Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

70 Notes from magnetic notebooks: 2 The Ten Best producer of "Poet and Peasant" outlines his system for creating unfailing synchrony of sound and cinema ROBERT G. WILLIAMS, ACL IF YOU had a wife (or daughter, or son) who was really proficient on some musical instrument, wouldn't you want -to make a sound movie of their artistry? Of Course you would ! And so would I. -.And now, through the magic of magnetic sound on film, I am happy to report that I have successfully produced just such a picture. It is called Poet and Peasant, and in it Mrs. Williams plays through the familiar overture on our Hammond home organ. There are, in the film's nine and one half minutes of screen time, eighteen different camera viewpoints. And yet, in naming our little picture as one of the Ten Best for 1952, ACL said of its sound: "There is uncannily perfect synchrony throughout of music to pictures." FROM PIT TO PICTURE In a way Poet and Peasant had its beginnings years ago in the able hands of a certain pit piano player at an old nickelodeon movie house. That pianist's first name was Kathryn, and her last name, later, was to become Williams. For my wife's artistry at the organ began as a piano player in her brother's dance orchestra. From that, as movies moved in on the entertainment world, she went on to that old nickelodeon piano and then to a post as pianist in a vaudeville orchestra. Here, she remembers, she accompanied such performers as the Marx Brothers, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor and Edgar Bergen. It was, therefore, a matter of pride with both of us to produce a sound picture record of her musical talents. BASIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES And now, as I move on to outline the specific production techniques we employed, I would not wish to suggest that they are the only — or even necessarily the best — ones for the purpose. They worked for us, and I believe they will work for you. But, as other amateurs develop other techniques, I sincerely hope that they will report on them in this place. So, I am sure, do the editors of our ACL magazine. Specifically, then, after discarding several other sys MUSIC STARTS i MUSIC STOPS CAMERA STA RTS I I CAMERA STOPS ttttt m RECORDING PROCEDURE is shown by the Wiliiamses, as edited film leads Mrs. W. at organ on live shots, metronome on blind takes. PRODUCTION PROCEDURE is diagramed above. Camera starts at A, artist at B; they stop in order at C, D, and extra frames are cut. terns as impractical, we settled on the following procedures, in order: (1) shoot the picture, silently and scene by scene, from start to finish; (2) edit this material scene by scene, so that its action matches perfectly the musical progressions indicated on the printed musical score; (3) have this edited footage magnetically striped from start to finish; (4) post-record the music from live play so that it matches exactly the pictured action. Of these four steps in producing the film, the last, you will say, is obviously the most difficult. Actually, it proved to be the easiest. For we had reasoned it this way: A good musical conductor can lead a hundred or more trained musicians through the complexities of a great symphony, keeping all in perfect synchrony with each other and with the written score. Why, then, in our case could not the projected picture serve as the conductor? My wife was a trained musician, with long experience in following conductors. This put it squarely up to me to produce a picture in which the action would "conduct" the playing of the artist in exact synchrony with the written score. ANALYZING THE SCORE So we started with that score. Guided by my wife's knowledge as a musician, we divided it up bit by bit into consecutive sections — the beginning and end of each one being dictated by the musical phrasing, pauses, changes of tempo and the like. A secondary consideration — but one which inescapably had to be considered — was the maximum length of scene which my Bolex H-16 could film at one spring-winding. This dividing up, if you judge it by the brief description of its doing, may sound simple and unimportant. In my estimation, it is neither. We spent several days on this phase alone, and we know now that the ultimate success of our picture was dependent directly on this careful planning. Further, I should like to emphasize that it is a task in which the cameraman should be guided implicitly by the specialized musical knowledge of the artist. When we had completed this analysis of Poet and Peasant, we found that we had divided the score into eighteen separate musical phrases. In camera terms, this would mean a corresponding number of different camera positions or viewpoints. So we then proceeded to determine the photographic treatment which seemed best suited to the musical action of each phrase. Should the hands be featured, or the feet, or should it be a neutral or "blind"