American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

before one or two friends who aren't familiar with the places you went or the things you did. Notice at what points in the film's course they ask questions, and what they ask about. You'll need titles there. And your answers, boiled down to minimum wordage, will give a pretty good idea of what the titles should say. And here you can borrow a trick we used to use back in the silent-picture days — making' what we called "scratch" or temporary titles. Shoot them on the cheap, positive film which you can get for less than a dollar a hundred feet. Make them simple — just typewritten letters on a white card. Have the film developed as a negative, so that your white card comes out black, and the black lettering, white. Have the film developed in a high-contrast developer, by the way, so that the blacks will be really black, and the whites, white. Cut these temp titles into their approximate places in the reel, and have another "sneak preview." See if the meaning of your film, as explained by picture and titles, is clear. If it is, shoot your final titles — black-and-white for a monochrome picture, and Kodachrome always for a Kodachrome picture. Now cut these final titles into the picture. Sometimes you can slip them right in where the temp titles went. In other instances, you may want to alter their position a bit. This is especially true in the case of spoken titles, which should be handled this way: a short footage of the person speaking, shown in a close shot as he starts to speak; the title; and finally the remaining footage of the shot of the person. Often, by the way, you'll be able to eliminate quite a bit of footage in the middle of these scenes where you cut in spoken titles. Now study your almost-completed film again, and start editing for tempo. Where a sequence drags, you can often speed it up by simply cutting the scenes shorter, and — if possible — using more and varied angles on the same action or view. On the other hand, if you want to get over an impression of peace and placidity — as in a quiet vacation lake — use longer scenes and fewer changes of angle. When you want to keep things moving well, don't be afraid to cut close on exits and entrances. Instead of beginning a scene before a person, car, train or the like gets really into the frame, cut so the scene begins with your person well into the frame. In the same way, in an exit, cut as soon as it becomes clear the person is leaving the scene. And since draggy tempo is a weakness Df most vacation films, don't be afraid :o trim most of your scenes short, and mve plenty of different scenes in your ficture. I've seen one professional travelilm — a one-reeler — which crowded no ess than 235 scenes into a single 1000|oot 35mm. reel (equivalent to a 400oot 16mm. or 200-foot 8mm. reel.) This ivas perhaps a bit too short — but it made "PROFESSIONAL Jr." TRIPOD by CAMERA EQUIPMENT COMPANY The "Professional Jr." tripod is the most rigid on the market and has many features which are usually found only in regular heavy professional models. For example, it has a wide flanged base to assure steady panning, super smooth action of the friction type tilt head and a pin and trunnion of generous size to minimize the effects of wear and make possible smooth tilt shots. A sturdy handle screws into the top to control the movements, but for carrying, is removed and screwed into a socket in the center of the base. Wooden legs locked by a quick release knurled knob can be adjusted for height by a twist of the knob set between each leg. The extended height of the tripod is 8 6 '/2 ' ' , low height 46". Top plate can be set for 16mm Eastman Cine Special with or without motor as well as the Eyemo 35mm camera with or without motor and 400 ft. magazine. It will also take the DeVry 35mm camera. The tripod legs are reenforced to the head to assure steadiness at all positions. Tripod llo.nl :?"?, J Unconditionally 4«n;arniaf <»<><l ."» Years. Write for I,iteraiuro! "Professional Jr." tripods are being used by many leading Newsreel companies, 16mm and 35mm Sound Studios for all important work. Left: 16mm Eastman Cine Special mounted on "Professional Jr." Right: 35mm Eyemo with motor and 400 ft. magazines mounted on "Professional Jr." H CAMERA EQUIPMENT CO. 1600 Broadway I New York, N. Y. s the picture march along very briskly indeed. Finally, study your film on the screen again, and see where it will be helped by putting in Photofade fades and wipes. They will usually be most useful at the beginning and end of sequences, and they're easily made. Put them in and your film is completed and ready to show. In closing, here are a few little professional tips. Don't be afraid of losing much footage in all this splicing and resplicing, and in — as is sometimes necessary — juggling scenes and sequences around from one part of the picture to another. If you do your splicing well, you won't lose more than a couple of frames each time you splice — and with the exception of extra fast-moving montages, one frame more or less won't make or break any scene. If you want to be on the safe side, though, and free to make as many revisions as necessary before splicing-, just join the scenes together with strips of Scotch tape slightly narrower than the film, and of course narrow enough to avoid blocking the perforations. These temporary Scotch-tape splices will go through the projector quite safely, and can be ripped apart without damaging American Cinematographer September, l'.tll 445