American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

QUALITY AND SERVICE MM UACK&mm REVERSAL NEGATIVE POSITIVE PRINTING COLOR Processing COLOR PRINTING Work prints — Timed prints Color to Color prints — A & B roll prints Color to B & W prints — Fades-Dissolves Dupe Negatives — Multiple prints Raw stock — Fastax service Loop printing Write for complete information FILM LABORATORIES NOW AT OUR NEW LOCATION 311 WEST 43RD STREET NEW YORK 36, N Y. JUdson 6-7196 • JUdson 6-7198 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. 8SW Film in Less Then 1 Hour • Reversal Processing • Less Thon 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 SOUND FOR YOUR BOLEX H16 or H8 .00 F.O.B. Detroit TAKE SOUND PICTURES! Perfectly synchronized sound recorded on tape simultaneously with pic¬ tures on film. Complete unit includes mechanism section mounted to camera, amplifier with carry¬ ing strap, microphone, cords, headset, etc. No camera alterations required. Unit mounts on cam¬ era same as cover and appears as part of it. > Write for dota. LOUIS S. UHLER 15778 Wyoming Ave., Detroit 18, Mich. Phone: UN 1-4663; Cable: UHLCIMA light that was given a measure of diffusion by a white silk parachute draped over the dome. The effect was to soften the light coming through the holes without eliminating the required star-like sparkle. The camera was placed inside the dome, shooting straight up at the man¬ made heavens. Because of the need to minimize grain and insure maximum sharpness of the star images, this back¬ ground scene was photographed on black-and-white Plus X film and printed on Eastman high contrast stock. For part of the footage, large stars and galaxies such as the Milky Way were accurately reproduced in white paint on the inside surface of the dome. These paintings were illumi¬ nated by leak-light spilling through fiberglass shields arranged around the bottom of the dome. Thus, the small stars were exposed by light reflected from the painted inner surface. By experimenting, exposure was balanced to photograph both in proper tonal ratio without graying the background. Three-dimensional models of the planets, asteroids and the Moon were constructed in miniature and averaged three feet in diameter. Colors and topography were accurately reproduced according to latest scientific data. (It required two months of steady work to faithfully duplicate the crater-pocked surface of the moon.) These models were lined up in proper relationship against a black-draped stage on a 100foot path along which the stop-motion camera dollied in steps of % -inch per frame. Crews rotated each model by means of intricate gear-mechanisms as the director called out numbered direc¬ tions for each exposure. The huge inverted telephoto lens, with its 30 lbs. of glass elements, vio¬ lated many of the established princi¬ ples of optics and, in effect, made its own rules. Firstly, spherical aberration caused a fall-off of sharpness at the edges when the image was in sharp focus at the center of the composition, and vice versa. Through trial-anderror experiments, a midpoint of focus was located which indicated that the desired overall sharpness could be achieved in the photography by stop¬ ping down the lens aperture to f/11. There was not enough light, however, to permit motion picture photography at this aperture at conventional camera speeds. The alternative was to shoot the sequence in stop-motion, a frame at a time, at exposures of l/fj-minute each — which is the procedure decided upon. Secondly, the extreme wide-angle characteristic of the lens diminished images to such an extent that it was often necessary to move the camera within 2 or 3 inches of a 3-foot planet model in order to fill the frame with the subject. To get a realistic illusion of soaring past the Moon, the camera was dollied, between stop-motion ex¬ posures, to within l/^-inch of the sur¬ face of the model. In the case of Saturn, the scene began with a con¬ ventional long shot of the ringed planet — then the camera approached and tilted 90 degrees, skimming along within %-ineh of the slowly revolving rings. The lift-off from Earth which opens the picture might have been filmed with greater ease had a 10-foot globe been used with the camera mounted on a Chapman boom. Since elements of such size were not practical, the cam¬ era started at a point ^8 °f an inch from the surface of a 4-foot Earth model, skimmed along in simulated orbit and then lifted free of the planet — the entire maneuver taking approxi¬ mately 25 seconds on the screen. A special cradle was built for the camera which incorporated two gearheads, mounted one above the other. This permitted full 360-degree hori¬ zontal and 160-degree vertical rotation of the camera to simulate the view from the lookout port of a space ship. Each gear-head was precisely cali¬ brated to insure the smoothest possible stop-motion photography. As the camera approached within 18 inches of an object, focus became high¬ ly critical and had to be corrected every five or six frames. Precise con¬ trol was made possible by a Vernier guage having micrometer calibrations down to l/1000th of an inch. Check¬ ing focus through the lens was a com¬ plicated operation, there being no lateral rackover mechanism on the camera. In order to make a quick check of the framing only, the camera was racked back from the lens and a prism-type viewer inserted sideways at the film plane to show an inverted image of the scene. To check for criti¬ cal focus, however, it was necessary to clear the film, disengage it from the movement, remove the movement from the camera and insert a special scope inside the camera body for critical viewing through the lens. 365 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER. JUNE, 1963