Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1934)

iHf AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER ta 6 CIHEMATOORAPHER a film can be examined by direct inspec¬ tion when cutting. As the various short films are cut off there is a danger of them becoming misplaced. To avoid this, one of the most practical ideas I have come across is to hang them on pins in their correct order by means of one of the sprocket holes. The first shot you cut off, for instance, may have to be placed fifth in your final film, so that it should be placed on the fifth pin until you are ready to start joining. All waste having been discarded, and the rest being in order, the splicing process should be put in hand. Three feet of waste film will be required first as a leader. Following this will come the general title and other explanatory notes which may be desired, then will follow the shots and titles in order. If the titles have been made on one spool in the order of their appearance, it will only be necessary to cut them off and splice in as you come to them. If prepared haphazardly it would be best to cut them apart and hang on pins in their appropriate places. The completed film should be re¬ wound on to a fresh spool and run through the projector, and if further im¬ provements can be made these should September I2t]i, 1934 be put in hand without delay. The film will then be ready for the audiences. When the film is finished it will, of course, contain a great number of joins which, sooner or later, may break apart. It is therefore a sound idea to prepare a copy film free from joins. If you are using positive material you could send the film to the makers and have a fresh copy made . If negative-positive film is being used, the negative should be edited to correspond with the positive you have already done. New positives, free from joins can then be taken off this at will. Looking^ Ahead COLOUR films are bound to come. And, as we know by experience where talking films are con¬ cerned, everv new technical process means a more or less complete set-back at the studios while the film world is accustoming itself to the new tech¬ nique. That is why it is important that there should be a good deal of experimenting in colour work, so that the technical process, when it does come, may be perfect — unlike the early “ talkies ” — and also that people may gradually get to understand the possibilities of this new art medium ; not merely demand colour for colour’s sake. I spent an interesting evening recently at Eastbourne watching local enthusiasts’ efforts with the new Uufaycolor film. Dr. Bodkin Adams is the President of the Eastbourne Amateur Cine Enthusiasts’ Club, and Mr. G. E. Inskeep the Hon. Secre¬ tary. The meeting was held at the Oak Cabin Restaurant. Excellenb results have been obtained by mem¬ bers using this new colour process, and the showing of these films was followed by keen discussion. Two films which won premier awards in last year’s I.A.C. compe¬ tition — “ Egypt and Back,” and “Westminster in Winter” — were also screened. Technical Innovations. Colour is not the only new develop¬ ment on the way. The Pathescope 17.5-mm. sound-on-film apparatus will probably be ready in October. The projector is being manufactured in this country as well as in America. The projector can be used either with variable density or variable width sound track, and pictures 10 ft. wide can be obtained. It is claimed that any standard film reduced to 17.5 mm. can be shown. A new i6-mm. talkie apparatus is being sponsored by Gaumont-British Equipments. in the Cine World A reversion to the old type of “ beater ” movement for actuating the film through the gate — so much in use at one time on standard pro¬ jectors — has been made in the new Siemens i6-mm. projector. First Film by R.F.S. The Religious Film Society has completed arrangements with the Western Electric Company for the distribution to churches and religious organisations of their first film, ten¬ tatively entitled “Mastership” (two reels). This film describes the life of a typical middle-class family and illus¬ trates how, arising out of a quarrel, they individually visit the local Mission Hall, where the famous preacher. Lax of Poplar, is holding one of his regular meetings. Remarkable inci¬ dents, which Lax has actually en¬ countered in real life, are reconstructed in the film, which is frankly evangel¬ ical in character. “ Documentary.” “ Documentary ” is the new word in the film world. We used to call those news-reel items “ interest ” films, or, more briefly, “ shorts.” But there is more to it than a change of name. A documentary film worthy of the name is more than a faithful camera record — it features dramatic content. Moods, purpose, impressions, brilliant cutting and editing all go to make up the many facets of the documentary film. The mosaic art of this type of film should make a special appeal to the amateur cinematographer. Results depend, not upon elaborately con¬ structed sets, but upon artistic insight and technique. Amateurs Learn How. Mr. Basil Wright chose “ Cutting ” for the subject of his talk at the Independent Film Makers’ Summer School, held at Welwyn recently. He showed how documentary films By M. A. LOVELL-BURGESS. require an entirely different working procedure from the ordinary story film, and demonstrated the various effects obtained by different juxta¬ position of the same shots. He also spoke of the welding of two sequences of dissimilar content into a har¬ monious continuity by cutting on a similarity of movement. Mr. John Grierson, who spoke on “ Sound,” said that just as in the early days of cinema the film was merely a record of what a playgoer might expect to see from the front row of the stalls (amateurs, please note !) so it is with sound to-day. He went on to explain that most directors to-day think only in terms of what might be called “ un¬ broken sound,” just as in the days of the early silent films. But sound could be cut, dissolved, superimposed, and voices used for conveying atmo¬ sphere instead of dialogue. And rhyming, chanting, and the subjective worci-building of James Joyce could find a place in the sound film. Proposed Documentary Film. The London Group of the Indepen¬ dent Film Makers’ Association has decided to work on Educational and Documentary films. “ Markets ” is the provisional title of a film dealing with the three London markets. Covent Garden, Smithfield and Billingsgate. The response of one’s mind to a good idea is, as usual, “ Why hasn’t it been done before ? At a business meeting Thomas Baird was re-elected Hon. Secretaiq^, J. C. H. Dunlop, Hon. Treasurer ; E. G. H. Lightfoot — to whom I am indebted for the above details of the I.F.M.A. Summer School — Hon. Assistant Secre¬ tary, and L. Beisiegal was elected Editor of the I.F.M.A. Bulletin. A wide membership is aimed at by the I.F.M.A., so as to finance document¬ ary films. Another aim is the collection of a library of scripts for the perusal of members.