How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

MS Claire running across lawn Mother asks, "Where's towards camera. Pan to follow Tony got to?" Feet en in MCS as she turns in door path and steps. Claire: with Mother. "He's watching trains". Music fades-up again. These few shots enable you to combine with your cine records, recordings of the voices of your family. Yet no great skill is required of the actors. This is important, because often you have enough difficulty getting a young child to deliver the lines you want, much less speak them in time with a picture. Using magnetic tape, you can wait half an hour, if need be, for Claire to say her few words. Then you can cut and splice the tape to put her lines in correct timing with the rest of the sound for the film. The dialogue is here preceded and followed by music. This helps to mask the absence of natural sounds, such as the opening of the door, which demand accurate synchronisation. The music continues partway into the next sequence where Tony is seen watching the trains. Sound effects can be introduced here using the principle of blind shots (p. 127). Do not overwork these ideas. In moderation they can be invaluable but used in excess, they are soon spotted by the audience. Art and Realism When you add dialogue to your films, you are taking a big step towards realism. The successful presentation of reality is, however, very much an art. Before you dismiss the rest of this chapter as long-haired nonsense, make a simple experiment. Next time you have six or seven people together in the same room, make a recording of their conversation without their knowledge. While you are recording, you will be able to follow the conversation with perfect ease. But even if you play it back while your memory is fresh, you will find the recording confused. Everybody seems to speak at once and there are a host of thumps and bumps which you cannot identify. To 135