The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-29
HOW TRICK PICTURES ARE MADE
A CinemntOaraph Expert Describes
the Processes.


From the New York Times-Democrat.
A Times-Democrat reporter asked Mr..
Robert Pitard the cnematograph expert,
how trick pictures were made How.
for example" said ne, do they get up
those curious films in which people sud-
denly appear and disappear, jump out of
space and leap into the air and vanish?'
IT'S the simplest thing in the world"
replied Mr.. Pltard. Suppose am taking
a picture of a man seated in u chair and
want him to disappear. All 1 have to do
Is to stop the recording machine The man
gets up and walks off and l start the
machine again. When the picture is
thrown on the machine there is no indi-
cation of the stoppage. You simply see
a man on chair and then, all of sud
den, you don't see him. That's the prin-
ciple of most of the trick views.
"Of course" he continued the film it
self is susceptible of unlimited 'doctoring.
BY cutting out pieces and cementing the
ends together one can get the most aston
ishinS fleets. 1t Is lightning transfer
| maion with a vengeance"
Has there been much improvement
| lately in the making of moving picture
hlms?" asked the reporter.
Yes, vast Improvement, and 1t Is
feet long was the practical limit; now 800
feet is nothing remarkable. Then, again
| It was thought necessary to take at least
| forty pictures a second, and most people
| still suppose that is the rate. 1t has been
| found, as a matter of fact, that the same
result may be obtained in most cases with
| fifteen pictures a second, and at present
that might be called the standard speed.
| Ii Is varied slightly to suit the object TAX
| en-. For instance, fifteen pictures a sec
| ond would be all right for man walking
along the street but too slow for an ath-
| lete leaping oyer hurdles. There would
! be too much variation in the negatives,
and instead of blending one into the other
on the screen they would show success
| sion of little Jars.
1T is a curious fact. by the way, that
| an operator can frequently make a
| slow film show all right by speeding the
instrument and rushing the pictures
| through the faster than they were taken.
| One of the great improvements of the
| present day is in the developing appara-
tus. Every amateur photographer will
| appreciate the difficulty of developing a
| film several hundred feet long. 1t used
to be done by winding it around q glass
drum, the lower surface of which was in
tank of developing solution. There was
| a ruby light inside the drum, but the
| trouble with the contrivance was that
| only one or two pictures were in the solu-
| ton at a time Now a sort of N-shaped
reel is used which submerges a numoer
| Of negatives at once. The improvement
| in results is wonderful"
How about the Cuban war pictures?
| Were they fakes or the real things?"
"A little of both. The pictures showing
| soldiers in action were mostly fakes. but
| they were very good ones, and probably
| cave better idea of an engagement than
could have been obtained from photo
| graphs taken during an actual battle. Real
soldiers went through all the motions of
| firing and chargn g right there on the
| ground and now and then one would seem
t. topple over dead. Such scenes were ire
| mendously realistic
"A number of bona fde battle pictures
! were secured by one daring operator dur
| ing the Santiago campaign, but just as he
| was leaving the field he was shot through
| the shoulder. When the soldiers carried
| him off he intrusted his precious packet Of
| films to a Cuban boy. The boy ran into
| some heavy firing on the way back and
| took refuge with four natives In an old
! sugar shed. Al the next moment the Span
| iards dropped a shell through the roof ana
blew the shed, boy. films and ratives into
a thousand fragments The pictures were
| absolutely unique, and would have created
a sensation.
The moving picture Of anybody who
| has died is an uncanny thing. I have an
! excellent one Of HERMANN mean Herr
| mann the eidcr-whom / knew quite Wen
and when | see HIM stepping out briskly ln
| the picture and smiling and bowling exact
| ~ as he did in life, IL gives me a queer,
| creepy feeling. People have been known
10 recognize dead friends In street scenes
| and have no doubt that the military
| films, showing The maneuvers OF troops
contain many portraits OF men who are
| row in their graves Strange that we can
call them back. even into this mimic
| he"
-CltMaon-I DOM lerow what 10 do with