BEAUTIFUL SETTINGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 15

BEAUTIFUL SETTINGS

DIRECTOR’S CAREFUL METHODS The beautiful lighting effects and settings of the modern motion picture which are, perhaps! seen for a few seconds only on the screen, represent weeks and sometimes months of study and labour. The Paramount director, Josef von Sternberg, is one who is noted particularly for his lighting effects, which have added considerably to the dramatic action of many of his pictures, notably “Underworld,” “The Last Command” and “The Drag Net,” which is soon to be seen in New Zealand. Von Sternberg directs the lighting of a set at the studios with his eye to the small aperture of the camera finder. Thus he gets the impression that will ultimately be recorded on the film, and he sees the set as future audiences will see it on the screen. Lights are shifted into all conceivable positions, until at last the desired effect is obtained, and the director is ready to film the first scene. Sternberg always has a rehearsal, during which he watches the players through the same aperture," and thus learns how he may place them most effectively with regard to the backgrounds. His latest work was with George Bancroft in “The Locks of New York.”