Moving Pictures

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

also known as telescope cinema and biograph pictures, an invention whereby a rapid succession of photographs, thrown on a screen, each succeeding picture presenting a slight degree of progress in physical action over the preceding one, produces the optical delusion of actual movement. So highly developed has this process become that dramatic stories, or narratives, may be told solely through action, with the re-opment of the invention, but in its utilsult that moving pictures have become the most popular means of this class of amusement in practically all countries. The invention is the result of numerous experiments made by photographers, suggested to them by the old-fashioned zoetrope, which was popular before and after 1860, whereby pictures of figures in various stages of action, printed on strips of paper, whirled about in a machine, which enabled observation through 1 2 01 4 boxtlity MICE 1. American Jumping Mouse 3. House Mouse 2. Striped African Mouse slits, gave the delusion of action. first experiments with photographs that gave practical results were made by an American, Muybridge, in 1877, who photographed horses in action by means of the newly developed instantaneous process. The invention of the ribbon films, in 1880, constituted another step in advance toward the present state of perfection. The first utilization of the invention for amusement was made by Thomas Edison, in 1894, in the kinetoscope, whereby positives on a film, about the size of postage stamps, were pass passed before a light and gave the illusion of sustained action. The first moving pictures projected to a large size on screens, on the principle of the magic lantern, were perfected by Lumière, in France, shortly after the appearance of Edison's kinetoscope. Since then there has been continuous improvement, not only in the mechanical develization in the field of amusements and pictorial education. As now operated, the actual pictures are photographic positives printed on films, made of a substance resembling celluloid. The film is one and threesixteenths of an inch in width, and may be a thousand feet in length. These strips are passed before a powerful light within a machine, on the same principle as the old magic lantern, which projects 3 5 5. Kangaroo Mouse 4. Egyptian Jumping Mouse The them on a white screen, where they are enlarged to much over life size, if necessary. The film passes before the light at a rate of speed averaging from 60 to 80 feet a minute, depending on the rapidity of action desired for the figures on the screen. Were this film to pass before the light continuously, the effect on the screen, as was observed in the early experiments, would be an indistinguishable blur. To produce the desired results, it is necessary that each picture be retained on the screen, and there held stationary, for the slightest fraction of a second. During the interval between the presentation of one picture and the succeeding one, the screen must be dark. But so slight is this interval that it is not obvious to human perception, as now operated, though formerly the action was slow enough to produce the effect of observing a landscape from a train window passing rapidly along a picket fence. It was the necessity of perfecting a mechanism to accomplish the above results that delayed the present perfection of the moving-picture machine. This has finally been accomplished by means of a wheel, eel, resembling the the paddle wheel of a stern-wheel river boat, which catches the films along the edges by means of ratchets, or spikes, catching in holes FEED 10 RECEIVING DRUM DRUM LENS VIEW FINDER 10, HANDLE FOR OPERATING LATERAL CRANK MOVEMENT ✓ MOVING-PICTURE CAMERA along the margins of the film. The wheel, revolving by rapid jerks, causes each picture to pause just the desired interval. Sixteen separate pictures are presented during the space of one second, The moving-picture camera is constructed on a similar principle, the sensitized film on which the negatives are made being exposed during the fraction of a second required for an instantane- The rapidity with ous photograph. which this is done may be regulated by the photographer, who, by turning a crank, governs the action of the cam- Where slow movement is desired, era. the mechanism is slowly turned, with the result that fewer pictures are taken to represent a given motion. Where quick action is involved, such as the galloping of a horse or the leaping of a human figure in a dramatic scene, the camera is turned correspondingly faster, so that a greater number of impressions may be registered on the film. In their first appearance in the amusement field, moving pictures represented only such minor phases of action as a passing train, a scene from a cockfight, or the passing of a marching column of troops. As such they became a feature between the acts of a vaudeville show. One of the first in this country to see in the moving-picture invention the possibility of dramatic action was Lubin, of Philadelphia, who began to take extended series of pictures of scenes involving human emotions, such as the comedy of a fat man being pursued down a street by an ever-increasing mob. These short "one-reel comedies" proved immensely popular, and proved to be the basis for more serious and complicated dramatiza "moving-picture tions. One of the first rst studios" was that established by Lubin in his back yard, in Philadelphia, where hired actors went through their "scenes" before the moving-picture camera. Gradually the "reels" were lengthened, and then two and three reels were utilized in portraying one continuous drama of action. Simultaneously the Pathe Frères, in France, were developing the movingpicture re drama with a perfection of artistic presentation which was not attained in this country for many years. In this country a violent prejudice on the part of the regular members of the dramatic profession proved an obstacle development of moving pictures to the develo from the purely dra dramatic point of view. In France this prejudice was not so marked, and first-class actors allowed themselves to be presented on the screen. As