American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

I action has already been timed out by the director and indicated on the bar sheets in relation to musical beats, all the sound-effects man need do is copy off the measures that fit the action, and write the pattern of the sound-effect like a musical score, quarter-notes, half-notes, etc., indicating the main accents of the sound. The sound-effects men, who are trained musicians, then record their sound to a definite musical beat, following the score to hit the accents in accordance with the pattern shown in the musical measures. Many are the ingenious. Rube Goldberg-ish contraptions that have been devised by sound-effects men to obtain ordinary, every-day sounds. However, many sounds are best recorded from the actual source. In the early days, when microphones couldn't be depended upon for true fidelity of pickup, certain sounds were best recorded by artificial means. But present-day mikes reproduce just about what's taking place, so real water, for example, is used to back up a screen rainstorm instead of a lot of gravel rolling around inside a barrel. If a gasoline motor sound is needed, there's no call to use the old standby, a flock of syrup pitchers whose lids were flopped up and down in quick succession to approximate the sound of the exhaust. No. they drag a gas engine onto the sound stage and record it. And it sounds surprisingly like a gas engine, too! Even thunder — recorded artificially by rattling pieces of sheet metal — has been provided by nature in many instances. And no longer can the wiseacres sit in the theater and say, "Aw, I know how they got that brake-screech. They dragged a cheese-grater across a drumhead!" Nope, wrong again, my friend. They set a mike up close to the street pavement, stai-ted a truck going, and slammed on the brakes. Result: a beautiful sound of tires screeching on pavement. One such sound-effect, originally recorded for the Silly Symphony, "Tortoise and the Hare," has been since used in every case where such a sound is needed. It's a good thing that this sound is safely recorded, for under present tire-famine conditions, the sound-effects man would probably resort to a cheese grater on a drumhead or something, rather than waste valuable rubber! When the sound-effects are all recorded, the assistant director sees to it that they're cut into the sound reels in proper synchronization with the picture. The sound-effects track and dialog tracks are kept separate up until the final dubbing, when all tracks are combined. Consequently, a change of footage in the picture-reel during production must be followed through in like form in all the various sound reels, or else the whole works is thrown out of sync. The assistant is kept hopping to keep up with the footage changes, for no one bothers to tell anyone else when a scene length is altered, assuming that such information will reach the proper person via telepathy. But it's just one of the many crosses the a.d. has to bear, so he merely sighs resignedly, figuring what the heck, it's a job. Concurrent with the timing of the picture by the director, the layout-man will be planning the staging and setting. The layout-man functions much like the art-director in a live-action studio, with a little of the director's responsibility and that of the director of photography mixed in. He plans the exact pictorial locale of each scene, plans the size and movements of the characters, figures out all of the camera moves such as trucks (moving toward or back from a character), and pans (following a character along). He considers interesting ways to present the artistic side of a scene — special-eft'ects, atmosphere shots, interesting camera angles, and so on. The layout-man must be an all-around artist, being fully acquainted with perspective, rendering and architecture. A good sense of story, comedy and dramatic values is necessary in order to be able to stage the picture so that its pictorial side works in complete accord with the action. He must be able to draw anything in the way of props or backgrounds — modern, prehistoric or futuristic. The story man usually takes a stab at staging the picture in regard to cuts, size of characters, set-ups and direction of action, but cannot spend the additional time necessary (and "spending time" is an apt phrase in cartoons, since time /.s money) to work out the finished I)ictorial effect of the picture. He's mainly concerned with presenting his ideas in the simplest, clearest and most direct form. If he were to worry too much about finished set-ups or the mechanics of production, it's likely that he'd be sidetracked from the story line. But often enough, the cutting and staging as outlined on the story boards provides a good pattern pictorially as well as dramatically, and the layoutman's chief job is then to design practical, working setups for the animator. If he possesses good story sense, he can often add to the presentation of a piece of business by designing the staging in an interesting fashion, suggest an additional cut or closeup to point a gag, or work out atmospheric effects to supplement the mood of a scene; helping the story not only to read clearly, but interestingly as well. Many considerations enter into the designing of a set-up in which a character's action is to take place. The set-up must be pleasing pictorially, yet be practical so that the animator can move his character around with ease and freedom. It must be designed so that the character will be of a practical size to animate. Very large figures, or very small ones^ are difficult to handle. Likewise are characters that work in set-ups with the camera shooting up or down at them from an extreme angle. He must compromise constantly between announcingl Auricon SOUND CAMERA for 16 mm sound on -film if Simplified Threading • High Fidelity Sound "k Self-contained in sound proof "blimp." ■* Minimum equipment; maximum portability. Camera and Amplifier, complete, weigh only thirty-seven pounds. if Kodachrome or black and white pictures with Auricon sound track will reproduce on any sound-film projector. *• Synchronous electric motor driven. it Can be operated in the field from an Auricon Portable Power Supply. if Daylight loading spools with 200-foot film capacity. * Auricon Camera with type "C" lens mount (but without lens) and Amplifier complete with microphone, instructions, and cases $880.00 AURICON 16 mm RECORDER * Variable-area sound on film, for double system recording with a synchronous motor driven 16 mm. camera. Amplifier has background-noise reduction and mixers for combining speech and music. With dynamic microphone, instructions and cases for Recorder, Amplifier, Accessories .... $695.00 Ask your Dealer, or write today for free descriptive booklet. AURICON :bioiUo*t, E. M. BERNDT CORP. 5515 SUNSET BLVD , HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. MANUFACTURERS OF SOUND-ON-FILM RECORDING EQUIPMENT SINCE 1931 American Cinematographer May, 1942 235