Home Movies (1943)

PACE 418 HOME MOVIES FOR DECEMBER CRAFTSMEN * ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ * ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ate dxUnCf tUein. &Ua/ie rhe production line of "GOERZ AMERICAN" is formed by skilled men, who through painstaking work create high-grade photo-lenses and optical units for military instruments used by our armed forces on Land — on the Sea — in the Air — These precise optical units are of the greatest importance to our armed forces, for without accurate military instruments for sighting, fire control and photographic aerial reconnaissance their fighting machinery would be of little value to them. aptical science together with our craftsmen, doing their duty on the job in the production line, will hasten victory. aur production is keyed to fill the requirements of our Government, and of others on orders with priority certificate. "GOERZ AMERICAN" lenses for civilian use will again be available after Victory. TO SPEED VICTORY • INVEST IN WAR BONDS • C. P. GOERZ AMERICAN OPTICAL CO. Office and Factory 3!7 East 34th Street New York 14. N. Y. ¥ X * "Qoesiq, American" PRECISION OPTICS \ lUtce 1899 ¥ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ HM-I2 era upside down. After the film is processed, the film is turned end for end, making it necessary to project it with shiny or film base side toward the lens — which is alright as long as no other footage is cut into the reel that is projected emulsion side toward the lens, as would be the case with regular titles. To overcome this problem with the titles, Evans filmed his titles upside down on the same film as his pictures, so that titles and pictures would always be in focus. To get around the problem of the wording reading backwards, the titles were not photographed directly by the camera but by reflection, which reversed the text, making it read from left to right on the screen. This is how it was done, according to Evans: Instead of shooting titles with camera upside down, the title cards were inverted. A small handbag mirror was then placed in front of the camera lens at right angles and the titles reflected into the mirror. Accurate alignment was obtained through use of the auxiliary focusing tube on his turret-front Filmo eight and the special Bell & Howell alignment gauge on which his camera was mounted. Thus, Evans was able to focus upon his title directly through the lens, obtaining sharp focus and exact centering. Evans' "Ice Follies" is one of his most popular films. Filmed in 8mm. Kodachrome, it is an interesting example of what can be done with this subject with color film. While some of the scenes were obtained with Kodachrome hypersensitized by the mercury vapor process, Evans shot the first sequences with type A Kodachrome without any treatment whatever. Good results were obtained by using camera from a front row position, and filming only those numbers of the show which received the maximum illumination from the auditorium's lighting facilities. With the hypersensitized Kodachrome, the numbers executed under spotlights or low-key lighting were filmed with surprising good results. The film was subjected to the mercury vapors for a period of four days before being used, although Evans now recommends that even better results may be obtained by treating the film after exposure and immediately before submitting it for processing. "Bone Benders," an entertaining film on wrestling and filmed at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, demonstrates what can be achieved with use of superspeed panchromatic films. Part of this picture was photographed with Eastman Super X at f 2.5 under the favorable conditions of a battery of highpowered lights erected for purpose of televising the wrestling matches from the Hollywood stadium. Later, Evans sought to add additional scenes to his wrestling film, found the television shows had been discontinued and the powerful lights removed. He switched to Agfa "Triple S" panchromatic film, and obtained additional scenes quite as satisfactory as the first under the regular arena lighting. The picture is probably one of the most interesting of its kind ever filmed, due to careful planning and photography. Limited space prevents detailed description of the other films, all of which display similar skill. Those that have been described, illustrate how this filmer surmounted difficulties often encountered by the average movie amateur. Evans' success as a movie maker is attributable to nothing more than the ability to think things out and a willingness to study and apply that which he has learned in ceaseless experimentation. (Bringing, J^lew^ to the Screen • Continued from Page )Q9 news roundup feature is a compressed but vivid account of the United Nation's offensive against the Axis powers. Where previous issues have presented a cross-section of both domestic and foreign news events, war activity during 1943 has been so tremendous and world important as to dwarf all other events by comparison. The 1943 News Parade of the Year brings stirring history filmed as it happened in the Atlantic, the south Pacific, the Mediterranean, and in Russia, Italy, Germany and France. All the daring and cinematic skill of the newsreel and other war-front cameramen have combined to bring America the most breath-taking action movies, and some of the most historical scenes ever to be recorded by a camera. That today's news-event movies will accumulate historical worth as time goes by is a foregone conclusion. We have only to consider the unsuccessful efforts of many film collectors today to obtain 8mm. or 16mm. prints of some of the earliest news films released on the present conflict. Home projector owners adding current news-event films to their personal movie libraries recognize their educational and historical importance as well as their entertainment value. Significant, too. is the statement issued by Castle Films that many of the nation's visual education film supply centers are including prints of News Parade of the Year in their libraries.