OCR Text |
Show TRICKS IN M 0 VI EL A ND HOW THEY FILM "THRILLERS". By Jasrph Jackson "VT'EARS of familt.i rlly with moving pictures have not yet cleared up the mysti -ry of their preparation to the average movie fan. The fadeaway, fade-away, the villain's fall from the roof of a tventy-story office building, the mangled body at the bottom of the cliff where the automobile went over, Btill are regarded ae marvels by the uninitiated. How the actors can do these things and be able to get up and fro home nafe In limb and wind and be ready for the next assignment by the director direc-tor are things that probably will remain re-main mysteries to a certain number of persons. But their secret la now out, for Homer Croy has written a book, "How Motion Pictures Are Made" (Harper & Brothers), which makes ::hort work of all the secrets of mo! ion picture making. In the for.-.pa. I of his book he gives the hlsmi y of the invention, and from this it appears that the first person to make motion pictures by photography photog-raphy was tiie late Coleman Sellers, who In 1SG1 mad.: a se.i.-s of stereoscopic stereo-scopic vh-ws of his two children, and by having each of the periods of action ac-tion photographed, when the series were shown rapidly in a Btereoscoplc viewer gave the appearance of motion to the eyo. It mIMu he mentioned that the basis of motion pictures Ilea In the principle prin-ciple of persistence of vision, which may be explained by the statement that when pictures are shown more rapidly than the rate of sixteen per second the eye does not detect the change, hut receives an impression of continuous action. That Is why the picture;: shown on the screen are projected pro-jected at an average rate of sixteen per second. If they were shown at a lesser rate say ten per second there would he an Interrupted procession of different awkward actions; but tho taking and the exhibiting: of the action In a series at tho higher rate removes this, and the result la a continuity of movement that the eye recognizes as natural. In Mis l; however, there was no thought of the time when reels of 1000 or ll!f0 feet would or could be shown or lhat some photoplays would be shown In from seven to ten reels. Even now It would not he wise to predict that the end of novelty or Invention In-vention In tho Held had been reached. Among the early motion pictures which wero received with the greatest great-est success were those termed trick pictures. In general the plans used to produce them were familiar to photography photog-raphy lor a long time and suggested the magician's art. One in particular mentioned by Mr. Croy in his book concerned a French picture which apparently ap-parently showed a workingman returning re-turning a little worse for drink, who while overcome in the roadway was run over by an automobile .-.nd had his loga cut off. The man. not at all discommoded, readied out for the sev- ered limbs anrt, placmq them on his stump?- agair., proctitii to v-x up and walk aw;y, i i r not N.j, ure he sh'j.k his fist at th; oi':".-ndinii' .hauffcur. This picture w.ls shfl n in the early .Liys. when the -it'-cir:.t a were nut ao woll Informed they have since become. be-come. They coirjrl nut figure how an actor could walk Into the middle of the street and be run over and have his legs completely cut ait and l;;1H regard it as no m'jve than an incident. As a matter of fact two- actors were Cooyr'e-M. 1?H3. by PxibMc L'i:r Co. ered limbs and, placing them on his phoioranh- r looked '-it the distance ?rr-. stump?- aair., proceeded to get up and down that the man was to cover and walk away, b'it not N.i ure he shu.k eiinateu the number of secer.ds the t ' ) his fist at the- oi'r.-ndimr .hauffeur. a-; .ion would tal-ie. put his hand over ". ' ; : J K This picture was shfl n in the early zlK 1. r.s of the camera to eliminate S1v ' JL d.tys.' when the -ip'-cir:.t a were not ao all liyht ar;u ran through a corre- . ';' M well Informed they have since be- spor. hncr amount of rihn without ex- r "-: tome. They coirjrl nut figure how an r-os1 ng it. To an a.iaehmont of his " Z :: actor could walk Into the middle of the camera especially constructed for the - ! 0 street and be run over and have his tr;-,'. h fast. n-rl his crank so thai LZaFt. S- !et,'S completely cut o!'f and L;;i!i regard the film wo till not proceed in the q Cf tyj- Nyj.r' It as no move than an incident, reguiar order hut would go backward. v-- - C'O Jf ' As a matter of fact two actors were Ey h.s d:l lie could t;d! just how C-vI "' ' '' i v"st-?V J ' Great! there goes one of the Kaiser's buuleshrps but, curd! il"s only a toy in a tub of H2 o-o-o-o! used in the picture). Opx; of them was a workman who had both his leprs cut off above the knees and the other actor, who was mado op and dressed to resemble htm, wna, pf course, complete com-plete with his full number of lower limbs. The real actor w-as the drunken workman In the picture