Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

379 TRY TABLETOP TITLING Action and illusion are combined in the creative magic of miniature title settings SOME movie makers I know seem to feel that once the summer season is over their shooting season is over as well. I can't agree. Frankly, I feel there is also plenty of fun — and creative fun, at that — in the many operations which transform plain exposed footage into a finished film. There are all the steps of the editing process — scene listing, cutting, rearranging and splicing — which are of the first importance. Then comes the matter of titling. For your subtitles, you'll probably prefer rather simple cards without too much background decoration. But for my lead and end titles I have found that thematic decoration (something which ties in with the subject matter) is attractive and interesting. And of all the various ways these titles can be set up. perhaps the tabletop method is the most fun. SETTING MATCHES SUBJECT You'll find a couple of examples illustrated on this page. We had taken the previous summer one of those typical automobile trips to the Far West from our home in Detroit. Thus, for the lead title reading Go West! I decided to rig up a western setting, replete with a mountainous background, a desert-like foreground and a bevy of cowboys. For the end title, I changed the terrain to resemble the rolling hills and farmlands of Michigan. Then, in the foreground, I placed beside the highway a typical billboard which, instead of advertising, carried the legend — When in Detroit, Visit the Lustigs. BACKGROUNDS TO ORDER Your background setting for tabletop titling will be in the form of a picture. These can be selected from many different sources — magazines. travel folders, art supply stores and hobby shops — depending on the size of title area you elect to work with. As will be seen in the illustrations, my setup was large in size. Thus, my mountain and farmland backgrounds are natural colored lithographs, 21 by 44 inches overall, which I found in a hobby shop catering to model railroaders. They come in many different settings and sell for around a dollar a sheet in this size. THE MINIATURE FIGURES The small figures — cowboys, horses, a cow, mule and sheep — and the miniature automobile are widely available at dime stores, toy departments and hobby shops. The shrubs, bushes and undergrowth used to dress the two settings I found in a variety package at the dime store; they were intended, I believe, for use in making up Chinese Ming trees. The sand used for simulating the desert in the western scene, and used again for the country road in the farm setting, is bird-cage gravel, also from the Five and Ten. If you have it available, probably natural sand, sifted, will do the job as well. The simulated grass in the foreground of both settings, and in the pasture of the farm scene, is simply artificial grass matting obtainable at window display houses. You might also be able to pick up odd piece3 of this stuff from the display man at your local department store, where it is widely used in window dressings. HOMEMADE BILLBOARD The miniature billboard I made myself. It is comprised of a light wooden frame which holds a sheet of cardboard. The lettering and simple design were hand lettered. I now feel that the entire unit could have been made from cardboard, and I discovered after building mine that the model railroad hobby shops offer an assortment of typical billboards. In making the two settings, these materials were mounted on pieces of board which stretched from the grass bordered highway in front to the backdrop picture in the rear. The boards were arranged at a slight upward angle towards the backdrop, thus adding [Continued on page 383] ADRIAN J. LUSTIG, ACL LEAD TITLE SETUP for author's western trip film presents cowboys against a mountainous backdrop. A SHEET OF GLASS, eighteen inches from backdrop, carried title letters for silhouette against sky. END TITLE SETUP featured homemade billboard by road reading: When in Defroit, Visit the Lustigs.