Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

166 JUNE 1953 BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN THE New Testament maxim that "Many are called, and but few are chosen" would seem to be only half right in any accounting of amateur filmers who have crashed the gates of Hollywood. To dispose first of the fallacious part of this famous dictum, it has been clear for years that many are not called. This, probably, is as it should be. Movie making today as Hollywood goes about it is an exact and exacting science, in which the carefully compartmented skills of countless experts add up to the successful whole. There is little room around the sound stages for the Jack-of-all-trades amateur. "And but few are chosen." Thus it is that the success of those few amateur filmers who have made the grade becomes all the more outstanding. A case in point, of course, is the career of David Bradley, whose deliberate attack on the professional picture makers is outlined in this issue. As far as our memory serves, Mr. Bradley could count on the fingers of one hand his fellow amateurs who also have made the jump from Main Street to Movieland. There was, to begin with, an eager and aggressive young man named Russell T. Ervin (now FACL), who in 1927 won first place in an amateur film contest sponsored by Photoplay Magazine. His production, a saga of the jazz age, was called And How! His prize, probably wangled by Photoplay's publishers, was a two year contract as an assistant cameraman in Hollywood. The next and, as far as we know, the last break through the barriers came in 1933. In any case, it was in that year that a quiet and imaginative young man named John Flory made a comedy of the depression which he called Mr. Motorboat's Last Stand. It won an ACL Ten Best in 1933, and the next thing we knew Mr. Flory had a two year contract in Hollywood as an assistant director. There, as far as we can recall, the record ends. Today, Russell Ervin is — as he has been for years — an associate producer of Grantland Rice Sportlights in New York City. John Flory, also an emigre from Lotus Land, is with Eastman Kodak as a consultant on non-theatrical movie matters. This leaves the field sparely and squarely up to Dave Bradley. On behalf of his old friends at ACL, we wish him most warmly the success he seeks in his new adventures. Certainly, if determination counts in carving one's career, success will be his. THE AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, INC. Founded in 1926 by Hiram Percy Maxim DIRECTORS Joseph J. Harley, President Frank E. Gunnell, Vicepresident Walter Bergmann, Treasurer Arthur H. Elliott Fred Evans Harry Groedel 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. Eight dollars a year. AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc.. 420 LEXINGTON AVE., NEW YORK 1 7. N. Y., U. S. A. James W. Moore, Managing Director John V. Hansen Harrison F. Houghton Roy C. Wilcox the heads. This means that the erased fraction of the musical track gradually decreases until the full width of the original recording remains. On playback, I get a drop in music level about a second before the mixed-in commentary. At the end, the music gradually returns to its normal level. If the commentary is not satisfactory, it is necessary only to make a new recording by the same process. This erases the first commentary but does not affect the music alongside. SUITS MOST RECORDERS My recorder is one of the usual twintrack machines. Since the usual track is only half-width, my "mixed" recordings Tape Recording Head Laminations consist roughly of quarter-track music and quarter-track commentary. The idea can be worked equally well on full width recorders, however. So as to avoid confusion, I call my system "split-track" mixing. Some recorders lend themselves particularly well to this method. On the machine shown in Fig. 1, guide grooves are normally provided only on one side of the tape. The pinch roller is skewed very slightly so that the tape is pulled firmly onto the "shelf" below it. However, when the guide fork is in position, the two arms support the tape before and after the erase and R/P heads, so that it is held 1/20 of an inch above its normal position. Tape Recording Head Laminations FIG. 3-A: Tape above is displaced correctly. FIG. 3-B: Now tape is displaced incorrectly. Where both edges of the tape are normally guided, it will be necessary to make a rather more elaborate fork on the lines of Fig. 2. On any recorder, it is important to see that the tape makes good contact with that part of the R/P head which it covers. This may compel you to displace the tape in a particular direction; i.e., so that only half the gap is covered as shown in Fig. 3-A. If you move it the other way, as in Fig. 3-B, even a pressure pad cannot provide good head contact. There is another reason for not displacing the tape as shown in 3-B. This way, your commentary will overlap the tape width normally used in the reverse direction. And when you move the guide to fade in the music at the end, your erasing track will cross the reverse track. Of course, this does not matter if you don't want to mix sounds on both halves of the tape. But once you have become a good mixer, you will find the possibilities endless. It's simple and it's fun!