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

HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES 387 INTERIOR SETS IN THE GARDEN By ORLTON WEST A Helpful Article Sho'wing Ho^v Expense ^■ in Amateur Films can be Kept to a Minimum CENE apparatus has cheapened, but Lnterioi' settings still remain an expensive item on amateur production bills. Hiaih-powered electric lights and a room full of properties are the two most costly obstacles to indoor shooting. With a little ingenuity they may be overcome. Since summer light, especially on quite cloudy or qmte clear days, is more lujiform than the best artificial light, and quite free, the best place to shoot "interiors" is in yotu? back garden. NaturaUstic or detailed settings are as expensive as they are unnecessary. Much money may be saved by concentrating upon scenes in wliich the camera is close, or moderately close to the object. Such Close and >Iid shots look best on small screens which do not reveal detail to advantage. They also have a dramatic value which commercial film producers have never missed. Only a few standardised "flats" are required for such settings which are built without a ceiUng. A window and door may be obtained ready made from a wood yard, or second-hand from a housebreaker's. Wire netting makes an effective, but not necessary substitute for glass. A few flats to This will fit the Kodak title frame and can be used for Pathe and Victor represent sections of wall may he oasOy made. Wallpaper, with a contrasty pattern which will photograph well, is pasted over sheet.s of millboard secured to a wooden frame. That is supported by hinged struts. Additional wire or rope struts may be necessary on windy days, but it is better to stand the flats against a fence if possible. By combining these standard components with a few others, many parts of a house may be represented without difficulty. The essential of a bedroom set, for example, is a bed. It may be an actual light one borrowed from the house, or, if only part of it is to be shown, a faked one made with the upright head of a bed and pfllow and .sheets arranged upon a board across a chair will do. Door, window, chair, or small table may be arranged as desired. f:^ V^ r*\ Cut this out and slip it in the Bell-Howell, Ensign or Cinecraft title frame A dressing gown hung from a hook behind the door would be effective. A section of a bookcase and a calendar and pipe rack on the wall are sufficient to indicate a study or sitting room. Addition of an easy chair and a few wall pictures would improve the latter. An attic may be represented with two or three flats. Our old friend window will be present, of course, partly concealed to make it appear smaller, and with the addition of a (brown paper) crack. Furniture — from the loft. The older the better. A rickety table and a broken chair and bedstead will provide first-class atmosphere. The structure of a set will often be determined by the action which is to take place upon it. If, for example, that concerns a quarrel between a husband and wife in a bedroom, closeups will be suitable, and only the simplest backgroimd, including a flash of the bed, need be shown. But if it concsrns a burglary, a window will have to be shown, and the thief will need something more solid than a flat to climb through. That brings us to the next possibility — the use of simple interior settings as they stand. With the f/3.5 or wider aperture lenses now fitted to cameras, interiors may be successfully shot near windows. The above scene thus presents no difSculties. Friends of mine have secured, welllighted scenes in a bedroom with a large window. Long shot interiors by daylight are not usually brilliant enough. Retiuning to our garden ' ' interiors. ' ' Their appearance may be varied without moving a single property. By changing the position of the camera for example. A room seen from near the ceiling looks entirely different from the same room seen from the floor. Wide variations of angle are possible even with close-ups. Shots may be taken through a door or window ; looking either into or out of the room. {Continued on page 414)