Your Movie Camera And How To Use It (1948)

Heat. Heat. [Music] Hello folks. My name is Charlie Wright. I'm going out with my new movie camera. Want to come along? The fellow who sold it to me said, "Just follow the instructions and you can't go wrong. Mr. Wright, there's the house of my neighbor Joe and Mabel Title Hawker. It's a nice typical suburban home with a baby, dog, cat, and mortgage. There's Joe Title Hawker arriving home with a package. I wonder what's in it. I know it's not his anniversary. I've never seen Joe so excited. All right, so he ain't me. It's a camera like mine. I knew he'd get one as soon as he saw the one I had. The copycat. Yep. The instruction sheet is just like mine. It tells you exactly how to use your camera. I'm telling you, Joe, you better read it. Don't be a schmo. Joe. Joe's taking his first movies of his wife and dog, Rover. Any resemblance between Rover and Joe is purely coincidental. Now, I'm anxious to see how his first attempt comes out. So is Joe, Mabel, and Rover. Here it comes. Joe's big moment. I'll bet Rover will think he's the new lad. What's that? Oh, it's not focused correctly. It must be a picture of Mabel and Rover. I only know it because I saw him shoot it. Now, let's leave Joe and his troubles for a minute and see if we can find the correct way to focus. On the front of the camera is a lens. There are two types of lenses. focusing and fixed focus. With the fixed focus lens, no adjustment is necessary as all objects are sharp except those very near the camera. The focusing lens has to be adjusted. Estimate the distance between camera and object and set the calibrated ring accordingly. This scene is incorrectly focused. As the focusing ring is rotated to the correct position, the scene becomes sharp. Uh, there's our Joe again with his camera. I hope he's smart enough not to make the same mistake. Mrs. Title Hucker sure looks like she's been busy. And so does the baby. Let's go back to Joe's living room and see how things look on the projection screen. I'll say this for Joe. He didn't make the same mistake twice. He overexposed. To obtain a good picture, the film must be correctly exposed. The lens is similar to the human eye. In the eye, there is an iris which expands and contracts to vary the amount of light reaching the retina. In the lens, there's a diaphragm which also expands and contracts to vary the amount of light reaching the film. As the light increases, the diaphragm aperture must be made smaller. As the light decreases, the diaphragm aperture must be made larger. When the diaphragm aperture is correct for the amount of light admitted, the scene is properly exposed. If the diaphragm is open too wide, the film becomes overexposed and is too light. If the diaphragm opening is too small, the film becomes underexposed and is too dark. Another point for the cameraman to consider is the direction of the sunlight. This statue has the sun shining on it from the front. The scene has no depth. It is usually more interesting to place the camera so that the sunlights the object from an angle. Now the statue has shadows in three dimensions. You know, cameras are wonderful. When Junior grows up, he can see a movie of the first time he walked and the first time Papa used his camera properly. I hope you must hold the camera still. Joe, uh, shall we dissolve to the projection screen? What happened? It seems Mrs. T has a backachche and Junior's disappeared. Now, if Joe doesn't mind the correct way, compose the scene in the viewfinder carefully, otherwise you will lose part of the scene the way Joe likes to do. With the viewfinder, you select good angles. A common fault is to shoot from a straight-on position without considering perspective. The automobile and table appear uninteresting when photographed this way. The most pleasing way of seeing an object is from an angle. And when we see two or more sides, we get a feeling of depth. Now the table and automobile take on added interest. People also are more interesting. when seen from the side or from above or from below. Well, there's just no stopping our hero. Now he's using a tripod. Ouch. Is there a doctor in the house? Come here, you. You You sorry censored. You can see who wears the brains in that family. Anyone should know better than to set up a tripod on a slippery surface. >> Anyone but Joe, I guess. Stop. You wouldn't kick a cameraman when he's down, would you? The correct way to set up a tripod is to adjust the legs to the proper height and place it on a non-slippery surface. You can see obviously that isn't Joe. The camera is screwed onto the tripod. The tripod then leveled. The tripod should be set at the right tension. One hand grips the handle of the tripod while the other firmly grips the base of the camera. This enables the camera to be rotated slowly and smoothly. This is called panning. If the panning is carried out correctly, the results appear like this. But if the pan is too fast as in this scene or too jerky as in this scene, the results will be useless. But if the pan is smooth, impressive effects can be obtained, including tilting the camera slowly upward. Well, Joe has thrown a party for the neighborhood children. While the kids are having a good time, he's getting some excellent shots. I wonder how excellent. Let's see how it looks on the screen. There's a shot of Anne and Tony and a shot of the Duke and sisters. And there's a shot of Sorry, I can't keep up with it. Here's the scenes run at correct length. It's so simple even a child could do it. But I forget you're not a child anymore, are you, Joe? Scenes should be run long enough to give the audience a chance to see and enjoy them. And if the scenes are assembled in an interesting order, there will be a greater feeling of continuity. Scenes should be at least 10 seconds. Well, here's our little genius again. And here are the results again. Hey Joe, you should not have set the speed indicator at eight frames a second. You must set the speed indicator at 16 frames a second, which is normal for natural action. What a lovely scene. The kids have gone. Joe and his Mrs. relaxing. Why read that book, Joe? They didn't even have cameras in those days. Uh, do you mind if I look over your shoulder? Joe, you really fooled me. Just follow instructions and you'll take some real fine pictures and fool everyone. So long, Joe. Goodbye, folks. See you all in the movies. Hey, look. I'm back. You surprised? Did you miss me? Well, before I say goodbye, let's summarize what we've learned. Remember, always focus the lens for the correct distance. Set the diaphragm for the right exposure. Compose the scene carefully in the viewfinder. Pan slowly and smoothly. Keep the camera running long enough on each scene. Set the speed indicator at 16. Above all, study your instruction book again and again. And oh yeah, by the way, goodbye again. [Music]