Home Movies (1943)

HOME MOVIES FOR SEPTEMBER PACE 297 limited footage for pictures and put all explanations in your letter, unless of course, you are fortunate to have the film to spare. But untitled and, if necessary, unedited "snap shot" movies of family and friends are relished without criticism by the service man fortunate to receive them. Its understandable that closeups, being more vivid and intimate, should be the technique followed in filming movies for a service man. In view of the fact it cannot be known what type and condition of projector the service man may be able to use in screening his picture, it is important that all scenes be filmed in closeup in order to render maximum detail under poorest conditions. Projectors, like other equipment in this war, are taking quite a beating and some of them are certain not to be in the best of working order at times; or projection conditions may be poor, or the screen may not be the conventional brilliant beaded type. Any of these conditions would make a poorly photographed film very disappointing. A movement is underway to enlist the aid of amateur cine clubs throughout the country to make available their cameras for shooting movies to be sent to the serviceman of a friend, rel ative or neighbor. It is a fine, patriotic project for any filmer to undertake; a worth-while contribution to the war effort. It is difficult to fully estimate the serviceman's appreciation without having read some of the letters that have been received praising movies from home. If you want to keep your camera busy, if you want to keep active with your hobby in a way that is helpful to prosecution of the war, investigate the opportunities for making movies of some serviceman's family near you. Offer the use of your camera and your services; they'll be glad to supply the film. Other filming opportunities present themselves in making movies for service men in camps. If you live near one of the camps or training centers, you will find many movie amateurs there who would like to have movies made that they can send home. Such films can be shot in the recreation centers and U. S. O. units of the camps, giving the folks at home an intimate picture of one phase of the service man's camp life. As one soldier wrote: "Movies are our best entertainment; home movies our most cherished contact with home." ^Magnetic lAJire—tound medium • Continued from Page 281 quency response but also for absolute synchronization. Four years of spare time went into the construction of my equipment, which is entirely homemade. The undertaking included a great deal of technical research and original work, as well as trial and error experimentation. The scarcity of materials caused by the war and necessary civilian defense activity halted the work in its development stage; but though not fully free from bugs, the gadget is now in use providing entertainment and fun. My equipment, which is illustrated on page 281, consists of the usual public address amplifier and speaker, a special pre-amplifier and a recorder-reproducer. The pre-amplifier is used for recording and playback and has a fixed and a variable equalizer and a volume expandercompressor. The equalizers serve to produce uniform frequency over the entire recordable audio range, while the expander-compressor automatically keeps the recorded volume-shading within the relatively narrow range of this type of recording. While the audio equipment, with the exception of the equalizers, has remained substantially unchanged during the years of experimentation, the recorder-reproducer has seen several changes and improvements. The motor and the wire-leveling device are the only original parts remaining in this unit. All other parts, including the housing, have been rebuilt more than once in order to reduce extraneous sound and background noise, caused by mechanical vibrations and stray magnetic fields of the motor and wiring. A small synchronous motor drives the recorder at a fixed speed of seven feet a second. Theoretically it is possible to record an upper limit of 8,300 cycles a second at this speed, but in practice a somewhat lower value, quite satisfactory for music reproduction, is obtained. One half of this wire speed would suffice if speech only were to be recorded. Ordinary music wire, 1/100 inch in diameter, is used as a recording medium. This can be bought in any length desired, so that only the real capacity limits the uninterrupted length of a musical program. The reels used with the illustrated equipment hold wire for one hour's continuous recording. Before the war this wire sold in quanity lots at $1.60 a pound or approximately $2.50 for sound to accompany a 200-foot picture. An economic advantage of this type of recording is that the wire may be reused indefinitely by A Real Gift for a Friend or Yourself Bookshelf size 8' 2 x 7". Blue, green, maroon or black. Contents book included. N». 100 (illustrated) has divisions for 51 slides. No. I00B holds up to 300 slides. At Stores or direct prepaid ffl AA on 10 Days Money-Back Trial + l,uu Free Catalog of Amfiles for Reels, Negatives, etc. AMBERG FILE & INDEX CO. jffi£jSnS£& MONEY; talks You flickerguys who've turned away until another peaceful day should send your cameras right to me, accepting a most gen'rus fee. Some other fan will buy your wares so on my shoulders put your cares. Just write or send it all to us and get a check sans care or fuss. PRESIDENT WE BUY, SELL OR TRADE ALL MAKES OF MOVIE EQUIPMENT . 1 n Write Dept. HM EXCEL MOVIE PRODUCTS Present HEWSih WORLD 1 6mm. 8mm. ,6mm. HASELTON 35MM MOVIES SLIDES A fine new supply of 16mm Kodachrome of YOSEMITE. including some new witdflower shots. Any length desired, at rate of 18c per foot. "The BLOOMING DESERT." including close-ups of cactus blossoms; any length, 18c per foot. ' The CANADIAN ROCKIES": 400 ft Kodachrome, $50. "Hummingbird Home Life," 16mm., black & white. 200 feet, $12.00. GUY D. HASELTON 7"36 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood. California 8 M M. — HOLLYWOOD FILM— 16mm. HI SPEED WESTON 100-80 25 Ft. Dbl. 8, $3.00 100 Ft. 16, $5.75 Including machine processing HOLLYWOODLAND STUDIOS 9320 CALIFORNIA AVE. SOUTH SATE, CALIF. Despite Rumors Plenty of Film Available Kodachrome MAPS CHARTS FINE TITLES GEO. W. COLBURN LABORATORY Special Motion Picture Printing 995-A Merchandise Mart, Chicago