Amateur Cine World (December 1934)

Our CRITICS Advise on Amateurs FEutlms usual method of editing such a film is to keep it in chronological sequence, a method which has much to commend it. We know that it is always desirable to be fresh in one’s ideas, but in the present film the author has abandoned the chronological idea and rather bewilderingly mixed his geography in an attempt to link the ideas with such things as washing methods in various countries. Had the device succeeded it would have been very attractive, but he has not quite managed to achieve his aim. In ‘‘ Costa del Sol’’ we find a large number of very wordy titles. This is always undesirable as it holds up the action of a film and every effort should be made to keep titles as concise as possible. Some shots in Southampton were very attractive. The chief faults with this picture were the inclusion of a large number of dull long shots, an insufficiency of close-ups and of pictures of people and animals, an unsteady camera, variation in exposure and the failure to cut out the flashes at the beginnings of the titles. Some of the commercial title-makers have a distressing habit of starting the camera while the card is still being placed in position, with a result that the title is in movement at the beginning. This practice does not really matter so long as the first two or three frames are cut off. As a general comment on the 16mm. film, which was a mixture of both negative-positive and reversal, we were not impressed with the standard of photographic quality. We saw hundreds of feet of film in which there was not a single rich shadow tone and we are not certain that the authors of the films were entirely responsible for this state of affairs. OUR HOLIDAYS IN ERIN. By PETER JOHNSON. § 9.5mm. This film is a sort of family-cum-scenic reel. It opens with a trick main title which sprouts shamrocks and is tinted green in quite an effective manner. ‘ The End’ is accorded the same treatment. But the stuff in ‘between is not quite so commendable. The exposure is quite erratic and an exposure meter is definitely needed. There is also the old trouble of the restless camera. For example, in one shot the camera first pans 1. to r., then r. to 1., then 1. to r. on exactly the same scene. Again, the continuity seems somewhat mixed. Early in the film we are shown in quick succession streets, docks and the zoo, with no pictorial link and without titles to make the transition smooth. In fact, the whole film bears the marks of being not so much a film as a sort of ‘album’ of individual shots. A pleasingly composed picture with the necessary foreground interest built up on a pattern of straight lines. A good attempt has been made to knit the thing into a film, but you cannot succeed in the absence of proper material. One part of the film has been livened up with double-exposed titles, but the scenes in the background have been normally exposed and the words _ under-exposed, with the result that they are practically invisible. One should not try tricks like this before having found out about the elementary matter of exposure. There is a ‘Bowls’ series showing a tournament. We found it rather boring. For one thing there was a complete absence of close-ups of the woods and jacks. All we saw was a lot of uninteresting middle-aged men in the middle distance, kneeling down, waving the right arm and then getting up and dancing around or running down the green. The exposures in the North Wales and subsequent sections of the film were again erratic. CRUISE VIEWS. _ By OLDSWINFORD PICTURES. 9.5mm. This short film was taken with a hand-turned Pathé camera; the jerkiness of most of the shots is therefore (Continued on next page) iE CANNOT TAME. YOUR FILMS’ ef. pea HtlMdlltt te?» viens Zs Films Cut e-Titled OEE BUT WE CAN Qs Co: -areductions Edited << Sse MAKE THEM AWrite for ngscenarios Ravioed de” ' “dtettg 2 Pa rti icu ! ars — stasnereinnncsouseneee OOO 7FILM ¢ oe +2 En. if Af a Qj FDITORIAL * o a Pho pi \3O, NWARDOUR STREET. LONDON.W.1I. 414