Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1916)

2580 ACCESSORYNEWSSECTION Vol. 14. No. 16 liPWMilll!!fll!WIIIIM^^^^^ Music and the Picture n"!ill'nW|i;(T|t;flinninrnin''!i'i'' ■■"■■"''i !i'"''I|t'"i "Vi'inim iniriTniT''""''!!!in!''[['li'll"fnnnriTi!iiTTrnrTiTinTnn r"n,.,„^...^.,„r -n-i-r,.,. T-;i|i|!r; r'v.|: Ni; ■■ ■ y'i-;"''-'-"^-^'r----r '--n- i"-m > ' fjfjpvtff J\i . ' Methods for Synchronization of Short Cut Backs ( ( I — « ACH week I read with great interest your articles on corfrom them," writes Eugene H. Cloude of Columbus, Ga. rect music for the picture, and have derived great benefit " I have had about four years' experience playing the pictures, and in that time I have made as careful a study of correct picture music as the conditions have allowed me. I have played with some good leaders as well as poor ones, and have noticed carefully their methods in selecting a program, of course there is always sometlnng in each man's program that every musician will not consider correct. " I will be the leader of my first orchestra in the near future, and there are some few questions I would be glad if you would answer for me. For instance, should the action on the screen call for a lento movement, and the scene suddenly " cut back " to a dancing scene of only a few seconds duration, what is the leader to do, and what is the best way to do it? Or should the screen action change to the frivolous while you are in the midst of an andante strain, what 'is the best way for him to lead his musicians to a finale without butchering the number he is already playing? How can I properly synchronize the picture without timing the reel to a certain extent, you give reasons for this being wrong, but it is a little vague, will you explain this more fully to me? I have inclosed an addressed and stamped envelope for an answer if you willl be so kind." Letter from Eugene H. Cloude The above letter from Eugene H. Cloude, the musical director of the Springer Theatre, while written to us for personal reply nevertheless asks questions which are important to all picture players, and I consequently take the liberty of using the letter as subject matter for an editorial. If we had more musical directors inclined toward success as I know the writer of the above to be, MUSIC and the PICTURE would suffer less musically. Before answering Mr. Cloude's few questions I want him to know that we wish him every success and that he can feel assured of our assistance at all times. While it is not our desire to be vain, nevertheless we have helped many, both privately and publicly, and we shall continue to do so. The aim of our department is to assist in everything that will create good picture music. As you are now about to become a director of your own orchestra, remember one thing first, last and always. Your orchestra must at all times interpret your own emotional, dramatic or picture ideas. Two heads cannot lead one orchestra. Your success as a musical director in a picture theatre depends more on your personality and originality in musical interpretation and every old-timer and well routined musician will tell you that there dare not be conflicting opinions if music is to be well rendered. This holds good in playing to pictures. You should endeavor at all times to allow the screen to suggest to your imagination that which will synchronize. Always remember that an imaginative instinct is necessary to all interested in the setting of musical programs to synchronize with the picture. An extensive knowledge of musical compositions and their worth in picture playing is necessarily the first and most important factor. Without a continued research for new music of value to picture playing, it will soon become difficult to arouse an imaginative musical inspiration. Your first question requires more than one answer. For instance, had you been playing a dance scene of short duration prior to the scene which requires a lento movement, you could cut the lento movement and continue playing your dance number very softly during that sugggestion bringing it back fortissimo when the " cutback " to the dancing scene is shown. This answer is only good when the scenes in question are so short that they do not permit the playing of a number half decently. Again if the scene requiring the lento movement is of some length before the " cutback " to the dancing scene is flashed and the " cutback " is very short, as you say, I should not suggest that the musical number being played should be destroyed. Many directors of photoplays have a habit of flashing irrrelevant socalled big scenes. For such scenes as you describe here I have composed and arranged a musical number known as "A B C Dramatic Music No. 15." This number contains five separate numbers, all of which have been set together for the purpose of surmounting just such difficulties as you mention in your letter. If the scenes are so short that you can't follow them with this number, there is only one remaining thing to do and that is ignore that action which is of the least importance to the psychological thought which the picture screen is trying to portray. Your second question regarding the frivolous and the andante strain will also be explained to you by a study of the above dramatic music. The above answers this same question. There are many methods of leading your musicians from one number into the other without necessarily butchering the number you are already playing. The first, which is more popularly used but which I do not consider the best, is to let your music quickly die down to a great pianissimo and then quietly make your segue into the next number. The second, one that I have used to great advantage, was to play each number to such a chord which is what we term a "' proper resolution " in music and stop the orchestra at this point. To do this you must not use your picture cues too literalh', which is only necessary at a few points in the picture. Another method which is very good, but which will take time, is to train the men under your direction to modulate with you to a relative tonic chord at a given signal from you. Another method is the simultaneous and abrupt stop which should only be used during the rendition of melodramatic numbers. Abrupt segues are very seldom essential. The thorough picture leader should acquaint himself with all four of these methods and use the one which is the most advantageous at the proper time.. The Timing of the Reel The timing of reels is of great advantage in selecting your musical program, but is very misleading when you try to time a scene or series of scenes to the second, or ten seconds, or twenty seconds. It has the tendency of making you try to get somewhere in a musical number and you neglect to keep yourself ready to break off your number clean. The first thought of every picture leader should be of how. where and at how many places he can decently stop the number he is playing. When you know that, you do not need to worry whether you m.ust play the number half through or twice through. Each reel of pictures should be timed only to get the approximate time consumed by projection from one cue point to another. This will not help you in playing with the picture but willl assist you when selecting your musical program to select numbers of such length that you will not need to make ridiculous repetitions or select such numbers as will make it necessary for you to make poor finales. It is a poor policy to confine yourself to a too exact time and in the long run it is very nerve racking as there is no means to be depended upon whereby we can hope to get positive and exact projection. You will find the time designated in many of my plots by X, which is only timed down to the one-half minute. This does not mean that it is really correct within one half minute, but when you find XXX after a certain number it means that you should select a number which would play 4^<2 to 5 minutes without being tiresome. When you find no X you know that the number will be very short. Conse(Contiiiucd on page 2584)