up to the point where the accident occurs. The motor was run up to Just the point where one of the front wheels appears ap-pears to touch his le?s. Then the camera was stopped aiid after the actor's position had be-n marked in the road the limbless double took his plaoe and ft pair of property legs placed next to his stump. Then the taking of the picture proceeded to show the automobile pass over the man's legs, cuttAng them off. After the double reached first for ono of th severed limbs and then for the other and apparently replaced them the camera was ayaln .stopped and the actor resumed his place in the road. It was the latter who arose, apparently uninjured by the accident, and proceeded on his way. One of the early kilnd of trick pictures pic-tures that always caused a laugh showed an actor, or as it might be, an object doing something In reverse action. For illustration, one of them pictured a man jumping from the ground to a tree top. Of course such a feat is amazing ami, of course, it is impossible. Yet It was shown on the screen and this Is how it was ac-i ac-i complished: '' "To make the jumping picture the i man crawled tb the top of a tree and the camera was focused on him. The photograph--;- looked '-it the distance down that tr.e man was to cover and eimaieu the number of secer.ds the u-;'-iun would tal'ie, put his hand over the 1' r.s of the camera to eliminate all light arm ran through a corre-spor.'hncr corre-spor.'hncr amount of rihn without ex-pos; ex-pos; it. To an a .la. eh men t of his c& nv-ra especially constructed for the ir;.'. h fast- n'-fi his crank so thai the him woull not proceed in the regular order hut would go backward. By h.s d:al he could t-;d! just how many feet of film he had run forward without exposure, and this he estimated esti-mated to be enough to cover the action that was to take place. "At word from the director the man in the tree rose and sprang clear from the limbs, landing on the ground, the camera mean wh lie recording his movements. The film that recorded his feat was run backward instead of the crank gear especially made for such work, as explained. When it came time to show this to the audience audi-ence the first frame that met their eyes was the last one taken, the one showing him striking the ground. As a result to them he seemed to be accomplishing ac-complishing the startling feat of standing still and jumping to the top of a tree." What Is known to the profession as the fade-in and fade-out, or when a flg- tire la slowly brought in or goes out like a ghost, is accomplished by four different methods. The most commonly used is the simple one of closing or opening the diaphragms over the lens, which (gradually decreases or increases the amount of light admitted to the camera. Where one scene fades Into another of an entirely different character the method usually employed is what Is known as the dissolve. The effect is secured by slowly fading out on the 6cene and then covering the lens so that no light will enter, and then turning the film back to where, the scene began to fade. The new scene is now photographed on that part of the film already exposed on the first one. Those pictures in which one actor enacts two parts, and at times ap- Modern Daniel suavely greets the man-eater, knowing full well the wicked lion has been tamed from a bottle pe.irs to come In contact with himself, him-self, are accomplished by the use of what are known a? mash:. These are uf two kinds, those inside the camera and those outside. In the early days of motion pictures the film was exposed twice. Tor in-; in-; tan-re, a picture showing a dozing man dreaming of scenes of his childhood child-hood would be taken in this manner. Unobserved by the spectators, the fireplace fire-place in the picture was one on neutral neu-tral background, with a wide space i.ither to the right or loft of the dozing man. Often the background was hanging hang-ing velvet. The film was once exposed ex-posed with the sleeper in his chair. The film was then reversed a second time, with scenes supposed to be taking place in his mind appearing on the neutral background. Later, with the coming of improved methods, a mask w used to obscure part of the field so that the sleeper alone would appear. The rest of the background was concealed by the mask, and as a result left unexposed. By taking out the mask and turning back the film a new scene could be exposed on the protected background. Masks for such work are, as has been explained, outside and Inside. When you see an actor in the picture take up his binoculars and look through them at a distant object, and are immediately after shown apparently ap-parently what he sees through the glasses, the effect of the binoculars is obtained by means of a mask cut to resemble the openings in a fteldglass. Much the same sort of thing is done when you are sho,wn a view through a keyhole. It Is all In the inside