Americans at Work - Filmmakers

Hey. Take one. Lights, camera, action. These three words in any language, anywhere, mean one thing: a movie in the making. They are words that bring excitement and adventure to anyone who hears them. The people in the audience are the people who are the filmmakers. The words are the formula for the magic that can recreate life itself, capture it, hold forever on reels of narrow celluloid, people, places, and events presented before the eye of a camera. Who are these filmmakers? They are Americans at work, men and women who use the magic lantern to entertain, inform, and educate a world of people through a universal medium. When you look at the picture on your television or theater screen, you cannot see what it took on the other side to make that picture come to life. Take one. You do see the end result, a moving picture, one so real that it seems like life itself. You can't see the cameras and microphones, the lights and cables, and you can't see the people behind the scenes, the work they do, the thousand skills they must possess to present to you the picture they want you to see, a smooth, believable, and interesting picture. Stored in the Library of Congress are some of the earliest motion pictures. Peep shows, as the early pictures were known, were looked upon by producer, exhibitor, and audience alike as a novelty, and not a very high-class novelty at that. This is the sneeze, made in 1893. Achoo! Gesundheit. Today, the motion picture is a form of entertainment popular with everyone, and theaters are glamorous places full of sparkle and luxury. The winking lights of the marquee invite you to see the latest feature, newest techniques. Entertainment is not always the major objective of a film. Educators were quick to realize the value of film as a means of mass communication of ideas and information. Today, films can sell a sponsor's product to whole groups at once or be used to train the people who make the product in new techniques. And television, the new communication medium, depends on film every broadcast day. Every film begins with an idea. It can start in the mind of the sponsor or the producer or the writer. The idea develops into a story. One that can best be told with words and pictures that move. As the writer molds the idea into a film, it acquires a beginning, a middle, and an end. Because today's film audience is an intelligent, alert group, quick to notice mistakes that shatter the illusion a film sets out to make, huge amounts of research must be done to check the accuracy of every action, every word, every fact. When the typewriter keys begin to fly, the picture is already written in the scriptwriter's mind. With a script as a guide, planning the production can begin. Around the conference table, the script is studied. The camera director approaches it from the photography standpoint. The producer-director is responsible for the financial planning as well as translating the writer's ideas to film. For the unit manager, every part of a production is important. To the set designer goes another tough assignment, making what the camera photographs look like what the writer asked for in the script. With the pre-planning conference over, the various units go to work. When the set designer comes up with his model layouts, the director and camera director meet with him to look it over to see what changes are needed. To see how workable the set is. To allow the cameras to move about freely, wild or movable walls are built. From the model, the camera director can see what angles he can use, how much room he'll have to work in. When the model set is approved, the construction crews begin. The carpenters and painters build walls and staircases and sometimes entire houses. As one set is being finished, the lighting men are placing the huge, powerful stage lights according to the lighting director's plan. The illumination must look natural and create the mood of the scene effectively. Lamps ranging from less than 100 W to more than 10,000 W are placed around the set. Some line the top of the walls, others will hang from the ceiling. Still more will be placed on the floor to give different effects. The lighting men can create everything from a sunny day to a moonless night. All done with lights. When the filming begins, one lighting man will control every lamp from his dimmer board. He will follow a script detailing every light that is to be on, when and where. Nobody ever works alone on a motion picture sound stage. While the decorators are still dressing the set, the camera director and the producer are busy lining up the shots they have decided upon. The cameras are placed at the desired angles and through their viewfinders, the men check to see how it looks. A little more to the right. A little lower down. Be ready to pan from there to here. Then tilt down to catch the girl. Soon the action will begin. The set is cleaned up and ready for the actors to start a take. When one set is finished, another is made ready. All the scenes that will take place in a particular setting will be made at one time. For the actors and actresses, getting ready for a scene involves a lot more than learning lines. Movement from place to place must be learned and polished. Positions accurately set and measured for focus. When everything is ready, the three magic words are heard again. Lights, camera, action. One take finished, another camera angle is needed to continue the scene. The grips move unnecessary props out of the way and the camera moves in for a close-up. The director sets up a difficult shot. Catching the girl's reflection in the mirror. With tape measure, the distance is checked from lens to mirror to the girl's face. Necessary to focus sharply. Not really a tricky shot if you're an experienced cameraman who has learned well during your apprenticeship. To save time during the production of a film, several sets are constructed on the same stage. When the cameras are through on one, they move quickly to the next. While the angles are set up, the finishing touches are put on the set. Pictures hung, drapes arranged, furniture placed in the right spots. The scene designer makes sure that all the little touches are there and look natural. Speed. 