Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1916)

46 Photoplay Magazine The duties of the art director vary in the different studios, but the end sought is the same — better picture quality. In one of the largest studios on the Pacific Coast the art director's chief function is to view the sets after they have been dressed. He is equipped with a wide knowledge of picture conditions ; knows what the camera will do and what it will not, and is an expert on color values as translated into the black and white of the screen. The artistic quality of the pictures from this studio has improved manyfold since the art director came on the job. Another Coast studio, the product of which ranks well above the average, has in addition to an art director, a technical director, and easily accessible to both is a well organized research department. At this studio, the art director plans every interior set that is used in every photoplay, relying upon the interior decorator for the color scheme, but attending personally to every piece of furniture, every drape and every picture or ornament. He has studied the script carefully and he knows the character of the people who occupy the house. So he makes it fit them. The research department puts in many busy days and nights when a foreign or costume play is in prospect ; and libraries are ravished for illustrations and authentic descriptions of the properties required. Few producing companies indulge in costume plays these days ; but those which do, aim to be accurate in every essential. if Chinatown scenes are to be shown, a Chinese expert is called in and he sees to it that each laundry, tea-house or store has the proper sign over the entrance, so that no Chinese viewing the finished photoplay could find aught to criticise. Irvin Cobb, the noted writer and war correspondent, once paid a visit to the Lasky studio in Los Angeles, just in time to save it from a faux pas. which probably would not have been noticed by one person in a thousand, but which would have been a source of humiliation to the director. German soldiers were appearing in a Belgian photoplay and some of them were permitted to wear their coats unbuttoned to add a sort of comfortable touch to the scene. Mr. Cobb, fresh from the war zone, expressed his horror at witnessing such unheard-of negligence. "It isn't done, you know," explained Mr. Cobb, so the camera was halted until the blouses were tightly buttoned. This writer also came just in time to settle a dispute as to the manner of wearing the well known Iron Cross, so that when the director finally gave the word to "shoot," everything was as it should be. The technical director would have been responsible had it not been. The art authority at the Lasky studio is Wilfred Buckland. who is generally regarded as one of the leaders in the new profession. The closest possible attention to detail is observed at the Lasky plan1 rlose in fact that technical "breaks" are almost entirely precluded. Mr. Buckland tells an interesting little story of the filming of "The Unknown." Lou-Tellegen's initial film vehicle. "One of the scenes was a street in a little Algerian town on the edge of the Sahara Desert. When it had been completed, an Algerian merchant in Los Angeles was summoned and he passed it as absolutely correct. But the art director was not satisfied. He felt that there was something wrong but could not detect it. Finally, after studying the set for several hours and from every angle, he found the flaw. It was too new. The atmosphere of an old city was lacking. There were no stains on the walls caused by the shoulders of countless thousands rubbing against them. This led to the discovery that the doorsteps of the buildings were not sufficiently worn. So a corps of workmen was set to work rubbing the walls along the street until each had a well worn, smoothly polished line shoulder high : and the too-new steps were replaced by older ones. With four or five productions on his hands simultaneously, the art director's job is no sinecure. He is the court of last resort in the matter of sets and appurtenances, and if he errs, he must shoulder the blame ' alone. The same discriminating public which is responsible for the creation of art and technical directors is the bete noir of those officials, for technical flaws are quickly discovered by the "outsiders" and some of the more enthusiastic fans do not hesitate about writing the producer to "set him right." Then the art director hears from the "big boss." No producing company devotes itself more assiduously to correctness of detail in (Continued on page I//)