The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

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wllEN TO USE hfRA'REd fillVI By Theodore Sparkuhl of Paramount Pictures Theodore Sparkuhl was born in 1894 in Hanover, Germany. He graduated from Lyceum I at Hanover, studied medicine at Heidelberg and Bonn, but was compelled to discontinue on account of finances. He started in the motion picture business with Leon Gaumont in Paris in 1912, became a news cameraman in 1913. and was sent to Berlin for Gaumont Paris. Sparkuhl started as first cinematographer in studio work with Eikofilm, then Eclair Paris, went at the outbreak of war to Berlin, was drafted as a cinematographer in Russia, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Early in 1918 he was transferred to UFA. Berlin, and stayed with that firm until 1928, photographing practically all of the Lubitsch Pictures. He went to England in 1928 for BIP and stayed until 1930. In the fall of 1930 he returned to Paris and worked for Braunberger-Richebe at Billancourt. He applied for the American Quota in Paris and sailed for the United States in December 1931. He was admitted to Local 659 in April, 1933, and has worked at Paramount ever since, photographing about 45 pictures in that time, the more recent being "Hardboiled Canary,"' "Rangers of Fortune," "The Light That Failed," "Rulers of the Sea," "If I were King," "Wells Fargo," etc. He became a citizen of the United States in 1937 and was married on one of his film trips to Europe. He has five children, three boys and two girls, the oldest being an interne at General Hospital, Los Angeles. Sparkuhl has finished his medical studies while in pictures and during the war was used as news man and surgeon simultaneously. — (Editorial Note) . This little article is written to help the cinematographers and still photographers who have not had sufficient experience in the application of infra-red film, to help them understand its beauty for certain effects, its possibilities — and the headaches they may get by using it. Primarily, infra-red film, as the name implies, does not have a panchromatic emulsion; in other words it is not sensitive to all colors of the spectrum. It has an emulsion which to a great extent cuts out the blue rays, if used with a red filter such as F-29 and 25. There are several types of infra-red film on the market, but the Pan K of Eastman and the Infra D of Dupont are the ones generally used professionally. The Pan K has a tendency to create very eerie effects, especially in the rendition of foliage, which turns very bright. The Dupont Infra D, while having the same general quality, does not turn the greens, such as foliage, as light, but keeps them more subdued. It depends largely upon the individual judgment of the cinematographer as to which film he should use for the requirements of the scenes to be photographed for night effects. In one of my recent pictures I was confronted with the necessity of creating rather odd and mysterious effects in the day time The action took place around a cemetery, under trees, but it had to be daytime. After making some tests, I decided to use infra-red film with a very light filter, No. 21, in addition to which I used fog filters and Schiebe Diffusion. The effect approached perfection. So you see that infra-red may be used for certain day effects. One has to be particularly careful in lighting the actors, because infrared film has a tendency to render your picture in much higher contrast than you seem to see with your own eyes. The makeup of lips, for instance, has to be more on the brown side, with no red in it, lest you want the lips to appear lighter than the skin! The overall sensitivity is practically the same with both types of films, about 24 Weston. By using a 29 F filter I found the best density in the developed negative by allowing only two to two and a half stops from the daylight value. A great deal depends upon the freshness of the emulsion you use and I have always found it safe to test emulsion furnished by my company before actually shooting it on production. While it has great advantages for night effects, infra-red film should by no means be looked upon as a cure-all! It should be used only on outdoor shots where it is important to enhance the beauty of the landscape and where it would be impossible to light the scope of your shot artificially. In many cases I have found it disastrous where some ambitious business manager decided to use infra-red film to save the artificial lighting of a shot or sequences which would very well have been lighted with much better results. I remember a few years ago when infra-red film came into vogue that the studios wanted to take advantage of existing sets on their back lots for both day and night effects, photographed in the davtime, without repainting the sets. So extensive tests were made to determine what color the sets should be painted to give the most even effect if photographed in daylight with the regular panchomatic film and also for night effects with infra-red. The color that gave the best effect was a gray-blue, but several disadvantages popped up in that infra-red can be used successfully only if photographed under proper light conditions. As this necessity was too great a risk on the budgets, business managers have abandoned this way of shooting more and more and have come back to the artificial lighting of existing street sets to be photographed either at night or under diffusion blacks. In using infra-red film the cinematographer should be given free hand to pick his angles, because he is the one, and the only one, to decide whether he can get the expected result from such and such an angle. The light should always be crosslight, favoring the faces of the actors. It might be slightly back-cross with enough reflected light filled in, but never should it be a direct back light, because the haze of your back-light overpowers whatever blue there is left in the sky As a result you cannot expect your sky to go dark. Great care should be taken not to shoot infra-red too late in the day, because the sunlight goes redder toward late afternoon and as a result your film will appear to have much more contrast than during the morning or early afternoon shots. It is very important to work hand-inhand with the laboratory when working on infra-red sequences, because in the heat of the battle you may be induced to shoot longer than you really should or you might run into a situation which in itself might not be very favorable to infra-red film, but which might be corrected, or at least helped and improved by shortening or extending the developing time. Quite frequently one is in a position where it is necessary to change from infrared to the regular film, especially in scenes where it is necessary to break up your long shots and move in for the closer action scenes with the actors. Personally I prefer to go over to regular film for these shots if it is possible to avoid the sky, or at least to avoid it to some extent. With a combination filter such as 23-56, or 25-56, you will find that the quality of the faces of your actors will be much more natural than with the infra-red film. But extremely careful judgment on your part is necessary. Furthermore, be on the lookout for dresses or costumes which have red in them. Watch for this right from the start of the picture, or you and your studio are apt to have some shocking surprises. I remember one dress on an actress. It didn't seem to have red in it at all, but when we saw the rushes we almost died, for it looked as if she were running around in a nightgown. The reason? She wore a fiery-red slip under her knitted dress, not visible to the eye, but the infra-red looked right through it! So be careful in using infra-red film and exercise good and cool judgment. Results obtained in "The Light That Failed" are due only to fair breaks, planning and good judgment. International Photographer for August, 1941