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180 CINEMATOGRAPHIC ANNUAL
The talkies are no longer a series of mere pictures of people speaking lines, but are rapidly bringing back all of the values, all of the beauty, of the silent motion picture, with sound and speech as a supplement. "In Old Arizona" was probably the first talking picture that did not ignore pictorial beauty. I think that this accounts, to a great extent, for its tremendous success. Several others have had some pictorial interest, but the ultimate in a finished, artistic talkie has yet to be made.
The acoustical demands in connection with the production of talking pictures have had a very noticeable effect on the design and the construction of the settings. Too much plain hard surface cannot be exposed unless of a very soft and absorbent texture. We are making very many of our sets of cloth, or a very porous wall paper. Hollow, tunnel-like cavities must be avoided. Also, the set in talking pictures, must be lit for long shots and close-ups, which are shot at the same time. There are fewer sets, but more of what might be called single shot effects. A set prepared for a short and long shot looks almost bare to the eye, but when seen on the screen it has a habit of muddling together. For instance, if the pieces of furniture are close together they look like one mass and you cannot tell what it is. Therefore you have to use them sparingly. The arrangement of the set must also be different for different lenses. A wide angle lens will throw the thing back, which will simplify it and give it depth and you can naturally have more furnishings; but a narrow angle lens will jam it all together and consequently you must have a greater distance between the furnishings in the set.
I think that the addition of speech has been a great step forward. And, with the addition of color, stereoscopic perspective, and possibly a variety of shapes to the screen proportions, we will have attained almost reality itself. The subject of stereoscopic perspective on the screen has been brought up thousands of times. Many think it is impossible because everyone cannot look at the screen from the same focal point. I was talking to an eye specialist from Johns Hopkins University and he seems to think he has got it. If he has, it is a tremendous thing and will change the proportions we are now using.
As I have suggested here the pictorial quality of the motion picture rests largely with the public. Douglas Fairbanks spoke a great truth when he once said: "Better films will come when appreciation for better films is developed. It is appreciation and criticism which guides the artist."
The producers, like many other manufacturers, have awakened to the fact that beauty is efficiency, and that good art is usually good business. They have found that the public is no longer satisfied with the settings, costumes, lighting, and groupings of last year, or yesterday. They have learned that pictures must be well composed, for a well composed picture is one at which the audience can look at and see a lot with ease. The eye and the attention of the spectator is attracted to the right point and directed in accordance with the demands of the story. Somehow the idea has crept