Home Movies (1943)

PAGE 190 HOME MOVIES FOR JUNE cAre title* properly, placed • Continued from Page 779 IT'S FASCINATING . . . Thousands of movie amateurs are processing their own movie film, finding it as much fun as shooting. It makes for economy, too. Find out why. Read this fascinating book. Tells you how to process 8mm. and 16mm. black and white film. Tells how to build simple processing equipment. Gives all necessary formulas. Well worth the price of joc. LABEL IT! What's a movie without a name — a TITLE? How will your audience understand your picture without explanatory titles? Learn how easy it is to make your own. This easyto-understand book tells everything you want to know about this fascinating branch of the home movie hobby. Gives tables for exposures, lens diopters, field areas, etc. Mailed prepaid for only $1.00. On Sale At Dealers Or Order Direct From HOME MOVIES 6040 SUNSET BOULEVARD HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA bf so written it can be placed before or after peak of an action sequence and lose none of its effect. In spite of the emphasis placed on brief, terse, titles, it often becomes expedient to use one lengthy title in place of several short ones in order to avoid cutting frequently into important action. But even in such instances, brevity should be the watchword in composition. Again taking our deep sea fishing film for example, let us assume we have a sequence picturing bringing a martin swordfish to gaff, consisting of the following scenes: medium shot of fisherman in deck chair fighting the hooked fish; long shot of fish cavorting in water at end of line; telephoto shot of fish fighting line; repeat shot of fisherman reeling in line; medium shot of fish now nearer boat. Another fisherman in foreground with gaff hook, ready to assist with landing of fish. Struggling fish is gaffed and hauled aboard. Some filmers might insert brief titles between every one of these scenes such as: "Joe hooks a marlin!" "The marlin fights back. . . ." "Looks like she's safe!" "Landed at last!" — four annoying interruptions in a highly interesting sequence. How much better to precede the sequence thus: "Third time out Joe hooks and safely lands a fighting marlin!" and then conclude with: "One hundred twenty-five pounds of fighting fish for which Joe gave up five!" The nature of a film sequence and subject of film itself will dictate where titles should be placed. In most instances, titles will precede scenes or action they describe. Yet there are instances where a descriptive title is better placed after the scene it refers to. This, of course, must be determined before title is written. In photoplays that build to a heavy action climax, it is best to taper off on titles as much as possible in the closing sequences so that the climax will not be retarded. Then there are pictures in which this rule should be reversed — the climax or high point of interest may be accented by means of titles. An example of this would be in a documentary picture in which some process or operation is being demonstrated. Take for example an Indian forming pottery on a primitive potter's wheel. A sequence of this action would be greatly strengthened by the addition of two or three short titles giving pertinent facts regarding the Indian's pottery making operations, his reputation as a potter, and perhaps the price he may ask for the fin ished article. The sequence might be considered complete without such titles, but few will deny that titles would add much in interest to the picture as a whole without proving too diverting. Also, such titles tend to consume time where a long operation must be filmed in almost continuous action. Unlike with the deep sea fishing film where the camera might run continuously on the interest-absorbing action of the fishlanding incident, continuous camera action on the Indian pottery maker would play far too long on the screen unless otherwise broken up by titles. The skilled filmer, of course, would further diversify this sequence by intercutting closeups and angle shots of the action. Where action in the film is slow, titles should balance the action and remain on the screen longer by virtue of gi eater wording. In action sequences, the audience, as a rule, becomes alert and capable of reading brief titles quickly. A good rule to follow in filming titles is to allow more footage than the established reading time and then cut them into the picture their full length.. In this way, it will be much easier to determine how long a title should run on the screen by projecting the picture several times. Where titles are too long in footage, they can be shortened. But those filmed too short, must be remade. In the long run, all titles are better if they are too long than too short in screening time. In every large audience, there is at least one or two spectators whose ability to read is hampered by poor vision, or perhaps because of the small lettering in the title. Spoken titles are controlled by none of the rules or regulations that apply to the descriptive title except, perhaps, that they should be as brief as possible. The point of insertion in the film for the spoken title is determined by the action; yet many amateur filmers continue to cut in a spoken title before or after the scene showing the person speaking. For the most natural effect, let the scene run a few frames to show the person starting to speak, then cut in the title, and continue with four or five frames at end of scene showing person completing speech. Where the speech is U ng, it becomes necessary to delete some of the footage in middle of the pictured action, allowing the title to "do the talking" instead of the person in the picture. Another technique is to cut directly from the title, not back to the person