International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

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January. 1934 T h INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGR A I'll E R Twenty-seven Foreground, which in almost all long shots, occupies more than half the frame, due to the improper placement of the camera, is more often than not left completely blank, placing of foreground objects being an exceptional rarity. Even if such objects are placed, they do not help to give that depth and perspective we see in American pictures, due to the mechanical limitation of the light having to come from behind the camera. This naturally lights up the foreground more prominently than anything beyond, where it will be casting shadows, and you can imagine the sight of a brilliantly lighted foreground figure all fuzzy and out-of-focus. Thus foreground objects, even if utilized, instead of helping to create that illusion of relief and depth, only serve to destroy it. Lighting, as I have said before, is almost always from the front, coming from a row of silvered reflectors placed in a row, outside, tilting the sun's rays full into the studio, giving a flat over-all illumination, at an absurd angle, from a few degrees below the horizontal, the reflectors, as I mentioned, being placed on the ground. Even in studios with electric lamps power is insufficient for long shots, when they too are forced to use daylight. Under the prevailing conditions you can understand how difficult it will be to light a scene according to the requirements of the emotional mood. This flat photography is further aggravated in the printing. Printers are generally operated by raw youths, who take their cue from the shadows and never expose sufficiently for the high-lights, with the result that the picture looks pale and ghostly. The eye-level perspective painted on the canvas-flats is one more reason for tying down the cameraman to the eye-level angle. Of course, these are not unsurmountable obstacles and even without much undue expenditure, things could be bettered. But here, the ignorance of the cameraman, who works by rule of thumb and has not yet got into the habit of thinking in "angles," comes in the way. Partly, the audience also is to be blamed, not caring for better pictures. In fact, they sometimes even resent Quixotic angles. I remember the instance when a friend of mine, a regular observer of foreign films, found fault with all the angles of Pabst ! Then what about the poor illiterate Indian? Give him plenty of songs, a few hand-to-hand fights in the good old Western style with a chase and a last-minute rescue — those silent Eddie Polo and Elmo Lincoln serials are still going strong here, though America might have forgotten them — and he is content that he has got his money's worth. The coming of the sound pictures destroyed that class of pictures, and excepting the few jungle pictures like Tarzan and Big Cage, none of your sophisticated stuff goes well with the Indian audience. Little speech and plenty of action and songs, and devil take the technique, so says the mass, and that partly is why Indian producers, in spite of their numerous faults and in spite of the heavy odds they have to overcome, pull on splendidly. Of course, for every rule there is an exception, and so also there are a few directors in India with brains and ideals who are trying their best to improve the standard of Indian pictures, and some of the recent pictures do show that their attempts have not been wholly unsuccessful. The hope is, that in a short time, India will produce though not pictures of such a standard as yours yet something of which she need not hang her head in shame as at the moment. In this connection it is interesting to note that the Artreeves products manufactured in Hollywood, are the most widely used in India. AMAZING GROWTH In the four months since July 1, 1933, the American Federation of Labor has granted charters to 825 new unions. The number of new charters issued for all of 1929 was 75. In other words, 11 times as many new unions have been organized in four months of a depression year than were formed during the entire 12 months of the 1929 boom period. The charters issued by the A. F. of L. are to local unions affiliated directly with it and composed of workers in occupations over which no international union has jurisdiction. The international unions themselves have organized thousands of new local units and have added millions of members to those which were already in existence. — Labor. Hollywood's Bargain Spot RENTAL EQUIPMENT? ? We have the largest stock in Hollywood of Mitchell • Bell & Howell • Akeley Cameras .... Motors • Free Heads • Lenses • Etc. ••• Prompt Service on Rentals Night or Day CAMERA SUPPLY CO., LTD. Phone GL 2404 Nite Phones: No. Hollywood 1271— GLadstone 6583 Cable Address "CAMERAS" All Codes 1515 CAHUENGA BOULEVARD HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.