Amateur Cine World (November 1934)

A BEGINNER DISCUSSES Zzs PROBLEMS We recently presented a cine camera to a young man without any previous cinematic experience and told him to goahead. Some of the questions that have puzzled him have already been answered in ‘‘Amateur Cine World.” Here he himself describes his own experiences—together with many random comments by the way—when making his first holiday film. NE reads quite a lot about the (_ ) recesity for getting rhythm into a film. Apparently there is a man called Pudovkin and a thing called ‘‘montage’”’ ! Incidentally, talking of montage, I am told that the Russians created it purely because they were so hard up that they never knew where their next fifty feet were coming from. The Birth of Montage Every foot had to be vital and since they couldn’t afford to expend film in the lavish Hollywood manner they had to cast about for ways of suggesting economically what the Los Angeles plutocrats showed in more materialistic, concrete form. And that’s how montage was born. Rather a shock for the highbrows, but a great comfort to the average sort of amateur like you and I who is frequently faced with the same economic crisis as were those highly original Russians. This is an actual still from the author's first holiday fiim. It shows a pleasing sense of composition. Montage, then, (our betters tell us) provides one way of getting rhythm into pictures, but it is my experience that it is a dangerous thing to juggle with if you have not yet acquired a thorough working knowledge, born of experience, of cinematic technique. I feel that rhythm has to be inherent in a film; you can’t inject it satisfactorily into a production by the editing alone. It has got to be there in the camera work, latent, perhaps, but readily susceptible to the cutter and splicer. Concerning Rhythm The subject of each picture, so the experts tell us, dictates its own rhythm. Exciting, dramatic action— quick cutting ; idyllic scenery—longer lengths of film to ensure a series of pictures of a smoothness consonant with their peace and dignity. And then you can juggle about with them, contrasting one scene with another and driving the contrast home, while heightening dramatic effect, by cross cutting and heaven knows what else. That’s all very well, but what if you have taken a film that does not lend itself to such methods? A travel film, for instance. If it consists almost entirely of beautiful scenery, each scene has to be fairly long if you are to avoid scrappiness and jerkiness, but the trouble is that by making them all of appreciable length there is the very real danger of the film being slow and boring. Of course, superior cinematographers will tell you that your travel film had no business to consist almost exclusively of scenery. But the fact remains, mine does, and so, probably, does many another holiday travel film taken by a beginner. Not much use telling us what we ought to have done after we haven’t done it! Such well-meaning advice helps us for next time, of course, but is of no great service to us for the maligned film we are about to edit. No Illusions The editing of my own travel film (the second film I have so far taken; the first was of a collection of relatives, alternatively grinning and gaping at the camera, but they like to see themselves on the screen, bless ’em ! and laugh uproariously at anyone who looks a little worse on the silver sheet than they do)—as I was saying, the editing of my own travel film gave me a lot of bother, but quite a lot of enjoyment. But in order that you can judge for yourselves whether the methods I followed were right or wrong, I had better give you an outline of what the film is and how it was taken. I have no illusions about it. Kind friends say it is good, probably because they have never seen any better. Did you take it all yourself ? they ask. Fancy that, now! Isn’t it good, Joan? You follow the reasoning ? The film is good because I have taken it myself. Let us enjoy our glory while we may for when amateur cinematography is more widely practised many of us will tumble from (Continued on next page) 349