PHOTOGRAPHY -11

 PHOTOGRAPHY -11

Filters for special effects

Literally a craze of sorts pervaded the South Indian Film Industry around 1980- a period vivid for a boom in colour movies , punctuated by a free trade among select Nations for film stock, processing machines which eliminated the the state of keeping one’s fingers crossed , having  sent the film for processing/ printing to Chennai/ Bombay /Calcutta /Bangalore and one or two stations deep down South. The whole work was a guarded secret that heavily leaned on Darkroom technology and Technicians. When the trade got relaxed from the shackles of manual skill, thanks to some mechanized processing systems that could handle a larger number of films through a series of systematic treatments in sequence under appropriate temperature regimes. Per working sessions 15-20 film rolls would emerge –thoroughly processed and fit for printing in the immediate follow-up session. Still, it needed a well-trained technician or two to print the frames on a long tape-like paper stock , bulk processed and handed over in a few hours. SO, STILL PHOTOGRAPHY witnessed a surge in sale/use of photo consumables,film, paper, albums, gift mounts and similar articles.  Thus , special effect filters gained attention and demand among amateurs who by then had a fair idea of SLR Photography.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Honestly, all special effects are just artificial exaggerations , baffling the viewer of some ‘mesmerising trick’. Some optical accessory mounted on to a camera can alter the components in a scene to have been ‘re-done’ as verbatim repeats making it look out of the world. Often prism-like cuts on a glass generate similar images with in a frame. On Printing, all of them occur in a page –as if they were individually brought out.

GRADED FILTERS

These have been in wider use among cinematographers than among still photographers. These have gradations of a tinge progressively increasing from one end to the other. The ‘on screen’ effect was,  the scene would reveal progresive shift in colour density-blue/ green / red , just to enhance the romantic element of the scene.

STAR EFFECT

Among all workers a general desire is to bringoff sparkle from any pointed light source like the oil wick lamp.In order that the light source ‘throws up’ a sparkle, a glass fiter with lines crossing each other was used in the name of star filter, At all intersections of lines, the burning lamp forms a star like sparkle , making the picture quite enjoyable

LENS MASK

Lens masks are half circles of opaque material like plastic or fibre, so as to shield the camera lens from light. As a result, only half of the frame in a film receives light and the other half remains fit for another image registering. This is the basic strategy in bringing out pictures with the same person presented side by side –as if two members were picturised together;this feature was widely exploited in movies to portray an actor –as playing different roles. [popular as double role or double act in Indian par lance] However, in order that twin images are registered in a frame or on a  stretch of film, the camera ought to stay ‘rock steady’ with no shift in position. Several criteria determine the success of exposures .

1 Camera stays ‘anchored’

2 lens mask is precisely shifted to throw open the hidden half.

3. the person’captured’ makes self distinct by dress or hair style to make self look radically distinct in the  2 halves.

4 LIGHT in the 2 halves shall be uniform to pass off as a single exposure.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS.

Old cameras had no barriers to carry out 2 or more exposures on the same frame. This resulted in mutiple [unintended]exposures on a frame ruining all pictures. Places of tourist interest were lost from photos by inadvertent multiple exposures.

Later versions of Camera had fool-proof impediments to compel moving the film to next frame before the next exposure. It saved all images from inept practices; but it also prevented attempts of double exposure tricks even for advanced wokers.

Some manufacturers [Leitz- LEICA]  brought out camera designs that would permit a second exposure by a special button which would help our retrieving the used frame back to the exposure gate by winding a reverse gear. The design was so perfect that the exact limits of the frame  were held in precise spots to avoid displacement between exposures. It was a boon to still photography.

Cine cameras have aways had sensible designs to recall ‘already shot footages ‘ for a second exposure to register twin roles of the same person. It was facilitated by a counter [with frames precisely numbered] that can be kept track of. The technician notes the frame number to recall the film back to that numberfor a second exposure. All movements of frames –forward or backward  was precise and fool proof to eliminate any watage of film stok.

Cine-Wizard A Vincent had devised an altogether distinct style of registering twin images of the same actor on the  same film stretches. He developed a special strategy called LIGHTING MASK, meaning the two halves were held in dark alternately by precisely lighting one half each time.His work in UTHAMAPUTHTHIRAN using lighting mask was unpecedented and also it eliminated a faint median line marking the two halves in twin exposure shots noticeable in many movies of that era. He also has the credit ‘out of box thinking’ by choosing to shoot against orange backdrops in place of traditinal grey background.

To Continue … K.Raman