American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

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Eighteen AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER February, L926 y %, y "%\ A CLOSE UP OF A TEMPERAMENTAL ACTRESS MADE WITH A Universal Motion Picture Camera Motion picture of a humming bird in flight. Taken at a distance of 18 inches, and the bird held within this extremely small field for a full minute period. The bird is so large on the screen that it is easy to determine the exact manner in which the feet are carried in flight; a fact heretofore not definitely known. Photographed and Produced by T. Walter Weiseman of "Bird Manor" THIS ILLUSTRATES ONE USE OF A UNIVERSAL CAMERA. YOUR STUDIO NEEDS A UNIVERSAL FOR THE HARD AND UNUSUAL ASSIGNMENT. SEND FOR OUR NEW CATALOGUE UNIVERSAL CAMERA CO. 355 W. ONTARIO ST. CHICAGO r Continued from Page 7 ) ical" director. His action is not expressed via the medium of violent action. If the keynote may be struck at all, his story is told by suggestion — subtly, as the critics seem to agree. Now, then, if Mr. deMille's direction is subtle, his cinematography must be all that, and more. Above all, it must be unobtrusive. The bold, hard effects cannot be gone into. They might jar with the story, rather than working along with it. That is the point that the writer reasoned out at the beginning of his association with Mr. deMille; the diagnosis prbved correct and is only more emphasized at each script reading which Mr. deMille holds with all the members of his cast and staff at the beginning of each production, at which time he tells the story of the picture in his own words with recommendations to the cinematographer as to "key" in which the cinematography is to be struck. It must be admitted that there is no hard and fast cinematographic rule for direction such as Mr. deMille's. As had been said heretofore, this matter of motion photography is difficult of standardization. Then how, it may be well asked, may Mr. deMille's direction be exemplified in cinematography, if that direction is recognized as being distinctive in its own right? TV) such a query it must be answered, that the cinematographer who would be successful in the portrayal of direction such as that of Mr. deMille must, basically, view the entire production exactly from the perspective of the director himself. He must put himself "in the director's shoes." His" viewpoint is that of the cinematographer, to be sure; but not exclusively so. He m u s t, briefly, look at the matter from a dual promontory — from that of the director and the cinematographer both. If he can put on the celluloid what the director has in mind, then he is successful ; otherwise he isn't. If he thinks exclusively cinematographic, then there is apt to result that "jarring" which Mr. deMille has so endeavored to avoid in his productions. If the writer were able to suggest a formula — what kind of light to use and where to place it, what sort of lens to use and how to expose it, and so on — he would only be establishing an equation, the correct answer of which would be that after all cine