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TRICKS OF THE TRADE 29
it at various points in the machine, half-a-dozen copies are exposed to it and to the printing light and are made simultaneously.
The optical printer holds especial fascination. By masking devices and the introduction of prepared additional negatives, it is possible to take a shot made on the lot and to print on it, in exact register, a range of mountains in the background, or to take shots of a magic carpet photographed on the studio floor and to print it sailing over the roofs of a city.
Tricks of the trade are endless. One which is so everyday that it is no longer regarded as a secret is back projection.
This is used to show a street speeding away behind a car as seen through the back window, or the countryside flashing past the windows of a train.
Both car and train are fixtures in the studio. Behind their windows a semi-transparent cinema screen is erected and behind this in turn is a projector carrying a reel of film actually taken from a car or train. When the actors start to play their roles the projector behind the screen starts up and shows the film of the scurrying countryside, but, as the camera recording the scene does not embrace the whole of this back projection screen but only that portion visible through the window, a perfect illusion of passing scenery is achieved.
In the largest American studios there may be over one hundred buildings as well as twenty or more vast sound stages ; in addition there are five hundred offices and dressing rooms, a fire station and police department, and a power station capable of lighting a fair sized town.
The wardrobe department will take care of costumes sufficient to clothe fifteen thousand people — their main concern being to keep them moth-free, to dry clean them, and to alter them to the individual measurements of the player who is to wear them.
The recording of the songs in a musical, or the supplying of background music to dramas and comedies, also demands the co-operation of scores of workers in addition to the actual instrumentalists and musical directors engaged. The largest studio in the world, at Culver City, claims to have two million orchestral parts on file.
Besides the libraries of music and the library in the reference department, there is also a library of films on which directors may draw, either to obtain a shot needed in editing the film, for instance a long shot of a paddle boat of the 70's ploughing through the waves to give atmosphere to the scenes on deck shot in the studio, or to help