The art of sound pictures (1930)

INTRODUCTION TO PART I The motion picture industry, like Gaul, can be divided into three parts — production, distribution, and exhibition. All the big producing companies at the present time distribute their own pictures through their own exchanges. And nearly all producers also own and operate motion picture theaters. Despite the fact that all three branches of the industry are closely interlocked, we are not at all concerned, in this book, with distribution or exhibition of pictures. Production, however, holds our attention throughout all of its many departments. Roughly speaking, we may divide the manufacturing or prorduction of pictures into three stages. First comes the story and its preparation in continuity form for the screen. The story must always be the very soul of the whole motion picture enterprise. A poor story dooms the production despite all that popular stars, a famous director, and marvelous sets can do to salvage the picture. A good story may bring big box-office returns even though it is badly screened with mediocre actors. The second stage of picture production consists in actually getting the story photographed on the film. The motion picture director is in active command of this colossal task. Sometimes the director’s work is supervised by an associate producer or a supervisor. During this stage of the production sets must be built, players cast for the various parts, and scenes rehearsed and eventually photographed. Nowadays dialogue and music must also be rehearsed and recorded during this stage of the work. The third part of picture making includes developing the film, cutting and arranging it in sequence, and preparing the prints for shipment to the exhibitors all over the world. This stage of picture production includes a vast amount of technical work in combining picture and sound records on the same film or synchronizing the film with sound records on discs like those of the phonograph. A large staff of technical experts X