International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Ten The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER June, 1934 On December 11, 1923, D. W. Griffith was granted patent No. 1,476,885 on a process using a painted screen with a hole cut in it. It was designed to combine both the screen and the actors, who were photographed through the opening. Ralph Hammeras, now with Fox Films, was granted Showing the set-up on making a tricky plane landing shot in miniature. Courtesy Vernon Pope. glass shot patent No. 1,540,213 on June 2, 1925. P. Artigue's patent No. 1,742,680, issued January 7, 1930, should also be mentioned. This patent and the other Artigue patents, however, had very little use in the motion picture. There is another type of glass shot developed by Eugene Schufftan. This process, patented on January 12, 1926, No. 1,569,789, covers a system of photographing through a transmission mirror. This mirror is set up at an angle before the camera and is partially silvered so that the camera eye can see through the mirror. In this manner the background of a painting could be seen through the mirror, while the actors would be photographed simultaneously from the silvered portions of the mirror. There are other patents, too numerous to mention. Another quite interesting system is known as "color separation." The color separation method is much too technical to attempt explanation. It was first patented by Dodge and Carroll Dunning, and Roy Pomeroy. The first Dunning patent, No. 1,613,163, issued January 4, 1927, to C. D. Dunning, covers a method of combining traveling background scenes into sets. By its use foreign scenes can be introduced into pictures without leaving the sound stages. Suppose a picture called for a taxi going down a street in Paris. To get this shot, the studio would locate from a film library, a suitable motion picture of the Paris street. They would also locate a French taxi, which would be placed on a parallel in front of a special bluish colored background. The players would sit in the taxi, which would be lit with an amber yellow light. The camera then records both the background and the taxi in which the stars are sitting. By a combination of the amber light on the taxi and the blue background, the players and the taxi seem to be riding down the French street. Even though the taxi never moves, it is realistically blended in this French street scene. The general method of doing this consists of dying the French street scene a special amber color. It is then threaded in the camera in contact with the negative film. The amber light on the taxi passes through this dyed image, while the blue light of the background records the street picture. This process was first used in the F.B.O. picture, "Silver Comes Through," May 29, 1927. That this process puts a punch in pictures is judged from the fact that when this picture was released, difficulties were encountered from the censors in one of the states. That was because Silver, Fred Thompson's horse, was seen to be jumping off a traveling train. Of course, he had not jumped off the train, but had been made to seem to do so. When this was explained to the censors, they were appeased. The history of color transparency dates back to June 25, 1907, when F. J. Deschner was granted patent No. 858,162. Another patent which had extensive use was the one granted to Roy Pomeroy on June 12, 1928, No. 1,673,019. There were a number of patents covering such processes throughout the intervening years. The projection process dates back to November 22, 1892, when F. Seymour patented No. 486,606, a process for combining a projected image and an actor. It was designed to use stereopticon pictures into which was added the picture of a person. This process was again patented by R. M. Hunter on August 28, 1900, as No. 656,769. A patent issued to H. Sontag, February 18, 1913, No. 1,053,887, was also issued for the purpose of introducing actors into a projected scene. In the interim there had been a number of other patents along similar lines. They were intended for still photographic processes. The projection process, popularly known as the "rear projection," is designed to introduce background and atmospheric motion pictures around the players on the sound stages. The projector is placed in back of a transparent screen and the players enact their roles in front of the screen. The camera then photographs both the actors and the motion picture background projected on the screen. This process has particular use in introducing foreign scenes in the pictures made on the Hollywood sets. The projection process first came into popular use with the advent of the sound motion picture, when it became necessary to confine the making of pictures to the sound stages. A great number of people contributed to the successful achievement of this process, among them being Ned Mann, Frank Williams, L. S. Brainard, J. S. Dawley, Ralph Hammeras, Willis O'Brien and George Teague. George Teague is credited with many contributions to the projection process. In collaboration with Willis O'Brien he started a series of tests in 1927. In 1930, in the making of the Fox "Just Imagine," the process was used commercially for the first time. There had been many tests prior to this ; however, they were not entirely successful. With the advent of the sound picture, the synchronous motor, the high intensity arc lamps, the projection process was finally realized. It is used in practically every studio today. Another medium used by the trickman are the miniatures. Through the use of miniatures, it is possible to bring to the screen, train wrecks and airplane crashes with more realism than it is possible to photograph using the real thing. The dean of miniature men is Willis O'Brien. Willis O'Brien started in San Francisco in 1914. His first picture, a single reeler, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link," was made for Edison at that time. In 1916 he made five complete pictures in miniature. In 1918 he made what was perhaps the best of the miniature pictures until that time. It was "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain." In 1924 he made "The Lost World." It was one of the biggest pictures made in miniature, prac Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.