Wolf’s Advent Calendar 2018

Composition Is Simple —Pephaps— but Very Important

By JAMES A. SHERLOCK
American Cimematographer January, 1940 p.27

ACTION is a dynamic force in a moving picture, but is not sufficient to hold attention without that elusive quality known as “Picture Composition,” difficult enough to obtain in the reflex viewfinder of a still camera but ten times more difficult to acquire in the small viewfinder of any cine camera.

If the amateur cinesmith wishes to add Picture Composition to his films he can easily develop a picture conscious eye that will naturally select a good camera angle for every shot. A study of good work done by artists and still photographers will assist, but will also prove to the cinematographer that he must be careful in selecting camera angles as the size and shape of the “field” in a moving picture remains permanent after the film has been exposed.

[Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 18: Composition Is Simple —Pephaps— but Very Important

ABC of Set Lighting

by
Arthur Campbell, Cinematographer
from American Cinematographer January 1934 p.365

JUST as there is a fundamental light in portraiture, there is also a basic method of lighting a set, and they are not dissimilar.

We know that one source of light, no matter where used, whether to light a person or set will create a shadow. If this light is placed directly in front of the set, facing it in the same way as the camera faces the set we will get a flat light. However, that is the most we can expect from one light.

There are times when shadows are desirable, but we will not go into that phase of lighting here. We will try to establish what might be a basic light for a set regardless of its artistic merits.

In view of the fact that it will be agreed that one light is not sufficient to light a set we will disregard the front lighting and place this first unit to one side as reasonably close to the objects as possible so as to throw the beam across these objects from one side. This will create a shadow which of course is undesirable as one side of the picture will be entirely in shadow.

But let’s take an imaginary set such as is sketched on this page and assume that the first unit we have placed is light A. You can readily visualize how this would be insufficient to photograph this set. We now place light B on the opposite side of the set. This will not only kill the shadows from light A but will act as the highlight for all objects on the right side of the set and our first light, A, will kill the shadows of light B and act as a highlight for all objects on the left side of the set. With limited lighting facilities of this kind it might not be well to diffuse either of these lights as you undoubtedly will need all the light they give to secure a proper exposure. Also this is not a set up that would permit the camera to take in a full picture. By this we mean you would have to confine your shot to a three-quarter picture. [Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 17: ABC of Set Lighting

The “Language of Line” in Photography

by
L. Owens Muggins, A.S.C.
from American Cinematographer January 1934 p.354

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series of articles on the fundamentals of Photographic and Cinematic Design. In later articles Mr. Huggins will discuss Harmony, Rhythm, Balance, Tone (or Key), Measure, Contour, and Emphasis.

IF Photography has gained any consideration as an Art, it is not because photography is in itself an art, but because some photographers are Artists. It is not simply that these men are masters of photomechanical technique, but that they are masters of the technique of visual Art. They know the language of Art—and make their cameras speak it. They know that certain arrangements of lines, forms  and masses, of light and shade, will not only create a picture, but will speak to the emotions “with a most miraculous organ.” And they are daily applying these principles to even the least-important scenes, raising Photography and Cinematography from its original status of a mechanical process to an ART.

In its beginnings, photography was devised solely as a mechanical means of making a lasting, visual record of persons, places and things; and when cinematography came into being, nearly a century later, its purpose was the same, save that it had the additional advantage of being able to record motion, as well as form. Even today with the benefits of our most perfected equipment and materials, no picture made by photography or cinematography can in itself be considered as more than a record, unless its maker has applied the basic principles of Art to its making. A beautiful scene, photographed, is often of far less artistic worth than an ordinary scene, beautifully photographed. As Daniel B. Clark, A.S.C, so unceasingly points out, “Art is not WHAT—but HOW.”

Every picture or photograph is essentially a combination of lines; and every picture is—or should be—dominated by some definite type of linear design. Upon analysis, any picture ever made can be reduced to the pattern of its dominant lines. The more carefully composed a picture is, the fewer and more expressive will be its basic lines; and the nature of these lines will determine the emotional response which the picture will create. [Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 16: The “Language of Line” in Photography

Filters — or Correct Exposure!

By Art LLOYD, A.S.C
from American Cinematographer April 1942 p.166

GOOD cinematography consists not only in knowing what to do with your camera and accessories, but —and perhaps more importantly — in knowing what not to do. Take the matter of filters, for instance. We all know that filters, correctly used, can do remarkable things for a picture, turning day into night, making clouds stand out, and clearing up the distance of extreme landscape long-shots, and so on. [Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 15: Filters — or Correct Exposure!

THE ELECTROPLANE CAMERA

A New System For Obtaining Natural Depth
By EDWARD P. HOLDEN, JR.,
Smith-Dieterich Corporation

from the American Cinematographer February, 1942 p.56/57

FROM the first feeble and eye-wracking “flicker” of the primitive movie, to the present time, three cardinal improvements were always in the minds of

the scientist and engineer,—Sound, Depth and Color.
The first of these—Sound—was finally introduced to motion picture audiences against practically universal opposition on the part of the producer. Even though far from perfect at its inception, once audience reaction became evident, all silent pictures were but remnants of an ancient era, gone forever.
Color, after vast expense in its development, and much complication even today in its production, coupled with more or less satisfactory results, has at length become a recognized feature of motion pictures.

But what of so-called Depth, which was said by no less an authority than the great Thomas A. Edison, to be the next important step forward in cinematography? Efforts without number have cluttered the files of the Patent Office with vast reams of paper; monstrous cameras have been built on concrete bases; the shape and surface of the screen has been modified; the unfortunate audience has been saddled with spectacles and eye-glasses, all with what result? A bad imitation of the ancient stereoscope found on the sitting-room tables of our grandparents. No depth effect in its true sense, which is nothing more than clear, natural vision. [Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 13: THE ELECTROPLANE CAMERA