Dartmouth in Films
BY means of a new motion picture studio opened last month in Fairbanks Hall, Dartmouth for the first time is now in a position to produce sound-synchronized movies of professional quality. The new unit, under Dartmouth College Films, has Robert L. Allen '45, Assistant Secretary of the College, as its production chief.
"Our aim," says Mr. Allen, "is to produce for use in television stations throughout the country a series of motion pictures of general appeal that will explain Dartmouth and higher education in a liberal arts college." Although aimed primarily at the general public, some of these sound movies will also be used in the classroom and by alumni groups.
With the technical assistance of Prof. Almon B. Ives of the Speech Department, the new unit has already made its first film, on using gestures, showing how important they are in speaking and communicating effectively. Student actors were used in this first production and it is expected that in nearly all the films they will act and also assist in the sound control room, in setting up lighting, and in designing scenery and costumes. Their work, as a sort of "learning by doing" program, will be supervised by Mr. Allen, production chief, J. Blair Watson Jr., director for the production unit, and Adrian Bouchard, chief cameraman.
The Dartmouth Film Production Unit is housed in the former Clark School gymnasium, which has been completely renovated to permit the use of the latest audiovisual equipment and techniques. The recording devices are housed in a special soundproof control room. An acoustical ceiling, a special electric power supply, a cutting and editing room, with necessary screening and audio equipment, and offices and storage areas make the former gym a complete, small studio.
With the first film already shot, plans for the next one are under way. Several possibilities are being considered, among them a movie showing how Paul Sample '20, Dartmouth's artist in residence, goes about painting one of the New England scenes for which he is so widely known.
