George Alfred Mitchell

George Alfred Mitchell (born February 18, 1889 in the United States , † April 16, 1980 in Pasadena , Los Angeles County , California , United States) was an American inventor and filmmaker who was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1953 for his achievements in the camera sector was awarded.

biography

Mitchell, who lived in Tennessee around 1900 , got his first simple camera as a young boy. From this he became interested in everything related to photography. During his apprenticeship as a machinist, he continued to experiment and developed photos for postcards in a darkroom he had improvised in the bathroom of the house. During his time with the United States Army Signal Corps , he moved to Alaska in 1907. Because of his previous experience, he received photo assignments there. After Mitchell finished his military service in 1911, he went to California. There he worked as a mechanic for the Frese Optical Company in Los Angeles, a company mainly engaged in the maintenance and repair of surveying equipment. The film industry began in and around Los Angeles during this period. Since the camera equipment had to be overhauled from time to time, the Frese company became the center of this work.

Back then, cameras were still hard to come by, most of the devices did not come from the USA and were therefore not protected by US patents. Mitchell was hired by the Frese boss to make copies of Pathe and Williamson, two of the most popular camera models. Mitchell faithfully recreated several of these cameras. His love for photography came to the fore again in this work, so that he decided to switch to the film industry as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Around 1916 Mitchell was hired by Universal Pictures to take over their camera service. Overall director of the Universal Photographic Department and Laboratory at the time was John M. Nickolaus, known as Mr. Nick. William "Daddy" Paley, one of the first American cameramen, was also working there at the time. He later became an honorary member of the American Society of Cinematographers. His new job brought Mitchell into contact with many cameramen, which contributed to his skill in solving problems with cameras.

In 1917 and 1918 Mitchell was involved in series for Universal as the second cameraman and also filmed for newsreels . When Universal came to a standstill because of a flu epidemic, Mitchell was asked by his old employer, Frese, to return to work as an instrument maker. His first assignment was to modify a film camera for color photography. In 1919 he founded the National Motion Picture Repair Co. together with Henry F. Boeger, which later bore the name Mitchell Camera Corporation. Their first camera was the purchased patented design by John E. Leonard from 1917, which became known as the Mitchell Standard from 1920. In October 1920, Mitchell had completed a working model for a new camera that was now to be tested. It was thanks to the influence of his friend Charles G. Rosher and the approval of Mary Pickford that the prototype of his camera was used as the third camera in Pickford's feature film The Love Light . The suitability of his camera could thus be proven.

Since Mitchell had patents on his name, Henry F. Boeger, a retired woodcutter and new owner of the camera company, gave him one-sixth of the company and made him chief designer. He changed the company's name to "Mitchell Camera Corporation". The new Mitchell camera received recognition from both cameramen and producers in Hollywood. Charles J. Van Enger was one of the first to work with her, as were Arthur C. Miller , Sol Polito and René Guissart .

In the following years Mitchell improved his camera further, for example he equipped it with a high-speed movement. Even when the slowly expanding sound film became a problem for the cameras due to the volume of movement, Mitchell scored with the fact that his camera was the quietest, making it the preferred camera for sound films. Mitchell rose to the new challenge and redesigned his standard model. In order to get a grip on the problem of camera noise, Mitchell began developing a new camera. With the Blimped News Camera (BNC) model, he was able to reduce the noise to a minimum. The model was not granted quick success as the country found itself in an economic depression in the 1930s. The first two models were sold to Samuel Goldwyn Productions, where Gregg Toland used the camera in 1939 for the film Sturmhöhe , which earned him an Oscar. Toland also used this camera in the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane . BNC cameras were also used in Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein's film Ivan the Terrible . Mitchell's camera has been used all over the world since 1945.

In March 1934 Mitchell left the company in which he was involved. William Fox induced him to return to the company in 1944. The factory was relocated from West Hollywood to Glendale and greatly expanded. In the late 1950s, the company introduced the Mitchell Reflex 3mm camera, which was further improved and became known as the Mitchell System 35.

In 1953 Mitchell was presented with an honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on the grounds: "George Alfred Mitchell for designing and developing the camera that bears his name and for his continued and dominant presence in the field of cinematography ."

Mitchell was an honorary member of the American Society of Cinematographers (AMPAS), the industry's highest award. He received the ASC Milestone Award in 1966 for his contributions to cinematography.

Awards

• 1939, 1966, 1968: Academy Award for Technical Achievement to the Mitchell Camera Company
• Academy Awards 1953 : Honorary Oscar for his achievements in the camera sector
• 1966: ASC Milestone Award
• Honorary member of AMPAS

literature

• Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers : SMPTE Journal: Publication of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. : Volume 89. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Scarsdale, NY, 1980, p. 694.
• Anthony Slide: The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Taylor and Francis, Hoboken, 2014, p. 128.

Web links

• George Alfred Mitchell in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Mitchell Camera Corporation sS backlotstage7.wordpress.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ George Alfred Mitchell , US Social Security Death Directory (SSDI), accessed October 20, 2018
2. ↑ Honorary Award sSoscars.org (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Robert V. Kern: The Mitchell Camera Story sS mitchellcamera.com