Home Movies (1954)

Story of a Promotion Film By JOE Last month the staff of PRO CINE PHOTOGRAPHER got together and shot a complete film in black & white, using whatever facilities were available in Hollywood. Purpose of the film was to promote the sale of four books, and it was made to be shown to groups directly interested in the use of these publications. The main problem was speed and the entire project was completed in a day and a half. Here is the story. Ed. * * * Monday: 5:00 p.m. After a preliminary conference, it was decided that our film must be light in vein, and should not run more than five or six minutes. One man was assigned to write the short script and he was told to have the material ready for the next day. Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. Our three page script was ready. This took the form of the conventional script with a description of the action on one side, and the narration on the other. \^ e had decided on the narration type film so that the whole thing could be made more rapidly. 10:00 a.m.The director of the film consulted with a staff of artists who broke down the script into shots. Sketches were made of each shot, and a description of the action was typed in a box under each sketch, ( see illustration). This way. the director could refer to the sheet, rehearse the actors and make the shot. Since we were to shoot the film that night, there was nothing more to be done except complete arrangements for renting the studio where the film was to be made. A price of S70 was decided upon, and this incidentally is a minimum rate. It provided for use of the studio, and use of lights and other facilities. Camera used, (our own) Bell Howell ''Specialist" 16mm battery powered using 200 foot magazine. 11:00 a.m. — Three actors were needed, lone man and two girls). \^ e hired the man by phone, and called a modeling agency who provided the two girls. Then we arranged for a title artist to be at the studio that night so that he could make the titles while the film was being shot. Costumes were simple, and these were rented from Western Costume in Hollywood. All we needed was a stethoscope, a doctor's white coat and two bathing suits for the girls. Cost: (Doctor's coat 83.50: stethoscope, S5.00; two Bikini bathing suits S7.50. Total S16.00). STEIN 7:00 p.m. — Everyone appeared on time and we were presumably ready to shoot, but we did not get under way for another hour. Reason for this is that the title artist had to be informed and shown how the titles should be made. The make-up man was told to take off the street make-up used by the girls and start from scratch, in addition to making up the male actor. The cameraman consulted with the two men who were in charge of the lights and they decided that a fairly high level would be appropriate for this kind of film; the story, by the way was written in a very light vein with humorous situations to carry the message and plug the books which were being promoted in the film. Light level was about 175 ft. candles and film stock was Du Pont No. 930, with a rating of 64 Weston. (400 ft. cost 816.00.) 8:00 p.m. — Props and furniture had already been arranged by this time, and the set was lit and ready. The male actor was made up and the two girls were almost ready. The cameraman and his assistant had checked the various set ups needed and had decided on the angle of their shots after consulting with the director. 8:30 p.m.— At this time the first sequence was ready to shoot, and after a half hour of rehearsal, shooting began. From here on in. everything went along smoothly with the shots being made one after the other. In some instances re-takes were necessary, but this was expected and did not delay production too much. 12:00 midnight — By this time all the shots were made and the title artist had already completed all his title cards. A Kodak Cine Special, mounted on a stand (and used only for making titles was employed to shoot the cards. In thirty minutes all the titles were shot. We might add here, that although narration and music was used throughout the film, titles were necessary in order to supplement the narration. Another reason is that a description of a book, plus a shot of the book and then a repetition of what the narrator was saying added more emphasis and guaranteed that the viewer would remember that particular book. Then the film was removed from the film magazines and taken down to the Acme Film Laboratory, in Hollywood. We included a note ask • See FILM on Page 38 Five photos show production from script to actual shooting. ( Reading down). 1. barrator's script at left and original script, at right. .2. Artist sketches a shot-by-shot breakdown of the film for the use of the director. 3. Titles are lettered by staff artist and will be photographed after shooting is completed. 4 and .5 Actual production shots. 26