a consequence the finer pictures were for a long time imported into this country, the American productions being largely limited to the horseplay comedies. One of the chief factors in changing this situation, and in bringing American moving pictures to the front, has been David W. Griffith, who may be said to have introduced the spectacular picture, produced at tremendous cost, the best example of which is his "Birth of a Nation," in which thousands of actors and supers are employed in creating the scenes of the play. In this remarkable production over two hundred thousand feet of film was used in reproducing the scenes portrayed by the army of actors and supers under the direction of Mr. Griffith. The great success of "The Birth of a Nation" resulted in the later production of a number of similar picture dramas on a like scale of size and grandeur, among which may be mentioned COLD WATER RESERVOIR || LANTERN COOLER 0 MOVING-PICTURE PROJECTOR "Intolerance" and "The Fall of Babylon." In the artistic presentation of dramatic pictures portraying deep human emotions, however, the French producers and directors were for a long time in the lead. Within recent years American producing firms have attracted the French directors to their employ in this country, with the result that now American pictures equal the best in dramatic quality, though directed by such French artists in this line as Turneur, Kappalani, and Shotaurd. For some years past the old prejudice against "pictures" on FEED DRUM FILM SHUTTER LENSES FILM RECEIVING omgoleva aidd DRUM bad MOTOR the part of American actors and actresses has vanished, and now the leaders in the profession are frequently featured in the leading rôles of the higher class of picture dramas. Moving pictures, however, seem to demand peculiar talents of their own on the part of the actors who perform before the camera. Among the most popular "movie stars" are few who have first made their reputations on what is known as the "legitimate" stage. The actor trained on the stage seldom becomes a favorite on the screen. The truth seems to be that the stage limits dramatic expression; that a certain degree of exaggeration in portraying emotions is hecessary to carry the effect over the footlights which is immediately detected through the lens of the camera. Actors accustomed to the stimulation of an audience also find it difficult to work up the necessary enthusiasm for a scene with no audience but the camera man and their fellow employees in the studio. On the other hand, the key to movingngpicture acting seems to be "natural" action. The slightest exaggeration is immediately registered by the camera, with undesirable effect. On the regular stage the quality of the voice is one of the most important elements making toward success. In moving pictures this quality plays no part, and individuals with exceptional histrionic talents, though not possessed of "carrying" voices, find their opportunity. Among the actors and actresses who have gained their reputations entirely within the moving-picture studio are such personalities as Mary Pickford, Pearl White, Theda Bara, Charlie Chapin, Irving Cummings, King Baggot, and William S. Hart. As has been the case among the actors, so it has been in the writing of the plays enacted through the medium of the camera. The moving picture has brought about the development of a class of playwrights distinct by themselves, and far Here clever lines, the more numerous. art of expression by the written word, plays no part at all; only action is demanded. Hundreds of individuals who never before had felt the call of literature, or, having felt it, have failed in it, have made big successes in preparing the plots for the moving-picture pl plays. Most of the large studios, in fact, retain staffs of scenario writers permanently, on fixed salaries, who devote their whole time to the preparation of the "scripts," some of which are adapted from popular novels or regular plays which have been successful, but many of which are original The popularity cheapness of ing pictures has caused the moving-picmore important ones of this country. It is estimated that 35,000 persons are employed in the production of the films before they pass into the hands of the distributing agencies, which on their part, including the employees of the show houses, give employment to another 160,000 persons. About 250 firms or corporations are engaged in the production of moving-picture films. The production of the films involves not only the directors and the actors, but the stage hands and carpenters and scenic artists in the studios and the thousands of workers in the factories where the films are reproduced into thousands of copies for distribution among the 17,000 exhibition houses throughout the country. These films are first sent out by the distributive agencies, of which there are about 1,400 in the country, and they in their turn circulate them among the exhibition It is estimated that about houses. $600,000,000 is invested in the movingpicture industry, and that the yearly salaries paid out to those employed amount to $250,000,000. Audiences in the exhibition houses are estimated at 50,000,000 a week. Moving pictures, however, are not entirely confined to the amusement field. They are now beginning to be extensively employed in education. By means of moving-picture photography the growth of plants, the development of animal life on the most infinitesimal scale, may be portrayed through a magnifying process. By the same means industrial processes, such as the various stages of the manufacture of any commodity, may be shown to a class of students with a vividness not attainable through any other means. At the present time hardly any historic event or ceremony takes place without being recorded on the films, to be presented to the eyes of generations not yet born. There is hardly a scene or battle of the Great War which is not thus recorded, all the belligerent governments having had staffs of moving-picture photographers on the field to record the movements of their armies. In this particular phase of its usefulness, the moving-picture invention has tremendous possibilities before it.