Show C SUNDAY MORNING- NOVlitoBfcK 25 1928 - 1 H 'i'Jitl OGDEN 0 W M ' m m MnW I I mi S Ay P 0! fI o H not that not that—a fate worse than death!" Some fair screen heroine faced with the alternative of concupiscent shenanigans little to her liking or a trip over the buzzsaw soon will send the above pitiful protest tumbling across the orchestra pit and movie audiences will settle comfortably to the realization that the "talkie movie" is at last a staple of entertainment But although the official "Came the Dawn" man will in another five years be as extinct as the dodo his place is being taken by the most amazing collection of technicians experts of this that and the other and devices ever gathered to confuse the already mind of the average citizen And this business of giving the movies a voice offers as fascinating and intricate a field for observation as can readily be found One has only to step Into the studio to become tinged with "talkie" fever and the pulsating spirit of that fever is work Sound pictures and talking the result of intense menare pictures tal and physical effort which is slowly but surely smoothing the rough road of this new infant adjunct to one of the sound-produci- over-burden- tes llll - f u Mf- : V 1 V -- V ' A 85y 'y-'- - 5 trrC - - 1 t Kir m — X h- mI " Tlie Inside of a! ' Tank" Thi Photo Show the Movie camera Shooting a Scene Through Plate Olasa on a et of the Paramount company ine Tank" Is Soundproof So the Clicking of the Camera Will Not Be Recorded 't Sfrt 4 if -- i -- ' J pi 1 He sits thff supervisor watches the action of the picture hears the sounds through his headthe various phones and processes Next comes the "mixing panel" or central control switchboard jllere the volume of current and all modulation details are attended to The "mixing iwith the panel" is in communication supervisor by telephone and colored lights and as he watches the taking of the picture and hear3 the sounds he I f 4:' 4 ng mnt SJ TT9 ed the set is another plate glas$ room which also is sound) proof and in this compartj SR V Imaginations in Simulating Sounds for Incidents Shown Upon the Screen i SI H V which have to do with the human interest aspects In the first placa the inside of the "talkie" studio is padded felt cork or some other ' sound - proofing material being used The set of course is the same as that used for the ordinary picture but above at the sides or concealed in various bit3 of furniture are many These are simmicrophones ilar to those used in radio broadcasting The cameras themselves are placed in "tanks" or soundproof vaults These "tanks'! nave windows of special plate! glass which make it possible to "shoot" the picture without the click of the camera being recorded upon the film Above 3 f tJ t-- ty feSf country's greatest industries Exactly how are the movies made to talk? The technical answers to thi3 question must be separated from those St rw ff ) J CI & Mechanical Problems Technicians and Directors Are Galled Upon to Display 'Keen 1 H & fl M' n Addition to Solving Intricate I n 8 8 S if it ? 11 1 STArtDAKD-EXAMINE- the screen there will be suitable music and it will continue throughout the picture- The joker in making this kind' of a recording is that an orchestra may sound excellent when listened to di- -j in thiJi important respect rectly and horrible when listened to First the picture is through the Only experience1 ' i"shot" in regular fashion! and constantspeaker work enables the expert Then it is run on the musician volume pitch andj screen in a projection other matters which will make the or- room where microphones Mr Zuro in Podunk chestra effective already have been ar- - works for theJPcdunt showing and ho ranged The staff grouped doesn't much care how the orchestra' around onetor more of the sounds in the New York studio !i 4mikes" watch the pic-S"Can you give me fifty feet of 'The! ture and simulate the This! and Stripes Forever'?" Stars tne at sounds proper ' Mr Zuro reaches from! strange query places They are recorded and later welded to the another official who is turning out aj' newsreel" with some soldiers in actual film itself so that "sound And the -- orchestra leader kindly it synchronize perthey men into the march tune his switches WvTI tectiy number of seconds the for required "Gentlemen you are out of tune and The ratio is two to three — that is two flaying don't believe me seconds of music to each three feet of film " ' 1 ask Toscanini" Meanwhile there's another highly imis Mr sneaker The 1" portant individual heading a staff courteous Josiah Zuro and forthright general grouped near one of the "mikes" He musical director for is Maurice Manne and it is his busiPathe and F B 0 one ness to supply the sounds which go of the largest combines with the picture For instance when fender falls off a dilapidated flivver specializing in the manu- - athere Set Tlie "Monitor Room" on a must be a corresponding and talksound and of facture The "Monitor" Watches the Action Through Plate rattle He is in his convincing ing pictures Class and Hears the Sounds Through His Car sleeves and before shirt The problems of simulating such Phones He Signals the Other Units bj g a him sit sounds are manifold' and there is Means of Colored Lights and Coordinates: in a ample room for Mr Manne to exercise concert orchestra '' lite Recordingsimilar state of dishabille j his vivid imagination ' An electric I' The orchestra presents a motor working inside an old water very earnest appearance to the spectacooler makes an excellent fire engine tor who get3 most of hb music in bullon the way to a fire A leather strap frog shirts and the rather stilted flapping against' the bottom of a cardatmosphere of the concert hall board box is a convincing motorcycle Mr Zuro is fitting music and fiounds in action to a comedy ''Taxi IS" and although Mr Manne has perfected the mjist he has been at work since early mornIntricate collection of ing he has finished with a few reels apparatus ever assembledi lie