American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1957)

Amateur CINEMATOGRAPHY CINE CAMERA TRICKS Some professional effects that are attainable with 8mm and 16mm cameras. By MACK STENGLER, A.S.C. Almost every serious 8mm or 16mm movie maker ambitious to attain a professional-like quality in his films has seen photographic effects on the theatre screen he has wished to duplicate. A great many of these hlmers write to the professional cinematographers in Holly¬ wood asking how various effects can be duplicated with a cine camera. When these questions are about such things as filtering, lighting, composition, diffusion, and so on, we’re glad to come through with the answer; most of us use sixteens or eights for personal movies and are glad to pass along anything that can honestly be applied to the better¬ ment of amateur movies. But every now and then these let¬ ters ask about effects that can’t very well be obtained with cine equipment. Usually they’re effects that have been se¬ cured by either optical printing or the projected-background process. And both of these are, for all practical purposes, out of reach for the average amateur. True, you can build an optical printer for 16mm or 8mm use — but building it is a real job of precision cinemechanics if you want a printer that will do the things you desire and be accurate enough so it won’t give your trick away. In the same way, you can make backprojection shots with some cine cam¬ eras; but doing it on anything much bigger than title backgrounds calls for interlocked synchronous electric-motor drives for camera and projector — plus a lot more projector illumination than is found in most substandard projectors today. There are, however, some cameratricks that can be adapted to 16mm and 8mm use, which will help add “pro¬ duction value” to scenario films and maybe eliminate some set-building trou¬ bles. They aren’t simple. They call for real precision in camera-operation, and some construction that isn't exactly easy. But the point is — they can be done with some of the better 16mm and 8mm equipment now available, if you’re will¬ ing to work patiently and painstakingly. They are processes which have been more or less extensively used in 35mm professional work in the past, but which have to a great extent been crowded out by the newer and handier methods of optical printing and back-projection. They all require a camera which permits the full-frame image on a ground-glass screen. The 16mm CineSpecial is ideal for this; the various magazine 16mm and 8mm cameras, with the ground-glass focusing attachments with which they can be fitted, can also be used. The first and probably the oldest and most familiar of these tricks is the “glass shot.” For this a pane of glass of adequate size is placed in front of the lens. On it is painted whatever you may want to add to your scene — say a ceiling in an interior shot, or a back¬ ground of sky, clouds, mountains, city skyline, etc. The actual scene and live action are filmed through unpainted ( Continued on Page 456) 452 American Cinematographer July, 1957