Home Movies (1943)

PACE 18 HOME MOVIES FOR JANUARY Scoring Aid Amateurs who add sound, by means of phonograph records, to their home movies will find this record scoring gadget a real help. It eliminates all guesswork as to just where to set the pickup down on the record to get any certain section of a musical selection or sound effect. By setting the sliding pointer to coincide with pre%iously prepared score sheet settings, an operator can bring any certain section of a recording "in" at the proper time, even in the middle of a film. This is especially helpful where one wants to add a certain sound effect to a scene and wants it to come out right every time. Cut a piece of ]/» inch "hardened" masonite or other suitable material to the shape shown in the photograph and glue a length of white celluloid ruler on one side. Next, make a sleeve from brass or heavy tin that will silde up and down the scale easily. Drill and tap a small hole in one side of sleeve for a small set screw. It really is easier to make the sleeve first and then cut the masonite pointer to fit. The sleeve can easily be made by bending a flat piece of brass or tin around the gadget, or a piece of iron about the same size, and soldering it where the two ends meet. If material from which sleeve is made is very thin, it may be necessarv to solder a nut to PASS 'EM ALONG! Those ideas for gadgets, tricks or shortcuts in filming, titling, editing or processing home movies — pass them on to fellow cinebugs through these columns. For each idea published, you'll receive two new projection reels. Extraordinary ideas will bring you a roll of film. Write description of your idea plainly and when possible accompany it with a photo, sketch or diagram. There's no limit on number of ideas you may submit. Ideas not immediately published will be held for possible future publication unless they duplicate ideas previousIf submitted. Important: Be sure to mention whether your cine equipment is 8mm. or 16mm. so we may promptly forward award adaptable to your use. THE EXPERIMENTAL provide threads for the set screw. Cement a white arrow cut from celluloid or cardboard to the under side of the sleeve to complete the sliding pointer. To prevent slider from scratching record, cement a washer of masonite on the underside of the rounded part of the gadget to raise it up off the record. A piece of felt cemented on the other end rides the edge of the record for the same purpose. The hole for the spindle should be snug but should not bind. To use gadget, simply set the pointer in the desired position on the scale and place on the record. At the proper moment set the pickup needle down where the pointer indicates and remove the pointer. Reset the pointer for the next change immediately. — Al Morton, Salt Lake City, Utah. Monopod Every movie amateur at one time or another can use a monopod — a onelegged tripod that can be easily carried in crowds, set up in a hurry to make pictures in close quarters, and provide solid support for the camera as well as provide for panning by virtue of the pivoting action possible by the single "leg." Anyone can build this monopod if he has a hammer, saw, brace and bit, knife, screw driver and a paint brush. List of materials required are as follows — most of them unaffected by priorities. (Letters A, B, C, etc., refer to parts as shown in illustration below) : One piece of wood Y/'\i-$ i6"x 28 1/2" long. One piece of wood 34"xi-5 i6"x 33 /V lon8One block of wood 1-5 <'i6"xiy8". Two wood screws. Machine screw for A. B. C. 1-3/ 1 6 X D. E. securing F. camera. V4" stove bolt and wing nut. G. Y4" stove bolt, washer and nut. The end where camera is fastened should be made to fit individual camera requirements, as to size and location of machine screw E. — Clarence Aldrich, Long Beach, Calif. Camera-Light Stand By fitting a tripod screw to the top of the sliding rod of the ordinary collapsible metal light standard, it may be used as a camera tripod and, when fitted with a wooden cross-arm, as pictured, a combination camera tripod and lighting unit results. A quarter-inch No. 20 bolt can be soldered to end of rod or rod may be drilled and tapped to take a short section of the bolt where rod is of ample diameter. A "stop" for the cross-arm consists of an ordinary round metal washer soldered to rod. This arrangement comes in handy when filming with Kodachrome where a flat lighting is required. Clamp-on reflectors of any number may be mounted along side the camera on the wooden cross-arm. — George Carlson, Chicago, Illinois. Light Boom Want to make an adjustable light boom for your indoor lighting equipment? Here's how you can rig one up for use on an ordinary metal light stand FRONT tt 2S ■'/!.• SIDE_ WINS NUT SHOWING MONOPOD IN USE WHEN FOLDED ■5 ft ■2'Ai' LOCflTION OF HOLES IN 8 LOCUTION OF SLOTS IN Ft o -t% TT — -*-© ■ 2" * Z'/ri "UTTF