Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

256 ALASKA INVITES O EARL L. CLARK Director, Associated Screen Studios LF all tourist meccas, of all photographic magnets, Alaska and the Yukon probably have a greater attraction than any other North American territory. Part of this attraction is due unquestionably to its fabulous historical background, resounding with names and places fabled throughout the world: The Trail of '98 — Robert Service — Jack London — Sam McGee — -Skagway — White Pass — Dead Horse Gulch — Miles Canyon — Bonanza Creek — Dawson City and the Flora Dora Dance Hall. But perhaps an even greater pull is exerted by the physical attributes of a last frontier. For here is a land of glaciercapped mountains and ice-age valleys, which still yield to the active gold industry fossils of the prehistoric mammoths which once roamed this wild region. THE DIFFICULTIES Great as these attractions are, however, the enthusiastic firmer will soon discover some truth in the classic professional cry, "You can't shoot Alaska!" For Alaska offers greater photographic opportunities with fewer possibilities for fulfillment than any other region available to the tourist. The notorious wet weather of the Inside Passage is a gift from a benevolent Pacific wind which deposits its entire liquid assets, absorbed on a slow trip from China, onto the not-so-appreciative little coast towns. Boat schedules are discouraging. Stopovers are usually short — about half an hour. Important scenic ports are often reached in the early morning or late evening. Some of the great scenery, including the magnificent Lynn Canal, is always passed during the night. The need for a rubber lens was never greater. Some of the scenes are so big and the cameraman so close that he has three alternatives, no one of them good: (1) he can settle for a shot of a few trees and call it a mountain; (2) he can start a pan and then cut when he sees the same trees going by for the second time; (3) he can liquidate his frustration in the most convenient glacier-fed lake. THE ADVANTAGES There are, however, many factors on the side of the alert and determined cameraman. The midnight sun provides sufficient light, in summertime, to read Movie Makers in Skagway at 11:00 p.m. In Dawson City, you could read it all night. And late, off-color shooting is not nearly so objectionable if a complete and integrated sequence is made, instead of isolated scenes. It is well to remember also that dull weather is not necessarily poor color weather. Provided that your picture elements are kept within good color range, some excellent effects can be secured. This means, in dull weather, that you cannot combine the excessively light sky (which, when overcast, is two to three times brighter than normal; check it some time) with the abnormally dark ground material. For good results, you must settle for one color value or the other. Further, the easy accessibility of most Alaskan scenics is a boon to the time-short filmer. Transportation services are tied to boat schedules. The towns of the Inside Passage — Alert Bay, Ketchikan, Prince Rupert, Juneau, etc. — have no back doors. They sit in the lap of the impenetrable mountains behind them and eat, drink and welcome strangers from a watery front door less than a mile FIGURES IN THE FOREGROUND, whether on the high seas or along an inland river, add depth and interest to steamer scenes. Panning for gold in Alaska is not a tourist stunt, although the pose of Skagway's ! mayor (left) may be.