Front Line, The
Front Line, The is a short film from 1965 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
How to be an effective supermarket checker.
Stock shots: Excellent stock shots of consumer products; Special K, Diet Rite Cola; Hormel Chili; Campbell's soups; Dole pineapple; stop motion animation of food products; trading stamps; lots of closeups of cash registers; collecting money; many women with filled shopping carts charge the checkout counters; CU woman's mouth crying help; how to pack a grocery sack; silhouettes of women's heads with colored backgrounds; exploitation of workers; women; sexism [references to grown women as girls etc.] Voiceover: "Some people call this a war. War or not, one thing is for sure, a daily battle is being waged in supermarkets all over this country, a battle for the customer's dollar."
10:48:14:28 VS supermarket employees restocking shelves; CU disembodied hands wrap head of lettuce in plastic; man restocks Campbell Soup cans occupying three banks on supermarket shelf
10:48:22:20 CU disembodied hands wrap two onions in plastic on a foam tray; disembodied hands cut tops of celery stocks off; man stockroom pushes dolly with cases of Heinz Ketchup and Tomato Juice, dissolves to customers shopping cart wheeled down supermarket aisle.
10:48:39:24 CU disembodied hands restock Scot Towels paper towels on shelf; Cu disembodied hands place box of Pecan Shortbread cookies on shelf beside boxes of oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies; 1950s women shopping in supermarket
10:48:43:15 CU stop-motion animation of pink Trend dishwashing soap for 69 cents restocking shelf.
10:48:50:13 Stop-motion animation of cases of Diet-Rite Cola bottles stacking up on top of each other; cases of Pepsi in bottles on shelf in background.
10:48:54:15 CU disembodied hand places two cans of Hormel Chili on shelf; disembodied hand cuts of bad piece of celery.
10:48:58:10 VS 1950s shoppers in supermarket at checkout registers waiting in line 10:49:08:17 CU disembodied hand typing in purchases on supermarket register; CU disembodied hand puts money in cash tray then pushes tray back into the register; VS woman rung up at the register; CU disembodied hand types in purchases on register buttons; disembodied hand counts out change; VS 1960s female customers rung up at supermarket register.
10:50:15:12 1960s cars in big city pull up to traffic light; CU traffic changes from red to yellow to green; zoom in on green traffic light.
10:50:39:24 VS on surreal set of supermarket checkout with monochrome green background; high-angle shot spot lights checkout registers and three 1960s female checkers; three checkers are introduced, Ruth Buckley of B&B supermarkets in Tampa, Florida, International Checker of the Year in 1964; Pat Hilton of Alpha-Beta Supermarket ,La Habra, California, International Checker of the Year in 1962; Rose Delavino of Star Market in Cambridge, Mass., Checker of the Year in 1963; young woman behind checkout counter by magazine rack is introduced, Woman s Day magazine, Reader s Digest and the TV Guide on rack, young woman puts key in cash register to turn it on.
10:51:56:18 VS CU disembodied hand puts key in cash register to turn it on, zoom out to checker counting money in cash tray; monochrome green light projection for background gives surreal quality to set; woman cleans the checkout counter then fixes her hair
10:52:59:22 CU back of woman s head as she fixes her hair, zoom out to female shopper with son approaches counter; pan up woman shopping cart which contains various products including Purina Dog Chow and NesQuik, boy wearing white sweater with chocolate smeared on his face leans on the cart; background changes from green to yellow as woman begins to unload her groceries from cart onto the conveyor belt; VS checkers checking out customers on surreal set with surreal color changing backdrop from green to yellow to red; CU disembodied hand punches in item codes and prices on register.
10:54:39:10 CU Pillsbury Flour, Dole canned pineapple, Alcoa Wrap, Green Giant Green Beans, Velveeta Cheese on supermarket checkout, disembodied checker s hands grab the various products; CU various amounts ring up on register; CU disembodied hand grabs can of Heinz Spaghetti sauce with cheese; VS surreal supermarket checkout
10:55:25:11 CU top of Nescafe coffee can on sale; CU confused look on young woman s face as she trees to read the price tag; VS woman ringing up groceries on register, surreal yellow light projection for background.
10:55:56:11 CU six cans of Campbell s soup move on supermarket checkout conveyor toward camera, pan over tops of Campbell s soup cans marked 3 for 35 cents and one 3 for 55 cents
10:56:07:09 CU two cans of Dole pineapple move on conveyor toward camera; CU tops of cans marked 33 and 39 cents; VS checker ringing up woman at supermarket checkout; CU various products stacking up at end of conveyor line: Saram Wrap, Beads o Bleach, Betty Crocker Cake Mix, Campbell s Soup can, Kraft Swiss cheese, Sunnybrook carton of eggs, Kellog gs Corn Flakes
10:56:37:20 CU 1.43 on cash register zoom out to young female checker checking out very large woman; woman hands checker wad of cash; CU disconcerted young checker s face background changes from projection of green to yellow light; CU stern woman holds up check for 100 dollars; checker takes check and looks distressed; CU cash register reads 24.95, background light projection changes from yellow to red, pan over to disembodied hand holding various coupons
10:57:51:09 MS checker with 1960s bouffant hair style looks down at groceries, pan down to disembodied arm of checker sifting through various products on checkout counter: Brillo, Maxwell House Coffee, 7-Up bottles, Kleenex
10:58:29:21 CU disembodied hand tears NCR trading stamps from bottom of cash register.
10:58:40:21 Disembodied hand of checker hands customer coupons, zoom out to young checker bagging the groceries using brown paper bags; customer obnoxiously shows checker her push cart so that she will put her groceries in the cart.
I0:59:12:14 Surreal shot on all white set of about 10 shoppers, 7 female, pushing shopping carts toward camera as though in a charge; CU distressed young woman s face, zooms into woman s mouth as she screams.
10:59:19:14 CU checker bagging groceries in brown paper bag, brown bag dissolves into clear bag in form of a brown paper bag to show how checker bags grocers; cans on the bottom then box of Kleenex, Push n Boots Pamper cat litter, Nescafe, Alcoa Wrap, Brillo, Windex, General Mills Bran & Raisin Flakes, S. Rosen s Bread, Pepperidge Farm Bread.
11:00:01:03 VS Young checker smiles goodbye to customer then proceeds to check out the next customer; high-angle shot on surreal supermarket checkout set with monochrome green light projection background; VS checkers checking out customers, pan over checkout counters
11:01:02:21 CU disembodied hand presses amount buttons on register; VS checkers on surreal set checking out customers, suddenly lights go out except for monochrome light projected green background, black frozen silhouettes of checkers and customers; background turns yellow then red then green, then dissolves to a real grocery story checkout; box of Kellogg's Special K cereal; young checker checks out various customer| Front Line, The | |
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| Produced by | Niles (Fred) Communications Centers, Inc. |
Production companies | Niles (Fred) Communications Centers, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Niles (Fred) Communications Centers, Inc. |
Release date | 1965 |
Running time | 14:56 |
| Language | English |
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