Home Movies (1944)

HOME MOVIES FOR MAY CAGE 1$$ auditorium after the show, and a little more persuasion brings the marine success. The girl becomes friendly and the two stroll over to a nearby park. The closing shot shows them embracing on a bench. Thus, with a little new footage — less than fifty feet — Shandler tied together about 350 feet of previously filmed material that up to that time, had neither beginning nor end. It has become a worthwhile picture and already has proven the most popular in his library. Mrs. David Cameron, of Salt Lake City, whose filming was described in the April issue of Home Movies, followed still another method of tieing odd shots together to achieve screenable continuity. Her medium was poetic titles and singularly enough, she has titled her film "Pot Shots." It is 300 feet in length in 8mm. Kodachrome. In the beginning, "Pot Shots" was truly that — a collection of scenes made around the house and garden or on automobile trips out into the country or into the mountains. But the interesting titles link together all the material to hold attention until the final fadeout. There are twenty different subjects included in the reel and introduced or described by 25 subtitles in verse of which the following is an example: "We never tire of lovely Bridal Veil Falls, Which plays so gracefully over Provo Canyon walls. . . ." Picture begins with scenes of the state capitol building. Then there are sequences of shots of Bridal Veil falls; a dog and cat romping playfully; ducks enjoying the cooling mist of a lawn sprinkler; lineman repairing wires; members of the household gardening; flowers; soldiers and mobile gun units on parade; a dam under construction; a pack horse train in the mountains; steers ; a farmer tilling his soil ; tumbleweeds in a whirlwind — a rare and beautiful shot; autumn foliage; a big football game; goats and sprightly kids; general farm scenes; monkeys in closeup studies; deer in snow; and a finale sequence of colorful sunsets. • Mrs. David Cameron used poetic titles to tie together a series of odd shots, thus forming an interesting subject for her library. fluff and Sport Off the best of fnends They fro! fc ar*i play I hours without ends. 1 Admittedly, these are indeed a hodge podge of subjects to be included together in one reel; but nearly every movie amateur has a collection of similar shots. Mrs. Cameron wasn't content to let them lie idle. She got busy with her titler, drew generously upon her imagination, and an interesting 300 foot subject resulted. Of course, her odd shots were interestingly filmed to begin with, and if there were any underor over-exposed shots, any footage spoiled by light leakage, she judiciously relegated them to oblivion. Leon C. Sprague of Los Angeles is one movie maker hit hard by war time lilming restrictions. It has been his custom to carry his camera along on cross country trips and to shoot movies without restraint. Gas and tire rationing and shortage of film temporarily ended all this, and like all active cinebugs, Sprague simply couldn't forget his hobby. He, too, had footage of interesting places that was too brief for a complete subject, yet important enough to belong among his library of screenable films. There were sequences of scenes made at San Juan Capistrano, Atlantic City, Coney Island, Niagara Falls, Yosemite, and Canada. With no film and no gas for new filming ventures, Mr. Sprague decided to work over this old footage. Idea for his tie-in shots involved a man who buys a magic carpet which carries him from place to place at his command. The necessary new footage required only a single roll of film. After the tie-in shots were edited in together with titles, Mr. Sprague's new movie, titled "The Magic Carpet," unfolded smoothly on the screen as the story of a man plagued by wartime restrictions and unable to take his customary vacation. The picture begins with hands picking up and opening travel folders. There's a cut to the man reading the folders, obviously aware he cannot visit any of the places. His thoughts are shown in quick "flash" titles: "Tires Frozen!" "Don't Travel By Train!"; "Stay At Home"; "No Vacation!", etc. "Gee, I wish I had a magic carpet!" he says wearily, then falls asleep in his easy chair. He dreams of buying a magic carpet. He hurries home with his new • Spreading out his magic carpet, the traveler commands it to take him to interesting places — a clever tie-in idea for odd footage. Magic Carpet take me to San Juan Capistrano Mission • The spoken titles were well executed in Leon Sprague's clever scenic film composed of odd footage tied together with titles and gag-shots. • Arriving at Mission San Juan Capistrano, the man rolls up his magic carpet and begins his tour of the Mission, pictured in 8mm. Kodachrome. All photos are 8mm. frame enlargements. treasure, gets his camera and tripod. He spreads out the carpet and sits down upon it. With a majestic wave of his hand, he commands: "Magic carpet, take me to Mission San Juan Capistrano." The next is a double exposed shot showing the man and carpet sailing over the trees and housetops enroute to Capistrano. Arriving at the Mission, he exclaims: "Oh boy! It works!" and gets up from the carpet which obviously has come to a smooth four point landing on the lawn. Rolling up the carpet and tucking it under his arm, he begins his tour of the mission. After this follows the sequence of shots of the mission filmed earlier. The magic carpet scenes are repeated to introduce the scenes of Atlantic City, Coney Island, Niagara Falls, Yosemite National Park, and Canada. An interesting variation in his titles was that intercut in the magic carpet scene • Continued on Page 211