Movie Makers (Jun-Dec 1928)

DECEMBER 1929 . •' » P The MARCH of the CLUBS How Organized Groups Contributed to Cinematic Art During 1928 By Arthur L. Gale, Club Editor THE last year has seen one hundred and fifty per cent increase in the number of amateur movie clubs, development of two new League services for clubs and the completed production of approximately eighty amateur photoplays. The membership roster of almost all the older clubs has been greatly augmented. The growth of the amateur club and photoplay movement has not all been numerical. The clubs are increasing their services to members, they are preparing better constructed programs and they are securing more important speakers. In several instances clubs of amateur cameramen and women have become important civic institutions and have made amateur movies serve educational, social service and recreational purposes outside of the immediate scope of the club. Through comparative screenings of members' films, technical lectures and the exchange of amateur ideas and experiences, the clubs have undoubtedly contributed much toward the progress of amateur technique. Club equipment has also been greatly supplemented. This year has been one of comprehensive experiment for the film story producing groups. Almost every photoplay form has been tried. Farces, comedies, dramas, melodramas and film documents have been produced. Nor has the amateur been without his super-feature. Such films as "Caste" and "The Crown Jewels" involved the cooperation of military and naval forces, railroads and, in some cases, whole towns and cities. Here the amateur, faced with the obvious lack of material available to him in scenario form, unlike community players groups, has concentrated a great deal of his energy on the fabrication of plots. The amateur photoplay producer has not yet completely realized that all of the written story material of the world is available to him, that his logical contribution is the complete translation of this material into terms of the motion picture, and that his true artistic achievement will lie in enlarging these terms in the process. However, it is evident the amateur producers are learning the working value of a well planned script. They are learning to use their photographic tools skillfully and the production organization of the average group has become much more effective. The value of selecting officers and cast on the basis of ability rather than popularity is an old story. Even with this diversification of effort and the use of hackneyed story material, film story producing groups are well on their way toward making the original contribution to the progress of the motion picture as an art form that was prophesied of them, early in the movement, by far-visioned critics and professionals. This year has seen notable achievements. Amateurs have reached professional heights in standard photoplay technique, as in "Narrow Paths." They have made full use of motion picture possiblities, as in "And How." They have, through cinematic experiment, reached new artistic levels, as in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Recognition of the amateur photoplay movement has become general. The professional motion picture world drafted the director-cameraman of "And How" solely upon the basis of his ability demonstrated by that film. In the last year, public screenings of amateur productions have been held generally. The box office receipts, in some cases, have been turned over to charity and in others have been devoted to the purchase of equipment. Not only have these public screenings demonstrated solid public interest in amateur photoplays, but they have also shown that greater efforts obtain adequate support. An interesting aspect of the amateur motion picture club development is its growth in colleges. The movement has also become strongly rooted abroad. There are over thirty clubs outside of this country and in England, where interest in amateur photoplay production is particularly keen, local organizations are now linked together by the National Amateur Cinematographers' Association. As the two new League services in this department, bulletins containing specific material for clubs of amateur cameramen and film story producers are issued periodically and the Club Film Library made up of amateur productions is operated for the benefit of organized groups. There can be no doubt that these clubs will contribute materially to the progress of the motion picture as an art form.