American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

LINWOOD DUNN, asc Formerly head of RKO Studios Effects Dept. CREATIVE SPECIAL EFFECTS Complete Advisory and Technical Services From Story Ideas to Theater Screen. LIQUID GATE PRINTING FOR 16-35-65-70 MM BLOW-UPS Specialized Laboratory Services “ Over 30 Years of Major Studio Experience” FILM EFFECTS of Hollywood 1153 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood 38, Calif. Phone: HO 9-5808 Cable: FILMFX PATHE PRESENTS: THE WEBO-M 16 MM REFLEX PATHE PRODUCTS, INC. 9 Pleasant Street, Providence 6, Rhode Island Sole U.S.A. Agents for Pathe Societe Commerciale et Industrielle. / ^ BOLEX ACCESSORIES By STEVENS SYNCHRONOUS CAMERA DRIVE 115-volt Bodine Motor 24-Frame Lip-Sync Speed. Complete with Safety Clutch, Camera Mounting Base, Forward-Reverse Contrels, Condenser, 10-Ft. Cable. Special $150 Write far our Bolex Accessory Catalog STEVENS ENGINEERING CO. Dept. “A’’f 340 N. Newport Blvd. Newport Beach, Calif. V--.„ . , . , . J L & F PORTABLE CINE PROCESSOR • Fully Automatic • Daylight Operating $675.00 (f.o.b. Chicago) • 16mm or 8/8mm • Requires no plumbing • Process 200 Ft. B8W Film in Less Than 1 Hour • Reversal Processing • Less Than 1 Gallon of Solution Needed • 32"x9"x24"! 55 lbs! Write For Descriptive Literature SUPERIOR BULK FILM CO. 446-48 N. Wells • Chicago 10, Illinois VARIABLE SHUTTERS AND YOLO AUTOMATIC DISSOLVE ATTACH¬ MENTS FOR ALL BOLEX H CAMERAS. ALSO DUAL POWER MAGNIFIERS FOR THE BOLEX REFLEX. PELLEGRINI-PIEK 7 COLEMAN PLACE MENLO PARK, CAL. he looks like a fireman. It is often a problem to get enough closeup shots, particularly when the main burning activity takes place too quicklv. To solve this problem, a num¬ ber of cut-ins and cut-aways should he filmed before and after the fire. Shoot¬ ing such scenes out of sequence gives the cameraman more time to carefully compose, focus, and fill in heavily shadowed areas with reflectors. Smoke bombs can often be used to enhance scenes shot before, during and after the main fire so they will more readily cut together. Not all fires demand coverage by two or more cameras. Often only a single camera is needed. This is es¬ pecially true with interior filming. On interior shots the camera should he kept low so that its view will not be cut off too early by the fire. Smoke and steam usually concentrate at the ceiling level first, then drop down as they cool. Any light for added illumi¬ nation should also be kept low. It may lie necessary to build special light stands for this and to cover all such lights as well as possible to avoid damage from hot embers and water. Intense heat can force a camera¬ man and his camera out of a room in which he seeks to film. When this happens, a hole can be chopped in the wall and the camera kept outside the major fire area, greatly decreasing any punishment the cameraman and his equipment must take. In the production of hre fighting films, fire can consume interior fur¬ nishings as well as the condemned buildings used for staging and shoot¬ ing fire fighting techniques, but this presents a relatively minor problem. Fifteen dollars worth of used furniture from a local auction house will usually furnish a room. Used furniture looks surprisingly good when it’s mixed with light, smoke, steam and water. It makes no difference whether you’re shooting interior or exterior scenes, the room or building must be fueled. There must be some way to get the fire started since combustible material normally found in a room is usually moved out. Waste cardboard is a cheap fuel for this purpose and it produces a flame build-up similar to actual hre conditions. Use of kerosene or gasoline is not recommended be¬ cause they produce excessive black smoke. Recently, to get fuel for a big school house burning, two frame houses were wrecked with a big crane and the pieces of lumber carried by hand into the various rooms of the subject structure. Structures suitable for fire fighting demonstrations usually are not hard to find. Urban renewal, highway con¬ struction, and general modernization of cities have resulted in condemnation of a great many such buildings. Demo¬ lition contractors who have charge of the buildings, are usually very co¬ operative where the structures are to be ignited for training fire fighters. Actually their task of demolition is thus often greatly reduced. One contractor has estimated he saved a thousand dollars by permitting the burning of a large condemned structure. During the past three years the Iowa State University Film Production Unit has deliberately burned 11 houses, 3 garages, 2 grain elevators, 2 barns, 1 duplex, 1 three-story apartment house, 1 corn crib, and 1 chicken house — all for the purpose of staging scenes for fire training films. In all cases the structures had out-lived their usefulness, and the burnings were a cooperative effort of the university Film Production Unit, Fire Service Extension, and the local cooperating fire department. Local fire departments usually give their enthusiastic cooperation. Besides doing a public service by participating in the production of educational films, the filming projects afford the firemen extra-curricular training in fire fight¬ ing techniques — experience they can usually get only in real emergencies. ■ HOW DO YOU EDIT SOUND? Continued From Page 160 stereo track. This recording of the 60cycle signal becomes, in effect, a re¬ cording of “magnetic sprocket holes’’ on the tape which have a fixed relation¬ ship to the speed of the camera that is driven by the 60-cycle power supply. In the second method, the audio can be transferred from the l/4-inch tape to sprocket-driven 16mm magnetic film, as described above, except that the 60cycle synchronizing signal is repro¬ duced from the 14-inch tape. This sig¬ nal is amplified through a preamplifier, then a power amplifier, and the output of the power amplifier is used to drive the 16mm sprocket-driven magnetic re¬ corder. This method will assure abso¬ lute synchronization for any length of 182 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, MARCH, 1963