Kinematograph year book (1928)

300 The Kinematograph Year Book. In America an interesting innovation was tried out by Paramount in " Hotel Imperial," for which Maurice Stiller utilised four-walled sets, thus ensuring no break in continuity of movement or gesture among the actors, and eliminating drastic changes in perspective, due to the camera having to be specially set for each take. Used in conjunction with easy lateral and vertical movement of the camera, as a whole the effect proved exceedingly convincing. A special department for trick photography and titling has recently been instituted by E. Groc of Old Compton Street. LENSES. As regards camera lenses, the year has brought little that was new save that described at the last Optical Convention, with the exception of the Dallmeyer 2 in. kine-objective lens, which working at the extraordinary aperture of Fl .5 may be welcomed by the searcher after effects. The same firm was also responsible for a special 40 in. lens, the largest ever used in kinematography, which was utilised for the Kine photographs of the eclipse. Full details of the wonderful achievements of the Taylor Hobson lenses on the Mount Everest expedition have been made public by Capt. Noel. The final assault was filmed with the Taylor Hobson Telephoto lens and Newman-Sinclair camera at 22,000 ft. at a range Of two miles. Many of the recently formed British film producing companies have specified large aperture Taylor-Hobson lenses for production of most of the recent films, while the leading makers of projection machines are specifying Taylor-Hobson projection lenses. The Paramount organisation have stated that they had standardised the remarkable Series of F/2 Cooke lens on all of their kinematograph cameras. A new product of Dallmeyer's is the F/3.5 Ultra Speed Dallon Telephoto lenses for standard Kine. cameras, which are manufactured in six focal lengths. Among motion picture cameramen there has occurred a reaction in favour of lenses whose moderate apertures around F3 or F3.5 give the manufacturer a chance to produce an objective reasonably free from unhappy tendencies, such as coma, flare, etc., which lie in wait for the users of freak aperture lenses, the operation of which, under the difficult conditions of the studio, leave so much to be desired. STUDIO LIGHTING. If the many studio plans now in the air come to anything purveyors of lighting, laboratory and other studio equipment may anticipate a busy time during the next twelve months. In view of the wide attention being paid to production illumination the introduction by Peeling and Van Neck, of the large range of Jupiter studio lamps, places at the disposal of British producers, the same lighting methods that are in use at the UFA studios in Berlin. A complete studio installation of Jupiter lamps, sufficient to light two floors each 90 ft. by 120 ft. is available for something in the neighbourhood of £5,000 . This sum represents the outlay on about 50 lamps of varying calibre, for specific purposes. The Jupiter Sun is claimed to provide the nearest available equivalant to natural sunlight. It gives a pure white light of extraordinary intensity, of the highest actinic quality. For concentrated light, rear lighting or Den effects these lamps are to be recommended. KALEE PROJECTORS OVER QAA INSTALLATIONS IN OKJKJ THE LAST 12 MONTHS