Write to VER HALEN PUBLICATIONS, 1159 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood 38, Calif. • BUXOM BABES! For those who appreciate feminine beauty and the body beautiful, a series of artistic Pin-Up photos. Set 8 Photos — $2.00, 6 sets (48 photos) $8.00. REYELLE, Box 95, Dept. M.P., Hammels, L. I., N. Y. . MARILYN MONROE Art Color Calendar. You Know The One, It's Famous! $1.00. Three for $2.00. Sterling. G.P.O. Box 1513-V. New York City 1. • NUDE MODEL FACTS EXPOSED. Shocking use of peephole cameras, "Art Study" salons, illicit practices, all boldly revealed, illustrated. $1.00 Dept. M, Knight Press, 524 W. 25th, N.Y.C. 1. HOW TO MAKE MOVIE TITLES IN COLOR! Write today for a FREE A-to-2 Sample Title Test Kit. Make titles that are different . . . better and tailored to your taste. Try our method . . . FREE. Complete color or B&W Outfit $6.50 A-to-Z MOVIE ACCESSORIES 175 Fifth Avtnue Digt H New York 10. N.Y. / * Send for your FREE Sample Copy of FILM and A-V WORLD THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE AUDIO-VISUAL FIELD Easily readable reports of the latest developments and trends in non-theatrical 16mm films and equipment — departmentalized in all phases, including schools, industry, television, and churches. For your cinema club programs, a special review section gives descriptions and availability of 60 to 75 new film releases every month. One Year Subscription — $4.00 FILM and A-V WORLD 1159 N. Highland Ave. Los Angeles 38, Calif. , J FILMING • Continued from Page 84 Then explaining our project a little more in detail, we would ask for his help in selecting our actors from among the crowd gathered at his doorway, and from among those he called, we would select candidates, matching them either for resemblance, contrast, for types and for size. Remember, that over-the-shoulder-shots can be tricky if extremes are used. If all went well up to this point we would then take our actors to the selected locations, trying them "for size" in the entrances or doorways which all varied, according to the builder of the mud houses. Watching through the ground glass of our still cameras we would ask the actors to do simple things to get a better idea if they would work out or not, to see if they could follow instructions, and to see if they would freeze in front of a bigger camera. If satisfactory and available, we would discuss terms of payment with the mayor, as well as the rental fee for the yards or houses we needed. It was at this point we would broach the subject of the women needed to play the parts of mothers, wives or daughters in our film. Cautiously explaining the roles, we would ask our newly hired actors if they would consent to their women playing the parts. Since we could not go around peering under veils for just the right types, we had to settle for what we could get locally, or bring one out from the city with us each day. Sometimes they would consent readily, sometimes only if the scenes would be shot inside their own houses or yards, sometimes they would flatly refuse under any conditions. We first had to overcome the religious prejudices of having their women's faces seen by males, let alone foreign males such as we. The promise of payment nearly always turned the trick, but we would never dare to pay the women as much as the men, lest the men "lose face" by being on the same financial level with them. With luck, we would wind up details like this in one day and schedule shooting as soon as we could secure the necessary props. Other times, days of visiting, talking, bargaining and pleading would get us absolutely nowhere, and it was here we learned more of that unpredictable intangible called human nature. It happened more than once that our shooting was interrupted by some irate villager who demanded his clothes back from our actor. When summoned by the mayor for our casting, our hero had quickly borrowed from neighbors those items he lacked, forgetting to mention this little detail to us. f ollowed then negotiations for the purchase or rental of the article, alter a fair price had been bargained for of the value. To prevent recurrences of this, we began to assemble a wardrobe and prop department from the bazaars of Teheran and eventually our rolling stock in the back of the truck included women's veils, children's clothing, men's accessories, pots, pans, pails, jars and stools. At one lime or another we either bought or rented sheep, goats, cows, hay, alfalfa, pastures and gate fences. Sometimes after a week of shooting inside a home, the doors would be locked to us, and the owner away on business, visiting, or spending some of this windfall which came his way. Other times the rent would be raised because we tracked dirt into his home, or the curious watchers on his barn roof threatened to collapse his structure, for which we would be blamed. In the land of shaved heads and bearded faces whiskers were a problem because the men were shaved only once a week. Friday in the Moselm world is like our Sunday, so Thursday afternoon was designated as cleanup time when the local and transient barbers would shave or clip beards for the following day of prayer. Consequently, we had to watch our daily takes so they would match, especially in facial close-ups. \^ e made good use of our Polaroid camera for checking this little detail, as well as for the clothing worn by the actors. Overnight our interiors would invariably be rearranged by the people who lived in the homes we used, so whenever we thought it necessary, we would shoot "for the record ' our setup or lighting arrangement. Once we thought we had the whisker problem licked by having our actor shaved daily by the local barber (a villager can't afford a straight razor and safety razors are a luxury), but this proved to be a mistake, as he bore wounds from the cold-water-dull-razor treatment all through the film. It was probably the first time an Iranian villager was seen with a clean shaven face for two weeks straight, much to the wonderment of all who will see the film. Thereafter, we scheduled our close-ups of faces more carefully or had our actor's beards clipped and not shaved. Each film had its moments, some sad, some maddening and some hilarious, but all of which kept us wondering what else could possibly happen to us in this land of slow moving individualists to whom time meant nothing. Mr. Budy will conclude his article in the March issue of Professional Cine-Photographer. 86