American Cinematographer - December 1950 - 30

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* Exact measurement of density
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* Accurate evaluation of sensitometric tablets.
* Tone

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95 Madison Ave.

New York 16, N.Y.

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Rents . . Sells . . Exchanges
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Cable Address: RUBYCAM

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AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

tively difficult to get. Telephoto lenses
will help very much, but the mobile
cameraman on the field stands a better
chance of getting dynamic closeups, pro¬
vided that he is permitted by officials to
approach close enough to get them.
Where the cameraman is unable to get
closeups by these methods, he may find
it necessary to stage such scenes after
the game is filmed and cut them in for
proper effect. This may not be strictly
legitimate in the record film, but it is
quite permissable in the entertainment
or staged type of sports film.
With action developing as fast as it
do£s in the usual sporting event, it is
good practice for the cameraman to re¬
duce his worries about camera mechanics
to a minimum. Depending upon how far
he is from the subject, he might very
well set his wide-angle lens at infinity,
the standard lens at universal focus,
while concentrating upon keeping the
telephoto lens critically focussed. It is
also a good plan to take basic exposure
readings, either incident or reflected, be¬
fore the event begins, and to follow those
readings consistently, unless weather con¬
ditions change in the middle of the
game. Filming indoors provides its own
special exposure problems. Some sports,
such as wrestling, boxing, or ice shows,
are usually sufficiently well-lighted to
enable successful filming in color or
black-and-white, depending upon the
speed of the lens used. But here again
it is wise to take exposure readings in
advance, just to be sure.
Special sports present special prob¬
lems. Swimming, diving, and underwater
fishing scenes are immeasurably en¬
hanced by underwater shots-and there
are many pools and natural locales
which provide glass underwater com¬
partments especially for such shooting.
Skiing is a sport which provides op¬
portunity for extremely dramatic pho¬
tography, but one has the problem of
extreme brightness contrast ratio. It is
good general practice to expose for the
snow in order to keep this expanse of
white from burning out. With panchro¬
matic film and a blue sky, no filters
should be used except perhaps a light
yellow filter to cut haze, because with
exposure calculated for the snow the
sky will automatically render slight
under-exposure enough to hold a dra¬
matically deep tone. Moonlight effects
can be achieved by using a 25-A red
filter. Low angles of skiers against the
sky taken from below a ridge just as the
jump is made make very interesting
shots. In fact, one can say generally that
low angle shots with filtered sky back¬
ground are very effective in most types
of sports filming.
Slow motion filmed at speeds of any¬
where from 32 to 64 frames per second
*

DECEMBER,

1950

provides an excellent means of studying
athletic technique in detail. Golfers and
tennis players are especialy interested in
such films that aid them to study and
improve their individual techniques.
Under special effects one might men¬
tion upside-down filming, which has the
effect of reversing the action. The foot¬
age filmed upside-down is spliced into
the finished picture right-side up. This
familiar technique, though often used
to excess in the professional motion pic¬
ture, is still quite amusing when prop¬
erly conceived. Exaggerated action speed
achieved by filming at a slow speed is
also good for a laugh on occasion.

SURGICAL
CINEMATOGRAPHY
(Continued from Page 4.17)

Burke's initial surgical filming was of
a gall bladder operation. Using a 16mm.
Filmo camera and orthochromatic film,
he photographed the entire operation.
In those days it required weeks before
Eastman laboratories returned processed
films and therefore some time elapsed
before Burke was to learn that his en¬
tire filming effort was in vain. The
lighting equipment available to him and
used in photographing the operation had
not been adequate for the slow-emulsion
ortho film, which was all that was avail¬
able at that time.
Soon after, Burke opened a camera
store in Los Angeles specializing in cine'
equipment, and among his customers
were several physicians and surgeons.
Many of them, having taken up 16mm.
movie making as a hobby, visualized the
potentials of the cine' camera in record¬
ing difficult surgical operations as a
means of instruction for others. When
these doctors learned that Burke already
had some experience in filming surgeries,
he was sought out for advice and later
engaged to undertake the photography of
such films for several of his medicoclientele.
It was the introduction of Kodachrome film and the Cine Special cam¬
era, however, that gave Burke the im¬
portant tools needed for success in this
undertaking-the film for recording in
natural colors the intricate textures and
tones of the anatomy, and the reflexfocusing feature of the Cine Special
camera which now enabled him to ob¬
tain needle-sharp focus and frame cen¬
tering so essential to success of this type
of cinematography.
In ensuing years, Burke developed
special equipment to meet his particular
filming needs. He continues to use the
Cine' Special camera and loo-foot maga¬
zines. Because a tiny spark could easily
ignite the volatile gases often used in
American Cinematographer - December 1950

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