scorns only It is dark outside but the labor nothing and included in his collection several thousand racket makers are foes forward with little thought to the of children's toys horns screwdrivers !:"Now boys!" says Mr Zuro' and washboards thimbles electric motors promptly gets lost in a maze of grace empty sardine cans whistles marbles notes cadanzas fortissimos' prestis-simo- s gongs balls sundry sheets of tin biey 4 a cle pumps bean blowers and bludgeons slurs and everything but rest3 ! f ' ? ' H i They play the orchestration which Mr "Things are seldom what they Zuro and his staff have written for the seem" That 33 Mr Manne's slogan 13'For a and if you happen to see "Taxi picture over iand over again time the director stands on his little and hear a beautiful crash when the 4-1 V! I VV i i f"?1 listening1 engine drops out: in the last reel don't ' f 'fit ' fsl ti platform be fooled-- y the very realistic sound Then he $teps into an adjoining sqund-proroom It has a glass wail It's onlv Maurice Manne throwing a through which he can see his orchestra load of scrap iron on a sheet of tin I and watch the film being run at the Are the "talkies" still in the experifar end of the long room Also the mental stage or have they "arrived?" small room contains a loud speaker Some say one thing and some say anconnected with the microphone in the other The technician and the director large room The speaker gives him the are inclined to think the "talkies" are sounds as they will be recorded on that past the stage of experimentation By film this they do not mean that there is no After hours of patient work he gets room for development Far from it I the desired texture of tone the oeli-cat- e Development is the keynote of the inflections of accent and the "talkie" studio- - New ideas always are s proper slurs to emphasize comic being applied in" the hope that they will effects prove more successful For Instance "All right boys I Now1 we'll make Mr Zuro will have hia orchestra play a a recording" number while seated Then he will i5 In another sound-proroom high have them stand and play the san)o overhead the technician throws the number Such a slight change often difference in the interlock - the picture starts on the makes the greatest ' sqreen and while various and sundry recording comic characters cut their capers the Similarly Mr Manne striving to InAn Actual Scene From a Movietone This Picture trombone and the tuba keep pace with terpret such a seemingly unimjporant ' Was Taken During the Filming of "The sound as a rap at the door may try a fitting music all is this? of the What It's dozen contrivances ranging from cum- -' purpose Shows the and Trial" Bellamy Microphones I "Taxi 18 may be shown in bersome boxes and huge clubs to tiny simple in Place Over the Set as Well as the sticks of wood and light drum sticks some small tank town which Is as inno'Tanks and Other Elements cent of musical talent as a frog is of In this respect say directors there will ' I hair but when the picture flashes on be developments of CoutroL Newspaper retar Ewriou ISIS - " - i A ' IVoressor W R MacDonald (left standing) and Dean Ray K Inunel of the University of Southern California Qfficiate at a Test of Norma Shearer's Voice Frequently! Voices Thich Sound Musical and Soft When Heard Directly! Are Harsh When Recorded for Screen Purposes i i to-gau- r i A - 'IV ' s Hill i S- -i r" SI' n llll i ss -- Metro-Goldnryn-Ma- 8 ill! hard-workin- J ' SI'S i is 1 1 1 II i L 6 11 sound-produci- s jto-- A Close-U- p Test Many Trials Are Required Before the Scene Finally Is "Shot and the Microphones Frequently Have to De Shifted a Dozen or So Times Before TThey Reach the Spot l From Which They Record Best 1! j Issues instructions for controlling the current Mi Vfc XV f 05 Vim The last mechanical station is the "recording room" where the sounds are amplified to sufficient intensity This unit is the only for recording one of the elaborate system which works automatically and once the instruments have been adjusted they do not need human supervision The actual "shooting" of the picture closely resembles the taking of the silent variety save that there is no director with megaphone in hand shouting instructions Instead the director signals to start the action by snapping his fingers and after that his instructions are conveyed by means of colored lights ? It is hard to form an adequate Idea of the sensitiveness of the microphon-in- g system but a recent amusing happening in a Los Angeles studio may give some idea of the difficulties pre s sented A "talkie" wa4 being shot and directors and officials tvere puzzled by a strange rustling almost inaudible on the set but which sounded like thunder after the recorders were through with it An investigation wa4 instituted and at last the trouble was'found One of the female players confessed to wearing stiff silk bloomers iand the rustling of the silkj recording through the "mike" just! about ruined the picture I She was requested to jremove the offending clothing and the work was continued Along the margin of the "talkie" film which is of standard width there is a small strip a fraction of an jinch wide upon hich is a series of horizontal light and dark b ands and lines These bands and lines produce the sounds The film is passed through the reproducer at constant speed and as the light and dark bands pass rap idly before a tiny slit In an' optical systejm the amount of light is varied amount The of light i3 received by a photo-electrj ceM which 13 extremely sensitive to Through :thi3 inlight strument the eiiectrical is transformed energy into audible energy The is synchronized whole with the action of the film and thus the !picture is made to "talk" But no amount of technical explanation such as the foregoing will serve to picture the intense drama and comedy which goes into the making of a sound or talking picture The "sound picture" Is j ever-changi- ng ic different from the MtaIkiM J -- -' ?- ng uir4 1 of j of ? 1 |