Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

314 AUGUST 1949 TEN BEST AXIOMS ON THE PAGE facing this one there is printed an announcement of, , and an invitation to compete in, Movie Makers selection of the Ten Best Amateur Films of 1949. As an important part of this announcement there is presented in the lower left corner of that page the official rules of the Ten Best contest. Time tested and matured in twenty years of unbroken competition, these rules are, we believe, clear in their context and reasonable in their requirements. They are good points for every aspiring competitor to keep in mind. There are, however, a number of other points which should be of interest to all contest-minded movie makers. Unprinted and unofficial, these axioms (they cannot be called rules) may be of equal importance to your success or failure as is the official decalog. The first of these, surely, is the following: You cannot place unless you compete. Movie Makers hears constantly the comment — in regard to one or another award winning film — "Why, I've made ? picture as good as that!" Okay, then, if you think you have, or don't know if you haven't, there's one sure way to find out. Compete with your fellows and see what happens. The second axiom to keep in mind is this. Neither the width of your film, the place of your residence, nor the pretension of your picture enters into our evaluation of it. The Ten Best contest is too popular to afford prejudice, too widespread to be regiona1 Come one, come all. Thirdly, give a thought to balance. Remember that brevity may be the secret of success, just as it is the soul of wit. In a word, if a little is good, a lot more is not necessarily better. The scissors may be harder to prescribe than a bigger projection reel. But they are often the right medicine. Finally, and forever, keep in mind that ideas are infinitely more important than exact execution. If you have a film that is fresh in concept, sincere in subject, then let us see it. Small lapses in technique may be outweighed by large gains in imagination. THE amateur cinema LEAGUE, INC. Founded in 1926 by Hiram Percy Maxim John V. Hansen, President Ethelbert Warfield, Treasurer C. R. Dooley Ralph E. Gray H. Earl Hoover DIRECTORS Joseph J. Harley, Vice President James W. Moore, Managing Director Harold E. B. Speight Stephen F. Voorhees Roy C. Wilcox The Amateur Cinema League, Inc., sole owner and publisher of MOVIE MAKERS, is an international organization of filmers. The League offers its members help in planning and making movies. It aids movie clubs and maintains for them a film exchange. It has various special services and publications for members. Your membership is invited. Six dollars a year. AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc.. 420 LEXINGTON AVE.. NEW YORK 1 7, N. Y., U. S. A. north, by the time the end of the parade comes along. Here a row of elm trees on the north side of the street furnishes a good background for shots made from a low angle. And remember to get variety in your viewpoints — from full length dancing figures to closeups of dancing feet and head-on shots of the singers, all full of life and color. NATURAL BACKGROUNDS Immediately following the parade (which breaks up on North Third Street where it assembled ) , several of the dance teams are loaded into trucks and taken to the canyons and hills north of the Ceremonial grounds. This is done specifically to give photographers a chance to film them against a natural setting of rocks, mesas and clouds. Different dance groups are taken out each day, so that the camera fan who stays for the whole Ceremonial has plenty of opportunity to get the pictures he wants. The light is intense in the clear air of the high altitudes of the Southwest, and compensation must be made in the exposure. Unless you have been using a meter successfully in making your home movies, you cannot rely on the exposures generally recommended for the film. Here under the bright open sky, the aperture should be cut to //ll at 16 frames per second for front lighting and halfway between //8 and //ll for side lighting. In the city streets and between canyon walls where the sky area is limited the recommended exposures can be used. ADVANTAGES OF PERMIT In order to take full advantage of the filming opportunities at the Ceremonial, application should be made at the association office in the hogan for a photographer's permit. This allows the holder to enter the Indian campgrounds inside the Ceremonial grounds racetrack to picture the Indians at home. The permit also is an entree to the area at track level in front of the grandstand, from which the afternoon dances and Indian sports may be photographed. Last year no dances were held at the afternoon shows. But the directors this year have changed the policy and will stage four or five of the best dance teams early during the afternoon performance for the express convenience of photographers — and to give a preview of what is to be seen at the evening shows. It is advisable to shoot in front of the grandstand early in the afternoon, before the lengthening shadow of the stand reaches out into the performance area to make correct exposure a real problem. Most of the events will occur beyond the grandstand shadow during the early part of the program, but later they will be in and out of the shadow, making things really difficult. Among the Indian sports events which make good movies are the wagon races, horse races, tugs of war between Navajo squaws, and the wood-cutting and fire-building events. There are also rodeo events with all-Indian performers, including calf roping, bulldogging, wild cow milking, bronco busting and steer riding. Candid movie shots of the crowd issuing from the grandstand following the afternoon show will provide a good finale for your movie. You'll catch Navajo women and their babies strapped to cradle boards, Zuni women loaded down with silver and turquoise jewelry, in fact all the panoply of the Indians on dress parade.