Home Movies and Home Talkies (Jun 1933-May 1934)

HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES 257 ami are constantly adapting the old tricks of the silent film cutter, silent films are still the more accommodating to the Editor's plastic surgery. Silence ! Perhaps the most important thing for a silent film actor to achieve is silence. If he learns to act without speaking ■ — except when occasional spoken titles are necessary — he will be able to concentrate more, to make his acting an expression of thought. It has often been said that the basis of silent film acting is thought, but I would go further — I would say that it is thot/ght transference, with a dash of hypnotism. If silent film artists act with their minds, this techinque will react on the minds of the audience ; we feel that we are thinking their thoughts and we are interpreting these thoughts in our own way ; in a dialogue film we are not participating nearly so much in the scene we are watching. Once a silent actor has overcome his desire to talk, his whole method changes ; atitomatically he becomes more expressive cinematically and ten times more interesting. But so long as he relies on talking, so long will he remain ridiculous. It may take time to eradicate completely the natural impulse to talk, but an artist who is determined will in a miraculously short time find himself beginning to master the basis of silent film acting. The dialogue actor should master this also, for more and more are we reverting to jjatches of silent film technique in talkies, but he will seldom have an opportunity of performing sustained sequences of silent acting. He has, however, another set of problems. Amongst high-brow theorists there is a belief that a stage training is worse than useless for a talkie artist. I don't believe this. Stagey technique is obviously bad, but an intelligent and subtle stage artist can soon learn to adapt his technique to films. The Lack of Audience At first, he will find that the lack of a responsive autlience rather cramps his style ; a wise Director will try to take the place of the missing audience, appreciating every nuance the artist puts into his characterisation. A Director should never stint his praises, for most artists thrive under encouragement. A stage artist is often inclined to deliver his words with too much precision ; in a long shot this is something you should correct in moderation, but in closer shots too much theatrical precision will destroy the natural effect. Then, stage artists are nearly all inclined to speak too slowly and with too deliberate pauses ; in a hundred per cent, talkie this is fatal. Generally speaking, you can afford to talk quicker on the screen than on the stage — but be careful not to slur "key words." By a key word I mean one that is essential to the proper understanding of the story. For instance, an artist may say at the end of a scene : " Very well, if you won't help me, perhaps my imcle at the War Office will." If your next sequence is a room at the War Office and there are no particxilar indications of its locale, it is essential that the key words ' ' War Office ' ' should be clearly as well as natvu-ally enunciated. A very important thing to heljD the acting is an agreement between artists and Director as to their characterisations. After the first general reading of the script the Director should turn the meeting into a Character Conference. He can give his own views on the characterisation, but, more important still, he should encourage the artists to give theirs. Sometimes ah artist of considerable emotional ability may find some difficulty in crystallising into reasoned words their assessment of the characterisation. This may be because they are inclined to be too emotional and rather muddled in consequence ; therefore the Director should coax them to express themselves and to give a reasoned account of what they consider the characterisation should be. This forcing of logic upon emotion is a most useful corrective ! It is for these reasons that I strongly urge a general round-table reading and conference before actual rehearsals commence. Then let the artists have a day to think over what they have said and what the Director has said. Further, do not rush things at the next rehearsal ; do not attempt to fit actions to the words too soon ; let the sense and the feeling of the words be grasped before the words are learnt by heart. If amateurs will pay more attention to acting and establish a routine of rehearsals, they can march forward to greater things. The purely technical side is well advanced ; it is now ujj to the artists to catch uji tlie technicians. APPARATUS TESTED {Continued from page 289) Willo matt box illustrated herewith, which is designed to attach by means of three screws to practically any cine lens. The box, which also forms a very effective lens hood, is made to carry a niunber of diffusion matts, as they are called, these being small frames carrying gauzes with different sizes of mesh to give varying degrees of diffusion for scenics, landscapes, portraiture, close-ups of heads in strong light, etc. There are six of these provided and they either give a sharp close-up of the subject with a diffused background or diffused edges for the entire picture. In professional pictures many a film star owes much of her charm to the discreet use of such matts, and one of these outfits should be found very useful to any cine society accustomed to filming plays. The casing itself which forms the hood and carrier for the masks is made in metal with an attractive crystalline finish and has adjusting screws for fitting various sizes of lenses. The price of the complete outfit is 42s., and it has also been submitted to us by Mr. Edwin Gorse, of Blackbiu'u. The Coronet 9|-mm. Projector Standing high in popularity among the inexpensive Ql-mm. projectors is the Coronet, illustrated on page 279 and designed to take either 30 or 60 ft. reels and to project them by hand operation. This little outfit is substantially and pleasingly constructed, giving a clear bright pictm-e which focuses sharply and compares very favourably indeed with other projectors in the low price market. Threading, projection, focusing and re-winding are all very easily effected. This apparatus represents remarkably good value and can be recommended to all who require an inexpensive 9^-mm. projector. It has been submitted to us by the Coronet Camera of 310 Smnmer Lane, Birmingham, and costs 45s. Home Development of Cine Films There is a rapidly growing interest in the home development of cine films and thus we are very pleased to have an opportunity of reviewing the latest arrival in this field — the Correx 16-mm. and 35-mm. developing outfits. The apparatus consists of a wooden frame which carries three bobbins, one, being that taken from the camera and carrying the exposed film ; the second, a bobbin on which is wound a transparent apron, and the third an empty bobbin on to which the apron and the film itself are simultaneously wound. Operation is very simple, as it is onlj^ necessary to take the frame with bobbins into the dark-room, thread the film and apron together on to the empty bobbin and then rotate this last so that film and apron are together woimd until both fill the reel. The apron is made with corrugations which have the effect of separating the sensitive film from both front and back of the apron. Our upper illustration on page 280 shows a 16-mm. outfit in front with behind a reel containing the apron for the 35-mm. set, while the lower illustration shows the two tanks for 16-mm. and 35-mm. reversal. A typical outfit for 16 mm. is the Correx 109 set consisting of enamelled iron developing dish 10 in. in diameter, a 50 ft. Correx apron, two 10-in. film reels, one film reel without core and one spooling frame, this costing complete £3 12s. 6d. A similar outfit but slightly larger to take 100 ft. of film at a time costs £5 17s. 6d., while if it is desired to duplicate any parts the components are obtainable separately at reasonable prices. We can fully recommend these sets, which have been submitted to us by Messrs. Sands Hunter & Co., Ltd., 37 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C.2.