Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

TITLES AND SPECIAL EFFECTS 209
at the beginning of the program. If the attention of the audience
can be captured then, and the contents are good enough, the
Hooper' phone girl will add another point to the Hooper when
she calls during the program. But if the introduction is not in-
teresting, who can blame the viewers for tuning to the wrestling?
Most backgrounds involve double exposures and a certain
amount of work, but to start with, only simple single exposure
shots will be considered, the background interest being confined
to the texture and composition of the material.
As television progresses, it will take more from the experience
of the movies and learn to dress up its productions to the Hollywood
level. Let it be added at once to prevent any charges of
self-contradiction that this is not intended to be a call for the
massive productions and tremendous expenses of Hollywood in
productions, but merely
for more finished work in the small de-
tails that go to make the difference between a fair show and an
excellent production. Titles are a case in point.
A plain card can be used as we have shown. This is easy and
lacks window dressing. Color, of course, is out for television, since
on a monochrome system there is no advantage to be gained by
its use, and it will be some time before color television is much
used. There are any number of interesting materials which can
be used with the title written or printed directly on them. Wall-
paper offers tremendous variety of scenes. Burlap or sacking takes
ink well and has an interesting texture for a travel film or native
story. Highly grained wood will show well and simulated wood
grain can be obtained on cardboard. Impressionistic titles can
be made by painting shadows and designs on cards. Or an air-
brush can be used to form finer, lighter details and build up a
world of fantasy.
The limit to backgrounds and materials which may
be used
is only in the imagination of the producer. For instance, if the title
card background scene is placed horizontally the letters in cut-
out form placed over it, and chalk or flour sprinkled over them,
removing the letters will leave softly rounded impressions
and an
interesting background. This type of title is eminently suitable for