Collection search - Camouflage : What It Is and What It Does

Record information – Brief

1

Camouflage : What It Is and What It Does

Item number (ISN):

387663

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1917

Item number (ISN):

387663

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

KING, Bruce

Accession:

2008-0021

Media:

Film

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1917

Production company:

Daypho-Bray Productions Inc.

Distributor name:

Ontario Motion Picture Bureau

Description:

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An instructional film about Camouflage, that includes animation. Intertitle: The word camouflage is pronounced "Kam-oo-flazh". Freely translated it means disguise, concealment or distortion. Intertitle: During the first months of the war, loop-holes for rifles were made by omitting sand bags from the breast works. Animation of British trench with sandbags and German loop-holes. Intertitle: These dark spaces made excellent targets for enemy marksmen. Animation of firing at holes. Intertitle: Germany soon camouflaged her breastworks by placing black sand bags - it imitated loop-holes where there were none. Intertitle: Thus when the allies fired at the imitation loop-holes Germany's real rifle blinds replied. Animation of guns firing. Intertitle: France at once retaliated by planting her guns in a diagonal line of black sand bags. Intertitle: As it is impossible to aim accurately at points on a diagonal line Germany was here defeated. Intertitle: Distortion camouflage relies largely on counter shading to defeat natural light conditions. Man holds model of sphere on a stick to explain this. Intertitle: Thickness in an object casts a shadow, on the opposite the source of light. Intertitle: By countershading (painting the shadow portion white and the light portion dark) the object loses its appearance of thickness. Intertitle: The object thus countershaded becomes invisible when placed before a neutral background. Sphere is shown placed against a dark background. Intertitle: An example of nature's countershading - 90% protective when the animal is in his native woods. Caged deer. Intertitle: The silver pheasant shows the value of countershade as well as imitative coloring. Pheasants in snow. Intertitle: The same kind of imitative camouflage is used in Europe today to conceal war vehicles. An old camouflaged truck. Intertitle: Rules of distortion, concealment and disguise are all used to reduce the visibility of war vessels. Man painting a model battleship. Intertitle: Schemes for camouflage are worked out on small models in government laboratories. Model battleship shown in full camouflage. Short sequence of shots of camouflaged tank. <9mn 20s>

Language:

Silent with English intertitles

Notes:

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1. Brief subject description of this film in OMPB catalogue states: Camouflage. Nature and man made. Its use in war.~2. During World War I, J.R. Bray assigned Leventhal and Max Fleischer's units to create training and educational cartoons for the U.S. Army. ~3. Film ends abruptly. Immediately following is a short sequence of 58 feet of shots of camouflaged tanks unrelated to the film.~4. The word camouflage first entered the English language in 1917.~5. A review in The Moving Picture World vol. 24 no 10 Mar. 9 1918, p. 1360, states: "In the 108th issue of the Pictograph will be found an interesting explanation of the real meaning of the word 'camouflage," its proper pronunciation and illustrations of its practice." ~6. This film was made by Paramount-Bray Pictograph. All Pictograph animation at that time was done by Frank Lyle Goldman or F.W. Nirgeneau. (ML)
~7. Given the 90-year rule, copyright on this title has expired.
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Restrictions on consultation:

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Donor restrictions:

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Copyright status:

Copyright expired.

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Date modified:: 2024-07-04