Cinematographic annual : 1930 (1930)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

NON-THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Milton Stark THE Non-Theatrical Motion Picture, as the name implies, refers to the art of the Motion Picture applied outside the theatre. However, Motion Pictures have been made for Non-Theatrical purposes that have been accorded honor places on the Theatrical screen. For instance, the pictures "Chang" and "Simba," which graphically picture animal life, were originally meant for scientific visual records. They were so interesting and so well taken that it was decided to lengthen them. And, with the addition of some scenes of the natives in a love theme, the films were successful commercially. Making Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures is a fascinating business. Just picture yourself, for instance, assigned to "shoot" or record with your camera a few scenes like these: A railroad car loaded with grain, that is actually turned upside down so that the grain will be emptied much faster than the old way of shoveling. An entire trip through a packing plant, where the story of meats is visualized — from the cattle starting up the incline, to the finished products being taken away in refrigerated cars. A hunting trip where everyone else had their guns and you had to "shoot" with your camera. The very first Motion Pictures ever made were made for NonTheatrical purposes. In 1872, Edward Muybridge perfected a device that took pictures of running horses. It consisted of a series of cameras to which were attached strings that ran over the running field. As the horses passed them the strings broke and tripped the camera shutters. The pictures, when developed, actually showed the running horses — and were used to settle all doubt as to the real winner. Muybridge continued his experiments at the University of Pennsylvania, with a sum of money donated specifically for his experiments "in the cause of education and science." That was long before the talkies, grandeur, third-dimension and color-film were thought of as commercial successes. Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures can be classified, rather broadly, into three groups, the Industrial, the Educational and the Scientific. The film on the packing plant is an excellent example of a typical Industrial. It was made to be used in the sales and advertising departments of a large Eastern packing-house. The funds were appropriated and the amount carried in the budget as a definite part of that firm's advertising allowance. It was really an investment in that it has already brought in enough new business to pay for three or four films (negative and all) — and is still in constant circulation. It is interesting to note that, while we know the Motion Picture business as an art, comparable with the drama, etc., motion pictures as an industry in the beginning were principally film productions with industrial or advertising themes. It was quite a time, from the actual perfection of commercial Motion Picture projection, before the industry started into theatricals. And even then the very first half [449]