The international photographer (Feb-Dec 1929)

Twelve The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER September, 1929 Truball Tripod Heads MODEL B Their use for follow shots assures smooth operation, having an equal tension on all movmeents. Also, their action is unaffected by temperature. FRED HOEFNER Cinema Machine Shop 5319 Santa Monica Blvd. GLadstone C243 Los Angeles PICTURES PROBLEMS (Continued from Page Hi) in. in. Grandeur film are two unhappy extremes. This wide picture seems to claim favor as an approach to the visual range of the eye. We believe this is a mistaken promise. Let us not forget that the great range of the human vision is provided us as a means of protection, but that the choice field of vision is very limited. A simple experiment will demonstrate that when we select a prospect, the area of critical interest is very narrow, and beyond this, is merely a conscious retinal periphery. All forms of pictorial art demand a narrow, but pleasing, projection, and we venture that there is little artistic appeal in an excessively wide film. We should carefully distinguish between a larger picture, in the taking, and a wider screen. A larger initial picture may certainly have many advantages, provided there are no mechanical difficulties in the projection. Its value may be understood by an exaggerated comparison — if we imagine a motion picture, of the dimension of a lantern slide, projected to the size of the standard screen, we would have a picture of incomparable beauty and smoothness of grain, and all other blemishes would be proportionately reduced. It is logical to assume that the picture must, eventually, be provided with a space for the sound track; this could be done in the positive only without disturbing the standard proportions of the negative. If the industry insists, however, on a change, the ideal dimension appears to be that suggested by Westerberg, 51 m.m. wide, with the picture 36 m.m. x 22J/^ m.m. It is terrifying to contemplate scrapping the present standard equipment, but anything so revolutionary as the "talkies" demands equally radical changes in the machinery to produce them artistically. LIGHTING "RIO RITA" Imagine some 19,500,000 lighted candles spaced one foot apart! In a straight line, they would reach from Los Angeles to New York and double back to Chicago. Reduced to a common denominator, that is the electrical energy used in making the Technicolor sequences of Radio Pictures all-talking, all-musical extravaganza, "Rio Rita." To William Johnson, chief of the electrical department of RKO studios, the lighting of the elaborate Technicolor sequences of "Rio Rita" meant just so many incandescent bulbs drawing so much wattage. To Robert Kurrle, chief cameraman for the "Rio Rita" production, it meant the proper placing of a battery of MoleRichardson Inkies to give the best color values to the brilliant barge night club setting with its hundreds of players. To the host of actors and actresses working eight days on these sequences, the lights meant Mr. Webster's definition of incandescents ("Glowing due to heat") because there were many cooler places than the "Rio Rita" set during the filming of the color scenes. Photographing in Technicolor demands just double the light necessary for making scenes in black and white. This is because the color screens used in front of the lenses have the same effect as putting dark glasses on the eyes. On small sets doubling the amount of light does not mean so much, but since "Rio Rita" was made on a gigantic scale, the sets were spacious and to achieve the finest effects lights were used with a prodigality that made the sun envious. Three hundred and twenty-six incandescent bulbs were employed by Johnson and Kurrle in lighting the "Rio Rita" barge, alone. The smallest of these consumed 1,000 watts, the largest 10,000 watts. With their mirror reflectors their brilliance was multiplied many times. Getting down to basic figures, here is the list of incandescent bulbs used, the size and aggregate wattage: Number Wattage Total 97 1,000 97,000 192 2,000 384,000 95 5,000 475,000 2 10,000 20,000 386 18,000 976,000 Multiplying this total wattage bv eight, the number of days the company worked on the color sequences, brings the aggregate wattage to 7,808,000. Electrical engineers declare a 40-watt bulb gives approximately 100 candlepower, or 2J/2 candlepower per watt. Thus, 7,808,000 watts means 19,520,000 candlepower. Getting back to the candle simile used at the beginning of this story: Spacing (>(>5 NORTH ROBERTSON BLVD. WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. 19,520,000 lighted candles one foot apart in a straight line would cover a distance of about 3,700 miles! Anyway one measures this staggering volume of light it fairly shouts for attention. It is a barometer of the magnitude on which "Rio Rita," with Bebe Daniels and John Boles featured, has been transferred via Photophone to the screen by Radio Pictures. Ziegfeld's famous stage success becomes doubly eye and ear appealing through the treatment given by Luther Reed, the director. RKO executives are confident this musical extravaganza will write a new and hard-to-equal page in the annals of the sound screen. THE UNION LABEL (Continued from Page 2) existence, but we want to make it possible that men and women shall enjoy life and develop the best that is within them. That can be done only when the hours of labor are reasonable. We want to make conditions tolerable and humane. We want to make it possible for men and woment to work under humane conditions. These are the objectives of our labor movement. "Our great labor movement is a part of our national life. The men and women who make it up are citziens of these United States and are interested in our government. No group of people realize the value of the principle enunciated in the Declaration of Independence more than the working men and women of America. It is because we realize what they mean that we are so devoted to our great institutions and our American form of government."