British Kinematography (1951)

January, 1951 HARRIS : PRE-PLANNING PRODUCTION 21 editor, measured by the total film action time it contains, will depend on the length of the individual pieces. For example, by shooting each cut in the finished film as a separate slate it would be possible to provide no more than the exact amount of film which was to be used. The " cutting cover," defined as the percentage excess cf total film action time provided to the editor over the length of the final edited film, would then be zero. On the other hand, if a standard cutting technique is to be adopted, the longer the individual pieces of film supplied the more cuts the editor will have to make in each length, and therefore, probably, the greater the amount of cutting cover required. There is some information on the magnitude of this effect from existing feature films. The evidence suggests that there is in fact an increase in cutting cover when the average slate length increases. This view is stated as a result of examining a number of first feature films and comparing average slate length and percentage cutting cover. To determine the law relating the two requires a considerably greater analysis than has so far been attempted ; but a priori judgment suggests that the amount of cutting cover required will approach an upper limit as slate length is increased beyond a certain point. Cover Shots It is noticeable from Fig. 1 that the time taken to obtain a cover shot is practically independent of its length. First this reinforces the argument of the last paragraph, since it means that any increase in cutting cover required when the averaged slate length is increased takes less time to obtain than a completely new slate. Secondly, it suggests the separate conclusion that when a cover slate is being shot it might as well be taken to cover the whole scene, since little or nothing is thereby added to the time taken, and the extra material might be useful to the editor. It is thought that the principle of making slates longer should be borne in mind in planning in the production offices. Quite often there are cases where several shots which are now taken as individual slates could be combined. It is not proposed that the form of the finished film should be altered. The director must still be free to tell his story as he wishes. The possibility of telling the same story in the same way while applying the principle of lengthening slates wherever possible has been investigated. From this analysis it appears that significant saving is possible without altering the film. Can the same film be made in shorter time ? Broadly there are two ways in which longer slates might be made to produce the same film. The first way requires the " rolling together " of several slates within a given sequence. The second way requires the shooting as one slate of pieces of the picture which take place in the same setting but do not necessarily appear near one another in the finished film. To take an example of the first method, it may be possible with a long tracking and panning shot to take into one slate several slates which were previously shot separately. Subsequently, so that there is no difference in the finished film, the long slate would be cut into pieces corresponding with the individual shorter slates previously taken. To give an example of the second method of " rolling slates together," it may be possible, if two different characters proceed up the same staircase under similar lighting conditions but in different parts of the film, for the first to go upstairs followed after an interval by the other with the camera turning the whole time. Considerations in Joining Shtes Some assumptions have to be made in deciding whether slates previously taken separately can be joined together. First it it is assumed that the director will certainly wish to use the same camera viewpoints rnd the same lens as he previously used. Slates using different viewpoints can only be joined by tracking or panning the camera. It is next assumed that it is sometimes possible for a tracking and /or panning shot