Home Movies (1951)

SIMPLE LENS equipment, such as filters for snow scenes are essential. Simple lens equipment, such as filters for snow scenes are essential. For cold weather work, you may freeze your hands if you don't wear gloves. To avoid the difficulty of attempting to work the camera in bulky gloves, a good plan is to use light silk or nylon gloves while operating the camera; while traveling you can use heavier gloves or mittens over the light ones. If you are working in sub-zero weather for long periods of time, your camera mechanism may freeze up unless you have had the foresight to have the regular oil removed in advance. The camera lens fogs over quite often in cold weather so it is wise to check the lens carefully before filming. In taking ski shots, plan the scenes so that the actors move definitly in and out of the frame. To start your camera after they have entered the scene or to stop it before they have moved out is to risk a series of jerky sequences. Be sure, too, that in a single -equence the skiers are traveling in the same direction from one scene to another. To have them going from left to right in one scene and in the next scene reverse direction would be faulty directional continuity for it would give the audience the impression that the >kiers were going somewhere in one scene and suddenly returning in the next. You will find that a few separate shots of the skiers moving both toward and away from the camera will provide some scenes that can be used between sequences in the cutting room. Such transition shots will add smoothness to the action. Ski jumping scenes are most easily filmed on the hillside just below the take-off point. This spot enables you to get an excellent panning shot of the flight through the air and the landing. Be sure to select the side that gives you the best lighting effect. Many types of outdoor pictures are WINTER FILMIC HUTS A few simple rules, intelligently applied to snow photography can produce professional results the first time out. By ARTHUR MARBLE just about as successful on grey days as in bright sunshine, but this is not true of snow scenes. For real sparkle and beauty you need sunshine, and you need to now also how to arrange your camera angles to get the best lighting effects. Races of winter sports, like skating, skiing and ice boating make wonderful film material. Here are a few practical suggestions for filming races. First, if you want to film the whole race, you will have better luck if you use several cameras with operators stationed at strategic points along the course. Closeups of expressions of the contestants can be made at a different time if you are careful about matching the lighting. If you are forced to film closeups in a different locality you can use a low viewpoint and have the sky for a background. Some of the racing scenes can be photographed when the contestants are practicing for the big event. One of the best and most difficult of winter movie subjects is iceboating — difficult because of the high speeds involved. Perhaps the best way to photograph iceboats is from another iceboat. If you have no movable camera platform your best chance to capture the split-second action is when the boats are coming about in a turn. It is then that the action is most dramatic with a runner high in the air. Then there are the frequent spills that add interest to your reels. Ice skating affords endless possibilities, too. In daylight, on fair-sized ice surfaces you can get some effective moving shots by using a built-up sleigh for a camera dolly. Of course, the most spectacular ice shots are made at night, and under strong floodlights and with a good lens, some excellent shots may be either in black-and-white or in color. For fast action and excitement no sport can surpass ice hockey. Selecting the right exposure at high altitudes where winter scenes are usually made are complicated by the excessive amount of ultra-violet light — a matter that can readily be taken care of by the use of an ultra-violet filter which should eliminate the strong bluish cast in many scenes. A wide• See "WINTER" on Page 428 413