Check out these ads from the April 1966 edition of American Cinematographer. They might not look like much, yet their style was unusual in a publication that was known for being conservative. Apparently, the trend didn’t catch on. Across the entirety of the ’60’s, there’s not much else to compare to what you see … Continue reading “CINEMATOGRAPHIC PSYCHEDELIA”
WE’VE SURE COME A LONG WAY!
Milton Krasner, ASC’s work on Three Coins in the Fountain (1954; Jean Negulesco) is a great example of how a classical studio stylist adapted to 20th Century Fox’s new anamorphic CinemaScope system and its Bausch & Lomb lenses. Most notably, Krasner used the format’s limitations to turn the film into a romantic travelogue of … Continue reading “WE’VE SURE COME A LONG WAY!”
KNOWLEDGE NEVER DATES
Photographic Sensitometry: The Study of Tone Reproduction Hollis N. Todd & Richard Zakia Morgan & Morgan, 1974 312 pages When I rescued this little chestnut from the cut-out bin in a discount Manhattan bookstore, it was already a decade old and starting to fade in the face of encroaching video … Continue reading “KNOWLEDGE NEVER DATES”
CHICAGO, IL, SEPTEMBER 7, 2019, 10:36PM, CST
UPBEAT ON THE DOWNBEAT
A quote from one of the most cinematic-minded of the great authors, Edgar Alan Poe: “There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness.” I thought of this the other night while walking to my car after dinner with some friends. Without being conscious of it, I looked up to a window in … Continue reading “UPBEAT ON THE DOWNBEAT”
HE’LL CURE WHAT AILS YOU
His Highness Jeff IV recently welcomed a group of overseas students to the ASC Clubhouse. You can tell by their expressions that his powers of charm are in full effect. Maybe we should make him the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations…
A CLOSER LOOK
Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s post regarding Dumont’s Electronicam, here’s an article from the March 1956 issue of American Cinematographer featuring no less an authority than Arthur Miller, ASC’s review of the hybrid system. Miller was one of the giants of his day. Nominated six times for an Academy Award, he won … Continue reading “A CLOSER LOOK”
DUMONT’S ELECTRONICAM
American Cinematographer, March 1956 DuMont’s Electronicam was a hybrid TV/film camera system that allowed the recording of a live television production simultaneously on motion picture film. Designed and used by the DuMont Television Network in the mid‑’50s, it combined a standard live video camera (image orthicon tube) and a 35mm or 16mm film camera … Continue reading “DUMONT’S ELECTRONICAM”
BURIED TREASURE
George Spiro Dibie, ASC was a pioneering Palestinian-American cinematographer renowned for his extensive work in television sitcoms. Born in Jerusalem in 1931, he earned a scholarship to study film at Los Angeles City College and the Pasadena Playhouse. Entering Hollywood as an electrician on Cleopatra (1963; Leon Shamroy, ASC), he soon developed a working … Continue reading “BURIED TREASURE”
GAME TIME!
Anybody notice something odd, out-of-place…unusual about this ad? Barry Ackroyd, BSC is a splendid cinematographer and I’m certain that he had no say in what appeared on the page. But someone (more likely, a number of someones) in the Kodak world did. And clearly, they all made a mistake! I’m not going … Continue reading “GAME TIME!”