American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

June, 192tJ AMERICAN CINEM ATOGR APHER Seven Cinematographer as Economy Unit in Production Responsible Camera Artist Saves Salary in Course of One Picture (The following interview with Daniel B. Clark, president of the American Society of Cinetnatographers, ivas writ/en by the editor of this publication for the studio section of the Exhibitors Herald:) ^ Great Economies Effected through Progress and Efficiency of Camera Calling The cinematographer is in a keystone post in the matter of effecting economy in cost of motion picture production, according to Daniel B. Clark, president of the American Society of Cinematographers. Saves Salary "T h e cinematographer," Clark states, "ordinarily saves his salary many times during the course of the average production. This may appear to be a novel assertion; nevertheless, it is true. Great Economy "In the matter of illumination alone, careful regulation by him as to how much light is used on each set, thereby employing only the light actually needed and avoiding over-illumination, is a means of saving hundreds of dollars on a feature production. Promptitude "The company," Clark continued, "rarely has to wait for the cinematographer to be ready to shoot. He is 'set up,' with all his lights arranged in proper positions, and waiting for the call, 'Camera,' when the director and the company are ready for action. If it were otherwise, it would mean, especially on sets with a great many extra people, the piling up of heavy overhead, due to the loss of time — for, need it be said that nothing can be done until the camera is ready to photograph? The cinematographer's alacrity in such matters is the result of the maximum efficiency to which he has reduced his work. Certainly a complete mastery of his subject is required for him, in the hurry and bustle of the set, to give commands as to where this light or that light is to be placed, all of which must be done in a few moment's time. What would have been the case if, in the beginning of the business, the procedure would have been established that a couple of hours or more would have been necessary for experimenting with and checking each array of lights, to determine its correctness? Production Cost Cut "And so it is in the run of cinematographic improvements generally. The cine matographer has been quick to bring about or encourage such improvements, so that little corners, however imperceptible, are continually being cut in production costs. A faster or a more adaptable lens is immediately adopted, a new effect in miniature is worked out and so on — and hundreds of dollars and, in some instances, even thousands of dollars are saved for the producer. Thus, the expertness of the cinematographer brought the glass shot from the realm of probability to the plane of fact — and what producer doesn't realize the savings effected by this form of economy. "These," the A. S. C. president concluded, "are but a few of the innumerable cases of cinematographic economies. Some rarely if ever come to executive attention, while others, because of their magnitude, command respect — as, for instance, the case in which one member of the A. S. C, is saving, it is reported, his company the sum of $40,000 by having eliminated, in a big production now being made, the necessity of countless night shots — and previously it had been thought that the nights of photographing were an indispensible evil in the making of this particular picture." •AIM