Historic Documents & Articles

THREE-POINT LIGHTING
How to combine a camera light, modeling light
and back light for easy indoor filming

CHARLES H. COLES, ACL

from the Movie Makers – The Magazine for 8mm & 16mm Filmers Jan 1950 p.58

THE-, first and most obvious purpose of any lighting unit in interior filming is to throw enough light on the subject to create adequate exposure. This is not, these days, a difficult operation. We find, for example, that only two RFL-2 lamps (the built-in reflector type) placed six feet from the subject create an exposure of f/2.8 with indoor color film. Two regular No. 2 flood bulbs in efficient  metal reflectors at the same distance return
an exposure of f/3.5.

EFFECTS ARE IMPORTANT

[Read more…] about THREE-POINT LIGHTING (1950)

Photographing a catastrophe

From Photographic Amusements 1922 
BY
WALTER E. WOODBURY
INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF A NUMBER OF
NOVEL EFFECTS OBTAINABLE WITH THE CAMERA

On this page we reproduce a curious photograph by M. Bracq, which appeared some time ago in the Photo Gazette.

Despite all the terrible catastrophe which it represents, carrying pictures along with him in his fall, the subject has not experienced the least uneasiness, not even so much as will certainly be felt by our readers at the sight of the tumble represented.
The mode of operating in this case is very simple and we are indebted to La Nature for the description of the method employed by M. Bracq. The photographic apparatus being suspended at a few yards from the floor of the room, in such a way as to render the groundglass horizontal (say between the two sides of a double ladder – a combination that permits of easy focusing and putting the plates in place), there is spread upon the floor a piece of wall paper, about 6 feet in length by 5 feet in width, at the bottom of which a wainscot has been drawn. A ladder, a few pictures, a statuette, and a bottle are so arranged as to give an observer the illusion of the wall of a room, that of a dining room for instance. A hammer, some nails, etc., are placed at the proper points. Finally, a 5 feet by 2 1/2 ft board, to which a piece of carpet, a cardboard plate, etc., have been attached, is placed under the foot of a chair, which then seems to rest upon this false floor at right angles with that of the room.
Everything being ready, the operator lies down quietly in the midst of these objects, assumes a frightened expression, and waits until the shutter announces to him that he can leave his not very painful position. This evidently is merely an example that our readers will be able to modify and vary at their will.

___________

WALTER E. WOODBURY
FORMERLY EDITOR OF “THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES,” AUTHOR
OF “the ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY,“
” ARISTOTYPES AND HOW TO MAKE THEM,” ETC., ETC.
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY
FRANK R. FRAPRIE, S. M., F. R. P. S.
EDITOR OF “AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY “
Ninth Edition
AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING CO.
BOSTON 17, MASS.
1922

Prominent Optometrist States that Eyes Found to Be Source of Trouble
By Herbert S. Marshutz, A.B, D.O.

From American Cinematographer April 1926 pg.7

The effect of motion pictures upon eyes has been misunderstood for years.
The first impressions on the subject date back to a time when fewer people attended pictures, and to a period when motion picture projection was not at all like it is today.
At the present time several millions of people of all ages visit motion picture houses every day. Ninety per cent of them will suffer no inconvenience to their eyes. But there is nevertheless an undercurrent of belief firmly imbedded in the public mind in the United States and wherever pictures are shown, that movies hurt the eyes. Now why is this the case?
In preparing this material, we have analyzed the conditions under which the human eye functions in a motion picture theater. Every condition that is somewhat unusual, and any circumstance under which the eye must work differently than in any other visual effort, are a hundred times less objectionable than 15 or 20 years ago. During that early period, there were many flaws both in picture making and picture showing. Today they are either greatly lessened or omitted entirely.

“Dark-Adaptation” Necessary

Now what are the unusual conditions under which the eye must function in a picture house? There are quite a few. First of all, there is a great reduction in the amount of light. Even the brightest and whitest scenes are dim in contrast with daylight illumination. And the theater is still darker. Consequently, the eye is working in reduced light. [Read more…] about Do Motion Pictures Injure the eyes?

by
Joseph Walker, A.S.C.
As told to Walter Blanchard

from an ASC Magazine August 1933

EVER since the release of the picture, “Beneath the Sea,”  (Buy DVD) which I photographed, amateur cinematographers have asked me and written me, “How did you make those underwater shots? And how can I make 16 mm. pictures under water?” Personally, I don’t think that the first of these questions has much bearing on the second one, for in a case like this, the professional cinematographer has it all over his amateur cousin: he can have a lot of special apparatus built which the amateur couldn’t afford—and wouldn’t care to cart about with him if he had it; moreover, he can—thanks to the skill of the cutters —combine scenes made in the studio tank, out-and-out trick scenes, and bona-fide underwater stuff so intricately that even an expert can hardly say which is which when he sees the finished picture. None the less, real underwater films are possible—and very interesting. [Read more…] about Making Movies Under Water (1933)