American cinematographer (Nov 1921-Jan 1922)

December 15, 1921 THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 5 Cooperation The Director of Photography of Famous Players-Lasky Tells the Meaning of the Biggest Word in the Motion Pitlure Industry By Alvin Wyckoff Absolute co-operation between cameraman and laboratory is the greatest essential condition that must be improved if we are going to get the best results in photography. There are three factors existent in the motion picture business that must be corrected if we expect to get better results on the screen so far as the photographic exhibition of the picture is concerned, and not only must these conditions be corrected, but once they are corrected they must remain so and then be improved. The conditions I will mention are those existing between cameraman, the laboratory and the projection booth. Not a few cameramen are inclined to create and nurse an exalted opinion of themselves, especially if they can trace their connection with a production that has been successful, and the same men seem to increase in sensitiveness as they become connected with more successful pictures. This condition continues until they feel very much abused if some one offers a little friendly criticism, especially so if the man in the laboratory should offer a suggestion and if the man in the projection booth should timidly try to make a suggestion, the self-exalted cameraman goes into a tempermental rage. It is this peevishness on the part of so many cameramen and their utter disregard of any possible photographic gray matter existing in the mind of a laboratory man that is causing so much bad photography in the present day pictures. In a previous article I mentioned how the cameraman should make a close friend of his assistant. I would say the same condition should exist between him and the man in the laboratory. If they would only get together and talk things over in a good, friendly spirit and invite criticism the results for better product would jump ahead so fast as to be astonishing. It is the duty of the cameraman to go to the laboratory, and if he does not understand the inner mysteries of that institution and the process his film travels through he should waste no time until he is in possession of that knowledge. He should be careful to find out just what kind of an exposure the laboratory demands for the quality he expects to get and in every other possible way try to work with the laboratory for the perfection of his product. If the cameraman would only bear in mind at all times that the laboratory can only bring out of his film just what he puts into it and no more he will begin to find the exposure to use which will enable the laboratory to get what he wants. I personally know, and from bitter experience, that more cameramen are at fault for the appearance of their product on the screen than any other factor; in this instance I refer to the laboratory where the daily work is taken care of. Where the laboratory suffers and does so badly is in getting out the release. Under severe strain and great stress the laboratory is often compelled to turn out a heavy release on very short notice in the fewest possible working hours, and continually working at top speed. This is a condition usually demanded by the producer over which cameraman and laboratory have no choice or control; it is purely a commercial matter of dollars and cents and is one of the worst conditions existing in the manufacturing end of the business today. The exhibitor and patron and responsible producer are constantly calling for quality, not quantity. We are getting a lot of quantity on the market made by small companies of very limited finance. They spend every dollar they can get hold of to supply the necessary expenses to get the negatives; after this has been accomplishd, every possible effort and all energy is put forth to rush through a sample print, and, following this, the release is put through in the same manner. This frightful rush is necessary in order to get financial returns with which to start operations on another production, or perhaps the releasing program is short of attractions and pictures must be made in the shortest possible time. Under such conditions the best care can not be given to the different operations that are necessary for the best results in turning out a first class production, and in the laboratory this result is bound to be more evident than in any other department. The negative will always suffer on account of the speed with which it is handled. The condition should be just the reverse, for the negative represents the entire investment and should receive the most care that can be given it. Bad prints will be one result of the rush, and lack of proper inspection will result in bad prints getting by. If the printer makes a mistake in his work there is no time allowed to go back and make a correction. If the developing rooms happen to be at the wrong temperature and the solutions become too cold or warm there is no time to correct the evil till a certain number of racks have gone through, yet the film is allowed to travel along its route to the finishing rooms and finally gets into the reels and then into the release, and so a painful looking effort goes onto the market heralded as a big, fine production. The patron leaves the theatre wondering why the picture is bad, and the manager writes his complaints back to the producer, and the producer comes back to the laboratory, and the laboratory is the goat. The cameraman is blamed for poor photography and the laboratory for poor work; the one perhaps loses a position and the other future orders; everybody suffers, whereas a little more time would have made everybody happy. The good sensible cameraman and laboratory superintendent will get together in earnest and meet the conditions of both in such harmony that the results will be a negative so perfect and even throughout the entire production that the rush order will have no effect on it except a possible scratch or tear on account of fast handling. The foregoing facts bear out my contention that the cameraman must go to the laboratory and not the laboratory to the cameraman. The laboratory is anxious to get the best possible results out of the material given to it. It has no desire to pull any cameraman down from his pedestal or to injure his exalted position. It would rather help him to stay there, but it is entirely up to the cameraman, and he has only this to remember: The laboratory can only develop into his negative what he has put into it, and the result will be just as he has made it himself, and unless he can wrap his own negative on a frame and follow it through all its operations to the screen he had best not try to advise how it should be done, but look well to his exposure and lighting and let the laboratory keep him advised when running wrong. The photographic profession is one of great depth, so vast that you will never be able to master it. so vast that no one man has yet scarcely caused a ripple upon its surface. Harding s Code of Ethics President Warren G. Harding's code of ethics, as applied to his newspaper, the Marion "Star," has been adopted by The American Cinematographer, and his code as here given is posted upon the bulletin board in the offices of the A. S. C: "Remember there are two sides to every question. Get both. Be truthful. Get the facts. Mistakes are inevitable, but strive for accuracy. I would rather have one story exactly right than a hundred half wrong. Be decent; be fair; be generous. Boost — don't knock. There's good in everybody. Bring out the good in everybody, and never needlessly hurt the feelings of anybody. In reporting a political gathering give the facts; tell the story as it is, not as you would like to have it. Treat all parties alike. If there's any politics to be played, we will play it in our editorial columns. Treat all religious matters reverently. If it can possibly be avoided, never bring ignominy to an innocent man or child in telling of the misdeeds or misfortunes of a relative. Don't wait to be asked, but do it without the asking, and, above all, be clean and never let a dirty word or suggestive story get into type. I want this paper so conducted that it can go into any home without destroying the innocence of any child." — Warren G. Harding. 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