How to cartoon for amateur films (1958)

Fades These can be done either with the help of the iris diaphragm, by opening or shutting it in stages, a frame or two frames being exposed at each stage; or by wiring a dimmer into the lighting circuit. The slide of the dimmer is calibrated. To fade out, the lights are dimmed from normal power until no image is recorded on the film. To fade in, they are brought back from this position to normal. For fades with the iris diaphragm, the stop for normal exposure should be as large as possible, so that we have the greatest possible movement in which to calibrate the fade, from open to shut. An extension arm should be fitted to the iris which swings round in an arc when the iris is moved. Cut a piece of card in the shape of this arc, and fix it so that the pointer slides along it. Mark on the card the normal open, and the fully closed positions. If the iris does not completely close, the last exposure of the fade out, or the first of the fade in, a completely black frame, will have to be made with the lens covered. Divide the scale between these two marks into 24, the most convenient number of frames for a fade. The calibrations will not be evenly spaced. For fading out, it will be found that the iris needs to close very slowly at first, speeding up at the middle and closing rapidly in the last few frames. The correct calibrations, which will give a smoothly and progressively darkening fade, can only be found by a series of tests. For fading in, use the same calibrations in the reverse order. 3' FADE IRIS Mill! I I I MM ItlMMII! 3 2 10 OPEN SHUT The dimmer has the advantage of making a fade possible at any lens stop. The calibrations are made in the same way, and will be in very much the same spacing as with the iris. 116