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R. W. PAUL
[J. S. M. P. E.
quired distance from the stage, to suit the subject. Sometimes the trolley was run to or from the stage while the picture was being taken, thus affording a gradual enlargement or reduction of the image upon the film. Adjacent to the studio, a laboratory (Fig. 10) was erected, having a capacity for processing up to 8000 feet of film per day. With the valuable aid of Walter Booth and others, hundreds of humorous, dramatic, and trick films were produced in the studio.
A specimen trick film may be briefly described (Fig. 11) : Upon the moon-lit battlements of a castle a knight meets his lady-love. The twain are startled by the appearance of a ghost, which, at the approach of the knight, fades away. Meanwhile a witch, complete with
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FIG. 11. Scenes from an early trick film (about 1900).
broomstick, appears in the sky and attempts to carry off the lady, but being driven off by the knight, she flies away over the moon. Then a grim ogre, several times the size of the knight appears over the battlements and picks up the lady, who hands him a flaming sword. The scene dissolves to the cave of the witch, where many exciting and fantastic events occur, culminating in the rescue of the lovers and a banquet at the castle. I have summarized this fairy story, which lasted three minutes upon the screen, as an example of what was done at the beginning of this century to pack the maximum of movement into 180 feet of film. It is also an example of the position of the art as regards trick photography. The black magic effects were produced by photographing the ghost against a black velvet