CINEMATOGRAPH PICTURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 30, 29 July 1911, Page 10 (Supplement)

CINEMATOGRAPH PICTURES.

HOW THEY ARE TAKEN. As you sit in an electric theatre watching the pictures on the screen, sometimes moved to tears by a sympathetic scene, sometimes to laughter by a humorous one, you have no time to wonder how these effects are brought about. But when you leave the building you may feel, that you would like to know how ft is all done.

In the first place, the actors and actresses who perform the piece before the camera in order to obtain the film are, many of them, well-known people on the music-hall or regular stage. So great is the demand for films that special buildings have been built in order that pictures may be taken indoors nB well as in the open air. The first thing, of course, is to obtain a really good plot. After this has been secured it is divided into different scenes, and it is no uncommon thing for an ordinary comic film to be divided into fifteen or twenty scenes. The stage manager then calls the company together, explains the plot to them fully, and allots the different parts. After each has "made up" to represent his or her character, the company start rehearsing . The mind of every artist must he concentrated on his work. He must know the time he has to come into the picture to the very instant, for as the operator is taking photographs at the rate of 16 per second it is easy to understand that the slightest mistake would ruin the whole picture. Imagine that the operator is waiting for the word to start. "Are you ready?" he calls. "Go!" The machine buzzes merrily round, the artists act as if before a crowded house, while the manager is shouting warnings and directions. When the taking of the first scene is complete the scene-shifters are busy preparing for the next scene. So the work soes on until all the scenes are finished. Tt may be several days before the whole film is completed. The length of the film varies, but one of 1000 ft, which is considered a full length, contains no fewer than 16,000 pictures, and tikes about an hour and threenuarters to develop. The time taken to display this picture on the screen is nearly 20 minutes.