mask, which cuts ithe picture to represent the opening through which the view is beheld. When the actor apparently shakes hands with his double, which he also enacts, the effect is obtained by another an-other kind of mask. This is one placed over one-half of the -lens. A spot has been previously arranged where the actual handclasp is to take place. Such a place may be over a book on a table or directly under a chandelier. The actor who Is to play both parts advances to the spot where the handshake is to take place and extends his hand. On the part of the stage obscured by the mask another performer stands, who extends a hand and joins the actor, while the two hands move up and down in manual greeting. The actor shows, the other performer is hidden by the mask. As the hands move up and down the photographer pho-tographer counts the number of seconds. sec-onds. At the count 1 the hands descend de-scend to a distance determined at rehearsals; re-hearsals; at 2 they go up; at a they go down again, and at 4 they unclasp and separate. The film, is turned back and the mask shifted to the other side of the lens area. The actor again makes an entrance and extends his hand over the book or under the chandelier, as the case may be, but as the handshake has already taken place he merely preterm's pre-term's that he Is going through the usual form of greeting. He moves his hand up and down and frames the w-frds, but he must move his hand exactly as the performer shielded by the mask has done. rro.v.-cted successfully, the actor, much lo the mystification of the spec-titor. spec-titor. Ircms to advance from two ,;.0j ,v ;hc scene at the same time and stop in the middle to shake hands with himself with all the enthusiasm of two long separated friends. There are innumerable tricks of the trade which are unveiled in Mr. Croy's book. He shows how those Venetian scenes in Douglass Fahbanks's play, "Reaching for the Moon," wero actually ac-tually taken in Los Angeles; how a scene in Darkest Africa was taken in a nearby New Jersey countryside; how a scene at the foot of the great Pyramid Pyra-mid was made by the property man and set up in a sandy stretch of ground. Those rlabo.ate Grecian exteriors ex-teriors shown In "Thais" all had to he colructed streets, temples, as well as the gorgeous interiors. Many of the daredevil episodes In the pictures are not really so dangerous danger-ous as they appear. Thus when An- pulls the anlmal down and out of sight " the tail jungle grass. To the spectators spec-tators the beast, has been slain, but ,i,.er. and even leopards are too costly ,o be shot off in this manner The making of the comic cartoon. 1. another mvstery to the spectator who Ts a move fan. It requires the draw-1, draw-1, of an innumerable quanuty of plo- effect is perfect, and the Ut.le Jerky movements which are occasioned b, Uie failure to get each figure exact y like the last drawing only adds td e ludicrous effect. When these comics were first attempted ,t required manv months for the artist to draw all the parts required, but a year, work, of this kind only required ten minutes on the screen. Through ln provements that have been made in the comic, a year's work is now reduced re-duced to a few weeks or even days. Now parts of the picture are printed, such as the background, and the artist only has to show the movements of his' characters. Some of these can be repeated in the showing, and this further cuts down the number of actual drawings needed. nette Kellermann goes over a waterfall . V unseen by the spectators she Is held in place all the time by means of a I rope. When those battling legions are J c" J brought to the edge of the ramparts SV 1 in some of the big scenes and seem to S ''. -n l? be thrown to 'their death they really iU T 53 fall but a few feet, being caught in a -& ihyrj strong net, from which they hastily "J f J vp ' scamper away to permit of more de- r-J? fenders falling off the castle walls. ( fc.jLsV When pictures introducing wild ani- SWVTyX mals are shown, a great deal of the JjST V danger has been eliminated by the ' fff producers by the simple method of t H drugging the beasts. Tim lion, which vtffi'M M - Wh apparently fells a man and then lays ft yiM, llf"l III,' fb-M a paw over his prostrate form, is really Wltjh If' P ''jir 1 i" ) so weak that he is incapable of doing W j, . -1 ...! anything harm, and it requires some Vi ' gp2siv' skill to keep him from falling asleep. I fvJX' ': When, the dashing hunter enters , ;T"TlT 'i the jungle to shoot a tiger or a leopard 1 . . nJpM the scene is usually so arranged that r ? - 'ffYZ the animal, usually a trained one, Is " I .'; : ' 'QiiA ' i held in place by his trainer, who Is IP : : rPU out of sight, and at the smoke from Vi-VV-- 1 )jx the hunter's gun the trainer qnickly ' -1 V 1 For goodness sake, there he goes from a high cliff right into the rapid- but he's only a slraw-man with a heart of excelsior I ' |