The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

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September, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Three rude action of the cops in breaking into their private quarters and a free-for-all fight takes place. Then we have all the sound effect men bus\ and part of the cast is ad-libbing with cries and shouts. One man is busy doing nothing but smacking his fist into the palm of his hand, while another falls on a board to the floor to give the effect of men being knocked down. Still another is busy firing real guns with blank cartridges, or he may be hitting a leather covered cushion with a stick to produce sounds like shots — this is known as the shot pad. The remaining man is busy upsetting chairs (real chairs are used for this) and when all five men are going full blast it sounds very much like a free-for-all fight to the radio listener. And here it may be said that these effects are rehearsed many times before going on the air ; the average play of half an hour is usually rehearsed with sound five or six hours before presentation. Let's imagine a storm at sea on an old sailing boat. The listener hears the wind howling. This is produced with a clever effect machine — a large cylinder of wood — with a dozen or so ribs about one inch high with a piece of canvas dragging over it. When turned rapidly the cylinder emits quite a howl of wind. The effect of rain is produced by a special rain machine. It is about three feet in diameter, one inch deep and round. It is mounted about ten degrees off level. A handful of shot placed in the bottom produces the effect of rain when the device is slowly turned. The effect of sloshing water is accomplished by the use of a hot water bag half full of water and sloshed in front of the microphone. Next we may require a good squeak in the old boat. A bit of the studio furniture is utilized for this. A straight backed studio chair was found to have a delightful squeak when swayed slowly by the back from side to side. To get the effect of canvas sail flapping, several pieces of canvas were mounted on a wooden frame ; when shaken vigorously in synchronism with the bursts of wind it sounded very much like the real thing. A few squeaky pulley blocks hung on the frame added much to this effect. One script in the production, "Calling All Cars,'' called for the bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building. After many hours of trying different stunts for the explosion and wreckage of the building we finally hit upon a combination of effects that sounded real. First to get the effect of a terrific explosion of an infernal machine such as was used in the Los Angeles Times Building bombing, a board about five feet wide and twelve feet long was dropped on the studio floor. When picked up by the microphone this sounded very much like our own studio had blown up. To get the effect of the walls caving in, we used about two dozen folding chairs piled high ; then at the top of a board that formed an incline were placed five or six dozen piano rolls. Immediately following the synthetic explosion, the chairs were pushed over along with the player piano rolls, and then a large box of debris was dumped on the floor in a pouring fashion. To produce the effect of the fire that followed the explosion and wreckage of the building a large piece of celophane was crushed in a rotating fashion in the palm of the hands. When all of these individual effects were put together in one scene, the effect was tremendous. The usual method of producing any sound effect scene such as the Los Angeles Times bombing case, where there are several varieties of sound to be combined, is to try each individual sound for its natural tone, and then balance all sound effects together and listen to the overall effect. All sound effects have to be balanced by the sound effect man and mixer in order to get the proper perspective. A serious sound effect often becomes comedy when not done properly. The production of shows with sound has also many points of humor. In one dramatic show the hero was supposed to kill a cobra by firing two shots. On cue the sound effect man fired one shot and the next was a fluke. The actor kept waiting for his cue; the second shot, which never came. He couldn't read the lines in the script: "Well, it took two shots, but I got him," so he ad-libbed the next line to meet the situation and saved the day by saying, "Well, I got him!" In closing let's say that the production of natural sound effects calls for plenty of hard work, time, patience and ingenuity. THE ONE GREAT WONDER" [In the October issue of International Photographer additional information will be published as a follow-up to "THE ONE GREAT WONDER", the editorial printed in our August issue, proposing a permanent world's fair for Los Angeles or San Francisco by the reproduction here or there of the "SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD." Watch for it.— The Editor.] Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.