Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

330 NOT for those who made the Ten Best A veteran, but non-competitive, movie maker tells the tyro how to place in the Ten Best OLIN POTTER GEER, ACL ELSEWHERE in this issue there is announced the great good news of the Ten Best award winners for another year of amateur movie making. To the place winners I offer my congratulations, to those unplaced, my sympathies. And, I may say, I can offer both without prejudice for, as it happens, I have never even competed. However, as with so many of us, this in no way lessens my confident ability to tell you how to make a Ten Best movie. In fact, if I may be permitted to paraphrase the immortal quatrain by Gelett Burgess . . . I've never made a Ten Best wow, I've seldom even seen one; But I can tell you anyhow The ways to make a keen one. Let's begin with the equipment, or tools of our trade. These need not be elaborate; but in my experience the following items — above and beyond your camera and projector — are essential. First, a tripod. An unsteady picture is a poor picture. While your camera is light enough to hand-hold, you cannot keep it perfectly steady because of the breathing movements of your body. Remember, you are taking motion pictures with a movie camera, not a moving camera. Pans, especially of buildings or mountains, are strictly taboo. These objects are too massive for movement. Instead, break your take of them into two or three separate, steady shots from different angles. With moving objects, of course, it is proper to pan if you are f( llowing their action — such as a plane in flight, a motor car, a rodeo rider or the like. Second, you will need a titler. This can be bought at any photographic store or you can make it yourself. All you require is a board to hold your camera, an easel to hold the title cards, and two lights set one on either side of the title card being photographed. (If you want a simple, basic design, ask ACL for their service sheet called A Popular Titler Plan.) Your titles may be hand lettered, written or even typed. Regular sets of pin-up letters also may be purchased. Third, you must have a splicer with which to join together the pieces of film that you are justifiably proud to save and show. If you have a viewer to help you select these scenes, so much the better. With the splicer include a sharp pair of scissors with which to cut out all over and underexposed shots, those that are out of focus and particularly those not worth showing to others, however precious they may seem to you. Add to these two a waste basket into which to throw the discarded film. The basic rules for what scenes to take and how to make a motion picture from them are rather simple. A motion picture must tell a story. Plan your action in advance, either by writing down the contemplated scenes on paper, or, if this is not feasible, work out the scenes in your mind before you begin shooting. Set the locale of your pictures. If you plan to take your children playing on the lawn, first film them in long shot against the background of your home, then their play in medium shot, next closeups of their faces, then the group again from another angle, and finally another shot of your home. This sequence can be varied. You may, for example, end or start with the closeups. Or in filming flowers, go again from the general (distant shot of the garden) to the particular (closeup of the bloom) and back to the general (a portion of the garden from another angle). Just as your camera must be stationary, your subject should be moving — unless, of course, it is normally static such as a mountain or a building. Group pictures of people standing or sitting are usually not conducive of much movement, so camera angles should be changed frequently. This applies to flower gardens as well. Buildings and monuments should be recorded sparingly; and, if taken, try accompanying them with titles made on the spot from their inscriptions. Having taken your scenes, arrange and rearrange them into smooth-running sequences, changing from the chronological to the location method of arrangement and back until you have a coordinated film. If you can, put a more interesting sequence at the beginning, the third best in the middle, and your best at the end. Time or measure the sequences and the scenes in each sequence, and cut them so as to build up to a climax. Don't be afraid to use very short shots to speed the action. Take closeups. Move your camera forward if possible, or better still use a telephoto lens if you have one. Shots of natives abroad may be obtained with a telephoto lens without the knowledge of subjects who might resent having their pictures taken. Also, native scenes appear more authentic if members of your party are kept out of them. You didn't travel all the way to Chichicastenango to picture Aunt Minnie on the steps of the cathedral. Those rubyvelvet clad natives, with their smoking censers, make a better movie. Trick shots formerly used as connecting links, such as whirling auto wheels, the speedometer and shots of maps, may be losing fashion. They rarely appear now in professional travelogs. If your shots vary in color tones, separate them into groups of the same colors if possible. If not, separate them with titles to lessen the contrast. Titles provided on the spot may well be better than any you can make. At least they will be different. The name of your hotel on its facade, of the town you are visiting on a roadside traffic sign, and especially, when available, signs at a tourist attraction, offer ready-made and pictorially interesting titles. But don't shoot them head-on and foursquare. Compose them in diagonal patterns across the frame, from one lower corner to the opposite upper. And where the lettering is raised, or especially where it is incised into stone or metal, remember that cross lighting and its consequent shadows will bring them out. Vary your camera angle whenever possible. In taking children, for example, shoot from two or even three different places and, when editing, crosscut the shots so taken. On your next visit to the movies watch how often the professional directors do that. They will usually have several cameras working simultaneously, so that later the editor may choose different shots of the same scene in making up his sequences. Last, but not least, study the various books on motion picture photography, especially the authentic and informative book Making Better Movies, written and published by the Amateur Cinema League. You'll be making the Ten Best honors circle sooner than you think.