Screenland (Dec 1933-Apr 1934)

1 for March 1934 "When I first began to do sets for the screen, in 1914, all sets were over-dressed. They used wall-paper in conspicuous designs, decorated walls, too many pictures, objects hung on the walls, figured curtains, embroidered draperies, a general clutter of furniture and pillows and brie a brae everywhere. You could hardly see the action. "I looked at them. After all, a motion picture exists for movement and why lose it? I was a painter and I thought that creating sets was the same thing as painting pictures, in a sense. No one would think of painting a portrait against a background of zigzag lines ; it would serve to confuse the eye. No artist would pose a sitter against an intricately patterned screen, for people would look at the screen instead of the subject. "So I threw out all the ornate and elaborate sets and used instead just a gray wall, a single picture, a chair, and perhaps, if necessary, one other piece of furniture in a scene. Simple backgrounds set off characters, just as simple lines in a gown set off a woman's beauty. "I didn't use wall-paper then and I seldom use it now, because I find it distracts the eye from dramatic action. "Some modern wall-papers done in geometric designs and subdued colors are quite charming and fit into many homes. There are period wall-papers that are very nice, too. If I do not use them, you must not think that I advise against them altogether; it is action I must consider when I design for the screen, and I allow nothing to interfere with the dramatic purpose of the picture. "Remember, though, that a wall-paper of large design in a small room makes the room smaller," added Mr. Gibbons. "Color is very important," he emphasizes. "With the new sensitive film we get color values as they are, and the trained eye can pick them up on the screen. We used to avoid white because of halation, and put our actors into blue shirts, our brides into pink wedding gowns, our banquet tables were spread with yellow linen — these photographed white. Red used to go black and so did gold. But now we use the colors we would use on the stage. "Remember to use color sparingly if you are arranging a background for yourself. If you use red, don't put it into a green room, for the red will make the green greener, and the green will make the red redder, and the effect will not be restful. "If you have a yellow room, you can put a green chair into it, because yellow and blue combined will give you green, and green is a complementary color. You might make your room green and have yellow curtains, which will be nice because the sun will come in through the curtains. "Light is color. People seldom remember that. Where the sun hits a tree that tree is yellow, farther down the trunk the shadows are blue, together they give you the green of the tree. "I think it is always well to put your darker shades low, near the ground, and your lighter ones high, with middle tones between. "If you choose one color and then add two complementary ones, you will have some very nice effects. "The sort of house you build should be decided by the place you expect to build it in. If you live in New York City, it should be built straight up so that it will fit into the New York skyline. Straight up and down lines will be good there. "If the house is to be set in rolling country or on a fiat prairie, you will want it low and spreading to conform to the lines of the land. Your building must fit its surroundings. Nobody expects a flag-pole to be painted with cross lines to take off its height — you want height in a flag pole. If 89 To those who think Learning Music is hard play your without a -at a frac PERHAPS yon think that taking music lessons is like taking a dose of medicine. It isn't any longer! 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