Home Movies (1943)

HOME MOVIES FOR SEPTEMBER • Most businesses have more than one story to tell, so the first step in making a business film is to analyze the cinematic possibilities of the organization, then decide which to picture with your camera. I, LF you are one of those lucky cine cameraists with film available and looking for a restriction-proof subject tc film, why not turn your camera on your business, your place of employment or focus it upon some industrial plant to document its operation, its product, or some specialized manufacturing procedure? Regardless what the business may be, doubtless there is a good picture in it, a picture which you can make real and vivid with your camera and film, and one that will be genuinely interesting to any audience. It can be as long or as short, as intricate or as simple as you care to make it. And certainly it will be something different from the general routine of your movie making activities. Most businesses have more than one story to tell, so the first step in making a business or industrial film is to analyze the cinematic possibilities of the organization, then decide which of them to picture with your camera. Take, for instance, a manufacturing business; shall we show the product in action, how it is made, or concentrate on some specialized phase of the product's manufacture or use? Any one of these approaches has good picture possibilities. Next step is to decide how the story is to be told. It can be presented dramatically, utilizing a carefully written continuity and an actor cast as a visitor to the plant; a member of the firm shows him around and supplies the answers to his questions about the product or procedure of manufacture. Ob FOCUS YOUR CAMERA 01 YOUR BUSINESS viously, this treatment makes for length, something to be avoided these days. Moreover, it calls for experienced actors plus careful planning and staging. A simpler, more effective plan is to ignore the human element entirely and concentrate on the factual story of how the product progresses from blueprint tc stage of completion. This is the practical course for the average amateur to follow. Such a picture is not only simpler to make, but more direct in its delineation of the product, because all nonessentials that tend to distract an audience are eliminated. There are two approaches which the filmer may take in producing this document type of film. The first is simple, straight forward camera reporting in which scenes • Concentrate your camera on the factual story of how the product progresses from blueprint to stage of completion. embrace all that a visitor might see in an ordinary walk through the plant; long and medium shots of employees and machines, etc., with occasional closeups to concentrate audience's attention on some vital operation or significant detail. In this film, narrative titles (or narrative sound track, added later) would explain various processes and operations just as would a guide escorting a visitor through the plant. Possibly more interesting, however, would be a film telling the same story but with dramatic technique. The manufacturing process itself would be the "star" of the production and the human element would be subordinated as much as possible. This type of documentary can be filmed almost entirely in closeups and made more compelling by the expedient of camera angles, angle shots and objective lighting effects. Such treatment, expertly executed, can also eliminate need for a great many titles. Animation and action filmed in stop motion can add novelty and picture many processes of production otherwise not easily understood. All of this is not beyond the scope of the serious movie amateur. The record • Continued on Page 298 285