MAKING A FILM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23220, 18 June 1937, Page 14

MAKING A FILM

PART PLAYED BY DIRECTOR LECTURE TO W.E.A. CLASS Miss Hypatia Johnson, in a lecture to the W.E.A. Films Class last evening, dealt principally witli the function of the director in the production of a picture. Some confusion existed in the minds of many people regarding the respective functions of producer and director, Miss Johnson said. The producer was concerned with the financial side of things, whereas it was the director who was responsible for all the material used in the production. This material included the actors, the architects, the scenario-writers and the cameramen. All the actions of these people were the fulfilment of the director's wishes. Sometimes the director was also the scenario writer, but when the latter was a separate individual he was always subsidiary to the director.

The first work of the director, Miss Johnson said, was the choice of a theme, which might be taken from a book, a play, a newspaper story, or a specially written scenario, except in the case of documentary films. Although the speaker had not heard of a film of the documentary type being produced in America, English producers during the last few years seemed to have been enthusiastic about it. These documentary films did not contain a story at all, but were composed of scenes taken from real life with the intention of teaching and showing something to the audience. The only picture of this kind that had been shown here was " Man of Arran," which had depicted the life of the people on a small island off the coast of Ireland, their struggle with the elements, and their difficulty of making a living. Not 'only was the director concerned with the choice of theme and its treatment, the lecturer continued, he was also responsible for the selection of types and acting material, including the stars, the erection of studio structures, and the "shooting " of the scenes. Three or four times the actual number of " shots " required were always taken because of the expense of re-setting, if everything were not quite right. It>was after all this had been done that the director's chief task began. This was the " cutting" of the film and the placing of the various parts in their right seauence, numbering them, and selecting the best.

Miss Johnson read several extracts from the works of various writers to show just how much the acting in a film was the creation of the director and how the actors themselves were mere puppets in his hands. A further extract was read indicating that very often an actor had no idea of the theme of the picture as a whole and was merely a machine which was called upon to register love, fear, hate or any other emotion which happened to fit in with the director's theme. A long discussion on recent and current films concluded an interesting evening.