International photographer (Jan-Dec 1935)

Twenty-four The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER March, 1935 The Language of the Movies By Earl Theisen Associate Editor At the moment she was having difficulty getting up the hill. She, a roly-poly darkie-woman, was on roller skates doggedly pushing up the grade over Cahuenga Pass outside Hollywood on her way to Universal Studio. Negroid joints could almost be heard to creak from the effort of each uphill stride, for she was certainly a determined darkie and evidently late for an appointment. While she swung along, a makeup kit in her hand swung like a pendulum keeping time with her skating strides. The darkie was "goin' to town," which, I suppose, is the shortest possible studio slang that describes her determination, her ingenuity in using roller skates, the fact that certainly she would get there and the fact that, even though the sun was shining rather uncomfortably warm, the present mundane things meant nothing to her in comparison to the anticipated moments at the end of the journey. Likely the darkie was "speckin' a job," which is just another way of saying she was looking for a "part" or job. Extras use the term "speckin' a job," for the frenzied activity and the mad dash to the studio after they hear that a number of extras are being picked from a throng at the casting office gate of the studio rather than through the regular channels of the Central Casting Office. The term is the superlative for competition, for hurriedly changing clothes so as to be "right" for the scene to be "shot", for the throwing of clothes helter-skelter in the hurry to be first at the studio, for the gnawing doubts and for the heartache that comes with failure. Even though the extra rushes carelessly and madly, he often fails, or as it is said is "scooped." One day I noticed an extra, who had at one time been famous, coming out of a casting office gate. In her eyes were woeful tears. She said, simply: "I was 'speckin' a job'." The phraseology of the motion picture is a lingual short-cut, and is very rich in connotative meaning. There is nothing trite or stale in the use of words in the movie studios. It is true the words are slang and barbarisms, but on the sets, making the meaning clear is first and foremost ; however to an outsider the conversations are often about as obscure as that of a foreign language. To the studio worker, however, one word will often say as much as a whole flock (there I am that way too) of conventional words. If you were a studio employee on a set, which would you rather hear from the director or cameraman ? "There is a 'hot-spot' on Miss Ralston's shoulder," or a torrent of words and explainings such as: "Dammit, (or perhaps please) that and that light must be softened down ; this one moved because you see there is entirely too much light on the Ralston shoulder, which, as you know, will photograph too light which will draw the attention of the theater audience away from her face to the 'bright spot' on her shoulder." The head electrician who would order the light changed is called the "gaffer." He could call to his "best boy," his first assistant: "Change that 'rifle' and give me a 'cello'." That would be all the orders necessary to start about six men to eliminate the "hot-spot." The "rifle" is a spot light usually placed on the "cat-walks" ; the "cat-walks" are platforms and walks that are built at a dizzy height overhead above the setting, usually being built as part of the "sound stage." The "cello" which the gaffer asked for is a sheet of celluloid with frosted surfaces mounted in a wooden frame. When placed over the front of the light, it acts as a diffuser. A "bon-bon" is a large round spot-light of 2000 watts; the "cracker-box" is 500 watts ; the "broad" is a light bank used overhead to illuminate the set ; a "baby" is a small spot-light; a "twin" is a double light used for a wider beam of illumination. There are lights called "godevil" (similar to the 2000 watt bon-bon), "5k" (five kilowatts), "strips" (having four 1500 watt lamps), "skypan" (five kilowatt lamp placed so as to evenly light large wall surfaces), "gim-watts," and "orange-peel" (shallow 1500 watt light for lighting flat surfaces), "mamma Dietz," and "square-heads," (four 1500 watt globes used in broad intense illumination), "18 inch," "twenty-fours," "thirty-sixes," and many, many others. "Save it" means switch off the lights. The term "inkie" derived from incandescent (globe) is termed "soft light" in distinction from the "hard-light" obtained from the arc light. The arc light is "hard" because it has more blue light which gives a harder and more sharply defined shadow, while the "inkie" has more orange-red content which throws a softer shadow. The globes used in the "inkies" are called "eggs" at Paramount Studios and "bottles" at Universal. Of course many of the lights have very inelegant names too, but I won't go into that. Yesterday, I went over to the Universal Studio to wander around in order to refresh my memory and collect the material for this article. My intention was to wander by myself among the gangs at work, unknown to them, but before long, I found I had to have an interpreter. Yes, sir. A gang, known as the "rigging gang," was placing the lights and cables, preparing the set for the picture "Mr. Dynamite," which stars Edmund Lowe and Esther Ralston. Standing on the set was the "stand-in," the double ILJTER^ / UJprlJ-OOiilg Use £Tf«cts in Daytime -F*?<j Scenes bif fused. F^7c<js.at7il many vm«r ef fscrs Witn any Camera ** In any Ulimat-e Georcje H. Scheibe ORIGINATOR OF EFFECT FILTERS 1927 WEST 78th ST. LOS ANGELES, CAL. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.