Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

MOVIE MAKERS notes I thought I'd need, I just spoke into the mike. At the end of the film I played back the tape and typed its narration in duplicate. At this point I got my workprint Magna-Striped by Reeves Soundcraft Corporation. Then I took the precaution of recording from No. 1 to No. 2 a duplicate of my finished sound track (remember I'd done all this quite alone!). Working from it, I experimented mixing my voice and tape, narrating directly into 202 whilst the tape track also played into 202. None of it was any good. I found it impossible to be near enough to 202 to reach the con trols without having all the operating noises going through the mike. I had to have help! I engaged the services of a bright chap, accustomed to synchronizing commercial sound to film. But he'd never seen a 202 before, nor a small tape recorder! He was used to 35mm. and optical tracks. However, he quickly learned from this "teacher" the idiosyncrasies of small tape and 202, and, I think, in no time the "pupil" knew far more than the teacher! First we ran through the film in rehearsal, I speaking the narration and jotting cue notes in the margins of the typescript. Now, I had already found that in any sound recording operation there is a background, a pitch, a tone, something like atmosphere which varies from session to session — even when you are using the same equipment. Thus, I held that with any picture which tells an uninterrupted story of a single incident, the sound should be recorded on the 202 stripe in a single, uninterrupted session. To be sure, I had recorded my tape sound track one piece at a time. But it was to be re-recorded on 202 in one unbroken take, so that the background "atmosphere" would be similar. And, since the 202 recording was the final one, that was what counted. We broke the completed sound track into two tapes, splitting it at important scene changes. Like this: Pentron 1 . . . Start mark . . . sound for 47 sec. . . . colored tape . . . sound for 18 sees. Pentron 2 245 Start mark . sound for 34 sec. . colored colored tape tape. The 202 and the Pentrons don't hold dead-true speed, running a fraction differently each time (though the Pentrons were amazingly true ! ) . However, I had allowed a tiny overtime on each sound sequence, so that there couldn't be any shortage of sound. So Pentron 1 was started as 202 started, then was instantly shut off as No. 2 started when its cueframe showed on the screen. Then back to No. 1 at its proper cue-frame and so on. Everything ready, I climbed atop a chair which was atop a table, in a room which fortunately had glass transoms. . WORLD'S MOST AMAZING Jv2ajvffie£u>fri€itic 8 If you set out to engineer a "dream" movie camera — you would arrive at something like the Nizo Heliomatic. This extraordinary camera not only "thinks" for itself in determining exposure, but also gives you a bagful of special effects almost unheard of in 8mm. photography. Mode by Niezoldi & Kramer of Munichworld's oldest specialists in home movie equipment. Now for some of the other remarkable features: Frame speeds range from 8 to 64 per second. Provision for exposing single frames in continuous sequence. Oversize spring motor for long, smooth run on single winding! Automatic cut-off at end of film. Film returning attachment for fade-ins, fade-outs, lap dissolves. A superb optical viewfinder (with parallax compensation) plus a right-angle viewfinder for candid cinematography! Automatic magnifying compensation in the viewfinder when the telephoto lens is in use. And a self-filming attachment even allows you to get into your own movies. Marvelously compact, beautifully machined — the one camera for perfect movies every time! Forget about bulky exposure meters forever! A built-in photo-electric governor takes over completely. It is coupled to two superbly corrected lenses — the normal Ms inch and the 1V2 inch telephoto mounted on a unique slide turret for instant interchangeability. To start shooting, simply look through the viewfinder and line up two indicating needles. Perfect exposure! Any exposure adjustments while panning are made in the same manner — instantly — and without removing your eye from the finder! Film speed and framesper-second are pre-set and automatically compensated for. A really foolproof camera! Complete with y." universal focus F/1.9 and 1M>" focusing F/2.8 lenses, coated and color *,»oe corrected $295 or with Vi" focusing F/1.5 plus telephoto lens $355 © At your dealer — or write for interesting booklet ERCONA CAMERA CORP. Depl. 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