Practical cinematography and its applications (1913)

52 PRACTICAL CINEMATOGRAPHY so secure his pictures under extremely trying conditions. Although films innumerable are taken by persons seated in aeroplanes, only a very small proportion ever come before the public eye, for the majority are failures. Nowa- days, also, the filming of aeroplane flights from a fixed point on the ground is by no means easy. In order to follow the evolutions of flying machines, more particularly at comparatively close ranges and when travelling at high speeds, two operators are required, one to turn the camera handle, and the other to sight and follow the object both through its horizontal and vertical planes in such a way as to keep it in the centre of the picture. To do this he has simultaneously to turn the two handles operating the panoramic and elevating gear of the tripod head, and often in opposite directions. The task must be done without the slightest jerk, or the success of the film is marred. One of the most disconcerting effects upon the screen is a jumpy panoramic movement either horizontally or up and down. It worries the eye, and more often than not reduces the picture to an almost unintelligible blur. But perhaps the most unnerving and difficult conditions under which moving-pictures can be taken are those pertaining to the filming of wild animal life at close range under natural con-