Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1951)

320 Photographs by Crocker Films FIG. 1: With the aid of a pantograph, the author scales up an outline map of Nantucket Island from a travel folder. In Fig. 2 at right the IN the first installment of this series (see All-Purpose Camera Stand, September), the design and construction of a vertical titling and animation stand were described. It was suggested that this vertical titler was particularly suited to the production of simply-made but highly professional looking titles. The preparation of such titles will now be outlined in the present installment. The ideas to be presented, however, are quite general and often may be used by movie makers with no more equipment than a camera and tripod. KEEP TITLE MAKING SIMPLE First a word about titles and their function in a film. The best rule, of course, is to keep them to a minimum. A movie should show, not tell, and thus titles should be few and as visual as possible. Also, titles should be simple to prepare. Anyone en make an attractive title by spending days at the job. The trick is to learn how to make a striking title in twenty minutes: a title with clean, large areas of uniform color, clear letters and sharp outlines. The lettering problem is easily solved by using any one of the several brands of movable title letters which may be purchased in a photographic store. These letters, generally being white, are particularly suited to shooting with reversal films, both black and white and color, and will produce excellent results with care. ART WORK IS ARDUOUS Art work presents a problem, however. Few of us are skilled as sign-painters, so that our attempts to paint backgrounds are marked generally by poor draftsman enlarged map is trimmed out with a razor knife and, with title letters, mounted on glass over colored background, as in Fig. 3 below. ART WORK TO ORDER BENJAMIN B. CROCKER, ACL ship, conspicuous brush marks, ragged outlines, unpleasant color schemes and the like. After several such discouraging experiences with hand-painted backgrounds, I finally evolved another method which produces vastly superior results with a minimum of effort. PANTOGRAPH TO THE RESCUE At an art store I purchased for 60 cents a package of 100 sheets of paper, 11 by 17 inches in size, in every hue and color imaginable. At the same time I also picked up a pantograph and a razor knife. To make a title I decide first on some central theme or symbol for the art work. For example, to title a film on Nantucket, the interesting and unique shape of the island itself is a natural choice. Then, using the pantograph and a sheet of the colored paper, I scale a professional drawing of the symbol up to the size needed for titling, as shown in Fig. 1. After the scaled-up drawing has been completed, it is cut along its outline with the razor knife, as shown in Fig. 2. (A pantograph, for those unfamiliar with it, is so designed that if the hand holding the pencil point is moved so as to keep the pointer on the middle legs exactly centered on the outline to be copied, the pencil point will trace out a perfectly scaled-up drawing of the original. This scale factor can be varied at will by changing the hinge points of the middle legs. Thus, whatever the scale of the original drawing or photograph, no artistic ability whatever is required to enlarge it to the correct scale to be photographed with the title letters.) SIDE LIGHTING GIVES DEPTH Next, a suitable background is selected from the sheets of colored paper and the cutout and background are placed in position on the title stand. To provide a third dimensional effect, it is often helpful to place the cutout