Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1947)

34 JANUARY 1947 | YOUR KODAK DEALER | fPotter'sf IN STOCK Kodak Telephoto, 63mm. F2.7 with Adapter $79.80 Kodak Telephoto, 50mm. F1.6 Lumen ized with Adapter 119.40 Kodascope Projection 2" F1.6 for Kodascope "K"-"L"-"K 50"-"K 75" 20.50 New Weston Cine meter with case. . . . 29.67 DeJur Cine meter with case 25.75 FILMS IN STOCK 100 Ft. 16mm. Kodak Negative, per roll $3.87 100 Ft. 16mm. Kodachrome, Daylight or Type A, per roll 8.83 100 Ft. 16mm. Super X, per roll 6.60 100 Ft. 8mm. Kodachrome (for Bolex), per roll 15.04 100 Ft. Ansco Triple S. Pan, per roll 6.60 50 Ft. 16mm. Kodachrome, per roll. . 4.75 50 Ft. 16mm. Kodachrome for Simplex Pockettes, per roll 5.]7 OTHER STANDARD MOVIE FILMS AVAILABLE Kodak Tripod and Titler Base $2.00 Kodak Combination 8-16mm. Splicer. 14.30 Kodak Titler for any Eastman Camera 8.70 POTTER'S 2484 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn 10, N. DISTINCTIVE EXPERT TITLES and EDITING For the Amateur and Professional 16 mm. — 8 mm. Black & White and Kodachrome Price fist on request S T A H L ,. ..,E?,T.ING AND TITLING SERVICE 33 West 42 St. New York, N. V TRY HARRIS For Excellent BARGAINS in • PROJECTORS-16mm Sound • FILMS— Sound, Silent and 8mm • RENTAL PROGRAMS-16mm, 8mm HARRIS HOME MOVIE LIBRARY 303 W. 42nd Street New York 18, N. Y. Studio, Laboratory and Amateur Equipment Precision Optical Work, Lenses, Prisms, First Surface Mirrors, and Fine Ground Glass. Backwinds and Three Lens Turrets Installed from $32.50. Reperforating 16mm to 8mm 2c ft. MacVAN MANUFACTURING CO. 3829 El Caion Blvd. San Diego 5, Calif. FOR SALE Full Length Kodachrome Travelogues 8 m/m 13?, 16 m/m \ZV%$, per 16 m/m ft. White Mountains & Atlantic Coast, Glacier Park & Yellowstone, New York and Pennsylvania, It's Tulip Time in Holland, Cape Cod & Nantucket, Colorado, The Adirondacks, Florida, California, Chicago, Death Valley, Switzerland, Germany, Austria & Czechoslovakia, Hungary & Italy, Hawaii. Above subjects can also be rented from our library. ZENITH CINEMA SERVICE 3252 W. Foster Ave. Chicago, 25, III. fied expression on his countenance. Did you ever try to get a two year old to act? We tried everything — I even put on a false mask and, on a cue, popped up from behind the camera and Bill just laughed! In desperation, I had one more idea. At the right moment, I said in a strong and severe tone, "Billy, do you want to go to bed?" He looked up with a changed expression and just shook his head. It was perfect, and we howled with glee. After all, what greater thrill is there to this grand hobby of ours than to tackle a tough scene and to make a success of it? Enough is too much! [Continued from page 24] neighborly. In short, his bread and butter are not affected by the length of his movies. The third poor sinner is not one that we need worry too much about. The "documentary" producer is usually a holy crusader. He must always right a great social or political injustice. While his axe is being ground, he always has a small but dramatically sympathetic audience. They suffer with each frame and the tears are so sweet. The teaching film maker is not without sin. He often puts more in his movie than the educator who uses it likes to see. The content of the film may be meticulously approved by eminent teachers; but, alas, oftentimes those very authorities have not been approved by the majority of their fellow pedagogues. Unless a school film maker gives the teachers what they want, his shelves will be full of unsold subjects. A word with audio visual aid experts will soon convince you that many so called educational films are weakened by too much subject matter. Until the supply has more nearly caught up with the demand, poor teaching films will continue to find an undeserved sale. This magazine does not attempt to concern itself to much extent with theatrical films. However, it is well to point out that, since such films are made to sell, they do conform more nearly to what the ultimate consumer wants. Nevertheless, can you think of any such films that were too short? The cine unities [Continued from page 25] the picture is built need not be in central focus all the time; other interests should appear, partly to give what we may call background, partly to explain the central person, object or event, and partly to provide a motive for action and development. But just there is the problem! How many other persons or things, how many conditions surrounding the main event, should appear? To the movie maker who plans the picture the answer may not be the one that would satisfy a guest seeing the finished picture. The author may introduce too few supplementary or explanatory features for the reason that he has been so close to the main object that he forgets how much background, explanation or motivation others familiar with it will need to have made clear to them. Or, on the contrary, he may overestimate the need for secondary features and introduce what to other people will seem to be irrelevancies dragged in to pad the picture. In short, the different answers that movie makers give to the question of how much or how little supplementary material should be used determine whether they are good, bad or indifferent movie makers! The questions to ask before, during and after both the planning of shots and the editing process are these. How shall I make clear what this picture is about? How shall I make sure that every one who sees it will recognize that I have something to say and can say it? How shall I insure that the main theme is prominent enough? How shall I avoid putting my theme forward so starkly that it will not have any meaning at all, or so mixed up with other matters that it may be missed altogether? Unity of theme, selection of a definite, recognizable topic, is one important characteristic of a good movie. Probably no two experienced amateur movie makers would answer these questions in the same way. After all, any specific answer which might apply in one case might well be obviously inapplicable in another. But perhaps the following simple formula, general enough to apply to a variety of situations, is worth using as a criterion. A single major theme should determine the planning, preparation, shooting and editing of a movie. This theme should not be lost to sight at any time, but it should be supported and reinforced by material and interest which provide for it a suitable and artistically satisfying setting. Let us apply this to a hypothetical case. "Courage" is a noble theme. A well conceived movie emphasizing its value can be expected to hold attention, since our own courage is bolstered if we see examples of courage in others. But no one is courageous in a moral vacuum. Courage is not an abstraction; it is a quality of human attitude and behavior, appropriate in certain times and places and under certain conditions. (Caution may under other conditions properly restrain the impulses of courage.) The act of courage which is portrayed, therefore, does not stand by itself, unexplained and unrelated to circumstances. There is a situation which calls for courage. The major theme, courage, requires adequate representation of the conditions or circum