A Day in the Life of LIFE
The projector is turned on and the movie screen is instantly filled with light. The title on the screen proclaims boldly, "December 1, 1947," and suddenly an authoritative voice says, "When safety’s a must….. it’s Prestone anti-freeze!" The picture of the tow truck pulling the car out of a ditch along the snow covered curve is seen while the announcer keeps speaking. "America’s most vital cars…the cars of police chiefs, fire marshals, doctors, tow-car drivers….and millions of average motorists depend on ‘Prestone’ anti-freeze for protection. It’s SAFE!"
The black and white photo of the young girl riding her bicycle is accompanied by the sound of "Rollfast bicycles… styled for beauty." The watercolor of a young woman, a smiling blonde, is shown and to the right of her a handsome gentleman in a brown suit and hat is peering through a half-open kitchen door. "What’s cookin’ Good lookin’?" The camera pans down to see the pot on the stove and a feminine voice says, "When my husband greets me like that, he’s brought home his appetite. I just couldn’t keep house without Cambell’s Soups. They’re so tempting and nourishing and…a real life saver for us young-marrieds."
The pastel image of a shiny chrome plated red automobile is entering the screen from the left. A young boy carrying a Christmas wreath is advancing toward the car. "More of everything you want with Mercury! Your Christmas will be much more enjoyable if it includes a Mercury….the car that gives you more of everything! Like roominess? Here’s more of it! Pickup and go? Definitely more! More beauty? Mercury has it! Mercury – Division of Ford Motor Company."
The grand glass-walled coach safely carried none other than Princess Elizabeth. "A ROYAL WEDDING BRINGS JOY TO BRITAIN" and "London Awaits Great Procession" are the words that fill the screen followed by black & white breathtaking photographs of thousands of Londoners greeting the bride’s coach as it enters Trafalgar Square. The camera pans along some medium close-up shots of the ladies wrapped in coats, hats, and scarfs. "Eager spectators begin gathering along the procession route at about 3 p.m. the day before the wedding. They were not dismayed by a dismal early morning drizzle. Some brought stools, chairs, blankets, even mattresses, but most of them just huddled on the curbs near Westminster Abbey and tried, awake or asleep, to hold their places." The next few shots are all black and white still photos that captured the moment and now stand the test of time as historical treasures caught on film. "Princess Elizabeth, moving cautiously because of her 15-foot train, steps from the Royal Coach with a hand from King George (back to camera)." "Servants from the King’s household don gloves before entering the Abbey" "Shower of Rose Petals swirls about the heads of Elizabeth and Philip as they leave Buckingham Palace." The final shot is of the Queen Victoria Memorial surrounded by what looks like the entire city of London. "All day the crowd sang British ballads like All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor, later shifted to American musical-comedy favorites like You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun." "After the ceremony the lovers go home but nobody else does."
The idea of my latest Super-8 movie short was born on a cold wintry day while perusing through three LIFE magazines that I had purchased the previous summer for a ten dollar bill. When making that purchase at a local flea market I had spent about twenty minutes leafing through the many old issues for sale, all from the 1930s, 40s, or 50s. LIFE magazine was an oversized weekly loaded with large pictures and stories that covered the news, celebrities, and human interest stories of the day. I chose just one of my three LIFE magazines for the movie, A Day in the Life of LIFE, but each of these issues, and probably almost any issue of the time from LIFE, or LOOK (another magazine with a similar format) could easily be the subject of a short film. The premise is simple but effective: Highlight some of the articles and advertisements of a single issue by photographing the still pictures and adding narration to read the copy from the ads or captions under the photos.
To keep the film entertaining, I use a technique frequently used by today’s documentary filmmakers such as Ken Burns, who, by panning and slow zooms, can bring zest to any still photograph. I also like to take a close-up or two of details within a picture, and follow up with a straight cut to the entire image, and sometimes angle a picture or move the camera to show that picture from a different viewpoint. If a movie camera has a single frame advance nearly anything can be done – even having the picture spin wildly in circles before stopping just by filming the circulating magazine one frame at a time.
To further keep one’s interest I found it best to use several narrators, thus giving each article or advertisement a voice of its own, just as if they were radio ads of their day. Finally, a few sound effects thrown in here and there add some sparkle to the soundtrack.
This little filmmaking exercise is a perfect opportunity to do something creative during the cold, snowy, or rainy days when one naturally feels lethargic. These old magazines are plentiful enough and usually at no more than $5 a piece. They don’t have to be in perfect condition either, just so the inside pages aren’t severely ripped or stained. Most often, these magazines can be found in very good condition and in quantity at a variety of antique dealers or flea markets.
Many of the advertisements (even in the 40s) were drawings in full color, or two color, which give the film greater variety when interspersed with the usual black & white photographs accompanying the articles. It doesn’t take much to make an entertaining short film with this idea, as the magazines are fascinating enough by themselves.
"Movie of the Week: Gentleman’s Agreement." The picture is of a determined Gregory Peck and the narrator adds,"Writer Philip Green (Gregory Peck) pretending to be a jew, meets anti-semitism face to face."
"Television: It is a commercial reality but not yet an art." The screen is filled with the words PLEASE STAND BY and the voiceover reads, "Printed slides, as in oldtime movies, announce coming shows and ask the public’s indulgence when errors of timing cause blank intervals." A distorted black and white photo of a woman swallowing a sword is seen. "Except for news and sports the fare is mediocre to bad."
"Who is This Witch? The close-up of the witch is gruesome. Long stringy black hair on an old face with deepset fixated eyes and a distorted nose. The woman is carrying a teapot but there is also the wooden handle in her hands of what appears to be a broomstick. "This ugly crone is a famous actress who delights in playing an occasional prank. On Halloween she burst into the home of Director Victor Fleming, circled him on her broom and left, trailing a shrill, cackling laugh. A little later she terrified Director Alfred Hitchcock with the same act. Her name: Ingrid Bergman."
"Speaking of Pictures….cartoonist creates a weird and haunting world." The screen is filled with a pencil and charcoal cartoon drawing of a man in a subway car. The man is sitting all alone, completely naked, and has large feet and an even longer nose, which touches the floor. The camera pans to the right to see a group of people gathered together laughing at the man. They are naked too. Another shot shows a city street full of naked people going in all directions, perhaps on their way to or from work. But one man is very short, and in fact is nothing more than a head and two feet. He stands about one third the height of the others. The narrator reads the caption, "Sometimes everything’s unreal."
The picture on the movie screen bursts with color and is literally a picture on a movie screen, of a little boy and girl surrounding a birthday cake. In front of the tripod screen is the family on both sides of a movie projector, watching and pointing in fascination at the images. "The gift of pleasure all will treasure. Children are such natural home movie ‘stars’! What more priceless pleasure can you give than a permanent record of their precious talents." "The Revere Eight, Projector for $120 and Turret Camera for $110."
These magazines provided a permanent record of their time, with the novelty of pictures. A Day in the Life of LIFE presents a record of a magazine in a novel way of its own, and filmed with a Super-8 camera not much different than that Revere Eight shown in the advertisement fifty five years ago.
--- Chris Cottrill
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