International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

1 W( nly-four T h INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER May, 1934 WITH CAMERA AND COMPASS IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA (Continued from Page 5) two sphinx-faced Carib sons awaiting the photographer. I was just about to snap them when two more sphinxfaced Caribs ran up to get in the picture. The next attempt was interrupted by another diminutive member of the family who swooped down on us from nowhere. All efforts to induce smiles failed, so we photographed them as they were. Strange what a zest these natives have for being photographed. In Grenada several made appointments to have their pictures made and at the appointed time appeared all washed and starched. On one occasion, half a dozen black youngsters swam out to the boat and teased to have their pictures made. I lined them up on the forward deck, brought them into focus and said: "Ready!" In an instant they snapped into the pose of boxers, fists raised, jaws set, like so many Jack Johnsons. We may have to sell the camera to send back all the pictures we have promised. For standard light conditions in the tropics we used diaphragm stop f:9 and a shutter speed of l/60th when using orthochromatic film, using a larger stop according to our estimate of light conditions. We followed the standard of f :16 and shutter speed of l/60th when using panchromatic film under average light conditions. We found the orthochromatic films better suited to our use than the panchromatic. Light conditions in the tropics are so consistently favorable that we found little need of the greater sensitivity of the panchromatic emulsion. On a small boat which has no space for a darkroom and chances of getting film light-struck are so great we felt much more secure with the orthochromatic film. Thanks to our Leica, the short months of blue water, cocoanut trees, and interesting people are not only memories. We have several hundred good pictures to carry us back to the sunny green islands which shall long have a place in our hearts. And fortunate it is that we have our pictures to carry us back, for the sturdy ship which saw us through six months of adventure is no more. When two days away from Miami, Florida, which was to be our final destination, our keel stuck a submerged coral reef two miles off shore and forty miles from the nearest town — on the north shore of Cuba. It seems a bad dream as we recall the events of that fatal night — ■ the grating of the lead keel on the coral, our frantic efforts to kedge The Seal back to deep water, the salvaging of our instruments, our Leica, and our precious negatives, sleepless hours spent on a deserted island covered with grotesque mangrove trees and infested with mosquitos. A bad dream to be sure, but a true one. The splinters of The Seal's smooth white sides have taken their place on the beach beside the bleached remains of other good ships which have met a similar doom. The other night we saw our little ship again in all her glory, close-hauled, decks awash, sails stiff with the strong trade wind. The Seal was once more roaring through Boca Del Drago between Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela as did Columbus long years ago. She was alive again! A dream, you ask? No, we were quite awake. We were seeing our projected pictures for the first time upon a screen. And yet it was a dream. A dream which carried us back to endless stretches of blue water and green islands, and experiences which we shall ever treasure. Call on your dealer anywhere for Wesrerberg's Cinematographer's Book of Tables or write The International Photographer. Please mention The International Photogra UNIVERSITY IN MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION (Continued from Page 9) One sequence, a touchy situation in which was involved a love scene which must be interpreted by the audience in only one way — the right way, was shot two entirely different ways and to a select preview group these two versions were shown side by side, at the point it occurred in the story. Then it was up to the preview group to judge which love scene was most appropriate to the theme of the story, and to the fact that the picture was a university production. In one instance the story called for the girl to be riding horseback through the forest, when suddenly the horse was to step on a sharp stone (supposedly to be lodged in the hoof) and rear up, almost throwing the girl to the ground. This was done by using a double, in this case our young technical director, who donned the girl's costume, put on a wig and rode the horse, making him jump around furiously. This scene was photographed in a long shot, and when cutting, a close-up of the girl's face as if she were having a difficult time with her horse, was inserted in the middle of the action. This gave a perfect illusion and no one ever suspected that the girl herself did not ride the horse in that scene. In photographing the "chases," as they are so appropriately called in Westerns, we used three cameras simultaneously from different points of view. This eliminated about one-half of the galloping which would ordinarily be necessary if only one camera were used. For instance, if two horses were desired to be shown galloping in a continuous piece of action, three cameras were set up at various vantage points along the course, each one getting an entirely different angle of the same piece of action. In the first sequence, when the scenes were cut in side by side, one never suspected that the galloping he saw was repeated three times in succession, as the angle at which they saw the galloping was entirely different each time, therefore insuring non-recognizance of the action duplicated. A sad occurrence during the filming of the picture was our temperamental "star," an indifferent bullfrog. The script called for a frog in a rain barrel, both of which were to be shown in a raging storm. The sequence was to denote a lapse of time, the first shot showing the frog swimming around in the barrel half full of water, the next shot showing the barrel now overflowing and the frog climbing over the top of the barrel. Well, that seemed easy — when we read the script. But, as in most cases, doing and contemplating doing, don't always correlate. It was decided to shoot this sequence at night, and so cameras and lights were set up, as were rain barrel, artificial foliage and a very realistic overhead rain system. Two bullfrogs were obtained from a nearby frog farm, one to be used as a sort of "spare," in case we wore one out. This extra precaution must have been intuitive, as that is exactly what happened; we not only wore one frog out, but he got loose and ran away, while we were inside having a midnight morsel. We had already spent three hours and several patient dispositions in attempting to get Mister Frog to do what we wanted him to do. The idea was to get him to swim on top of the water at just the right time, but every time the camera was ready to grind, he would casually sink to the bottom, and there peer up at us with great indifference. Then as soon as he (probably) saw that we were either shifting lights or giving the rain system a rest, which by the way was drenching all of us, he would shoot to the top and paddle around for all he was worth, quieting down and continuing to the bottom as soon as we were ready to shoot the scene. This went on for hours, and as we mentioned before, with one frog worn out and no results on the film as yet, not even with all the pleading and jabbing of sticks pher when corresponding with advertisers.