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

Talking Pictures Boom: May be either a camera boom or a microphone boom. A camera boom is a device of light steel or duralumin. From a weighted base on wheels, it can extend approximately thirty feet forward or upward and swing in a circle, carrying the camera at its extreme end. Used for scenes emphasizing action and movement. A microphone boom consists of a standard supporting a light telescoping pole which can extend forward twelve feet or more, carrying at its end the operating stage microphone. It can be lowered or elevated or moved in an arc to follow an actor over a considerable area of the setting. With the exception of its extra gadgets, it looks exactly like an old-fashioned well sweep. Broad: A floor stand lamp which has a rectangular light box on a thin steel standard; used for mass illumination of an interior set; also used for smaller exteriors. Bull man: Circus term for elephant trainer; also used in motion pictures. Bumps: Studio casting office term used in referring to actors or actresses who will permit themselves to be roughly handled (thrown downstairs, out of windows, etc.) for a melodramatic effect; e.g., "He will do bumps." Bungalow: Same as blimp. Business: A "piece of business" is any bit of characteristic action by an actor or actress in a scene of a stage play or a photoplay. Throwing a custard pie might be comedy "business." Tapping a desk with a pencil might be used by an actor to enhance his characterization of a nervous business man. Camera: Container of metal, wood, fibreboard, bakelite, or other light-resistant substance with all light excluded except through a lens opened or closed by a shutter. This lens admits light to sensitized film or glass plate. A camera with an intermittent cam mechanism permitting sixteen single pictures to be taken consecutively each [ 304]