Home Movies (1942)

Fig. ] Fig. 2 FIBER fO\TROL/, or Smoother ^^SpeciaV^ lap dii^olve^ T. HOSE who were fortunate to see Herman Bartel's 1941 prize wmning film, "Singing Shadows" will remember it for its remarkably smooth lap-dissolves. The picture was filmed with a Cine Special and, as many know, not every Cine Special operator succeeds in executing smooth, professional -like lap dissolves with this camera in spite of the excellent adjustable shutter built into it for this purpose. The difficulty encountered by many is in developing the required sense of touch necessary' to bring the fading lever slowly to a close at the end of the fade. The tisual result is a lap dissolve that ends with the first fade terminating too abruptly. Bartel's initial fades and dissolves with this camera were like this, too. And as "Singing Shadows" required a great many smooth lap-dissolves to accent mood of the picture, he set about to create a gadget that would control the camera fading lever smoother and better than it could be done by hand. Of course, even with this gadget, the fades are manually controlled by hand crank, but the manual action is "geared down" and thus any tendency toward jerky <x inconsistent finger control of the fading lever is absorbed or "dampened." Barrel calls his gadget a fader control. The complete umt detached from the camera is shown in Fig. 5. Figs i and 2 show two views of the camera with the fader contrcJ attached. To make a fade with this device, the hand crank shown at rear of camera is merely turned, while camera is running, until the shutter is opened or closed, as required. There's nothing c<nnphcated about its construction. Bartel contends any amateur, mechanically inclined, could duphcate it. Outside of the gears, which are standard Boston gears, the rest <rf materials required are a few small nuts and bolts, a narrow strip of flat aluminum to form the arm, a piece of bakehte, a circular metal disc, short metal shaft, and a handle. Tte secret for successful operati<Mi of the fader control lies primarily in the metal arm which is motivated by the main gear. Bartel found aluminum best for this because of the peculiar £exilnhry of this metal compared to any other. Since the fading lever of the Cine ^>ecial moves straight up and down and in a shght arc, it is important that the arm of the fader control have sufficient resihency to compensate for the very slight difference in dimension • Pictured at right is amateur-desiigned fading control for the Eastman Gne special, a comptact unit easily constructed that insures smoother lapdissolves. Photos at top show gadget mounted on camera. that takes {^ce as the lerer moves from one end of the arc to the other. There must be sufficient flexibihty in the arm so too much pressure will not be exerted cn the fading lever at any one point. This will be more understandaUe, of course, to those familiar widi this cannera. It can be seen that the fader control attaches to the camera by the old familiar expedient of anchoring it between camera base and top of tripod head. By drilling a hcJe throng the bakdite base to accommodate tripod screw, the unit may be locked firmly in place. Extending from the base is an upright piece, also of hakdite, to which is anchcxed most of the mechanism — the circular (£sc, the gears, and etc. As can be seen from photos, the heart of this gadget b a simple worm gear combination operated by the hand crank. The hakdite piece attached to the arm extending to the fader lever is merdy for dress. Rg. 2 shows how the aim is attached to the fading lever of camera and, according • CcmtimmeJ «m fjgr 24k i 234