Hands of Hollywood (1929)

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Hands of Hollywood There are various reasons for making miniatures: Inaccessibility of certain locations described in a story; great expense in wrecking bridges, trains, etc.; and because more realistic photography can be achieved by using miniatures than by using the real subjects. On every studio lot there is an artificial lake called "the tank." This is merely a cement-walled excavation filled with water. On this little pool wind machines have created many awe-inspiring storms, and on this same pool some of the largest ocean liners have been wrecked. To illustrate : In a picture, a freighter and a passenger liner are to have a collision close to a rocky shore. Miniatures of both ships are built in the prop shop. On one side of "the tank" a wooden framework is constructed, chicken wire is stretched over it, and then covered with a coat of special plaster, so that it will resemble jagged cliffs. To make the ship miniatures look realistic, small electric torches are placed within them, thus showing lights gleaming through the portholes. Tiny smoke-pots also are placed inside the miniatures, so that real smoke will stream from the funnels of the ships. A small charge of dynamite inside the ship is timed to blow it up at the right moment. When the camera starts to grind, these miniatures are guided and maneuvered by wires underneath the water. Besides having two miniature ships to wreck and a rocky cliff for a background, we must have wind and waves. Several empty barrels, having special handles, are placed in the water and jounced up and down at the edges of the pool. This creates rolling waves and the wind machines do the rest. Naturally, we cannot show a shipwreck without also showing the characters inside the ship and how they are affected by the tragedy. Therefore, from time to time the camera cuts from the exterior scene of the shipwreck to the interior of the ship. These interior sets are built in the studio in natural size upon rockers. By manipulating these rockers, the swaying of the ship is shown. Above the set large water tanks are built and a pumping system is installed by the plumbers. As the scene is being filmed, the water in these tanks is released and pours through the set, creating [48]