Home Movies (1943)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

• Example of neat title composition, attractive but subdued background and sharp focus, making for easy reading on the screen. • Another easy to read title printed in gothic type on a black card for maximum contrast. Lines, top and bottom are the only decoration. NIKE YOUR TITLES EASY TO READ... B y W T, H M ELL 'em, and tell 'em quickly!" might well be the slogan of the home movie title maker; for in this day of titleless, fast-paced sound movies, the silent motion picture must be immediately, even though silently, articulate. One of the basic requirements of good home movie titles is that they must be easily and quickly read when screened. The simplest title, at best, tends to slow action by virtue of the interruption it creates in the picture. It is important, therefore, that every title— and we refer here to subtitles — be as briefly written, as legibly lettered and as sharply photographed as possible. Titles are necessary to amateur movies. There are still some die-hards who insist the "perfect" silent motion picture contains no titles; but this is pure bosh. We sometimes think they offer this opinion as an excuse for their laziness. It is possible to produce a silent movie requiring no titles, but it is not possible to produce movies on all of the usual amateur subjects without adequate informative titles and qualify such pictures as acceptable screen fare. When there is no title to explain a situation, a location or a bit of dubious action in the picture, the audience's trend of thought is interrupted or they become confused. On the other hand if the film is titled, but the titles are difficult to read, the result is often worse than if there were no titles in the picture at all. It is a matter of speed which should concern the movie amateur when undertaking to title a picture, for speed is necessary in order to impart the pertinent information quickly by title and then get on with the story on the screen. This speed results from titles well but simply worded, neatly lettered and photographed in sharpest focus. Carelessly, poorly made titles not only give the film a shoddy appearance but tire the audience. Of the several factors affecting legibility of screened titles, probably the most important is that of focus at the time of photographing the title; for unless the camera is properly focused or is capable of producing sharp focus, all the other legibility factors are in vain. Sharp focus is defined by wiry sharp • Continued on Page 257 • Nice composition is marred by confusing background and unsharp focus in this main title. White area in foreground makes picture unsuitable for title card use. • Illegibility of text in this title may be due to poor lettering and lack of sharp focus. Also there are too many words in each line and letters are too close together. 246 roods a boy and dog may take i% Touch magic lands, and then • Form lost trails that a boy grown tail Can never find again. .