American Cinematographer - December 1950 - 24

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AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

DECEMBER, 1950

'A

in a straight line. There is no time, as in
features, to develop character. A player's
character must be established on his
initial screen appearance and he must
remain in that character throughout the
picture.
The picture must jump away to a fast
start, as a sprinter coming off his start¬
ing mark. Likewise, it must come to a
rapid close once the story is told. A good
rule to follow is to launch the story with
a flying start, tell it in proper speed, in¬
creasing to the climax, and then get it
off the screen just as fast as you can
without obvious abruptness.
Long experience has taught the pro¬
fessional the sure way of making shorts.
The amateur can make his in the very
same proved procedure. First evolve the
basic idea or theme of the story. Then
put it on paper in synopsis form. If it
still seems good, make a more detailed
synopsis, filling in all the salient par¬
ticulars. The final step is to polish the
synopsis and divest it of any trends to
stray away from the central story line.
Now write the script or scenario,
breaking the story into the forty or fifty
scenes needed to pictorialize it. This is
where you get your basic continuity.
The story as a whole is cut into scenes;
it is not a matter of trying to fashion a
story out of scenes.
The next step is to consider the sce¬
nario for length. First drafts invariably
run too long and must be condensed.
This may be determined by actual trial.
The professional often will have two or
three people "walk through" the scenes,
simulating the specified action in correct
timing. A stop watch clicks the exact
timing. Like the amateur, the profes¬
sional has a given amount of negative
and must make every foot of it count.
The professional tries to work in short
scenes. Speaking in terms of 35mm. film
measurements, which you can readily re¬
duce to equivalents in 16mm. or 8mm.,
a ten-foot scene is relatively short, al¬
though to gain the effect of speed in
comedies, the professional will use sixfoot or even three-foot cuts. A fifty-foot
scene is just about the limit for any one
setup angle.
Now as to the nature of subject mat¬
ter : Cartoon films are currently the most
popular shorts on the screen today, but
these are beyond the production abilities
of the average amateur. Next in popular
esteem come the comedies, particularly
what are termed "situation" comedies.
Here the premise or locale is quickly
established and the central character or
characters put in situations which of
American Cinematographer - December 1950

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