Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1948)

245 HOTSHOT AND HIGH IRON M. W. SWANSICK, ACL TRAINS! Here is a movie subject most generally conceded to be in a class by itself. And yet. even if you are not a railroad film fan — as / most certainly am — you will find effective scenes of trains a valued transition in many a travel film. Here's how to make them. Let's start with the locomotive alone. Like people, you will find a wide variety of personalities among locomotives. In the East you will find The Boston & Maine Berkshire, a locomotive with an overbearing brow like John L. Lewis. Then there are the Mother Hubbards, with their camel-back appearing cabs; they are a vanishing breed, but still are frequently seen today in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From St. Louis to New York you can sight Pennsy's famous Pacifies, with their bright red shields across the boiler front. And in the West you can see Santa Fe's "hogs," with their long graceful cowcatcher pilots and box-car-big tenders. Southern Pacific features their Daylights, with a distinctive looking skyline casing, while out in Montana you will find Northern Pacific's huge Yellowstone articulated types, with their living room sized fireboxes. But a locomotive all by itself is no proper subject to film. Indeed not! Catch a locomotive coupled to a string of passenger cars, making a "varnish consist," or a hog with a drag of freight cars on her tail, to make a "hotshot." With such a train — flapping her monkey motion over the high iron to the tune of 65 or 75 miles an hour — you've got real filming! For here is action, noisy and spectacular action ! Most all of us have watched it with fascination from childhood. Pictorially, the real fascination of the locomotive is steam and smoke. To be sure, most big railroads are supplanting steam power with Diesel today, but the steam locomotive will continue to run for many years. Some railroad filmers will say that black and white stock is satisfactory for the steam trains. I believe that color will prove still more effective. This is true with the bright Diesel streamliners, with all of their many dazzling and distinctive colors. For here again, personalities are found in each and every Diesel unit operating on the rail lines today. What, now, about the basic techniques of train filming? They are much the same as with other, similar subjects — except that a train is generally a pretty big object. This is to your advantage. For it will mean that the best all-around lens for the job is the one which comes with your camera: % inch for 8mm., 1 inch for 16mm. Also, there is rarely any need for excess speed or for extreme closeups, so that the fixed focus, //3.5 lens really is almost perfect for the job. To be sure, a wide angle lens and a telephoto may come in handy for special situations or effects. Perhaps the most striking effect of using the wide angle objective is its ability seemingly to speed up the movement Thos. J. Barbre from Frederic Lewis POWER in every line of her aging beauty, this Denver and Salt Lake ten-wheeler (4-6-0) pounds across a trestle just east of Moffat Tunnel, near Tolland, Colo. Belching smoke and high sunlight, a low angle and a telephoto lens, add to the drama. of a train toward your camera. The opposite effect is produced by the telephoto, so that it should not be used for general views in place of the standard lens. Your telephoto will be at its best in getting dramatic closeups of the gleaming drive wheels and shafts, or in bringing to film a human interest closeup of the engineer leaning intently from his swaying cab. Exposures on these subjects are about what you would expect under the conditions found: //8 in full front sunlight, //5.6 in sunlight from the side. Your closeups of the drivers — front lighted only, please — will run from //5.6 through //3.5 to //2.8, depending on whether your light is bright, hazy or dull. All of these stop numbers are suggested primarily for Kodachrome, but they will serve as well with the 8mm. Panchromatic emulsion. If you are working with Super X Panchromatic, either 8mm. or 16mm., give two full stops less exposure. You may note, in the above exposure suggestions, that there is no data on shooting trains under back lighting or in the shade. The omission is intended. For what is a train shrouded in shadow? Just a dark, moving mass, with its characteristic features of vitality and brilliance missing. No, wait for sunlight when filming trains! Side lighting is usually most desirable. However, make sure that most of your light is coming from the side from which you are shooting. Composition, surprisingly enough, is often of great importance in filming trains. But the simple one thirdtwo thirds rule is effective and easy to follow. Let us say that you are setting up your camera for the arrival of the local passenger. Simply [Continued on page 248] Turn your camera on America's trains, urges this rail filming fan, for romantic action