American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

women as well as men, gladly consent to appear in pictures for visitors. Not long ago I accompanied an Amer¬ ican friend on a tour of my home State. Travelling along a dusty road, my com¬ panion espied a village belle drawing water from a well. Her bright attire, the burnished brass vessel she held, and her own graceful form set against a back¬ ground of dull green foliage presented a pictorial composition which any mast¬ er artist would have loved to paint. And it was certainly a picture my companion wanted to capture on film. After she was assured of the good intentions of my friend she willing posed and with a smile performed the act of drawing water from the well as he trained his camera on her. On another occasion we encountered a group of bright-eyed college girls. They surrounded my cinematographer friend and cracked jokes as they watch¬ ed him set up his camera on a tripod. They would not let him shoot, however, until he answered their questions. They asked about Cecil B. deMille, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor and a host of others. There was much laughter, all the while their confidence was slowly being won. Finally they gladly enacted a se¬ quence for the photographer which, ad¬ mittedly he probably could not have accomplished working alone. Some of the most difficult subjects for the foreign cameraman to photograph, of course, are those of a religious or other nature occuring in areas from which the foreigner is usually excluded. Here, a native amateur cameraman can be of immeasurable assistance, as in the instance I'm about to describe. A colorful festival was taking place in a temple. The highlight was to be the planting of a giant wooden pillar by a 120-year-old elephant. Being a nonHindu, the American cameraman could not be admitted to the temple to film the festival himself. Here a local amateur came to the rescue. Taking my friend’s Eyemo 35mm camera and exposure meter, and carefully noting his instruc¬ tions as to the kind of shots, camera angles, etc., he wanted, the amateur went into the temple and recorded the festival on film to my friend’s entire satisfaction. The amateur gained from the experi¬ ence, too, for he had used a professional motion picture camera for the first time and also had received some valuable photographic advice from the man for whom he performed the favor. In still another instance, an Ameri¬ can professional was able to secure some rare footage of a mass native war dance through the cooperation of another local amateur. This event was also performed within a Hindu temple. I could relate hundreds of other instances where local amateur movie enthusiasts have assisted i "SELECTIVE PRINTING FOR EVERY SCENE” This is one of the essential depart¬ ments at Precision which doesn’t depend on automatic machinery. Only intelligence and skill can be depended on to select a timing value for the correct printing of essential elements. That’s what you get in a Precision timed print — a selective printing exposure for every scene. Perfect Precision Prints YOUR ASSURANCE OF BETTER 16mm PRINTS 15 Years Research and Spe¬ cialization in every phase of 16mm processing, visual and aural. So organized and equip¬ ped that all Precision jobs are of the highest quality. Individual Attention is given each film, each reel, each scene, each frame — through every phase of the complex business of processing — assuring you of the very best results. enable us to offer service un¬ equalled anywhere! Newest Facilities in the 16mm field are available to customers of Precision, including the most modern applications of elec¬ tronics, chemistry, physics, optics, sensitometry and densitometryincluding exclusive Maurerdesigned equipment— your guar¬ antee that only the best is yours at Precision! Our Advanced Methods and our constant checking and adop¬ tion of up-to-the-minute tech¬ niques, plus new engineering principles and special machinery Precision Film Laboratories — a di¬ vision of J. A. Maurer, Inc., has 14 years of specialization in the 16mm field, consistently meets the latest de¬ mands for higher quality and speed. PRECISION FILM LABORATORIES, INC. 21 West 46th St, New York 19, N.Y. JU 2-3970 December, 1952 American Cinematographer 545