Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1922)

NEW THEATRE Construction & Equipment P R OJECTION Department c a m e * fl P M ABBOTT TECHNICAL EDITOR Application of Colored Light in Connection with Music Modified Illumination Permits One to “Feel” the Atmosphere One of the most interesting phases of :he application of colored light is in connection with music. It is the part of our subject on which there is the least definite information available, less real work and investigation has been carried on and the general principles are but little understood. It is therefore a fascinating subject to the experimenter be he scientist, decorator or musician. To all intents and purposes, it offers a virgin field for constructive effort and the Motion Picture Theatres constitute a huge laboratory extending from coast to coast. To obtain results, one must have apparatus with which to conduct experiments and fortunately we have them. Huge symphony orchestras under the direction of capable, sincere, progressive conductors, adequate capacity in electric current to supply the necessary light, flexible control or switching apparatus, electrical men with ingenuity in the handling of light, audiences, varied in character, as subjects. Surely one could not ask for a better set of conditions. It is not strange that the co-ordination or joining of light and music has not been developed to a greater degree. Broadly speaking, appreciation of music itself is comparatively modern and it was only in the last few years that adequate means of controlling and changing or modifying the light have been available. The future looks very bright. Within the last decade several very creditable attempts have been made to combine light and music and more and more investigators are interesting themselves in the subject. Individually, one can accomplish very little, but as pointed out above, when the Motion Picture Theatres with their trained organizations take up the matter actively, the art should advance by leaps and bounds. There are several fundamental features which work for the success or failure of the endeavor and these must be borne in mind. It is well, therefore, to stop and study the question before attempting to enter into the details. The first question which comes up is, “ How will the light affect our emotions? ” In one of the earlier articles, we pointed out that light af By A. L. POWELL, Edison Lamp Works Securing An Atmosphere IT has been only recently that much study has been placed on the subject of the connection of light and music and up to the present time very limited practical application of this subject has been used. However, a rapidly increasing number of Motion Picture theatres are adopting, in some form or another, the use of modified illumination to produce an atmosphere which is in harmony with the music. The study is only in its infancy and in the near future we may expect to see great strides in the advancement of this art. The progressive exhibitor is constantly on the alert for suggestions permitting an original and effective touch to his house. Mr. Powell has endeavored to point out the importance of the subject to the Motion Picture theatre, the wonderful opportunity for experimentation which it possesses, the fundamental points of similarity and difference between light and sound. Mr. Powell has also tried to show by practical examples, how we associated light with certain emotional qualities and the difficulties likely to be encountered in combining light and sound. fected us through association. It might be well to repeat this: We associate green, for example, with the quiet restful wood or meadow, yellow with the warm sun, red with fire, danger, war and carnage, blue with the calm sea and sky.” Bear this point in mind and let us digress for a minute. Light is similar to sound (music) in more ways than most of us realize. One is received by the eye, and the other by the ear and then conveyed by nerves to our brain where we get the impression. Both light and sound are produced by vibrations. A deep tone is produced by a slowly moving wave or vibration, a high pitch by a much quicker movement. We have a so-called octave of sound c, d e, f, g, a, b, c, and what might be termed an octave of light, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet — the red vibrating much less rapidly than the violet. Due to this similarity, some experimenters have made the mistake, the writer believes, of attempting to assign tonal values to the colors of the spectrum, just as though they were to play a scale in colors, or write a score for colors as they would for sound. As a somewhat exaggerated illustration of the point we are trying to bring out, an experimenter might try to write a color score for “ America ” (My Country, ’Tis of Thee). His music would read — c, c, d b, c, d, e, e, etc., his light score might read, yellow, yellow, green, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc. It is obvious that attempting to follow any such practice as this would lead us nowhere and that we would have a meaningless, unintelligible result. We must have our tie-in between the two senses — hearing and sight — based on the association element. We must study how both light and sound affect our feelings. Realizing this, we will see that rather than an individual note having a corresponding light to accompany it, a group of notes, that is a mood or theme of the composition, or even a whole section, will have a much more definitely associated color. For example, one would naturally associate green with a pastoral bit, red with martial music, vivid yellow with the bright sprightly dance, blue with the moonlight, blue-green with the barcarolle and so on. The next point to be kept in mind is the method of applying color. The first extensive attempt made in America along this line was at Carnegie Hall, four or five years ago. The Russian composer Scriabine had prepared the score of a number with color accompaniment (Poem of Fire, Prometheus). One instrument of his orchestra was what he termed “ tastiera per luce ” (Light keyboard). This was a box about five feet square with a white background on which colored light could be thrown and varied in intensity and tone (color). He wrote a score for this device and introduced it at will, as he would a part for the woodwinds or brass. Sometimes one color would be visible for quite a period, then there would be a rapid variation of tint. The box which he used was so small that the effect was lost at the rear of the hall. The effect of the color was ( Continued on page 1288)