PRODUCING PICTURE PLAYS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 655, 28 March 1914, Page 6

PRODUCING PICTURE PLAYS.

THE MAKING OF A CINEMATOGRAPH FILM.

The, production of the animated picture is ardnows, expensive, and requires a great amount of perseverance and good weather.

To begin with, a plot has to b« written, submitted to the head of the firm, and. when approved, actors engaged, scenes painted, and a good diffused light waited for. Many plots are received from outside sources and good prices paid for them. The studio, which is a glass-roofed structure with a cemented or concreted iloor (this is done to prevent any vibration), is prepared, and the first scene to bo photographed placed in readiness. The various actors are Llirn put through namberless rehearsals until the required amount of animation is effected. THE LOOK-OUT MAN.

On the roof of the studio is placed a man, whose duty it is to watch the sky and report clouds when they appear. The object of this fe to prevent the spoiling of a film. If a heavy cloud should pass during the photographing, and obscure the sun for a brief period, that portion of the film becomes under-exposed and much weaker than the rest, consequently a fresh film would have to be taken.

The camera is composed of wood, brass, and steel. Two wooden boxes, called film boxes, fit one in the top and the other in the bottom of the camera. The top one contains the negative base or fiini, and the lower receives it after it has passed through the camera, and winds it up automatically. Each box contains about 20dft of base. Sprockets—that is, brass cylinders with mimite teethfit exactly into the perforated edge of the film, and draw it through the camera. The whole of the mechanism is driven by the handle. TAKING, DEVELOPING, AND DRYING.

The actors, having perfected their rehearsals, continue the piece, and when the film is completed it is taken to the dark rooms. Hdrelt is unwound from the boxes on to frames very much resembling one side of a clothes-horse, and plunged into wooden tanks of water. This is done to govern the uniformity of the developing and to prevent any patchiness. Next it is placed in the developing tanks, which are of oak, and, this process completed, it is fixed. It can now be safely handled in daylight, and is rushed to the drying-room, where it is unwound from the frames on to large wooden drums, driven by motors. These drums are set revolving at a fast speed, hot-air apparatus warms the rooms, and the film rapidly dries. In cases where topical films have to be rushed on to the market, the drying is accelerated by washing with methylated spirit, but this coursa makes the film very brittle. PRINTING AND TRIMMING. The film, when thoroughly dried, is taken to trimming-rooms, where girls are employed to cut and fit the ends of the films together (Often through the slamming of a door, a scene is shaken, and the part has to be cut away.) The film is joined together! with acetate of amyli, or acetone, which dissolves the celluloid, making a firm join. Then the film is placed on the printing* machines, which resemble the camera in construction, except that inside the machine is a light which shines through what is called a gate, an aperture in front of which the film passes, and is printed on the positive base. The negatives can be used hundreds of times with care, and as many as 600 copies of one subject are taken from the same negative. The positives are sent to the trimming-rooms and trimmed and joined up. When it is necessary to tint or tone the copies, aniline' dyes are used. THE FILM CENSOR. Tha film completed usually averages not less than 500 ft., while years ago a film of 50ft. in length was considered extraordinary. Dramas* average 1,000 ft., especially the cowboy type. Bach foreign country has a censor, whose duty is to see that all films imported or shown in the • country are suitable, and do not have the actual murder element in Lhiin. Many manufacturers have lost the sale of a great number of ilms in foreign countries through an actual murder scene being portrayed. The murders must be suggested, not actually shown as they were committed.

During the past two years a lot of lon-inilammable film has been placed on the market. It will not burn, but it will buckle and shrivel up with heat, and is exceptionally brittle. It will aot last so long as the ordinary film, and therefore is not in favour with the hirers of films, who find it necessary to procure fresr copies ior their customers. THE LIFE OF CINEMA FILMS. Films taken when the invention was first known are still in existence and in good condition, and will last many years yet. The modern films have not the lasting quality, and, even if they had, so many of them are run on what are called continuous shows that the celluloid would not stand the strain Something like 200 new subjects are produced per week. They are sold at id. per foot, and the estimated; eost of production of each copy is per foot, leaving a handaois* rofit to be realised.-—"Tifc Bits."