Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1948)

63 A star is born Or how and what you can film of Baby's first ten days AMY WRAY H ILTON WE DON'T want to start any trouble. But the plain fact of the matter is that babies are born only once. Thus, if you doting fathers want pictures of those first precious days, it's up to you to get them. Except for playing a supporting role to the star, this is one job on which we mothers cannot help. You'll be in the way, of course. But you filming fathers will be surprised how much, these days, can be accomplished in taking pictures around a hospital maternity ward. After all, doctors and nurses are only human — and quite a lot of them even take pictures. So, if you want a one-in-a-million record of those first ten days, why don't you take it up with the authorities? Open your picture with a sequence of short, staged shots; they could be made at home in the weeks before the blessed event. Start with a closeup of the legend. MATERNITY WARD, as it might be lettered on a closed door, and then continue with such very short scenes as the following: a near shot of a man's feet pacing the floor; a closeup of the hospital clock; a closeup of yourself looking worried and then suddenly glancing up attentively; a near shot of the door, as a nurse pokes her head around, motions for quiet and then goes away swiftly; another closeup of pacing feet; a flashback to the clock with the hands advanced fifteen minutes; back to the feet; back to the clock with another fifteen minute advance, or half an hour, or a full hour. Then, the nurse opens the door again. There is a smile on her lips and she speaks gayly: "It's a boy!" Cut back to the nurse briefly, to complete the spoken title, and then fade out on the happy but exhausted father. In the sequences to follow we have the initial scenes of the baby. If it is the practice of your hospital, as it is with many, to tape the wrist of the child and the wrist of the mother with a number identifying the one with the other, ask one of the nurses to go through this routine again for the camera, since it has real charm. At the end, get an extreme closeup, showing the two wrists, one tiny and one adult, together. By this time, the initial procedures following the birth of the child will have been completed, but it may be possible for you to wheedle the hospital authorities into their re-enactment. When the wrist taping is completed, the child is wrapped in flannel and placed in a heated bassinet. Film this operation, if possible, and the subsequent journey of the bassinet to the nursery, which takes place about an hour later. Later, catch that fine moment when the infant is first given to the mother. Cut then to this subtitle. Baby 27 begins life with a round of small activities. THE FAMILY FILM Pinney from Monkmeyer IT'S A BOY! First films of your son and heir can be made in the hospital, but remember that the rules of hygiene come first. Try to open this sequence with an extreme closeup of the number 27, say, on the edge of the baby's basket. Then move back to a straight closeup of him and show the nurse's hands removing him from the basket. In a medium shot, begin the operations of the oil bath I which is the preliminary type of bathing), but be sure to move in closer for the more appealing scenes. End the sequence with the infant being returned to his mother. The next subtitle might read: After lunch, grams tell what's what. The child is weighed on a small gram scale, as you might guess, partly to check on his growth, but also to determine how much lactose should supplement his regular feeding. This should be a charming subject for closeup studies. For variety, don't overlook the values of individual shots of the scale measures, the nurses face, as she bends intently over it, a detail shot of her recording the growing weight and a medium shot of the room in which all this takes place. You might end with a series of scenes on the bottle feeding of the lactose, to complete the feeling of the round of small activities. Comes then a subtitle such as: When Baby is quite tough enough, he undergoes his first Saturday night bath. This should happen on the eighth or ninth day, a real soap and water sponge bath. The pictorial treatment will be much the same as the sequence just above; so by way of change let's flash back to Mother waiting to see the child. Get a hospital attendant to push the button on a few scenes of you both talking together, just for the record. End the sequence with the child being returned to Mother's arms and fade out on a semi-closeup of her rocking the infant gently and smilingly. Cut then to: At last Baby 27 is ready for the big world. You might start this indoors, with [Continued on page 85]