Business Screen Magazine (1963-1964)

I.iiiKir laiiiuliiiiis pad where ^itinl /xKisYcrv uiU help send man on ,vi'(/i/)ig fli'Jd lo Moon. Project Apollo: Manned Flight to the Moon First Treated to Help Explain the Nation's Space Goals to the (lonfiress. This Great Film Is Reaching Ever-W idening Audiences at Home and Aliroad ABOUT A Year Ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration came up to another of its critical budget periods. Was it. or was it not. about to get the funds from the Congress necessary to keep Project Apollo, the manned space flight to the moon, going along on schedule? NASA uses many forms of persuasion during these times. One of them, which it considers to be more than ordinarily effective is the rifle-shot motion picture, dead-aimed at influential congressional leaders and designed specifically to explain what the project is, how important to the nation it is. and why it is necessary that it be properly financed to keep on a planned time schedule, \\'ork on Film Began in December, 1962 Project ApoUo-Muniied FUi>ht to the Moon is such a film. It was put into motion on the l.^th of December, 1962. because Brainerd Holmes, then director of the office of Manned Space Flight, needed a film to indoctrinate various governmental and Congressional figures concerning Project Apollo, Byron Morgan, well-known film writer and producer on the NASA staff, was assigned the job of producing the film. Gene Starbecker was selected to write, and with Paul Haney. NASA Technical Advisor, as part of the team, the three worked out the content and approach they thought the film should take. Pelican Films, New York, and its producerdirector. Ted Lowry. were chosen as producers because Mr. Morgan and his staff liked the excellent animation concepts they had shown in Air Force on Canvas and the European Community film. Europa. Something fresh was wanted, with the sweep and push forward of the spirit of Project .Apollo. The NASA team also knew that the film Orbital palli for ilic manned fliglit to the Moon. circUii'^ Earlli and off into far space. could not be caught up in details of the project — which were constantly changing — so a rather impressionistic instead of an exact style was thought to be the best solution. Literalminded engineers would not then be beating them over the head about some detail, some knob or antenna which had come out in the wrong shape. Not .\ffected by Changes in Details The picture was completed in March of '63, .Along the way a great many technical details concerning the lunar landing vehicle were changed, but the production team was not caught on any of them because of the approach they had taken. The film was originally intended to be a technical report for a limited audience, but it has proved to be so popular among widening circles of audiences that it is now in almost world-wide distribution. French, Spanish, Portuguese. German and Italian versions have been made. The United The Innin s/n/t( iitp\uli in ^nnulali il hiiulni'^ States Information Agency is considering distribution to its posts, and NASA is distributing it in Europe through the Spacemobile program. The film "helped some" on the NASA budget requirements, but the problem is a never-ending one. which no one film will ever solve. Use Many Sources of Visual Material A great many sources of visual material were used in the film, which details what Project Apollo is intended to do, and much about how NASA intends to go about it. NASA publicity stills, architectural rendering by N.ASA contractors, models of boosters and spacecraft and original art all had to be combined into a style which would achieve uniformity. Ted Lowry. a talented animation designer, devised the technique which employed the use of reproduction by Kodalith of the borrowed vlill picture and selected art. and then these Kodalith prints were photographed on the stand under colored cells. The original animation was drawn to fit into this pattern. The animation scenes which required NASA spacecraft were photographed with the help of N.ASA scale models. The models were photographed in the perspective indicated by the animation layouts. The photographs were then reproduced by the use of a Xerox process on eels, painted in color and re-photographed with art backgrounds and other eels. Much use was made of a multiplane effect which gives the scenes a considerable amount of depth. A film worth seeing! |^ BUSINESS SCREEN MAGAZINE