PRODUCING SOUND FILMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20152, 12 January 1929, Page 9 (Supplement)

PRODUCING SOUND FILMS.

PARAMOUNT FIRM'S ACTIVITIES.

'According to Mr. Jess© L. Lasky, first yicc-president of Paramount Pictures, the thought, the care, and the inventiveness that have revealed themselves in the production of the new sound pictures have amazed even the studio executives thempelves. I Playing an important part in the proauction of sound films, there is the stage jtself, double walled to exclude any foreign noise. Velvet mounted cranes hold the piicrophones and follow the players about ibe room as they move or speak. Above the stage, behind a plate glass window, is the principal director of the sound recording, who watches the action, watches the cameras and most important of all regulates the. volume of sound that the jnicrophono shall pick up and relay to the recording machines in the thick-walled jbasement below. Here, in absolute silence, the sound is recorded on film or disc. The disc is Bsed for a quick reproduction to make eure that the scene has been successfully carried through. The whole organisation is a triumph for modern science. Paramount is filming " Sins of the Fathers," the next Jannings picturo on ono of these Bound stages, and tho voice of the famous star will be heard in theatres all over jthe globe. Ono of the most efficient methods of directing sound pictures was recently seen in operation on the set where the first scenes of Paramount's version of the stage piny " Interference" were being made. Tho director, Lothar Mendes, had at his eblow a row of electric push buttons which were connected with a corresponding row of small electric coloured lights. They ivere so arranged as to be clearly visible to all the players, cameramen and technicians. Different hues had been carefully pre-arranged in place of the usual comjmands of the director. Before filming any particular section of E' Interference," tho scene was carefully Rehearsed in order to perfect the action fend dialogue. Then the company prepared to record the sceno in picture and sound, and all was silent on the set. A light flashed and tho cameras began to turn on their silent bearings. Studio electricians, their eyes on the glowing bulbs, carefully operated the big incandescents and other lighting appliances, the sound director, behind the plate glass in the roof of the set regulated tho yolume of sound that reached the microphones. And so after several hours' •Jaborious work in which the scene was retaken many times, the work was completed and preparations for the next portion of " Interference" continued.