Business Screen Magazine (1963-1964)

THK INDLSTRV FILM PRODICERS ASSOCIATION, IXC. NATIONAL OFFICEHS 1964-1965 President James L. Wasson, Jr. Space & rnfomiation Systems Division of N. A. A. e o o Financial Vice President Kenneth J. Maurer o e o Chapters Vice President Robert R. Ganon Lockheed-California Company Otto Conference Vice President Robert M. Duff Jet Propulsion Lal)orat<)n.' o o o Editorial Vice President Dr. llarakl O. D\renforth Space & Information Systems Division of N. A. A. o o o Past President Jack R. Goetz o e o Recording Secretary Elaine M. Dolnick o o e Official Publication Business Screen Macazfnf. NATION.VL CH.VPTERS Southern California Chapter Ray I'ssery. Clidiniuni o o o Northern California Chapter Ira Thatcher, Chairman o o o Delaware \ alley Slates Pevton Stallings. Chairman o o o New England Chapter William .X. Mnttitl. Chairman o o o For Information. Write Industry Film Prods. .\ssn. P. O. Box 564, HolK-wood, California Nil. ( iililornia PaIl»■li^l^ l)iMii>> •What Mak... a Film \ aliiahlei'" I he Northern California Chapter heard a panel discussion on "What Makes a Film Valuable to Industry?" at its meeting of Friday. November 20th. held at the International Inn in South San Francisco. Joinini; national IFP.A president Jim Wasson who appeared as a special guest panelist were W. Phil Herriott. director of education and training for United Air Lines. Chicago: Jim Allen. Batten. Barton. Durstine & Osborn. who gave the ad agency's viewpoint; Dr. Jerrold Kemp coordinator of audiovisual production at San Jose College; John Corty. San Francisco film producer; and Al McNay. Standard Oil of California. Members also reviewed awardwinning films out of recent Columbus. Los Angeles and the San Francisco International Film Festival. • « ± i New Vffiliatioii.s and < hairnien Named for \\ e.st ("oasi ('huptcrs There have been a goodly number of staff changes and organizational moves during the past month. Robert M. Duff, our conference vice-president, is now at the Jet Propulsion Lab and Ray Ussery has replaced Henry Martin as chairman of the Southern California Chapter. Ira Thatcher. I nited .Air Lines, is the new chairman of the Northern California Chapter. We also note that Jim Swift, formerly of Hughes Aircraft Company, has replaced Jack Smith as program chairman for the Southern California Chapter. Jack has left Hughes and moved to the Air Force Motion Picture Unit al Wright-Patterson Air Base in Dayton. Ohio. • I.o<»k(>ut Mnlltltain Pll<itn Mrll Tr;iii>(<'rriiifi to Xiirt^oi \I'K Among the 95 actions taken recently by Defense Secretary McNamara was his order transferring the photographic mission at Lookout Mountain Air Force Station. Los Angeles, to the Norton Air Force Base. Several of our IFPA members will be affected by the transfer of these facilities. They are attached to the IS.SZnd Photo Squadron. Air Photographic & Charting Service. This group won an IFP.A Cindy .Award in '64 for their outstanding training film. Moiinlain Survival. • I F PA JOURNAL INDUSTRY FILM PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, INC NARRATION Spine of the Documentary Fill by Dr. Harald O. Dyrenforth A NvoNE Who Has Taigui tele-^"■vision and radio broadcasting, as the present writer has. should be amazed al the indifference with which the leading textbooks in the frcld treat the subject of narration. Many of them do not mention the word "narration" at all. or dismiss it with a casual line. I am sure that textbooks of film-making, primarily concerned with the visual aspects of the art, are just as guilty, or more so, of this sin of omission. And yet. narration should be of tremendous importance to directors and producers of documentary films: it is the skeleton holding up the entire body of an instructional or factual show, or the spine — whichever you may wish to call it. What is narration? It is exactly what the Latin word ■"narrare" 'Icnotes: "telling a story." In an old radio textbook. Rudolf Arnheim gives a good operational definition: "Thai the inosi naliiral prixeihire /.s lo speak not only before people hut also to ihem, arises liislorirally from the fact that Creek Hrama . . . spraiii; from the narrathm chorus ami its soloists, that it is not the dramatic action . . . timt represents the original form, hut rather the narrator ...".. . . Therefore the performer himself should be recognizable as a human being addressing human beings.* And Crews remarked: "The narrated transition becomes more than a mere interruption lo chanf-e a scene. It is realh a continuation of tire .scene in narrative form, which may streni;tlum the over-all structure of the phiv rather than weaken it."** ■In many cases, narration is as nmch aciins; as story-telling, and it is within the power of the actor-narrator to lift his narration to just slightly below the emotion al pitch of the dramatic scenes surrounding it. A perfect example of this type o! narration is the one in Thornton Wikler's Our Town. The narrator takes no part in the action; he is merely an observer and commentator. But what an observer! He is anything but impersonal or unconcerned; he knows and loves every nook and cranny in that sleepy New England town of G rover's Corners; he is the personal friend of every man, woman and child in it. He lives and loves and hopes and dies with them. Similar narrations are those in The Glass Mena.verie and Teahou.se of the Auf-ust Moon. Let me be blunt about it: Never, a: any time, has narration anyihini; to do with amioimcint;.' "The announcer." wrote Arnheim, "is nothing but a voice. He exists . . . not beyond but only in the loudspeaker." Therefore announcing is not an art. but only an instrument, a device, and the announcer is not an artist, but at best, a craftsman. The narrator, on the other hand, is, or should be. an artist, creating and projecting a definite personality; ergo, the further he keeps away from announcing, the better he is bound to be. Because narration, unlike announcing, should be a hiffhly individualized performance, t h e greatest mistake an aspiring narrator can make is to strive for an <wer-"orotund". booming voice. There seems to be a craving among the bulk of American microphone speakers for over-resonant Superman voices. Except for varying degrees of dullness, they sound amazingly alike: one big low "sexy" he-man boom. Perhaps this is the vocal •Rudolf Arnlicjiii. Radio. Marg.iret LudwiE and HitIhtI Read. Transl. (Lnndon; Faln-r and Faht-r. I^ttl. ) °° Albert E. Crews. Rarfio Pwduction DircliiiK (Biisl.Mi: lIcmRhton-Mifflin Co.) 1965 SERVICE BUYER'S GUIDE