Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

157 PRESENTING THE PRIZE for the best costume in the children's Fourth of July parade will be a highlight in any holiday picture. // BY the dawn's early light" is the time to begin your film of the Glorious Fourth. A sunrise, if you can get a good one, is the perfect opening shot. Begin with the first rays, and shoot at intervals until you have the entire sun ahove the horizon. Then, as the first bright rays of sunlight illumine the Stars and Stripes, get your shot of Old Glory against the morning sky. Or, if you are allergic to the hours of sunrise (as I am), an alternate opening is the old calendar routine: draw a red circle around the 4th of July on a large calendar flanked with firecrackers and framed in crossed rockets. A child's hand comes into the picture then, snatches up a two inch salute, and you have youT lead into scenes of the kids setting off their first explosives of the day. "What so proudly we hail'd" wilL portray your particular community's celebration of the national date — be it a flag ceremony, a big street parade or a band concert. Try for some good shots of the Boy or Girl Scouts. If you can't get them in a public ceremony as a group, attend their weekly meeting ahead of the Fourth and stage some scenes. Or if you must, settle for a shot of the Scout or Scouts in your own family, or the kids who live across the street or down the block. If no major community celebration is staged, there are always the family festivities on which to fall back. A real, old-fashioned picnic, perhaps, from fried chicken and potato salad to homemade ice cream and chocolate layer cake. Film all the games and contests, and make sure that they include the unfailing comedy of a threelegged or sack race. And don't forget to insert enough flags and firecrackers to serve as a running reminder of the date. If a winsome toddler is the present idol of everyone's heart, hand him a big Roman candle (empty, of course) and a match box — and shoot his reactions. Or, if you feel a bit of a drag, toss in a few feet of suspense by turning your toddler loose where the picnic lunch is spread out! Or maybe it's a pet your family is crazy Filming the 4th From dawn to the dark of night, Fourth of July is a rich mine of rewarding movies DOROTHY M. PEPER about. A smart pooch in a red, white and blue pasteboard hat and a bunting bow tie would be cute. Give him a pair of spectacles, put his paws atop a bunting-draped orange crate to get a real laugh — and you have a perfect parody of the classic Independence Day orator. "Whose broad stripes and bright stars" might well be your lead for a sequence on the significance of the freedom which we enjoy often all too casually. But almost every community now has a refugee or immigrant citizen whose viewpoint will be fresher in this field. In our neighborhood it's an elderly Italian man who makes no pretense about his love for these United States. The reason, in his rich dialect, is that in his native country "the poor are too poor and the rich are too rich!" On the Fourth of July, you'll see a huge flag flying from his front porch, and his private celebration includes a little ritual of passing out shiny new dimes to all of the kids in the neighborhood. Grandpa di Donato's appreciation of America would make a moving sequence in any Fourth of July film. Lacking such a character in your community, assemble all the boys, girls and their pets in your block for a pint-sized parade. Prompt your subjects to portray their ideas of a patriotic Fourth, say the Spirit of '76, with a prize package of firecrackers for the one you consider best. The Fourth of July is a holiday of deep meaning to most American kids; and with a prize in the offing, you can be prepared for a surprise when you screen the results. " 'Mid the rockets' red glare" is a made-to-order title to round out your film of the Fourth and its festivities. There are not too many tricks to know in getting good films of the nighttime fireworks. Around the yard, perhaps, it's going to be kind of tough to get enough illumination from your domestic displays — though you might try shooting a closeup of one of the kid's faces in the dancing light of a spluttering sparkler. But in the big community fireworks festivals you can really cut loose. Use your fastest lens, wide open, and load the camera with a Type A emulsion for the maximum sensitivity. Even shooting at eight frames per second for added speed won't affect your results appreciably. Your real problem, of course, is to know where and when the big pieces are going off — and to be ready for them. Further, fireworks (except the set pieces) are likely to look just a bit skimpy when you picture them as blobs of light and color in the dark night sky. So use an old trick of the trade: run the same film over and over, two or three times through the camera, so that your frames seem more filled with fiery festivity. For the set piece or pieces, the effective technique here is to film them with one or more figures silhouetted in the foreground of their brilliant display. Finally, when you're ready to lead-title your tale of the Glorious Fourth, try giving it the authentic touch by spelling out your letters in a pattern of 'crackers.