Screenland (Sept 1922–Feb 1923)

/r* HOLLYWOOD CM.ifOR.NtA CieUCe in the MOVIES fHoic they do the screen tricks that puzzle you. Night Scenes Made in Daylight. COLOR filters which hold back certain color qualities in light make possible a variety of lighting effects on the motion film. The filters are known by number among cameramen — Ki, K2 and K3. Ki and K2 are used to aid the camera to penetrate hazy atmosphere in exterior shots and bring out distances. Thev also subdue a bright-blue sky, which registers a glaring white on the film. Without a Ki filter a white tent would blend into a blue sky background, but the filter gives the visible spectrum tones in proper contrast. These orange and yellow filters intercept much of the blue light. An orange or red filter is used to get night effects in scenes shot in full light. They give a luminous night sky and yet hold back scenery and subdue detail. High lights, such as a flaring candle, the strike of a match or a glow from a window, comes from the use of tiny carbon arc lamps, ingeniously concealed. Hoiv Stars are Made Beautiful. WRINKLES and other facial defects that are not apparent in the average scene appear with dis-illusioning clearness when a "close-up" is taken of a player. To soften the camera's merciless fidelity, gauze came into use. The cameraman, at first, carried a small piece of fine net in his pocket and when it became needed he fastened it across his lens with a rubber band. Now most caremamen carry a set of gauzes, fastened on frames that can be adjusted against the lens. All manner of domestic and foreign chiffons and nets are tried, to secure individual effects. For the use of the gauze has increased. The selection is important. The size of thread, separation and color are carefully compared. It is no longer used merely to "beautify the star" but to make myriad artistic effects. In many cases it is up to the cameraman to get over the psychology of a situation, the atmosphere of a locality or a mood almost entirely by photographic effect. While (1) A frame of the same dimension of the screen, containing a gauze, is held across the lens to mask a scene ■within its dimension. (2) The circular frame used to conveniently fasten a gauze against the lens holder. (3) An i rising gauze holder which softens the borders of a scene, but leaves the central portion in sharp focus in any desired measure by adjusting the panels. <| A pottery jug is broken on a rock painted on a canvas in the background of this remarkable set. Can your eye find the point where the painting blends with the actual set? Photo by Cnrlis. lighting and composition are the principal tools under such conditions, the use of gauze is extremely effective. Some of the various effects secured by use of gauze are: Vignetted borders — scenes with soft edges which seem to melt away into the margin of the screen ; subduing areas so as to focus interest on a player's face in a dramatic moment ; softening the entire picture to give smoothness to the skin of the subjects, a shimmering quality to the hair, an atmosphere of richness and a sparkle to gems and tinsei and lights. How Miniatures are Photographed. SINCE Griffith animated tin mannikins on a tiny papier-mache wall of Babylon in Intolerance, great advance has been made in the use of miniatures in motion-picture photography. The great handicap first met was that smoke fairly roared out of chimneys, small boats bobbed around like corks and a small avalanche shot down a mountainside like a meteor. But the introduction of the high-speed camera has resulted in convincing action. Many miniature sets are used in the modern movie which are never distinguished from the real scenes by audiences. Hardly a picture nowadays but employs a miniature somewhere in the story. Their principal use is in conjunction with regular sets, such as a vista from a doorway or across a patio. In this case they are built on the optical principle of forced perspective, the vanishing point, instead of being on the horizon, being perhaps only twenty feet from the camera and at a height of about the waist. The use of miniatures led to painted backgrounds, then double-exposure photography to introduce live actors into the paintings. This principle reached astonishing limits in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, a film finished, but now in litigation. In the accompanying illustration a live actor is shown in a real foreground with a painted backing. The eye cannot determine where the real and false are joined. "Scarcely a hair divides the false and true." A pottery jug is broken on a painted rock in the background of this set in the film and the action recorded by use of doubleexposure photography. 47