International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Twenty-six The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER September, 1934 THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A DIRECTOR (Continued from Page 13) was done incorrectly, or that the camera speed was too fast or too slow, or that the rhythm with which the characters carried on a conversation was not altogether smooth. Tempo simply means the speed at which almost anything is done during the filming of a picture. And it is just as difficult to watch the speed with which all these factors move as it sounds . . . and even more important. If there is anything that will ruin a comedy it is slow tempo. Comedies are the hardest kind of stories to film anyway, so if your preview audience doesn't laugh at your comedy, it doesn't necessarily mean that the tempo is wrong. Of course to be an exponent of tempo, one must be able to distinguish and recognize good and bad tempo and, when a picture is condemned as having displayed bad tempo, it is best to be able to analyze just what agent was out of accordance. Tempo is often hard to criticize when viewing a picture for the first time, but after projecting the film several times, and with a little practice, good or bad tempo can easily be analyzed. Getting back to the subject of close co-ordination of a film group's working parts, perhaps the department most easily to get out of adjustment or tune with the rest is the editorial. You know as well as I do what the cutter means to a production ; what he can do to save a poorly shot picture, and how he can tear down (just by a simple twist of the wrist) everything the director and cameraman did to make the picture good. The director and the editor work as closely, if not closer, than the director and the scenarist. The editor should be on the set during the shooting to absorb clearly the full significance of the idea that the director is attempting to put over. Many times when an editor cuts a film "blind" without having watched the taking of the film, he will interpret the thought and mood much differently than did the director, and the result will be the loss of the central idea, which the writer, the director, and the cameraman have so closely collaborated to achieve. It also goes without saying that the cutter will often save a mediocre picture from utter ruin simply by skillful editing. Some directors cut their pictures as they shoot. That is, they take into consideration while they shoot the problems that the cutter will encounter when he edits the film. This method of shooting is exceptionally good for the amateur film director. Here again brings the point of unification to the front. If the story to be filmed is one of extreme dramatic and emotional character, the wise amateur director will shoot his story as nearly as possible in chronological sequence form. This method will be found to enable the characters to get into the mood of the story and, to feel their portrayals more, thus helping them to grow in characterization as the story grows. This system of shooting is not always practical depending entirely on the construction of the story. For instance, in a story which contains an over-abundance of "cut-backs" from the action in one locale to the action in another locale, it is more practical to shoot all the scenes on one set at the same time, thus eliminating the returning to that set to finish after shooting intermediate scenes on some other set. The flexible camera (meaning the use of the camera on a perambulator) is one of the greatest expressive tools of the director, if he will only realize this. True, the overdoing of this defeats its own purpose, but after all, everything can be overdone. The true artist senses when a thing is overdone. For smooth flow of action, there is perhaps nothing quite like a moving camera ; following the characters through the set, or wandering from the center of interest over to a small table gently affixing itself onto a close-up of a clock, to indicate the passing of time. The proper use of the mobile camera will accentuate any given mood, and in many cases, is the only effective way to photograph a scene. The camera must not be moved unless there is a definite dramatic reason for doing so. One of the valuable uses of the traveling camera is in the presentation of an abstract thought to be conveyed subtly or merely by suggestion. A very good example of this from a current picture, Paramount's "The Scarlet Empress," in which the camera travels down a torture chamber disclosing one by one several executioners placing their victim's heads on the chopping blocks. At the end of the chamber the camera comes to a stop and then proceeds to retrace its course, but this time as it passes the executioners, only the upper halves of the men are shown, the blocks and the kneeling victims out of sight. As the camera slowly passes by, each executioner chops his victim's head off. The camera doesn't see the chopping blocks nor the heads falling off, yet we hear the axes, one by one, hit the blocks and we see the blood-thirsty grins on the faces of the executioners. There is no doubt in the observer's mind as to what has happened, yet it has merely been suggested to us that heads have been chopped off. This power of expressive suggestion is one of the greatest characteristics of the motion picture drama. Speaking of the characteristics of the motion picture, THE LARGEST STOCK OF MITCHELL CAMERAS AND CAMERA EQUIPMENT FOR RENTALS IF YOU NEED IT WE HAVE IT CAMERA SUPPLY CO. Cable Address "CAMERAS" RUDDY CERAUS MANAGER 1515 Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, Calif. 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