Taking The Air

Creator: Handy (Jam) Organization

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: STUDIES IN STREAMLINING FROM THE DAYS OF HORATIO PHILLIPS TO MODERN TIMES. EVOLUTION OF AUTOMOBILE FROM ITS BEGINNING TO PRESENT STREAMLINED SHAPE IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE 1941 CHEVROLET.; 00:38:02:00 Taking the Air 07912; 00:38:31:00 wide shot of small plane trailing a long plume of white smoke; 00:38:36:00 same shot - white smoke gone; VO - “In hundreds of different ways, Man has taken the air. Great progress has been made in the conquest of the skies in the last 30 years.” (fade out 00:38:42:00); 00:38:45:00 fade in - wide shot of Wright Bros.-esque plane coasting at sunrise; VO calls it a “flying barn door” (00:38:54:00); 00:38:55:00 med wide shot of 20’s plane; VO - “Even in 1920, planes could barely do 100 mph. Because they just weren’t streamlined.” (00:39:02:00); 00:40:17:00 med shot of two men at banks of controls, other men beyond them in aeronautics lab; 00:40:22:00 VO - “Man-made cyclones shrieked through modern wind tunnels at speeds as high as 760 mph” (00:40:27:00); 00:40:43:00 med shot of model plane spinning cross fades with med shot of POV from model plane - spinning terrain - looks like model or 2D picture shot out of focus (00:40:50:00); 00:40:51:00 med shot of spinning model plane - obviously in some sort of wind tunnel (00:41:04:00); more aeronautics research scenes; CUs of hydroplanes landing gear tests; 00:42:47:00 MCU pan of motion picture camera, other “high-tech” special purpose photo/cinema equipment (00:42:50:00); 00:42:55:00 med shot - arm holds ordinary square block between two bizarre “scientific” apparatuses (00:43:04:00); 00:43:05:00 CU - strange x-ray like film process - hand holding block - “air” visible around the block (00:43:10:00); 00:44:38:00 CU of part of steering wheel and odometer - rising (00:44:40:00); 00:44:55:00 CU of man’s foot pressing gas pedal (00:44:57:00); 00:44:58:00 med shot of car driving with both doors open (00:45:03:00); 00:45:04:00 CU of man’s foot on gas pedal (00:45:06:00); 00:45:11:00 CU of part of steering wheel and odometer - hovering at 50 (00:45:13:00); 00:45:14:00 med shot of car driving with doors open -begins with side view camera travels around to front (00:45:21:00); 00:45:22:00 med shot of car driving with doors open - camera moves from front back around to side (00:45:26:00); 00:45:27:00 med wide shot of car driving down very So Cal. street - pulls up behind small plane (00:45:34:00); 00:45:35:00 med shot of car from under wing of plane - two pretty ladies get out, walk toward plane (00:45:42:00); VO - “...air currents can slip over the rounded contours, and that makes for greater safety. Automobiles of today are faster, safer, and more economical to operate.”; 00:45:43:00 med shot of lady pilot hopping out of plane; 00:45:44:00 MCU - lady pilot meets gal pals - three of them walk off together; 00:45:49:00 VO - “...So, on land, sea, and air, America has been streamlined. America takes the air.”; (fadeout 00:45:59:00)