Hollywood Filmograph (Jun-Aug 1929)

28 June 1, 1929 Your Choice of WIGS Special Rates for Professionals Superior Quality Faultless Workmanship 5th Floor MAXIMES Broa'dw'ay GEORGE OVEY PHONE Phone, North Hollywood 476 Message, GLadstone 9502 GERLY "Parfumeur to the Stars" Creator of "L'HEURE EXQUISE" (Exquisite Hour) 6705 Hollywood Blvd. SECRETARIAL SERVICE OF HOLLYWOOD Mailing Lists, Typing, Accounting, Mimeographing, Notary 415 A. TAFT BLDG. G-Ladstone 6214 GRanite 8367 AL BOASBERG DIRECTING RADIANT PICTURES For R. K. O. SCOTT McKEE Dramatic Sense, Ability, Experience, Intelligence PHONE GRanite 8438 Joseph Jackson Dialogue for Al Jolsons New Picture "LITTLE PAL" LYNN COWAN PAUL TITSWORTH Theme Songs and Synchronizing OTTO LEDERER Appears in FOX FOLLIES and Warner Bros.' "HEARTS IN EXILE" Just finished two Benny Rubin Movietones Now with Colleen Moore DW16HT CUMMINS WILLIAM FOX STUDIO WALTER WILLS STUDIO OF STAGE DANCING AND THEATRICAL BOOKING AGENCY 7016 HOLLYWOOD BLVD. GLadstone 9502 Class and Private Instruction for Adults and Children in Tap, Acrobatic, Waltz, Clog, Buck and Wing, Adagio, Ballet, Toe, Oriental, Interpretive, Jazz, etc. WALTER WILLS, Instructor BILLY RITCHEY, Assistant R. BUDDY ESON, Ballet Master WALTER WILLS GIRLS ALWAYS IN DEMAND HOLLYWOOD WILSHTRE S4 *7Aousand (Sifts of Distinction ' Hollywood <§ift &U*p CH ) 5510 WILSHIRE BLVD. THREE { 6326 HOLLYWOOD BLVD. SHOPS I 6330 HOLLYWOOD BLVD. VALUES VARIETY CAMERA SHOTS An Interesting Analysis of Photographic Angles By NEIL BRANT That the screen is flat, has never been more apparent than at present, and the talkies are the direct cause. We have passed the stage of naive wonderment at the synchronous effect of lip movement and talk, have accepted it as a necessary evil or new art, and have become more than ever aware of its limitations. We hear voices and sounds that have every aspect of reality for us — depth, volume, tone and feeling. But with this awareness comes the realization that what we see has not the same value of reality as what we hear. This was first due to defects of synchronization, defects in the acoustics of the theatre, misplaced amplifiers behind the screen, and the like. But even with the correction of these faults, and the perfection of talkie mechanics, there will still remain the feeling of unreality about the movies, because of the stark contrast in our reception of the visual and auditory aspects of the medium. The stereoscopic screen now becomes more than the next novelty that Hollywood has to offer. It becomes a dire necessity. With the three dimensional screen in use, the visual and auditory aspects of the screen will blend into a unified whole, and the glaring contrast between them will have been eliminated. Until then, we are still dependent on the cameraman to create for us the illusion of depth to the screen. Now more than ever, rests on him the responsibility of manipulating lights to get the desired effect of depth. Photography, camera dynamics, lighting, composition of frames should be given more painstaking care than when the screen remained silent. Until the stereoscopic screen comes into use, the success of the talkies will be dependent on photography. Let me cite two instances of the silent screen which best carry off the illusion of depth to the screen. In each case the effect is directly dependent on lighting, but each achieves the effect by a different method. Consider Murnau's "Sunrise." The director was undoubtedly influenced by the paintings of the Dutch master, Pieter de Hooch. Many of the compositions of the interiors of the farm house in "Sunrise" were based on the same theory of lighting as the paintings of de Hooch. The outer limits of the screen were usually darker than any other part — various planes in the set were so placed, and the light on them so directed, that the eye naturally followed to a place near the center of the screen, which place had the most light, and was the farthest away from the camera. In this light, the action of the scene took place. In the barber-shop sequence, a mirror was so placed that it gave a view of the entire shop, leading the eye away from the foreground to the deepest part of the perspective. In the sequence where the pig plays in the pantry, a window in the side wall gave a long view of the restaurant. This became apparent when O'Brien ran from the very rear to reach the pantry. Depth in the screen was thus achieved. Consider von Sternberg's "The Case of Lena Smith." In the sequence where Lena Smith plays with her child, a woman stands close in the foreground, ironing. The light is so arranged that this woman is entirely in shadow, while Lena Smith is in the light behind her. The contrast of the almost static dark mass in the foreground, and the action that goes on in the light farther away from the camera, gives to the screen the desired depth. Again, in the trial sequence, the backs of two chairs which are in total shadow, were placed in the immediate foreground, while the action took place in the light behind them. A much too flagrant fault with photography as it is being practiced here in Hollywood is the over-lighting of every scene. Light is thrown injudiciously into every corner of the set, killing shadows that would have thrown into relief the really important action of the scene. A shadow, a dark spot, a black mass — all become in the hands of the artist as telling as light itself. It is the contrast of dark places and light, that causes the eye to travel to the deep parts of the set; or if the action of the scene holds our eye, makes us feel the depth of the screen. With the advent of the talkies, the scenes of action are relegated to minor importance. Camera dynamics become a difficult procedure, because the shifting of the mike is undesirable. The effective shot appears less often. We now come upon the closemedium shot and the close-up as the two camera set-ups most effectively correlated with the position of the mike. This puts the chance of composing the individual frames at a disadvantage. In "Alibi," however, these apparent disadvantages have been overcome to some extent, and it is to be hoped that other talkies will follow suit, noting the technique that Roland West used. When the screen was silent (in the dear dead days not quite beyond recall) the photography of the closeup had reached a perfection here in Hollywood not rivaled anywhere else. But now, when this same closeup talks and wise-cracks and sings and lisps, its beauty is horribly distorted. (We beg to advise Messrs. Zukor and Lasky that Eddie Cantor's oggling eyes look better in long shot, though his voice, of course, should be heard.) A close-up, in essence, is closely akin to still photography. With the addition of sound, whatever charm it had is lost. A solution of the problem (since solution we must have — or rather since the close-up is a necessity, being the trade-mark of the Hollywood product), would be to have sound and talkie only as an accompaniment to the stillness of the close-up. While it is commendable that in a short space of time the mechanism of the talkies has been brought to its present high standard (shouts of "No"), it must be kept in mind that their primary aim, the creation of an illusion of reality for the spectator, will fail completely, unless photography is raised to a higher degree of excellence.