American cinematographer (Dec 1936)

504 American Cinematographer • December, 1936 Rhythmic Optical Effects for Musica Pictures A 3GUT A DOZEN years ago, the Russians developed 3 technique of rhythmic cutting which they termed 'Montage.'' It was simply the basic silent-picture cutting technique developed to accent rhythm—but it was most effective. Here in America, we added to this tech- nique the special effects obtainable through optical print- ing, and made it a part of our own pictures. When sound came we synchronized music sound-effects to the rhythm of the montage, and found a new means of expressiveness. In these applications, especially when used in dramatic pictures, the relationship between the musical and visual rhythms must of necessity be extremely subtle. In the actor's phrase, the trick must be "underplayed" if it is not to disturb the dramatic values of the story. During the last three or four years, however, the search for novelty in musical films has led to a new use of this eye-and-ear rhythm wherein the rhythm is deliberately accented to heighten both the effect of rhythm and the effect of novelty. Here, filmic and musical rhythm is stressed—exaggerated—until it is obvious; a "montage in swing-time," as it were. This newer use of rhythmic technique would be virtual- ly impossible without today's optical-printing technique. Dramatic montages would still be possible without the optical printer; in some cases they might even be better if the cutter's shears was the only available tool. But music-film rhythm tricks have from their inception been based on optical printing, and especially on novelty optical transitions. It is a source of great gratification to me that the RKO Special Effects staff, and particularly Optic- al-printer expert Lynn Dunn, have been the pioneers in this field. This first hint of this new technique occurred about four years ago, in a little musical short entitled "So This is Harris." This was simply an experiment in synchronizing trick optical transitions with accentuated musical rhythms; but it received an unusual response from the press and public. Literally, it was the starting-point of the modern musical. There followed "Melody Cruise," the first musical feat- ure made with this technique. It was, as one critic ex- pressed it, "a rhapsody for optical printer, accompanied by Charlie Ruggles." Next came "Flying Down to Rio," which really introduced both Fred Astaire and the modern concept of a music-film. From it, the chain of Astaire musicals grew, each of which has made a more compre- hensive use of optico-rhythmic trickery than its predeces- sor. So far, the culmination of this development has been the "shadow-dance" ('Bojangles of Harlem') number in "Swing Time," which many critics have termed the high- spot of the picture. While space does not permit a full analysis of the de- velopment of this technique, it may be mentioned that at first all that was attempted was a single transition, ac- companied by proper musical effects. For instance, in one of these earlier films a polka-dot transition was used, in which the new scene appeared in a number of irregu- larly spaced round patches an the old one, to a tinkling musical accompaniment that struck a note at the appear- ance of each circle. From this, things have progressed until now we often plan a whole dance or song sequence as a unit, with action, music, and "wipes" in perfect. by Vernon L Walker, A.S.C. Chief of Camera Effemts, RKO Studio. highly rhythmic synchronism. Optial tricks are also used, as in the shadow dance, as a basic part of an apparently straightforward scene, to create novel effects. This technique requires special planning, of course, and often special techniques and equipment. In an ordinary dramatic montage, we generally produce the visual effect first, and let the musicians devise the sound and music accompaniment afterwards. In a musical, this must be reversed. The music is written first, and we must pat- tern our optical treatment to coordinate with it. This usually begins in a serious "story conference" between Director, writers, and special-effects staff. Ideas are sug- gested, changed, revised and revamped; by the time the shot is completed, no one man can take full credit for the idea, though Lynn Dunn, as the optical printer expert, usually deserves credit for the actual execution of the shot. In some instances, the finished shot may be a composite assembled by means of several different trick processes. For instance, in one picture we had a song-sequence in which the scene behind the singer changed several times to show what he was singing about. These backgrounds were made by straightforward photography. Then they were joined together with effectively rhythmic optical wipes, on the optical printer. Finally, they were placed behind the singer by the familiar projection-backgraund process. Some of the background-shots, if I recall aright, also contained miniatures, and the scene as a whole was bound to the rest of the picture with optical wipes. A virtually unlimited range of possibilities for rhythmic wipes can be made by combining moving film-mattes with ingenuity in an optical printer. A dripping wipe, for in- stance, or a revolving one, is not only unusual on the screen, but effective when set to music. The "turn- over" transitions used in "Flying Down to Rio" for intro- ducing the characters can also be played rhythmically, as can the "card" wipe introduced in the same picture. Some of these require special optical printer attachments, such as a means for moving the printing-head, special moving mechanical mattes, and so on. The "shadow dance" number required the use of a somewhat complicated system of optical printing, in which two or more printer-heads are used in connection with a single camera-head and a partially-reflecting mirror. In making this shot, we photographed the shadows before we photographed the figure that apparently cast them. Continued on page 514