American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

die of a big-city intersection, with cars apparently I'ushing at him from all sides. Assembling by this technique a succession of "flash" shots — all made shooting upward from a low position, and if possible with a wide-angle lens — of car-wheels passing, car and truck wheels approaching head-on, of drivers leaning out and shouting, of hands pushing horn-buttons could, even in a silent l)icture, build up to a crescendo of visual impact such that you would almost literally seem to hear the blasts of the horns and the scream of brakes. On the other hand, I would suggest using the American type of superimposed-image montage for occasions where you want to convey an impression of the lapse of time, or of bewilderment. For example, you might want to put over the idea that a character, out of a job, spends a long and weary time answering "help wanted" ads, with no success. You might begin showing him sitting on a park bench, reading the wantads. Then cut to an extreme close-up insert of the head of the "Help Wanted" column. After this has been on the screen a moment, superimpose a close-up shot of his feet as he gets up from the bench and starts to walk; if you can, make this as a dolly-shot in which the feet, once the walk starts, keep walking continuously into the backv/ard-moving camera. Hold this until the end of the montage. In other portions of the frame — above and to the left side — superimpose short, close shots (made preferably from a slanted-camera angle) of the man knocking at doors, ringing doorbells, passing under "Employment Office" signs, etc., while at the upper right you similarly superimpose close shots of stern-faced men — obviously employment managers and foremen— shaking their heads and obviously indicating no jobs are available. Through all this, you keep the background of the "Help Wanted" ad (it would be most effective if this could be treated as a slow-moving "roll-up" title) and the doggedly walking feet. In a comparatively few feet, this will tell the whole story of a dreary, days-long search for employment. Professionally, of course, we would assemble these various elements by means of the optical printer. The amateur, however, can do it quite as effectively by multiple-exposure in either 16mm. or 8mm. For that matter, one of the most effective amateur montages I have ever seen was made in 8mm. by Past-President Bob Loscher of the Los Angeles 8mm. Club who, in his "Red Cloud Lives Again," which a few years ago won the Grand Prize in The American Cinematographer's International Amateur Movie Contest, used triple and quadruple exposures to put over a raid by Indians on a pioneer wagon-train. Having a wind-back fitting on your camera helps in making these multiple exposures, but it is by no means necessary, since you can always rewind the film in a darkroom or changing-bag, re thread the camera to a marked startingpoint and then, with the lens capped, bring your film to the start of your superimposed exposure by paying careful attention to the footage-counter. In 8mm., of course, it's even simpler, since you can lewind the film by simply running the film through the camera with the lens capped until you have the film on the right spool and with your startmark showing. In making multiple exposures, the general rule is of course to split the exposure between the two or more takes, though sometimes you may want to give one take a bit fuller exposure to accentuate it. Contrast is an important factor in making successful double-exposures. If both elements are of high contrast, they're likely to appear very mixed-up on the screen; if both are of flat contrast, the result is likely to be rather vague on the screen. The best results come if you can superimpose a fairly high-contrast "take" over one of lower contrast. Also, the double-exposed elements should be rather simple. You can use a long-shot for an overall background if you wish, but for the superimposed elements which contain the key action, it's usually better to use close shots with simple action and backgrounds, and usually shots made from striking camera-angles. You can concentrate attention better on the action or face in such shots by using a plain black background ; black velvet is excellent for this. For example, in the first example, in the first example I gave of an Americanstyle superimposed montage, I would advise shooting the close-up of the machine-gunner against a black velvet background against which only his figure and the gun would show. This would give a background against which the other exposures of the montage would stand out more prominently. If you want to confine some of the superimposed action to only a small area of the frame, you have several possible methods. If you have a camera like the Cine-Special, you can of course use the mattes that slide into the matte-slot in that camera, directly in fi'ont of the film. This, however, will give you a sharp matte-line. If you want a soft matte-line it is better to use a, matte placed in front of your lens. If the matte is too far in front of the lens, it, too, will give a sharp matte-line, so bring it in to within a few inches, depending on the focal length of the lens used. For a soft, shadowy blend, use a matte with a deep-cut saw-tooth edge. Using mattes in front of the lens, you will have to have some means of lining up your shot accurately. With a CineSpecial or one of the magazine cameras, you can do it through the ground-glass focusing finder, of course. With other cameras, you will usually have to rely on some sort of an alignment guage by which you can move the finder over until it occupies exactly the si)ot the lens occupies in shooting. This method, of course, is only as accurate as your finder. The professionals have sometimes used another system for accurate lining-up on some types of trick-shots. They have a device which fits on top of a tripod and consists of a ground-glass and optical magnifying system, and a mount into which the actual lens which will be used to shoot the scene can be fitted, and is, of course, in exactly the same position in relation to the tripod as it will be when the lens is mounted on an actual camera. If you're mechanically inclined, it should not be too difficult to build up a similar gadget, using, perhaps, the bellows and focusing-screen of a second-hand vest-i)ocket plate camera, and a mount adapted to accept the lens of your cine-camera. A fairly strong reading-glass will magnify the groundglass image for you. At any rate, don't dodge making superimposed multiple-exposure montages simply because you haven't a camera with all the professional refinements of, say, a Cine-Special or a studio Mitchell. Some of the best multiple-exposure montages I've seen in 16mm. and 8mm. have been made with simple cameras. The really vital factors are care in execution, and mental ingenuity in planning the montage. And these qualities are by no means limited to professionals and the owners of de luxe cameras. END. Third Dimension Movies (Continued from Page 363) mounts are certainly easier on the audience! The polarizers in the spectacles should be mounted to polarize the same way as the pola-screens on the projectors; that is, the gelatins in the left-eye parts of the spectacles should polarize light the same way as the pola-screen on the left-hand projector, and the right-eye spectacles and the right projector's polascreen should be matched to each other the same way. It is vitally important that the righthand and left-hand films should be kept separate from start to finish, and of course photographed, edited and projected "in sync." Since the cameras always start and stop together, and hold each other at the same speed, your scenes, as they come back from the processing laboratory, should be in sync. To check on it, mark the ends exactly, and then measure forward on each film to the beginning of the scene. Editing is of course done in the usual way, with the exception that the scenes in the right-hand reel and the left-hand reel must match to the exact frame. When the editing job is complete, mark a starting frame on each reel's leader, so that both can be threaded into the projectors in synchronism and started absolutely together. Incidentally, remember that if one film breaks, when you repair it you'll also have to trim out 3GG August, 1942 American Cinematographer