Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

222 AUGUST 1953 PROGRESS • • • TO THE PAST WHILE it isn't going to bother the moguls of movieland one whit, we are not at all sure that we approve of what Hollywood thinks they are going to do to Hollywood's product. In expressing this apprehension, we refer most specifically to professional prophecies concerning the effect on production techniques of CinemaScope, a cycloramic screen process which we examined in this journal last month. Well, other motion picture magazines have been examining CinemaScope as well. And in one of them — the American Cinematograpber — which expresses the viewpoint of top professional movie makers we now find the following statement: "D. W. Griffith and his cameraman, Billy Bitzer, were forced to invent new ways to use the camera, including closeups and over-the-shoulder shots (now called two-shots) , because the lens would not capture the full field of vision that they wanted to show. Today, if Griffith were using CinemaScope, he seldom would have to move in close with the camera, nor would he change angles often." Later in the same article, the same author amplifies slightly each of these attitudes. Of closeups, he writes with a strange anomalousness: "Closeups are possible and tremendously effective, but are seldom needed." And of changing camera viewpoints, he adds: "Camera setups will be reduced to one fourth of their present number . . . resulting in a considerable saving of time and money." The words are those of Leon Shamroy, ASC, director of photography on The Kobe, 20th Century-Fox's first feature production to receive the CinemaScope treatment. And, since Mr. Shamroy has presumed to speak for the Messrs. Griffith and Bitzer, those creative giants of early movie making, we shall presume (perhaps with a proportionate temerity) to question the wisdom of Mr. Shamroy's edicts. Is it good for motion pictures that the closeup will no longer be needed, and therefore will lapse into disuse? We doubt it. For it has long been our impression that Griffith's and Bitzer's addition of the closeup to the swaddling production techniques of early movies was one of the all-time advances in the new art form. And is it trtte that the CinemaScope closeup — although it is to be seldom used — is "tremendously effective?" We doubt that too. Surely, if we are to judge by the official C-S closeup which we published on July's page 183, its vaunted effectiveness is disparate rather than dramatic. For sheer movie magic, we will still stick along with Griffith's memorable closeups of Lillian Gish in, say, Broken Blossoms, or with Chaplin's at the heart-tugging end of City Lights. And, finally, is it wise for Hollywood's cameramen to reduce by 75 percent the number of their changing camera viewpoints? Once again we are strongly in doubt. The changing viewpoint and, in its finest flowering, the mobile camera, has for years comprised the true essence of motion pictures as a unique art form. Eliminating this essence may indeed save time and money on the production budget. But it is not going to make money at the box office. Hollywood, if this present prognosis of future production techniques is any guide, is making progress swiftly — but to the static past. Amateur movie makers will do well to eschew the same errors. THE AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc Founded in 1926 by Hiram Percy Maxim DIRECTORS Joseph J. Harley, President Frank E. Gunnell, Vicepresident James W. Moore, Managing Director John V. Hansen Harrison F. Houghton Roy C. Wilcox Walter Bergmann, Treasurer Arthur H. Elliott Fred Evans Harry Groedel AMATEUR The Amateur Cinema League, Inc., sole owner and publisher of MOVIE MAKERS, is an international organization of filmers. The League offers its members help in planning and making movies. It aids movie clubs and maintains for them a film exchange. It has various special services and publications for members. Your membership is invited. Eight dollars a year. CINEMA LEAGUE. INC.. 420 LEXINGTON AVE.. NEW YORK 17. N. Y.. U. S. A. thought were the right pieces of the musical puzzle. In many instances these bits of music were taken from the middle of a selection so that one had to begin on a flute passage and end on an ensemble crescendo! Repeated playing of such bits to know exactly on what note to begin and end was the only way in which I could assemble the final score. One important musical punctuation mark occurred when the girl sees the skull in the man's hand. This called for an unusual effect — rather like a scream. In search of it I combed our Columbia Masterworks library for weeks on end. Finally, halfway through Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, I found the eerie rattle which I wanted. It lasted for eight seconds! The final scoring operation was to record each piece of music separately on tape and then to splice them together for the completed musical background. PEOPLE MAKE PICTURES When the film was done I realized more than ever what every producer knows. You can't do it alone! It isn't enough to own a camera and plenty of equipment. You need people to make motion pictures — friendly, patient people. I would like to express my appreciation again to everyone who contributed to the success of The Man With The Box. And here are special "Thank Yous" to Mrs. Harry Robinson, who opened her home to us; to Johnny Dowell, who turned in a splendid performance as the killer; and to Cathy Moss, whose sensitive interpretation of the girl simply "made" the picture.