American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1946)

JPisl JIjuIjcL QamsuxcL By HERB A. LIGHTMAN BACK in the days when the motion picture industry was young and cameras were cranked by hand, the term fluid camera had not yet been added to the film-maker’s lexicon. In those days the camera was clamped in place and, ex¬ cept for an occasional short tilt or pan, it remained a static observer of the ac¬ tion that took place before it. Camera movement was all but unknown. Instead, the action was so directed as to fit within the bounds of the static frame, and when the action became too wide for the frame the director cut to another angle. Later, when western films of the “Let’s head ’em off at th’gulch” variety became popular, the camera was mounted on a truck and went bouncing over the landscape recording the chase. This was the beginning of camera movement as it has developed in our present-day photo¬ play. But it remained for David Wark Griffith, pioneer of so many of our mod¬ ern cinema techniques, to introduce cam¬ era movement as a definite dramatic device in motion picture making. The film industry has come a long way since the days of “Birth of a Nation.” Hollywood cinematographers have devel¬ oped motion picture photography into one of the highest forms of artistic expres¬ sion. The camera is no longer a static, inhibited machine. It is now a fluid force — a device that not only records action, but by its own movement about the sound stage, adds dramatic emphasis and “punch” to the film narrative. The theory behind the fluid camera is a simple one. The camera is the “eye”' of the audience, and the spectator sees only as much of the action as the camera sees. But if the spectator were actually present in the situation depicted upon the screen, he would not just stand in one place and restrain his eye from mov¬ ing about in an effort to follow the ac¬ tion. Rather, he would move around — drawing closer to view this or that bit of action, drawing back to get a better view of the overall situation. The camera, as his cinematic eye, has a right to follow the same course of movement — drawing in, pulling back, narrowing down to some significant segment of the scene. It is as natural for the camera to move as it is for a character in the scene to move about the set. A sound psychology underlies the use of the mobile camera. Movement purely for the sake of movement is an abuse of an otherwise forceful technique. The intelligent director or cinematographer moves the camera only when the de¬ mands of the filmic situation motivate that movement. Correctly used, the mo¬ bile camera produces a fluid continuity — a smoothly-flowing interplay of changing Vn compositions within the individual scene. These compositions change and vary from extreme long shots to extreme closeups without the harshness of a direct cut. Thus the audience’s attention is held without mechanical interruption to the subject-matter of the scene. There are several types of camera movement, and each device has come to be known by a specific name. The follow shot is one of the most common tech¬ niques and, as the name implies, it is used to follow the action of one or more characters within the scene. Usually this is accomplished by a simple tilt or pan or a combination of the two. Frequently, however, it becomes necessary for the camera to follow a player over a wide stretch of terrain. When this is the case, the camera is mounted on a dolly or camera boom and we have what is known (Continued on Page 102) Getting an overhead closeup. Director of Photography Leon Shamroy, A. S. C., directly behind camera in dark suit, making final checkup for scene of Betty Grable in "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim," a 2Ctth Fox production. 82 March, 1946 • American Cinematographer