TRICES OF THE SHYER SCREEN: PLEASANT DECEPTIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

TRICES OF THE SHYER SCREEN: PLEASANT DECEPTIONS

HAVE you experienced the eerie effect of "ghosts," "vampires," and the like in the picture theatre? I do not mean inside the actual dark ~ mber of the theatre itself, but on the screen. Many people like thrillers," and the makers of movies are always kept busy thinking out something arresting and exciting, if not supernatural. Thus we have had the strange "Dracula" films and others to haunt our dreams. Besides the there is the phantasy type of film. In "Midsummer Night's JJream we had the amazing spectacle of fairies dancing down moonbeams all produced by the trickery of the film wizards. You have wondered often, no doubt, how it has been possible for the camera man to get the unusual shots and effects which we see in most films to-day. Many of them are obtained by the use of various tricks and artifices, although some are the result of excellent photography gained by an expert cameraman's intimate knowledge of the merits o"f light and shade, and how they can be employed in film effects. In order to get their picture the cameraman will employ many original ideas and artifices. This is not always to fool the audience, but because sometimes it is so much easier and cheaper, .as well as being good. Recently one Hollywood film director decided to open a war picture by showing thousands of soldiers marching past in order as the title flashed across the screen. But to employ all these "extras" would mean a big job. So the cameraman on the job suggested to the director that, if he would provide but twelve men in soldiers' uniform he would turn them into several battalions. This sounded impossible, but two days later the movie soldiers stood on a, stage, and on command, not from a field marshal, but from the cameraman, slowly marched past the camera. Mounted in front of the regular photographic lens was the "button" lens, the only one of its kind in existence. As the men marched past an assistant ■lowly revolved the button lens. When later the negative was developed and projected, countless thousands of soldiers appeared to be marching around on the screen. The secret lay in the button lens—it has 220 separate oval lenses, which have the wonderful effect of multiplying the images many times. Another unusual film trick employed by the cameraman is known as "the zoom lens. With this unusual device the cameraman can change from a distant view to a close-up in a fraction of a second. The use of such a lens as this can readily be estimated. Sometimes old Mother Nature proves herself to be a cantankerous old woman, and refuses to produce just the exact kind of clouds a director wants for a cloud effect, so he "shoots" a picture against a bare blue sky. Later his cameraman sets up a camera against a velvet curtain and films artificial clouds, laid in layers upon the floor. By a skilful process this "film cloud" is blended into the original fii™

Photographing a background scene painted on a screen is a favourite device. Often it is impossible, especially in many historical scenes, to make a model city. Imagine, for instance, the great expense of reproducing London in the time of the Great Fire or even in Queen Anne's day. To overcome this difficulty, a skilled artist is employed to paint on a large canvas a scene resembling the one which the directors wish to use for a background for the actors. While filming the picture of Mary Queen of Scots, the cameraman was asked to arrange for an actor to be shown in the foreground, while a castle in the distance was destroyed by a terrific explosion. After several experiments he had a sheet of glass painted so as to resemble the rolling lowland hills of Scotland. Later the cameraman trained on the glass a tiny explosion which caused match sticks to be flung into the air about a foot or so beyond the glass. Later a film of this miniature artificial scene was thrown on the screen with realistic results.

Another aspect whish we may be inclined to overlook is the use of make-up in film work. We Bee glamorous creatures of the movie world—beauties whose faces would have wrecked a thousand thrones in the days of Is Pompadour! But all this beauty is not all it seems to be. Much of it is only "film deep"—that is to say, the cosmetic experts have been at work transforming women with ability to act, and often with perfectly beautiful faces, into something rarer

and more ethereal for film work. If we were to meet one of these glamorous stars on the street slie would not appear so beautiful. Good grooming, good food diet, cosmetics and clothes all help in the film world. Few people realise the exactness and detail experts have to put into the making-lip of actors and artists. Developments in film research in recent years have compelled the make-up artists to change their methods* entirely, for make-up is

one of the most important .( fed . y . Not only „<» thus we see men changed into historical personages with striking effects. Behind the make-up of a player who portrays some well-known person, or plays an elderly person's part, there is often weeks of intense study and preparation. And then, each time & scene is to be "shot" the tedious process of applying the make-up must be gone through. Not only that, but each time the make-up is applied it must be exactly the same as it was in the former scene, otherwise the audience would notice the difference. This is only one of the hundreds of little points which crop up now and then when making a film. From our comfortable plush or leather seats we little realise what a great and tiring work making a film really is to both actor and director.