Home Movies (1954)

MOVIE IDEAS The Parade Although most parades are held during the summer months when sunshine and spring are in the air. some are held during the festive Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. I love parades and I've found a way of doing the story of the parade which is at least different than the ordinary approach: standing in one place shooting the participants as they pass. Instead. I tried to show how a parade is conceived and organized. I still managed to keep the actual parade, hut instead of it comprising the entire story, the parade was but the "pay off to three months of hard work for the group. I got onto this film idea by contacting one of our civic groups. As it happened I chose the American Legion, but any similar group would of fer as many prospects: the Veterans of Foreign \^ ars. The American Red Cross, the Community Chest. All would know of. or possibly have plans for such a parade. I attended all meetings which had to do with the parade. I made films of the group laying out preliminary designs and deciding who should be in the parade. I filmed the blackboard sessions which planned where each unit would walk and would be at any given moment. Then, the day when the parade was scheduled to occur. I filmed the formations, the directors placing people and groups and I even rode with a complete unit to show how the spectators looked to the participants. In this way. four or five parade scenes, the highlights, sufficed to complete or "wrap up" a very interesting movie. — Leon Grahame. Chicago. Talk Turkey All too often Thanksgiving movies get to be "old hat". Thev continue to be the same thing over and over again. Some times they are little more than a series of jerky shots of the familv standing in the front yard. Other times, they are shots of the family, gathered around the table, stuffing their faces. I too was guilty of this type of motion picture photography. But last year. I had my fill. When I developed my film, edited it and projected the results. I was as sick as a soldier on a Navy boat. I decided that this vear I'd come up with a better idea for mv annual Thanksgiving film. I think I have. It may be of interest to vour readers. At any rate, here it is for what it is worth. I plan to build my film around the theme "Talk Turkey" which will be a plav on words . . . yet a literal thing. For I plan to show myself raising a nice turkey for the big dinner. I nurse the bird, stuffing him with fine food. Waiting for the day when he's nice and plump, ready to eat. Finallv the big day draws near. I show myself sharpening the ax. I cut to the bird, at first sulking in his pen. then stopping as he hears the noise of the grinder on the ax blade. Suddenly he realizes what the sounds mean. From then on I fade into a story of the Thanksgiving dinner as seen in the imagination of the turkey. He sees himself being put into the oven. He sees himself being carved and eaten. He sees the whole Thanksgiving day in his mind. Then I switch to myself finishing the ax. I go to the turkey's pen. I find him cowering in fear. Suddenly. I too realize that I cannot go through with it. It would be too much like killing an old friend. The payoff is that our guests spend Thanksgiving day eating ham. No one misses the fact that there is no traditional turkey. In fact, at the end of the film the turkey is made guest of honor and is seen munching corn beside the table with the guests. I think this will make a very humorous story. It will not be difficult to film. Fll get a live turkey, feed him and tame him to the degree that I can film without hysteria. Then Fm readv to turn out an unusual Thanksgiving storv. —G. G. Parker. New York. Shopping for Stuff Ever notice how your wife says, "I want vou to help me shop at the mar ket" and you ask "what for?" and she replies "Stuff". That stuff sure gets mysterious. Sometimes it's only a loaf of bread and a cabbage and sometimes it's two shopping carts full of staples which are supposed to be consumed in one week s time. I did a movie of my wife shopping for "stuff". It was work: the most work I've ever done for a film. Most of it was filmed on location in the market, but since I took my time, doing one scene each time we went shopping, it was more fun than work. I filmed her testing tomatoes, squeezing peaches, picking cucumbers and selecting lettuce. I filmed her checking cans for size, quantity and price. I showed her making up her lists and meeting friends in the market. I found that the market offered a remarkable, ready-made background. The light level was even and high enough to shoot at f'2.8. There were no dark shadows and the people in the background added realism to my film. The only difficulty was carrying lots of equipment and I experimented till I could shoot hand-held, usually not recommended, but for this type of film highly successful. I planned the script long before I actuallv shot. I knew exactly what sequences I wanted to make and how I would make them. In fact, as odd as it mar seem. I planned the movie as I feel Life magazine must plan a still picture story. I did not plan action for the scenes. Instead. I planned situations, explained them to my wife, and let her carry them out as they felt most natural to her. The result is almost a documentary film. It is not difficult to make, once vou get around the "excessive equipment" problem. With just a camera in vour hand, no one bothers to stare at you. — Edgar Cohen. Montreal. Canada. 450