Evening star., 1950-01-08

on the screen will absolutely kill
any worthwhile features the film
otherwise possesses. Then let rule
No. / be: Always shoot from a
tripod. If you follow this policy
you will be well on your way to-
ward professional movie filming.
If you don't all your other efforts
will be wasted.
Keep Camera on the Move.
Rule No. 2 should be: Keep that
camera on the move-don't let
your film go static. You will nots
that the professionals usually open
a new sequence with a shot that
gives the audience an overall pic
ture of the main setting. This,
called the establishing shot, fixes
in the minds Of the audience the
general locale and orients them
insofar as the rest of the sequence
is concerned.
Unfortunately. too many anna
teurs stop right at this point and
do all their shooting from the
one position-either from sheer
laziness or from the desire to get
in as much as possible" Nothing
could be worse from the audience
standpoint. People are interested
in people and satisfying this nat
ural curiosity for detail will 60 q
long way toward making your
Aims successful.
So, just as soon as you have
exposed enough footage to give
general idea of the overall seem
cry, move your camera up for q
closer view. This, called a medium
shot, will give the audience a bet
ter chance to study the principal
or principals in your photoplay.
On the Hollywood set this is usu-
ally done by having the camera
move in on a boom or dolly truck.
You can do the same by simply
moving your camera in and then
resume the action.
Repeat the Cycle.
Keeping In mind the fact that
people are curious, you will next
move your camera UP again for
what is known as the closeup.
This should include little more
than the head of the person pho
tographed. II two people are in
the scene you might logically move
your camera back for another
medium shot which includes them
both-then in closer once more
for a closeup Of the second per-
son. Finally, to keep the audience
from losing track of the locale
you should move your camera
way back for what is known as .
re-establishing shot. Then the
cycle may be repeated again.
There will be many occasions
when you may find 1t desirable
to depart from this general pat
tern, but it is a safe rule to follow.
N6te this continual moving in and
back process the next time you
attend q movie.
Frequent changes Of camera
angle also help liven up your Aim.
Accomplish this either by raising
or lowering the camera or by NOV
ing 1t to one side or the other for
succeeding shots. Maintaining
the same viewpoint throughout q
sequence is a procedure that has
little to recommend it. OF course,
by applying all these rules you
will undoubtedly work q lot harder
during the shooting of the films.
but when you screen your first
well-planned and executed pic
ture. we'll bet you'll never go back
to shooting "off the cuff"
After applying the lessons you
have learned by watching camera
techniques of the pros, you will
soon learn from the comments Of
your friends just how fast your
camera work has improved. Keep
this up for few months and IL
won't be long before the people
who avoided your screen sessions
will be the first to ask when the
next one is coming up. Those who
have been accustomed to taking
the perfect for granted are seldom
satisfied with anything less.