International photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

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weIIes AiNd tNe cameraman Kahle has been a still photographer for about seventeen years, and during that time he has constantly studied the art of making stills. He has advanced with the times instead of standing still. Entirely unaware that we were making notes during his conversation, we pass along some of it which we feel sure will be of interest to our readers. "Some shots have no effect unless they convey the idea of the size of the room. If the room is huge, that impression should be found on the print. Show ceilings whenever possible. "Very often straight shots are not half as effective as they would have been if shot at an angle. When I started at Fox six years ago shooting at an angle they feared the worst. Since that time the angles have found favor. "Take for instance a drunken man. Shot straight-on it doesn't convey nearly the idea that it would if shot at an angle. I have observed in some stills that the drunk just looks as if he were in pain. Suppose the inebriated one is shown asleep at a table. A straight shot would indicate him merely sleeping, but if taken at an angle, one is sure of his condition. "I am a firm believer whenever possible in getting the camera low and shooting up. This is especially effective if the subject happens to be gazing upward. "Before shooting I decide what I want to emphasize and then concentrate on doing just that. Perhaps it is only a gesture, or a facial expression. By placing my camera at a low angle it is possible to make the person to be emphasized appear larger than the others. Sometimes a shadow three times as large as the subject will convey just the desired effect." (EDITORIAL NOTE.) When I heard I was to make the stills for Orson Welles' first RKO picture the assignment was more than welcome. I had heard of his plans to film Conrad's tropical tale, "Heart of Darkness" and of his theories for that picture which, as you will immediately see, were of tremendous interest to any photographer. Welles wanted to make the camera tell the story, be the principal character, as a matter of fact. This presented highly fascinating technical problems to the cameramen and it was a disappointment when he was unable for various reasons to make the film. However, work on "Citizen Kane" turned out to be just as interesting, since Welles and Gregg Toland, his cameraman, are nothing if not experimental. The picture represents to some extent, a development and extension of the beautiful camera work Toland did in "The Long Voyage Home," with certain amendments by Welles. The two saw eye to eye from the first and the initial days of shooting represented a series of experiments. Welles, for instance, put ceilings on every set, had the By Alexander Kahle characters occasionally look right into the camera and generally violated all the cliches of Hollywood photography. The ceilings on the sets aided the intensity of the scenes enormusly and, combined with Welles' and Toland's penchant for a very tight composition, resulted in the use of the camera as an adjunct to the creation of mood and feeling. Not just the recorder of events. But the biggest and most startling thing about the photography is the use of the new coated lenses and an effort, completely successful, to keep the whole area of the screen in sharp focus at all times. There are no blurred foregrounds or backgrounds and some of the shots traversed two full sound stages, about two hundred feet from lenses to back of the set. The tremendous depth of field, the ceilings and the general effort to make the settings look completely natural, (great attention paid to shadow detail ) made necessary a new attitude toward lighting. It is too common for Hollywood product to look completely washed out, with everything having equal values in the lighting. It is not noticed particularly but that is because the audiences have become so used to it that it has become a convention. Like the two dimensional screen. The WellesToland lighting is as near to three dimension photography as you can come with the materials at hand. The particular virtues of the sharp focus and naturalistic lighting are that they will not be noticed at all by the non-camera minded audience. They will do their work as an aid to photography without making themselves apparent. The sharp focus, of course, puts a new responsibility on everyone concerned with the scresn. You cannot just go out and shoot the usual script with the Welles-Toland method. The script must be written with the process in mind and the director must make the actors comport themselves with the thought that now the film audience will have the same privilege of looking at any part of the screen, as in the theater where if the leading man is a bore you can watch the pretty maid in the background. This is not to indicate that the closeup has been done away with. CAMERA CATCHES WELLES IN ACTION: Directing, Awaiting the Action, on Snow Set.