Home Movies and Home Talkies (Jun 1932-May 1933)

94 HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES TITLE -A$ -YOU -CO FILMING By NORMAN HUNTER FILMS of liolidays and tours can ■v^ery often be sliot and titled in proper sequence as yovi go. so tliat it is only necessary to join up the reels and cut out any dud sections to liave a long film all ready to show. All you have to do is to carry a packet of chalk, some white and some black. If you are going by car and can include a blackboard about two feet across, that will come in useful ; but it is not essential. To start off with, the names of places you xisit are easily titled on your film by just shooting a brief length of a signpost or station name. Descriptive titles are made by chalking the words on any convenient place when the title is required, filming them, and then carefully erasing them again, because it is neither courteous nor wise to leave your comments scattered about the country. Sea-Shore Titles In a town you can always find a convenient pavement or wall on which to chalk yoiu title. Xobodj will mind if you rub it out afterwards. In the country titles can be scratched in the earth -svath a stick. At the sea words can soon be built from pebbles laid on the sand, or traced in the sand itself. A convenient breakwater can be pressed into service as a blackboard. If all else fails, a title printed with pencil on the page of a notebook and the page held against a tree stiunp with stones will get you out of the difficulty ; while, of course, if you can carry the small blackboard aheady mentioned you can always put your titles on that and either get a member of the party to hold it or stand it against a fence or tree. It doesn't matter in the least if some of the -p^is vvill fit the Kodak Ti background or the person holding the board comes into the pictm-e. In fact a better effect will probably be obtained if this is pui^posely done. Tlie titles are not intended to be formally lettered titles but simply comments by the way, impiomptu remarks to accompany the film and explaiii where explanation is needed. Appropriate Objects Sometimes interest can be added to the title by the inclusion of some appropriate objects. For example, supposing your title is for a hiking toiu", and says " We rested after six miles in Blank Woods." The inclusion of a pair of shoes worn by one of the party, or e\ m tlieir feet as they lay on the ground, sticking into the picture, will get a laugh when the film is shown. Tea Time A .shot of a '" Teas "' sign, followed by close-ups of teapot and cups and saucers, would take the place of a more conventional title ; while milestones, names over local cinemas. Cut this out and slip it oell -Howell or Ensign tie frame and can be used for Pathe & Victor shops or municipal buildings or at the entrances of parks will frequently convey all the needed information and save the trouble of making a title at all. Follow on shots from the title to carry it right into the picture, as described for the hiking toiu-, can often be arranged. Letters scratched in the sand annoimcing arrival at some seaside place can be followed by a pan up to the sea and roimd to the promenade, or to a picnic party on the beach. Using Postcards Famous buildings, ruins and other spots of interest can usually be titled in by filming the envelope containing the inevitable picture postcards always on sale at these places, and a novel idea to follow would be a '" still " shot of one of the picture postcards followed on by a moving shot of the .same scene taken as nearly as possible from the same angle. Or you might show a hand opening the envelope that bears the name of the place and taking out a card. A " still " taken of the castle or cathedral or what not following that would be taken by those watcliing the picture afterwards, as one of the cards from the envelope, and much astonishment would be caused when the picture suddenly broke into hfe and movement. A "Newsy " Title ilemorial tablets form a convenient means of introducing information relating to famous people connected with the neighbourhood, while place names can always be indicated by pvu-chasing a copj of the local newspaper, folding it with only the title visible and filming a "still" of it ■with somebody's hand covering the word " ^ews " or 'Mercury" or whatever it is, and pointing to the name of the town. When j-ou are making a picture of a holiday do not omit to include an occasional short scene of your companion or companions walking past the camera or tlu'ough some trees, or entering some place of interest. It is only in this way that j'ou can make a travel filai jiersonal.