American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

THE IDEA EXCHANGE ■ Emergency Splices It's plenty embarrassing when your film breaks during projection. If you stop to fix things, there's an irritating interruption to your show; if you don't, the film runs down onto the floor and at least gets dirty, and sometimes stepped on. Here are some methods I've used in these emergencies. The simplest thing is to have a good, clean wastebasket handy (preferably lined with soft, lint-free cloth!) so in case of a break you can simply slip it under the projector and let the film feed down into it. They used to do that in professional theatres, by the way, in the early days before they put take-ups on projectors. Another good safeguard is to have two or three small paper-clips (smaller than the width of your film) handy. Use a clip to temporarily join the broken film-ends together. Often, if you catch the break promptly, you can clip the ends this way with little or no interruption, even in the dark. A third method is to slit the broken film-ends as shown in the sketch, joining them as shown. A fourth method is to have on hand several strips of Scotch tape narrower than the film and about half an inch or an inch long. Placed lengthwise over the break in the film, this makes a fine emergency splice, and one that will go through the projector, too. GEORGE GREY. Color Titles on Snow Looking around for a title-idea to fit a Kodachrome snow picture I'd made, I hit on this idea which worked out well. I took a sheet of heavy cardboard and made a stencil from it, cutting out the letters I wanted for my title. Then I placed this cardboard stencil on a flat area of snow. Next, I filled a "Flit-gun" with watercolor paint of the desired color (I used orange) and sprayed the stencil with it. The stencil kept the paint from reach THE IDEA EXCHANGE is just what the name implies — the place where 16mm. and 8mm. cinefilmers can swap moviemaking ideas with the other fellow. The little improvised tricks you used to solve one of your cinemaking problems may be just the answer to something that's perplexing a fellow filmer — and one of his ideas may solve a problem for you. To help out this exchange, The American Cinematographer invites you to send in descriptions of gadgets, tricks, shortcuts and methods you have used in any phase of home movie work — shooting, editing, titling, projecting, processing, and the like. If possible, send along a photograph or sketch to help make your description more clear to the other fellow. For every idea published in THE IDEA EXCHANGE, we'll give you two projection-reels and cans. Really unusual ideas will receive higher awards. When sending in your idea, let us know whether you shoot 8mm. or 16mm. to facilitate sending you the l-ight equipment. ing the snow except where the letters had been cut out. There, it went through and colored the snow to form colored letters against a white background. When I carefuly lifted the stencil from the snow, I had my title all ready to shoot: a flat expanse of white snow with colored letters. This idea lends itself to all sorts of modifications. You can pan up or to one side, going directly from the title to your action, or from action to title. Or you can "fade out" on your title by shooting the desired footage of the word, and then sprinkling snow on it until the letters are concealed. If you use 16mm., as I do, you can get the opposite effect by shooting this way with the camera upside-down. When the film is processed, turn it end for end in the reel, and you'll get the effect that the snow flutters away and leaves the lettering exposed. MARTIN MILLER. Diffuser For Lamps If you'll study professional movies, you will see that most shots are made with the lamps illuminating the actors softened down with diffusers. Unluckily for us amateurs, there haven't been many diffusers made to use with our Photoflood lamps. But anyone can build himself a set very easily. Take a length of galvanized-iron wire and from one end make a hoop at least as big as the front of your lamp's reflector; a little bigger is even better. Then bend the surplus wire straight back, as shown in the sketch. To provide the diffusion, fasten onto the hoop whatever diffusing medium you wish — tracing-cloth is good, so are white silk, ground cellophane, and the like. Each has a different character of diffusion, so it's a good idea to make up several for each lamp. You fit the diffuser to the lamp as shown in the sketch, with three springtype clothespins. One is attached to the top of the lamp's reflector, and the others, at right angles to it, grip both it and the extended straight wire from the hoop. Be sure and mount your diffuser an inch or more in front of the reflector, so there will be room for ventilation. Otherwise the heat of the lamp is likely to char the diffusing-screen. For shooting tricky light-effects in Kodachrome, make up similar gadgets using colored cellophane instead of the usual white diffusing medium. SOL. J. COHEN. Title For Sport Films Cinebugs who make movies of such sports as tennis, baseball or golf can make themselves some eye-catching main and end titles by using this trick I r» cently employed. Take as many balls as there are letters in the words you want in your title. Letter each ball with one of these letters. Then, for the simplest effect, just s< I the balls on a flat surface, arranging them so the lettered balls spell out the words, and shoot your title. It's best to light the balls with a single lamp, from one side. This makes them look rounder If you shoot 16mm., you can have the balls "animate" in to form the words themselves. Just shoot with the camera upside-down, and when 'you've shot enough, jiggle the table or card the balls are on — very gently, mind! — and the balls will slowly roll away. Win n the film is reversed end-for-end, this gives a shot in which the balls roll (Continued on Page 196) \KZ April, 1941 American Cinematographer