Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

Talking Pictures first roll is the pictured scene, the second the sound track. If the picture is one which has required a great deal of research, the cutter will have much to do in advance of production. For Lives of a Bengal Lancer, as one example, scores of tests were made of individuals considered for character parts in this story of natives of India and of British soldiers. Endless tests were made to determine exact shades of make-up, and costumes were also tested by the camera to determine their photographic qualities. In the period of preparation the cutter shows this preparatory material over and over again at the call of the producer and director until all decisions as to cast, sets, make-up, and process photography have been made. This part of the editor's work furnishes no clue of his creative capacities, for in this period of advance photographic tests, he is only a capable librarian who receives and files in film form various different pieces of photographed data. His main duty here is to keep such data properly filed and segregated so that he can produce immediately the right piece of film, out of many of the same general division. Once the picture starts, however, the stature of his importance expands as rapidly as a paper sack placed at the mouth of a ten-year-old boy. With the beginning of actual photography on the sets, the laboratory superintendent receives each day the various "takes" of all the scenes filmed the previous day. These are also called "rushes" or "dailies." If the company is on a distant location, the film is rushed to the laboratory and back by speeding cars, planes, or [218]