Target USA

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Moving Image:Target USA
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Target USA is a short film from 1951/07 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.

Great civil defense imagery; empty Manhattan streets; signs; sirens; people running and squeezing into shelters; panic; people waiting in shelters; civil defense planners with building models.

21:03:25:25 Men working in automobile factory; assembly line.

21:05:17:26 Surreal atomic or hydrogen bomb explosion; mushroom cloud.

21:05:34:02 VS map illustrating six explosion radii; CU one bull’s eye explosion radius animated with cartoon ambulance and fire trucks pulling into scene; bull’s eyes on map turn into periscope view into cartoon renderings of each target on the ground.

21:07:50:15 MS profile of serious man wearing large metal glasses and suit in his fifties, typing on typewriter at desk; stops typing, removes glasses, faces camera and begins to address camera.

21:09:34:29 CU Middle-age man consulting “Defense Organization Chart.”

21:09:39:06 VS men in suits gathered around table with two models of building; man leading group pulls out blue prints and points at features of building on drawing.

21:10:01:22 Cartoon rendering of hallway in building interior; two exit doors circled in red; cartoon rendering of shelter in basement, two exits in shelter circled in red; zoom in three open windows in shelter being covered three metal window shields unlatched from ceiling above windows inside shelter.

21:10:28:19 CU man tacks paper on to “Air Raid Security Bulletin” board; CU man tapes “Shelter Zone” sign onto grey brick wall; CU man stencils “To Air Raid Shelter” onto whitewashed brick wall; CU “Public Shelter” sign.

21:10:47:24 Rows of male and female workers in factory workshop soldering parts into machines; all at once get up for drill and follow “Shelter Zone” signs to bomb shelter; CU men and women’s feet scurrying to shelter.

21:20:01:22 CU man showing three other men the exits and routes to shelter on building floor plan on wall.

21:20:13:26 Strangely artificial looking shot of broken window, reddish brown dirt falls outside window.

21:20:17:19 Vacant desk with papers scatter about; ceiling caves in and reddish brown dirt pours all over desk.

21:20:23:08 VS CU men grab fire extinguishers.

21:20:28:16 VS injured man with dirty face and burned shirt has arm injury treated by doctor in mask; CU doctor removing sanitary bandage to wrap man’s arm wound; CU doctor’s first aid supplies gauze, bandages and Vaseline.

21:20:42:09 CU man flips switches and reads dial.

21:20:43:29 VS business people and workers exiting shelter and returning to work; workers filtering back into work stations in workshop; female clerical workers returning to desks with typewriters in office.

21:21:08:16 Old nurse seated in chair reads magazine, looks up, camera follows gaze along row of empty cots.

21:21:22:00 Large office of mostly men working at large drafting tables.

21:21:32:26 Woman slides papers into large old-fashioned photocopier.

21:21:34:15 VS men wearing blue-gray workers jumpsuits working in automobile factory; workers in row working at large blue and red machines on car tire rims; workers assembling car frame.

21:21:43:02 MS man and woman working side by side in workshop soldering electronics.

21:21:49:06 Large mob of workers just outside factory marching walking toward camera.

21:23:55:05 VS bustling downtown area (New York ?); pedestrians pass camera on street.

21:24:13:26 Woman reading magazine in chair with mushroom cloud illustrated on cover, closes magazine, looks distraught; camera pans to little boy lying on floor at mother’s feet playing with toy airplane.

21:26:28:05 Great shot of all fifty states cut out from map jumbled together in pile on blue background reassembled in stop-motion animation.

21:28:03:12 Military with headphones on and microphone in hand reads radar screen; CU radar screen.

21:28:22:22 Nice shot of military plane taking off at dusk leaving thick exhaust trail behind.

21:28:34:19 Low angle solder in helmet and green army shirt monitoring skies with binoculars.

21:28:43:11 CU soldier behind machine gun swivels toward camera until guns aim is set directly facing camera.

21:28:46:22 Seven then nine visible large bomber planes (B-52s) fly into cloudy sky.

21:29:38:08 CU booklet “Case Study in Civil Defense”; hands opens booklet; article titles “What Happens When Alert Comes,” “What Happens During Raid;” turns to page “How to Protect Your People and Property in an Air Raid.”

21:32:08:26 VS CU feet running; people running past camera in direction of arrow on “To Shelter” sign; people in panic running to get to shelter; CU people jammed in crowded doorway.

21:32:48:05 Black phone on brick wall with blinking red light; CU man enters frame and plugs phone receiver into phone.

21:33:19:18 CU two radios pans to RCA radio batteries.

21:33:25:25 VS men with white arm bans running out of “Alert Room”; pushing carts with fire extinguisher, yellow helmets and other emergency firefighting equipment; man grabs firehouse off grey brick wall; CU fie extinguishers grabbed from walls; CU red box fire alarm box is opened and pulled.

21:34:46:23 Two men pull down cage in front of window; “Shelter Zone” sign visible on brick wall outside window.

21:34:57:27 CU Mosler Safe; woman removes files from safe.

21:35:12:27 Pan over detailed scale model of building and traffic outside; cross-section of office building model.

21:35:29:20 Great montage sequence of air raid and emergency response; blinking yellow light on white brick wall; man at monitoring station flipping switches on radios; nine planes flying; blinking yellow light; two men, one broadcasting on radio; man answering call on portable radio telephone hooked up to box; CU red light flashing; CU two yellow helmets removed from red wall; workers evacuate building; safe is locked; CU flashing red light; army jeep with loudspeaker mounted on hood driving through city street; soldiers firing antiaircraft gun on plane; Man breaks glass of red box to access key to yellow door of “Air Raid Shelter”; workers fill in shelter.

21:38:24:05 Concerned professional-looking man with salt and pepper hair and moustache looks down at watch; CU man’s wristwatch reads 2:30.

21:28:30:16 VS people waiting in air raid shelter; reading magazines, playing cards to pass time.

21:39:49:18 CU watch reads 2:44.

21:40:15:02 CU worried man with two hands on face.

21:40:20:01 VS surreal, eerie, empty city; stopped trains; empty stadium; abandoned car with door open on city street; post-apocalyptic feel.

21:40:49:21 CU one cigarette butt in ash tray.

21:40:54:26 VS of terror-stricken people with backs to camera, turning to camera in horror.

Target USA
Produced byCornell Productions Inc.
Production
company
Cornell Productions Inc.
Distributed byCornell Productions Inc.
Release date
1951/07
LanguageEnglish
Thumbnail
ewid: 1065 | Fresh | || dopt: {{{dopt}}}

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