The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

November, 1935 The Joitnial of the Association of Cine-Technicians 53 and rising to the roar of an explosion. The expressionism of a film can reach unthought-of heights. It can combine the fury of a man with the roar of a lion. The language of the cinema will achieve the power of the language of literature." Thus Pudovkin, enthusing about sound films before he'd ever heard one. How little of it has been realised to-day. "The cry of a child," that's about all most of our sound systems will run to. You just try to whisper or roar and see if the sound man doesn't signal back "speak up" or "o^'ershot." The small range of sounds with which we are content is a disgrace upon a self-respecting body of creative craftsmen. Of course it is not primarily the technician's fault, it is the fault of those who fail to make demands upon him. It is none-the-less deplorable. Our apparatus has been standardised too soon. I remember that in the early days of talkies Pudovkin and I were privileged to put questions to a Western Electric engineer with all the latest dirt from America at his fingers' ends. The poor devil thought he had run into a couple of amiable lunatics. Eagerly we asked such questions as ; how could we get distortion in this direction or the other ? What sounds could the apparatus make that didn't exist in nature ? Could one invent and draw not previously existent sounds ? Naturally we wanted to know the full wealth of the material about to be placed at our creative disposition. The bewildered engineer tried to explain that he had just spent half a lifetime trying to perfect processes that would make distortion impossible and reproduce a limited range with exact fidelity to nature. When Dziga-Vertov brought his first sound film "En thusiasm" to London, he went into the projection room to cue for sound and explained that at a certain climax the walls of the theatre in Moscow had physically shaken. Alas, the projection room he was in had just been fitted with latest type projectors equipped with a foolproof device to prevent automatically more than a certain level of loudness ! Nobody is suggesting, of course, that every film should shake the theatre. Audiences, a majority of which are sleep-loving, would soon cease to go to the pictures if so. But if we want to do even this we should be able to. It can be useful. It will be remembered that organ music was played at the stage presentation of "Mary Rose," when the heroine was engulfed by the island that likes to be visited. I am told that a special organ pipe was installed, the note of which was calculated to impart a vibration to each seat, enhancing the effect of eeriness in the unconscious of the spectator. No one will deny that there is a whole series of effective noises we cannot fully render with our sound film apparatus. Whispers, shouting, revolver shots, any loud noises or climaxes, as of battle or tempest. No noise ever rendered for battle on sound apparatus equalled the force of impression of the Tivoli orchestra for "Big Parade." Or Meisel's music for "Potemkin." Although this film, mark you, was permitted everywhere in Germany, Meisel's music was in several regions forbidden as "staatsgefahrlich." Actually ! Music a danger to the state ! Mark that, you sound technicians, when you feel inclined to be vain about some fiddling and realistic battle effect that leaves its audience as cold as Sunday mutton. {Continued at foot of page 54.) II ^4, If If If If If If If If If If ft: t"^ ^T x>S^ fS^ i>h fS^ i-'S^ x>^ j'.'f f?S I'S^ i^fp'S'^S'^v s'SvC' i^5 i?S^ i^S^ s^i; fS^ -ati i^i? ^'f ^S i>^ fir v'S' ifSt/h^ x>S^iiS: R. I. FILMS, LTD. MOBILE PRODUCTION UNIT FOR HIRE complete with every requirement for productions anywhere INCLUDING .— SOUND RECORDING APPARATUS (by Film Recorders, Ltd.). VINTEN MODEL "H" CAMERA (including 5 Lenses). BLIMP. "DOLLY," STANDARD and BABY TRIPODS. DARK-ROOM, etc. Also Full Technical Staff. FOR FULL PARTICULARS AND QUOTATIONS WRITE OR CALL R. I. FILMS, Ltd., 53 Haymarket, London, S.W.I •PHONE: WHITEHALL 2662 4^ If If If If If If If ■ If IflflHflflflflflflflflHflflHflflHflflflflHH^^^