Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1940)

Vke £, M 464 e The story of bread was told in detailed movie PHlfl THIS is the way it happened ... I had agreed to a Fourth of July week end with my wife's folks in a down State Ohio village. Perhaps. I planned, we might get a few good shots for that film of flowers then in production. And so we started. Then, as we rolled along the summer highways. I began to see something which sent an idea for a movie flashing through my mind. It was an indelible impression of beauty, the golden beauty of nodding grain, ripe in the summer sun. Scenes, even whole sequences, grew in my mind's eye. Once, I just missed the ditch, so deep was my concentration on that vision. Right there was the beginning of The Staff of Life, a 700 foot, 8mm. monochrome film awarded Honorable Mention by this magazine in its 1939 selections of the Ten Best. When I first thought of the film, it was obvious that, were I to do this picture at all, I must return to the country the very next day for the harvesting shots. Business duties were deferred, and the next morning found me on my way to the wheat fields. After a brief explanation of my filming desires, farmers everywhere were eager to cooperate. After giving them simple instructions, which consisted mainly of a request that they go about their tasks as if I were not there, I soon discovered that they were all natural actors — despite the fact that scarcely a one had ever seen a movie camera before. In this section of The Staff of Life, a 2x yellow filter was used consistently, to add "'snap" to clouds and sky. Later, when this first footage was returned, we found it full of natural action and human interest. After harvesting, the wheat was bundled and left in shocks in the fields, to mature for two weeks. Then it was that the farmer telephoned that threshing would take place on the following day. In the meantime, a very comprehensive script had been written for The Staff of Life, which was to be followed religiously to the conclusion of the picture. Two children, a little boy and girl, were injected into the continuity near the beginning, and they were used again in the very end, to provide a climax for the story. I had decided to follow through the entire story of wheat — from plowshare to palate. So, when the call came from the farmer, to be on hand for the threshing, it meant another day away from business. Arriving early, 1 found friends and JACK L. KRAPP, ACL neighbors in abundance, to assist my chosen farmer with a big day's work. Everybody seemed to have a particular job to do — from loading shocks of wheat on the wagons to the actual threshing or separation of the wheat from the straw. Again, instructions were given to forget about the cameraman, and a wide array of shots was taken, not overlooking plenty of closeups of men and horses and of turning threshing wheels. The sky was brilliant, and I attached a red filter to my camera lens and forgot about it for the day, except to include automatically an allowance for it in computing exposure. The results were amazing and sufficient to gratify the desires of the most critical amateur firmer. Naturally, the blue sky was materially darkened, with contrasting clouds billowing over the barn in the background. But most pleasing of all was an unlooked for effect, apparent in many scenes, in which the red filter gave emphasis to men's backs and brows, dripping with perspiration. Another scene improved by the use of the red filter, is a shot, taken against the sun at midday, of horses drawing a loaded wagon toward the camera. The high lighted harness of the horses fairly sparkles in the sunlight. I filmed the wheat shocks which were being fed continually into the threshing machine, and I shot the clean golden grain flowing down a chute to be bagged. In taking these scenes, cooperation was [Continued on page 480] Shots in of Life, The Staff beautiful 8mm. achievement ' J* w* &