Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1938)

Pose your trailer as background for some fami ly shots Philip D. Gendreau Filming a trailer trip EDWARD A. BOLLINGER, ACL Jl CONTINUITY built around a trailer trip opens many Mjk new opportunities to the traveling movie maker. Prob f \ ably the most valuable aid to filming is the leisurely mode of travel that you soon adopt. There is plenty of time to study and plan a few unusual location shots. The picture might open in the customary manner with a preparation sequence. To make the introduction to our film more interesting, however, we started our filming about a month before vacation time. It so happened that the color scheme of the trailer interior didn't meet with our approval, so we repainted it. Shots of this work, along with some of the girls sewing curtains and mattress covers, served as a good introduction for our characters. Short clips of calendar pages being torn off symbolized the passing of time. These were all made at one time, of course, but they were cut into the film where needed. The sequence representing the last few days before the trip showed provisions and clothing being stowed away under the bunks, and a fade out closed this section. A shot of a calendar page faded in to indicate the day before our trip was to start. A lap dissolve added the word, "evening," under the day and date of the calendar page, and this in turn dissolved into a medium shot which showed the four of us poring over a map and planning our route. We made a careful tracing of this map, showing the routes we were to travel and the cities we were to pass through. We dissolved from a closeup of the original map into the tracing and ran the shot long enough to show a hand placing a small photographic reproduction of our car and trailer at the starting point, in our case Buffalo. This scene faded out and the next shot, a clock with the hands at seven o'clock, faded in. There followed several closeups of people waving goodbye, with one or two extreme closeups of handkerchiefs fluttering, and we were off. These last shots were short and were cut to form a montage. From here on, very few details could be planned in advance. We had to take scenes as they presented themselves. An old "gag," which suggested itself when we stopped for "gas" the first time in a small country town, added a touch of comedy. We hadn't been stopped for more than five minutes before at least two thirds of the entire township appeared and tried to get a look inside. We managed to get them in line and offered them a trip through the trailer for the small price of their autographs in our guest book and the privilege of filming them. How movie record of latest travel adjunct was made This was a pleasure to them and gave us the opportunity to make one of those scenes that show a great number of people getting out of one car. This is done, of course, simply by stopping the camera and having more people get inside and then resuming filming as the additional recruits walk out. The shot must be made from a tripod, and on the screen the action appears to be continuous. This scene dramatically showed our friends what we considered to be the true capacity of our trailer! One hair raising stunt sequence showed us parking for the night. We found a flat piece of ground which dropped sharply on one side for a distance of twenty feet to a shallow but fast flowing brook. The screen picture shows the trailer backing up swiftly until the rear end is projecting over the edge of the cliff. Obviously, it just stops in time. We made very sure of that by shooting this sequence in reverse action at half speed. We spent a full hour testing the ground and blocking the wheels at every inch or two, until a position, actually safe but apparently very precarious, was reached. Then the car was started in low gear and pulled ahead as quickly as possible. The camera was held upside down and run at half speed. The angle chosen was from the side, which would best show the perilous position of the trailer. A second camera, also in an inverted position, was placed down in the ravine at one side so that it caught a scene of the rear end of the trailer as it projected. These two shots and a downward view of the ravine and edge of the little precipice, filmed from a window in the trailer, were cut together later in editing. In northern Vermont, we encountered a regular little trailer community. There were eleven covered wagoners in all. It was a lovely spot, and we decided to stay for a week. In the woods, introductions are most informal, and in no time we were received into the big family. It developed that the master of one trailer house (a man, in this case! ) was from the Coast and had assisted in the production of a number of theatrical films. Somebody suggested that he take a busman's holiday and direct a small play for our little colony. Under his supervision, we wrote a script, built somewhat crude "props," cast the characters and filmed our photoplay. To the very great dismay of all [Continued on page 308] 293