Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

April, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 35 which afterward proved to be a vast human face. An actor lay on his back on a table in the studio. The camera was moved so close to his face that the moving picture thereupon taken showed his features in a horizontal position and enormously enlarged. The nose became a beetling crag, the eyes and mouth chasms, the eyebrows tufts of elephant grass, and so on. At the end and as a climax the actor turned his head and the features moved, identifying them as a giant's countenance. Across this "scene" the Martian visitor was to clamber until he realized that he was walking on a giant's face and was overcome by terror. It was done in this way : The contours of the face became the bases of a series of platforms, built according to scale. Every line in the giant's face already in the moving picture was reproduced by platforms so large that the adventurer in Mars, apparently his natural size, could clamber across them. Then the moving picture film was exposed for a second time, with the Martian traveler posed to encounter the towering nose, stumble over the wrinkles, save himself from destruction by avoiding the giant's eyes, and hide in the jungle-like eyebrows. So carefully were these second exposures made that the actor posed repeatedly for two days to obtain a scene lasting a trifle over a minute in the final exhibition. The slightest variation meant that the actor would not seem to be walking on a giant's face, but in the air. There were no variations, as it happened, and the picture was a complete success. The moving pictures showing the adventures of "Alice in Wonderland" are considered an extreme expression of this idea of multiplied exposures. The film was run through the camera in some of the scenes three times, and afterward toned and overlapped to obtain the illusion of disappearances and reappearances. Of course, the thing remembered best by most readers in Alice's adventures was the habit she had of growing enormously large or pitifully small at moments when least convenient. The moving picture men have made this the basis of a number of scenes. In each instance the background, whether a room, a garden walk, or seashore, was arranged and taken as a first exposure. Then a second exposure was made of the film with Alice in the picture. To make her larger, the camera was moved toward her on a wheeled platform as she acted. She seemed to grow smaller as the camera was drawn back. One of the most famous of the original "Alice pictures" shows her growing so large that she bursts through a house, with arms and legs protruding from the windows. The moving picture men substituted for this a scene in which Alice's hand and arm, enlarged to vastness, burst through a door and sends the rabbits scampering. The interior of the room with the rabbits scurrying about in it formed the first exposure. Then the film was run through the camera again with the door of the room in miniature, and, at the critical moment, with Alice's fist bursting through it, the camera being placed so close to the hand that it was magnified to vast proportions. No doubt it is much more difficult and tedious, and consequently more expensive, to prepare a magical picture than it is to film a straight drama or comedy. That is the only logical reason for the comparative dearth of magic pictures in current releases. And the wisdom of even this logic may well be ques tioned. Magic is passe to most producers, and they overlook the fact that the public is as fond of it today as it was ten years ago. Look at the remarkable success made by the modern and innumerable musical comedies on the legitimate stage, most of which contain illusions of some sort or other, from the "Wizard of Oz" down. The Pathes were formerly acknowledged leaders in the art of producing magic trick pictures, and they still occasionally bring into this country one of those startling and weird conceptions which prove that the ability is still there, and only the incentive lacking. The foreign makers are, generally speaking, more painstaking as to detail, more patient in working out intricate processes. To them we must probably look for a renaissance of magic in motion pictures. Picture Show Investigation in New York As a result of an investigation by Mayor Gaynor of the moving picture shows in New York, a new system of municipal reform for such amusement resorts has been recommended. The report of the mayor's inspectors alleges that many of the 440 picture shows are a menace to public health and safety. One of the discoveries of the investigators was that shows in some places are provided with atomizers to spray perfume through the air to allay foul odors. Many of the auditoriums had no means of ventilation except the front doors. A large proportion of the places visited were crowded to the danger point and twenty per cent were inadequately protected against fire or panic. The new ordinances recommended will exactly define a motion picture show and provide for supervision by fire officials, for regular police inspection and enforcing of the state law prohibiting the admission of children under 16 years. Boost Vallejo, Cal., in Films Moving pictures of the work on Mare island are to be taken by a film company of Chicago and sent East for advertising purposes. The Chamber of Commerce of the city is making this the beginning of a general publicity campaign to be conducted before the coming of the exposition in 1915. The advantages of the several hundred acres of tide lands to be reclaimed within the next few months are to be set forth. Church to Compete with Picture Shows A new idea .along the lines of trying to at least lessen the attendance of young children on Sunday upon the moving picture shows has been given expression in Brooklyn, and many pastors of all denominations have given the project their indorsement. The idea is to give on Sunday afternoon or evening picture shows of views of a religious character, with a sprinkling, to be as interesting as possible, of landscapes and other pictures. New Jersey Men to Organize A movement is on foot to organize the owners of moving picture shows throughout New Jersey for the purpose of fighting legislation now pending. Senator Leavitt's bill regarding the age limit will probably be indorsed, but the measure creating a board of censors will be opposed.