Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1944)

MOVIE MAKERS 245 Marine Corps cine technique [Continued from page 226] help him, if he has not previously prepared a script on which he can note the data as the picture is made. By data, I mean frame speed at which each scene was taken, lens used (one inch, four inch, etc. ) , meter reading, aperture used, focus, date and time of day. Types of camera, film and similar facts will be known to amateurs who use them, although, if the editing is to be done elsewhere, these data should also be included. In talking with the Marine movie filmers, who, as I explained in the previous article, have gone in very heavily for 16mm. film and considerable Kodachrome work, I was impressed with the emphasis they placed on closeups and also on changing position and viewpoint of camera. Then I asked one of them, Technical Sergeant Albert Frank Monteverde, of Los Angeles, who does the 16mm. work, to explain it by telling me just how he had made a recent sequence of the laying of steel matting on an airport under construction. "All right," he said, "here is what I did: "First came two or three shots of the rock crusher which was preparing the rock to be laid under the matting. A medium shot was taken of the rock going into a waiting truck, and then an extreme closeup was made of the rock passing the camera for four or five seconds. Then a good distant view was taken of the general scene, about ten or fifteen seconds long. "And don't leave action suspended in the middle of a scene," Monteverde interrupted himself to say. "Follow the action through, always. "The next scene was of men leveling off the rock in the truck, and then one of the trucks leaving the crusher. "The action now transfers to the airstrip, where a medium shot was taken of the truck arriving. Next comes a somewhat closer one, taken from directly back of the truck, as the load of crushed rock was dumped on the runway. With the camera still in this position, the truck pulls away. "Next comes a grader spreading the rock, with a medium close shot of the blade passing over the rock and smoothing it out. Then follows a sequence of a road roller, starting with a general scene showing the whole roller, then a closeup of the roller pushing down the rock, and after that a few scenes of bulldozers and carryalls at work, to give the general atmosphere of the construction scene. "Now comes the steel matting — a general view of it first. Then follows each step in its laying, with medium shots and closeups alternating." Monteverde tried one trick shot which may be of interest. With the camera about a foot and a half off the ground, he took a picture of two men carrying one of the metal strips, which, as you probably know from having seen still pictures or newsreels, has a pattern of small holes, each about three inches across. When the matting was about three feet from the camera, he had the men stop, and the next scene was taken through the holes in the matting, with the runway beyond. He thought that the framing effect would be a good one. The camera for this scene was focused at about twenty five feet. This, I said, was all very interesting for more or less static scenes, but what did the combat filmers do when the actual landing took place — how were they disposed? Lieutenant Arthur S. Carter, also of Los Angeles, chief of the photographic unit, explained this one. One movie man, with a Cine-Kodak Special 16mm. camera, was assigned to the first regiment to make the landing, and another, equipped with an Eyemo 35mm. for newsreel work, was assigned to another unit which was to go in soon afterward. No filmer was to go in with the very first wave because it was not certain what opposition might develop, and Lieutenant Carter felt that there would be so much confusion that the pictures would be useless. The actual first wave landing scenes were made from one of the large landing craft which ran head on into the beach, and some excellent scenes were obtained of the Marines wading for about forty feet through water up to their waists, including a good general scene. Then this filmer went ashore himself, gauging the depth of the water from what he had seen, and holding his camera well above his head, as the water proved to be above his waist. Once on the beach, there was so much firing, smoke and general confusion that the outcome of the few scenes that were taken was in doubt, but, as soon as the troops started filing into the jungle, the cameraman went a short way with them to get the effect. When the beachhead had been firmly established, the cinematographer switched to another regiment that had the Cape Gloucester airdrome as its objective, and the use of tanks in this move made some good pictures. In areas of tropical kunai grass, which is about waist high, some good shots also were obtained. One of the filmers broke in here: "You've got to be right at the front or you don't get frontline pictures. 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