Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-18
CAMERA ANGLES
BY A. ]. WEDDERBURN
Curator Of Photography
The Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution
We have a week left to plan
our most important movie Of
the year-the Christmas story.
With most of the shopping
done, we should be able to find
a few minutes to sit down and
work out a simple but effective
shooting schedule.
Without something of the
sort, much of the time we
would like to use in participant
ing in the annual family fun
fest will be spent behind the
camera trying to figure angles,
scenes and sequences. So let's
work out in advance, on paper.
a simple shooting script to
cover the highlights of the
day or. if you will, a more COM
prehensive scenario that will
tell the complete story of your
Christmas of 1855.
Your epic should, of course,
be filmed in color. The small
extra expens2 surely will be
justified by the results, for this
is,a truly colorful holiday with
the ornamented tree, the gaily
wrapped gifts. and the bright
hues worn by the youngsters.
And don't stint on film for this
special occasion. One or two
rolls viii be enough for cover
age Of the highlights of the
day but to do it up right you
should have generous supply
on hand.
Some Preliminary Scenes
You may wonder how to get
your film off to a good start,
This will depend somewhat on
the scope you have planned. It
might well begin with a few
scenes of a parent going to a
closet to take down the hidden
gifts; the sorting, wrapping
and tagging. Another Sc
quence, consisting of long, me-
dunn and closeup shots, might
show mother reading a story
book, such as '"The Night Be-
fore Christmas" to the young
sters clustered at the hearth.
Another good sequence could
show the children hanging
stockings at the fireplace, fol-
lowed by a closeup of adult
hands filling the stockings.
Then the Christmas tree is al
ways good for a few scenes as
1t is put up and decorated.
Some device can be used at
this point to indicate the pas
sage OF time such as the turn
ing hands of the clock. The
next logical sequence should
snow the early awakening of
the children and their excited
maneuvering to get the par
entS out of bed and downstairs.
This sequence need not be
filmed just as it happens on
Christmas day. but can be shot
later under your direction and
spllced into its appointed place
in the film.
Get Tripod Set in Advance
From this point on, though.
your previously made script
should enable you to film Sc
quence after sequence just as
the action actually happens.
For example, the night before
you should have left your cam
era on its tripod, prefocused
on the doorway leading into
the living room. The lights
should also be in place, con-
nected and tested. so that ell
you need to do is turn them
on. get behind the camera and
call for the family The first
scene. of the delighted express
sions as the children come in
through the entrance, will be,
If well planned and executed,
worth all the trouble you NAV
go to to make this home movie.
If at all possible this initial
camera set-up should De made
so that by panning the cam
era you can follow the action
right on over to the Christmas
tree and be in position for a
long or medium shot that will
take in most of the forth
coming excitement.
If you will be using a tripod
and your camera has a tele-
photo lens you can go imme-
diately into close-ups of happy
faces. hands tearing open
brightly colored gift packages,
and the like.
On the other hand If you are
hand holding the camera and
it has a light bar you can
move in and out quickly for
one sequence after another,
getting the reactions of each