The blue book of the screen (1923)

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SCREEN RENAISSANCE THROUGH MOTION PAINTING By Ferdinand Earle Simple as is the fundamental principle used by Ferdinand Earle in his "motion paintings" and widespread as is its use in motion picture production, no one has yet succeeded in obtaining the results this artist-director has on the screen. Susceptible to scores of variations, only one version of the method can be described here. That, so not to bore the reader with unnecessarily technical details, will be told of as simply as possible. Earle paints on a piece of academy board about 14 by 20 inches a castle, say, that would cost $50,000 to build as a set. But the painting in composition and lighting reaches planes of artistry impossible with an actual set. Into this painting, which on the screen may appear to cover acres instead of inches, Earle introduces living actors. On the screen these actors may appear in the distance as tiny figures and may approach right to the camera. They may enter and exit through the doors of the painting as though it were a real set. All without any appearance of double exposure. In the simple instance which we are disclosing, this is how it may be done: A small portion of the painting in which the living figures will appear is reproduced as a portion of a set on the same scale as the living figures. The corresponding portion of the painting is cut away, leaving an opening of the same shape. Then the painting is secured upright a short distance in front of the camera. And the portion of the set that has been built is set up at such distance that, looking at the painting through the camera lens, the set exactly fits the piece cut out of the painting. The studio lights are adjusted about the fragment of set, with its living actors, so that it is lit to give shadows in exactly the same directions as those painted on the academy board in the foreground. When photographed thus, with the actors on their fragment of set appearing in exactly the right position on the painting, the method is undetectible to the eye. The actors are moving freely about at the will of the director on a scene that is breath-taking in its apparent magnitude. Paintings by Paul Detlefsen A painting of a street is erected before the camera with the portion cut away where the action is to take place. The camera is focused on the canvas and the set beyond. 345