Secrets of Nature

Transcript (Download)

Day 1 Secrets of plant life guarded by nature through the ages are being recorded on film, television, The film is produced by John Hott, one of the world's foremost authorities on stop motion photography, the amazing technique that brings flowers into bloom before our eyes.

His studio is the specially constructed greenhouse behind his suburban Chicago home, stocked with countless varieties of flowers and thousands of dollars worth of cameras and timing devices needed for his experiments in stop motion or time lapse photography.

A single picture of each flower is taken at five minute intervals for several months, then the individual pictures can be speeded up so that twenty -four a second pass before our eyes on the screen.

An intricate control board regulates the equipment used in making the photographs.

Floodlights are used when each picture is taken so that the exposure is the same every time.

In this way, stop motion photographs can be taken day or night, dark days or bright.

Lights flash on as a camera records another in the hundreds of pictures, which join together now at ten thousand times normal speed capture the rhythm and grace of a blooming cactus flower.

Next, Hott films two hibiscus blossoms as they swirl into bloom.

Shuttles can be closed to eliminate outside light and cameras set in motion by an electric motor Hott has connected to a clock.

Here, daffodils open in a symphony of motion.

There are other uses of stop motion photography too.

It has become a valuable tool in cancer research.

The camera is harnessed to a high powered microscope to study the action of cancerous cells fed blood plasma through two rubber tubes on each side of the dish.

In movies taken picture by picture every six seconds, the cells actually divide and multiply as they might in the human body.

Here is another fascinating set of stop motion photographs of hybrid corn this time with a grain of pollen at top left growing out, pulling away and penetrating the corn silk.

Scientists studying the feverish activity of the pollen, busily discharging the protoplasmic material that's contained in each grain, may find important clues in their studies of hay fever and other allergies.

Here are two sets of bean seeds planted to learn the effects of a certain fertilizer on their growth.

Bursting from the seeds, the roots probe deeper and deeper into the earth while the bean plant itself struggles to the surface.

We can see that the four on the left grew more quickly than those on the right.

And now nature and photography blended by John Ott, a symphony in flowers.

A bud of a rhododendron native to Asia, Europe and North America.

Its clusters are of many shades and colors.

Akin to the azaleas, the large -leaved, large -flowered rhododendron ripples into bloom.

Next, the hibiscus again, an American garden favorite.

And here, a camellia bud.

A native of Japan and China, thriving in very cool weather, the camellia is cultivated in greenhouses for its delicate blossoms.

This is the night -blooming Sirius, a member of the cactus family, which opens only at night to reveal its funnel -shaped flowers.

The Sirius folds its petals during the day to bloom again another night.

A brilliant climax, the beauty of the Amaryllis, caught by the camera through the magic of John Ott's stop -motion photography.

Identifier

F.2005-01-0086

Date Of Production

1951

Abstract

A film that celebrates the work of John Ott while documenting the different uses of stop-motion photography- from cancer research to the effects of fertilizer on bean sprouts. Part of the Nature's Wonderland series.

Log

00:08 - Titles: Nature’s Wonderland, presenting the wondrous Secrets of Nature- followed by a title card explaining that the News Magazine reviews the work of John Ott. Var. LS and MS following John Ott in his garden and greenhouse as narrator explains how he uses time-lapse photography. Documents Ott’s set-up of floodlights, cameras and flowers in CU and MS as well as Ott at work, intercut with var. flowers blooming in CU.
02:12 - Narrator moves to other uses of stop-motion photography. Var. CU and MS of scientist and microscope. ECU of stop-motion cell division under a miscroscope.
02:51 - Var. ECU of hybrid corn and pollen under a microscope. The stop-motion movement of protoplasm may help in studying hay fever.
03:21 - CU of two sets of four bean seeds sprouting. The roots grow into the soil and the plant breaks the surface to reveal the effects of fertilizer on one set versus the other.
03:48-5:20 - MS of John Ott at a camera in his greenhouse followed by a sequence of flowers blooming in CU. The narrator gives a brief background on the flowers as they appear. Includes the Rhodedendron, Hibiscus, Camellia, a night blooming Cereus, and finally the Amaryllis.

Run Time

0:05:33

Format

16mm

Extent

190 feet

Color

B&W

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Print

Genre

Documentary
Educational

Form

Short

Subject

Photography
Flowers
Science

Related Collections

Subseries II: Collected Professional Films

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Participants And Performers

Ott, John Nash Jr. (is participant)

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