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Amazingly low prices Amber tinting free! . . . other colors available SEND NOW FOR FREE samples and illustrated f»Uer TITLE-CRAFT, Dept., H 1022 Argyle St., Chicago 40, III FREE URGAW BUUiTW SEND FOR YOUR COPY TODAY GENTLEMEN: Please send me your latest BULLETIN "G" withh undreds of unadvertised specials. Nome Sfreef City Sfafe Natural • Continued from Page 171 A little practice will make you very skillful in getting along with these three types. We're ready now for a few principles to use for getting your friends to "give" before your camera. First, tell them to act with confidence and to ignore the camera. Good picture-taking creates the illusion that no one is present but the actors. Direct glances into the lens, self-conscious smirks at the camera operator, and all other "falling out character" should be avoided. A good actor appears confident. In this connection rehearsals may be desired. If so, make them as much like the final "take" as possible. Hold up your camera, adjust your reflectors, and follow your picture-taking routine in every respect except, of course, by using film. If you have a second camera run it without film and explain that you are rehearsing, too. Such carefulness will raise the confidence of your actors to a high level. Second, ask them to relax. This is not easy for some people to do and you may have to teach them a simple trick. To look relaxed before a camera, an actor should actually rest some part of his body in plain sight. Examples of this might be: a hand and fore-arm lying passively on an open book; or one leg crossed over another in a lazy pose; or both shoulders sagging a little; or a stretched-out body. It is not enough to request your actors to relax; you must suggest something for them to do which creates the illusion of resting. Third, help them to give clues. Explain to them that the people who will view the pictures will have only one sense — sight — to use. Everything the actor experiences, sound, touch, taste, smell, fear, joy, anger and even thinking, have to be translated into understandable action in the projected picture. So clues to what the actor is experiencing have to be given. This is not hard to do if the director slows down the action. Most amateur actors move entirely too fast. Screen action should be much slower than that of real life. Direct your actors to deliberately reveal what is in their minds. A simple example is that of smelling a rose. The improper way would be to turn directly to the rose and sniff it. None of the preliminary action would prepare the picture-watcher and he wouldn't know what was to happen until it had happened. But if the actor turns toward the rose, and pauses to look at it, he gives the audience a chance to see the rose, admire it and to wonder if it has a sweet perfume. No one is then surprised when the actor approaches the flower, bends over, and smells it. You and your friends will have a good deal of fun directing and acting clues. And as your skill increases you will want to branch out into "substitute acts." These are actions which are not what they seem to be but are deliberately done because they create the proper illusion better than the authentic ones. For instance, a person laughing into a handkerchief appears to be crying. Another example is that of the actor who is directed to walk as though completely worn-out when the desired effect is to appear thoroughly discouraged. The principle is to suggest to your actor something which is easier for him to do than the desired act itself and yet will appear to be exactly what you want in the developed film. Of course, you haven't the time nor the inclination, probably, to go into picture-taking like the professional directors who plan out every move of their actors. However, you'll get a lot of satisfaction from pictures which reveal better and better acting and more and more naturalness. As time goes on and you, your family, and friends discuss and exchange ideas, you'll develop real skill in helping your amateur actors increasingly reveal greater ability in creating the roles you wish. And I'm certain of one thing, you'll never again rely upon the old request to "Just be natural!" It just isn't that simple, is it? *Eugene C. Peckham, in educational and Boy Scout circles needs no introduction. Mr. Peckham is an educator with a Lifetime Diploma for the Secondary Schools of California, and an instructor in the Ben L. Wells Sales and Leadership Training. He has been active in the Boy Scouts of America for 26 years, and is now Council Training Director for Scout Leaders. — Editorial Note. BOOKS • Continued from Page 155 now vice-president in charge of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, used as a typical example of feature film making, M.G.M.'s feature "The Next Voice You Hear" which describes the process in detail from start to finish. Mr. Schary tells how the idea of the story first came, how the bizarre theme of a film featuring the voice of God speaking over the radio was sold to the studios, and how the film was finally successfully produced under the capable direction of William Wellman. Good as it is, the book might have been made more useful to students of the cinema if the authors had included the complete shooting script of the film. "The Next Voice You Hear" reveals how terribly complex studio production necessarily is, and how the many problems are solved. 83 CHAMBERS ST. NEW YORK 7