FILM STUDIO PESTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4046, 11 May 1938, Page 2

FILM STUDIO PESTS

UNEXPECTED SOUNDS THAT SPOIL SCENES. A FLY IN THE MICROPHONE. Much loss of time and money is caused in .motion picture production by sounds that would not disturb the tranquility of a quiet house. An unexpected noise caught by the sensitive microphone may spoil a scene, and make a re-take necessary. The common house-fly can settle on *a microphone and remain undetected until the film is developed and printed. It usually is not discovered until the scene is shown in a projection room. The entire sequence has to be re-filmed. An air plane that continues to hover over a studio holds up all actual shooting of scenes, causing a big loss. When a person sneezes on the sound stage while the cameras are running the scene must be re-taken. Chirping sparrows often nestle in the high rafters of the sound stages. Production is always suspended while company employees scramble among the rafters to dislodge them. A stray cat frequently adopts a sound stage as its home, and mews during the scenes, causing a re-take of the picture. A squeaky shoe is magnified many times on the sound track. The company nuust wait until the actor has made the long journey to the wardrobe department for squeakless footwear. Hammering off-stage is one of the most common worries. Work must cease until the hammerer is located and a red-light signal system installed for him. Train whistles and motor car horns, particularly on location, are nuisances to the director who is working against daylight and Tb»y cannot be controlled. The company must stand idle until they vanish. Quite often radio visitors, ignoring the golden rule of silence on a sound continue to whisper while a scene is being taken. The scene must be done again. Forgetful studio workers occasionally read newspapers on the set while the scene is being filmed. When they fold or crumple the paper the sound is registered on the sound track like crackling thunder.