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Fanfare, v. 2, issue 1, whole no. 7, August 1941
Page 12
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xii fanfare SLAN:DER Now there are two alternatives. Either toy trains, buses, cars, and airplanes can be made to move toward the nation's capital (marked on a large map) from all points thru the medium of animation, or a series of shots of swiftly moving racing cars, trains, airplanes, ships, and submarines can be montagued in one shot. Once the camera is dragged into Washington and the convention gets under way, the problem will be not how to fill up the film, but how to keep from filling up too much. Expense? Quite a few fans have cinemachines, so no cost on that score. Film is about $7 per hundred feet, and four hundred feet should be ample. Processing is included in this price, so see no reason why costs should be over thirty dollars. The film could then be mailed out to all the cliques in fandom and a small fee charged for its rental. Each movie taken at a convention would be a feature for the convention following it. There are a large number of fans who could write a very decent script, foremost among which are Tucker, Ackerman, the Fuodurians, and Fischer. (*Don't forget Art Gnaedinger!) Tucker could be official editor, and considering the fine job he did on that MONSTERS OF THE MOON thing, a more suitable one could not be found. Color costs too much, and is not at all necessary, but sound would be a very valuable addition. I don't know of anyone in fandom who has been able to afford an ECA 16mm recording camera, so voice recording is doubtless out of the question. Not so music. Warner could arrange a very satisfactory score for any fan opus, I know. Not that he'd be expected to write the score, of course; that's too tremendous a job to ask of anyone; but it would be simple for him to select excerpts from the classics suitable for dubbing in at the proper spots, an amazingly effective device when properly done. There are several companies that will record sound on film for a quite low price. I haven't studied this stuff in so long, tho, that I'm hazy on the details, and am not sure whether it can be dubbed in on silent film. If I remember rightly, which I probably do not, the sound film has only perforations for one sprocket, the silent cameras might not take it, being made with two sprockets for the silent film. How about it, Tuck? The idea of fan dramas is a fascinating one, too, and one that the Los Angeles bunch is well-qualified to handle. Perhaps a drama could be made at the conventions, with most of the top fans participating. Backgrounds, such as a mad scientist's castle, rocket ships, and such stuffory could be concocted beforehand with the aid of miniatures, and canned, then spliced in at the proper places later. Imagine Misko as a mad Russian; Widner as Giles Habibbula; Ackerman as a superman; Pogo or Trudy as the sweet young thing; old "Hiss and Tell" Keenig as the kindly old scientist with a bright word for everyone; and Tucker as the wily oriental; Bradbury as the dashing young hero. And Gilbert, of course, is a natural for the monster. I view with no alarm whatever, but with a great deal of pleasure the long overdue, but happily unavoidable collapse of about half the pro magaines in the near future. Not as a result of the simple fact that they stink, but because the pro writers are going to desert them for more fertile fields. The reason is concrete and quite unromantic. Low word rates and the necessity for too much slanting, with little probability of reselling if a story flops in the market it is slanted for. Why should any sensible hack writer work his head off on a story for TWS at half-cent rates when a western is immensely easier to write and pays much bet-
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xii fanfare SLAN:DER Now there are two alternatives. Either toy trains, buses, cars, and airplanes can be made to move toward the nation's capital (marked on a large map) from all points thru the medium of animation, or a series of shots of swiftly moving racing cars, trains, airplanes, ships, and submarines can be montagued in one shot. Once the camera is dragged into Washington and the convention gets under way, the problem will be not how to fill up the film, but how to keep from filling up too much. Expense? Quite a few fans have cinemachines, so no cost on that score. Film is about $7 per hundred feet, and four hundred feet should be ample. Processing is included in this price, so see no reason why costs should be over thirty dollars. The film could then be mailed out to all the cliques in fandom and a small fee charged for its rental. Each movie taken at a convention would be a feature for the convention following it. There are a large number of fans who could write a very decent script, foremost among which are Tucker, Ackerman, the Fuodurians, and Fischer. (*Don't forget Art Gnaedinger!) Tucker could be official editor, and considering the fine job he did on that MONSTERS OF THE MOON thing, a more suitable one could not be found. Color costs too much, and is not at all necessary, but sound would be a very valuable addition. I don't know of anyone in fandom who has been able to afford an ECA 16mm recording camera, so voice recording is doubtless out of the question. Not so music. Warner could arrange a very satisfactory score for any fan opus, I know. Not that he'd be expected to write the score, of course; that's too tremendous a job to ask of anyone; but it would be simple for him to select excerpts from the classics suitable for dubbing in at the proper spots, an amazingly effective device when properly done. There are several companies that will record sound on film for a quite low price. I haven't studied this stuff in so long, tho, that I'm hazy on the details, and am not sure whether it can be dubbed in on silent film. If I remember rightly, which I probably do not, the sound film has only perforations for one sprocket, the silent cameras might not take it, being made with two sprockets for the silent film. How about it, Tuck? The idea of fan dramas is a fascinating one, too, and one that the Los Angeles bunch is well-qualified to handle. Perhaps a drama could be made at the conventions, with most of the top fans participating. Backgrounds, such as a mad scientist's castle, rocket ships, and such stuffory could be concocted beforehand with the aid of miniatures, and canned, then spliced in at the proper places later. Imagine Misko as a mad Russian; Widner as Giles Habibbula; Ackerman as a superman; Pogo or Trudy as the sweet young thing; old "Hiss and Tell" Keenig as the kindly old scientist with a bright word for everyone; and Tucker as the wily oriental; Bradbury as the dashing young hero. And Gilbert, of course, is a natural for the monster. I view with no alarm whatever, but with a great deal of pleasure the long overdue, but happily unavoidable collapse of about half the pro magaines in the near future. Not as a result of the simple fact that they stink, but because the pro writers are going to desert them for more fertile fields. The reason is concrete and quite unromantic. Low word rates and the necessity for too much slanting, with little probability of reselling if a story flops in the market it is slanted for. Why should any sensible hack writer work his head off on a story for TWS at half-cent rates when a western is immensely easier to write and pays much bet-
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