TALKING PICTURE TECHNIQUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 11 (Supplement)

TALKING PICTURE TECHNIQUE.

♦ // ; blending of stage and screen. ; A blending of tha technique of stage and screen is essential to the success of • pje talking picture, according to A. E. \ Tan Burtm, now stage director of talking pictures at Fcx-Movietone -City in B p*or ~F :? ' :n , California. Mr. Van Burau, w ao passes mafiy yeuns as a ieading mas ac tie Iwpwnaws stags a New York, tarnec tc directing stage productions, w her» 3 p earned :amn as the director of ** Aioina of' the Sooth Bess," '* The Trial of Mary Do can." "Past Life" ana " Crime," W/hich he produced in. both t xj tion and New 1 ork. r r orr. . .til f vast dpsn snr.i? of the theK*-rft- ir. *an a,*i*sU has c*ia«a » cncwiadc* of dramatic tech* sloub surpassed by few. -«pst'pie md tumk that, aetacse oi their errscnence 22 the legitimate stage, p\ct.wii*sjs wixJn uo diSmitj/. hsv© l rary wTon£ impi'essum," Mr- "an 3ur«ii ssyr,. "An actor as thu iegttimat* theatre plays his p«r iurmanoe with the fact :n mind that he •sBSt maita as good an imps exsion von-all-p aixd m ins movements and gestures ■for the haci£ row at for the front raw ji th* andissnca. The result is that an actor with '--bit training immediateiiy bt~ to send his voice, out to the imaginary back row audience before the camera. " "-it a cms not r eg:;, tar well ui & micro phona, ncfara wiuth only a natnrallymnduiatad yoics wid crs s good affect. Beiors tho microphone and camera, the ■whole audienc* is m the ironx row. Due to the marreilous sontroiii an scene pictures the »oium» a: the voice 3107 be regul&tsd in the projection oi the picture . Ms ami to* sms of the tuaatrs. _n ms acting as weil. the staee actor must maita himself aware of the peculiar j requirements ,fof the screen. The camera 1 which mammies every human face j marrr umes m prpiecting :i on the scresu. . .-eqmrej a rerj carafui study of facitd expreasinSL A stage oci-ot may rai;- a j gnsK dual asi his gest.uras. hew h® hoi dr. his body, and uie iargs mcTemants. A s-Teeu performanch a meticulous ■tad? of the detail oi these things. " A stags actor hi the legitimate theatre hzis wear.s laa. rfshsarsa; ic> mate his part period, bexcre he o2srs it- to ths audtenr* on cpeumg sight. So may 50 :y»r and war it, periect.ng and polfiling t : <a»rainiiy. Hut screen waor uas ac sacii ' •dvsaiage. Ones ais purioraianw is on csiiuixjiii, it, :s dans for aii timfc. The stags actor, then, musi deraiop a rapid juagmeat oi the vaiaes m his role, for ' U;£ -jhaatai tii change hiß periormance is : gone a& soar as tlie camera has iimshsa ancamig. 5a must, aaapt himsoii to his sver-cnanging part, w,tuua demaaos s dhi'ereut pezhormance iaaiiy ana lor which Tib r *i ihH u iiiiij". _n turn ttc ;/Ji- xurvtir taiiaws his winjie stun".. Fertiaps ae will be asitea to do sceaa 22 first, with uo knowledge oi what has g'.'Ut; before or will fciiiow ia the •' The tschmqne of talking pictures is : •ranSfflr pariectad at the Fas stadias. ; ' and a bicading of these raakaily I diSareut ways c: ajinrcachunj a story i :s the restat. in the talking picture ! • Hiiai'ts -u L'iuie.' winch uas an all- • a egre> cast , a gßaerai reaearsai of the 1 '•R"fat)y« stci~f with -he eatira cast was | undsrtaker aefore any actual camera work beg»u. Ih-i was to gire ths actors a chaiaca to ' fesl' roles. This gires a feekng cji dramatic Taiuui to eari :uiiiridual performance "Ja the /-al'timg picture, tonal rsdntis mast ba tarefaily studied. Maaotoay af ; eSact ta sound is deadly. This is aiso true sa the lepttmate otagt:. but truer for : aae aim.' •' Ths use of incidental sound io create , mood is something that must be care- ] fuHr studied, it is important that only • thoss sounds which will contribute to the desire a effect must be ucea. Any sounds whiea wkl distract from tnai. , must be. rigidly excinded. So, too, siieut j porcrtuis hare thair value ia a talking r tcturc. THry are aen blaaits, as space?, j ta prmtiuc. Tbpy are heary-prmled ; cse±i£» that add amphatdr. Unless em- j ■nussis is sought, some wnr must be found to corar these thaadenng silences. In j t.hsaa3«lves they are uuaatural, as there is nothing in life that is absolutely sound- i less. An off-stags orchestra phndng ai- ; niost soundlessly :r. the derice of the i ■stage to cover these silences, which are j unnatural in the extreme Sound films j will follow ,'this custom, where it is aeccs- : saiy, iiespiaj* the orchestral sounds; very • mut/ed aad only of the sort taat create : the desired mood ia the silence. " The speaking screen must be accepted I as a mrw raediuai, wuh a tecumcfue 01 > its own taat mast be carefully worked cut. Approaching a utory t.o be made for the ; talking scream, the director makes a axis- ; 'fits i/e copies stage technique, tor ay : so dung be deartves himself of the advantage of the screen as a medium. The •.•r.'O'c.eijce of chase who have used the silent screen far years should not be , • lost ta a mad rasa to make the tailtmc picture a <s»ny or an anitatjoa of the • stage prodaciitm. It :s a medium ia itself, and can vary well stand on its own artistic sffims if screen actors, for with tiie new- medium tarv are atlowed to 1 . to the Ktaur act-ors "to nhrrw wiijit ! , they ruin do/ with ihfc nw mdCiiuiii lur* rcpoll in ooaac t.o be a bettar perform mice for either sort 01 actor as as appears ,v the talking Sim."