151, take two. Again, the make-believe setting comes alive with people. In 1889, the first film with synchronized sound was produced, but it was not until the late 1920s that sound became an accepted and permanent part of motion pictures. 160, take two. The clap sticks on top of the scene slate give sound and picture a synchronization point. In 1915, D.W. Griffith pioneered in the use of the movable camera. Until that time, only actors gave movement to film. When Griffith put wheels on his cameras, and later put them in the baskets of gas-filled balloons, he introduced a new concept in filmmaking. Motion pictures include all kinds of people, men, women, and even children. It is the director's job to coach the actors and actresses in playing their parts. He gives them their movements and expression. The performers listen closely, don't they? While waiting for the cameras to start, the principals run through their lines, not bothered in the least by the camera director taking measurements of the light to set his exposure, or the countless other jobs being done around them. Between takes, cameras are reloaded, and makeup men touch up their careful work. These are artists who think nothing of aging a youth of 20 to an old man of 70. Creating an outdoor setting of spring in the middle of the winter is a common job for filmmakers. On the sound stage, there are no seasons. In one corner, it may be snowing, and in another, the last rose of summer may be fading away. Real tree limbs set in wire and plaster, and embellished with artistic lighting effects, gives a quality sometimes not obtainable with the real thing. Lights to give shadow. A fine gauze flag to diffuse and soften the glow. All stay out of camera range so that the film sequence looks believable. Not all filming is done on the sound stages. Where creation of an outdoor scene like a park would be impractical, the crews move outside taking their studio with them. The sound mixer sets up his mic and portable recording machine just as if he were in a soundproof studio. The lighting men are needed outdoors, too, if the sun isn't bright enough. Aluminum foil reflectors give the cameraman the extra light when and where they need it. Redirecting the light of the sun for perfect exposure. Scene 185B, take one. With no walls to bounce the sound around, the acoustics are nearly perfect. The sounds of nature are recorded just as they originate. At the end of each day's shooting, the exposed film is rushed to the laboratory where darkroom technicians develop the negative and make prints. When the picture is finished, these same technicians will make multiple copies for distribution to many places at one time. With the negative developed and rushes printed, the major work of putting the film together begins. On a small projector, the film editor and writer look at the footage. The editor selects the best takes and assembles them according to the script. He then starts the creative part of his job, editing the various scenes and angles to get the picture the right timing and pace to move it smoothly from beginning to end. After the picture has been edited, the musical score and sound effects are ready to be put together. The various elements of the soundtrack, music, effects, and speech are mixed, fed onto one recording tape, and will eventually be put on the same film with the picture. In the equipment room, a sound man loads the recorder, a machine that makes a photographic record of the properly balanced sounds you will hear with the picture. The projectionist threads his machine, checks his equipment, and stands by. It is a procedure that is followed again and again in studio and movie house for the life of the film. At the console, the sound men prepare to start the mix. Under their control, the separate parts of the sound and picture will start and end together. On cue, the picture comes on the screen. The sound effects come in, matching the picture, and the narrator's voice begins to tell the story. From opening titles to the last frame, the music, sound effects, dialogue, and narration flow together, and the soundtrack is mixed. Another picture is finished. To tell the complete story of filmmaking, to explain the jobs or even mention them all, cannot be done in a few minutes. To even begin to tell the whole story would take a film longer than Gone with the Wind. What you have seen are just a few of the people it takes to conceive and produce a motion picture. Union members of the AFL-CIO, Americans at work for you. Americans at work, presented as a public service by the AFL-CIO. Next week, another interesting story of Americans at work, Americans whose skill and effort help keep our country great and strong.