Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1920)

February, 1920 MOVING PICTURE AGE 35 HEADQUARTERS For Motion Picture Cameras, Tripods and Otlier Apparatus for tlie Production of Film (( AMERICAN PROJECTOSCOPE" $215 Ask for Special Catalog IT • I ri 200 ft. Model, List $430 fJAti Universal Lameras: our price $j4y NEW MODEL PRECISION BALL BEARING TRIPODS $165 400 ft. Model, List $645 OUR PRICE $525 GENUINE IMPORTED FRENCH DEBRIE CAMERAS NOW IN STOCK Motion Picture Apparatus Co.^ Inc. 110 West 32nd St. NEW YORK CITY The Log of the German Submarine U-35 At McVicker's Theater, Chicago, recently was shown a most interesting and instructive moving picture record of the exploits of the German submarine U-3S, made from the deck of the submarine by its commander. It is a remarkable film, packed with incident. As the screen unfolds one after another, the pictured story of ship after ship, torpedo stabbed and shell wrecked, slowly settling and finally disappearing under the tossing waves, it is as if one stood and watched the actual occurrence from the German's deck. Of all the films dealing with the war there has been none more thrilling and. none more matter of fact. One feels it the real thing, as, of course, it is. The torpedo is discharged, the eye follows its wake, the doomed ship quivers as she is stabbed, and if she does not go down quickly, shells or bombs assist her to her grave. Never before have such close pictures been obtained under such circumstances and the film records the sinking not of one ship, but of seven or eight out of the total twenty-one the U-35 made on that trip. The film was intended for screen showing in Germany to illustrate the U-boat work and not only does it in this — to the Germans — unintended way, but gives a distinct impression of the German mentality. The film, it is said, was obtained in German\ l)y United States intelligence officers and copies furnished to the allied navies for their use. In connection with the showing of the film Commander Frank R. Berg, United States Navy, and Captain Stanlej' H. Lewis, of the Marine Corps, recruiting officers, made use of the week of occasion to forward their recruiting campaigns in Chicago and "vicinity. The moving picture screen is being used extensively by the government for accounting purposes. The Screen Cartoon in Colors By Jerome Lachenbruch The imaginings of children, the wonder creations of their fresh fancy, are of phantom forms and figures forgotten by the adult. In fact, some of the modern schools nourish the phantasies of their children and give the little ones crayons to draw their conceptions as best they can. Strange as it may seem, the newspapers have appreciated the tendency of children to create grotesques and symbols, and have recognized it in the creation of their Sunday colored supplements. Here we find caricatured figures in blazing colors ; delightful concepts which the children follow from week to week. Ever}' Sunday morning their rejuvenated paJ R Brav rents are constrained to explain the antics of the little figures that perform on the printed page for the benefit of children alone. The exaggerations of the colored newspaper cartoon meet the "vivid and flexible imaginations of the children. Despite the assertions of dogmatists, these cartoons do not give the children a false impression of life ; on the contrary, they are symbols of the triumph of goodness over naughtiness; they inculcate a love for domestic animals by investing them with human qualities. Grown-ups are all too prone to forget the similarity in instinct between man and animal — a similarity with which the child is familiar through personal observation. Yet, lest the child receive a false impression of life, we must remember that he has always his parents and the world of immediate environment about him as correctives. But he takes these as matters of course. What he wants is play for his imagination. And he finds this to a large extent in the newspaper colored supplement. Recently there has been a delightful extension of the field of the Sunday colored cartoon. With the development of the motion picture as a form of entertainment and as a medium of education, the point has been reached where the colored newspaper cartoon is being translated to the screen. Recently Mr. J. R. Bray, who was formerly a Brooklyn, N. Y., newspaper cartoonist, perfected a method for animating cartoons by means of which the little caricatured figures move without a jerk, and perform their antics with a new kind of droller}'. In the past, these delightful cartoons have been made in black and white. Now, however, they are going to be made in color. In point of efficiency as cartoons, these colored pictographs bear the same relation to the black and white animated cartoon that the colored newspaper cartoon does to its black and white brother. The colored cartoon is richer, more attractive, closer to the child's habit of investing all things with color and seeing them in different hues and shades. Just how the color effect is obtained may be only partly explained, as some of the secret processes in the method are closely guarded. However, some of the details of the method may now be revealed. The animated cartoon differs from the ordinary motion picture in that it is a series of still photographs. That is to say, about 1,500 drawings on thin paper are made by artists and then traced on composition plates. These plates are laid on a specially constructed table and photographed individually by an inverted motion picture camera which is placed above the table. The crank of the camera is turned automatically about an inch each time a plate is exposed to the film. The turning of the film in the camera case is regulated by a pedal which the photographer, sitting at the table, controls. When a single picture is ready for photographing, he presses the pedal, the camera shutter opens, the photograph is made, the shutter closes again, and the roll of film in the camera stops unwinding. Now when the photographer arranges the next plate on the table for exposure, he once more presses the pedal, and the same process is repeated. This is a general idea of the way in which the GoldwynBray animated cartoon is made. To make cartoons in color, two variations of this method have been perfected. The first involves the use of the panchromatic film; the second, the coloring of the individual photographic plates that are exposed to the film. In repairing the plates, each is hand colored b}' artists. Instead of a bare outline, such as we find in the black and white cartoons, we have the little caricatures clothed in reds, blues and yellows. When the plates are photographed on the panchromatic film, the original colors are retained; and upon developing the film, they are brought out clearly and distinctly. In the first experiments, it was found that the blues overshadowed all the other colors, but this difficulty has now been overcome and every color is given its true value in the final print. The first animated color cartoon to be shown to the public tells the story of the attempt of Mr. and Mrs. Cat, guadily dressed in blue and red, to teach their young "hopeful" how to catch mice. In the course of their lessons, little Miss Kitten meets big Mr. Rat, suddenly loses her courage and finds that her instruction was not meant for such big game.