Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-06-05
MOVING PICTURES.
HOW THE SKETCHES ARE REPRO
DucEo UPON THE FILMS.

DUcED UPON THE FILMS.
The Amount OF Movement That May
BE Crowded Into Fifty Seconds.
The Greatest Successes Are Often
Brought About by Accident.
"a queer thing about moving pic
lures" said an expert operator in that
line to New Orleans Times-D Democrat
reporter, lis the illusion they generally
produce as to the time they occupy
while on the screen. What is known,
US the standard exhibition film Is 30
feet long. It is used almost entirely
for comic scenes, trick pictures and
other effects that are got up in the
studios of the experts who make them
a speciality. Every theater goer has
seen them, and will venture the as
sertion that the average man will de-
clare they take at least three or four
minutes in passing before the eye. AS
matter Of fact the picture is on the
screen less than one minute. You can
easily figure 1t out for yourself. The
ordinary so foot film of the kind to
which refer is put through the repro
ducing machine at the rate Of 10 pic
lures to the second. Each picture Is
three-fourths of an inch broad, which
makes the 16 measure exactly one
foot, edge to edge; in other words, the
film travels foot second-50 feet, 80
seconds. What gives it the effect of
taking up SO much more time Is the
immense lot Of action that is usually
crowded into the brief period 1t Is in
view. Until the moving picture was
invented I don't think anybody had
the least idea how much could be done
IN 80 seconds. It seemed hardly time
enough to turn around in, yet when
the experts began to study its posi-
bilities they found it was ample for
hundreds Of little pictorial comedies
that have since delighted audiences all
over the world.
ut Is entirely matter Of rehearsal.
A subject is selected, generally calling
for from three to four people, and ev-
cry detail Of the business or action is
carefully worked out in advance. Sup
pose, for illustration, that comic bur-
glary is the topic. The business, in
skeleton, might run something like
this: Old gentleman doing in parlor;
enter burglar; old gentleman awakes;
burglar hides; enter policeman, search
es the room, collars old gent; they
fight and roll on the floor while bur-
glar suddenly energies and leaps out
of the window. That doesn't sound
particularly side splitting, but in the
hands of intelligent comedians 1t can
be made really very funny. The all es-
sential thing is to crowd 1t into 80 sec
onds, and to that end each bit Of &C.
ton is carefully timed and made to
fit into each other bit like SO many
well geared cogwheels. The old gen.
tleman's startled yawn, the burglars
glance around the room and every
step, movement and gesture from be-
ginning to end is calculated with the
utmost nicely, and at last after dozens
of rehearsals the act is attempted be-
fore the recording machine. If every
body is lucky, it goes through on sched-
ule time, but the slightest hitch is ia
tai, and If one occurs the film is spoil
ed, and they must try all over again.
No wonder 1t seems impossible to fu-
ture spectators that SO much could
transpire in so seconds.
"But some Of the most telling effects
in composition pictures" continued the
operator, ''have been the result Of acci-
dent and were entirely unpremeditat-
ed. That was the case with film that
had hand in preparing and that
afterward made tremendous hit and
proved to be one of the best sellers
ever put on the market. In getting
up the picture our principal purpose
was to introduce large and very In
telligent bulldog owned at the time,
and we sketched out a simple little
scene in which tramp steals a pie
from kitchen window, is pursued by
the dog and is last seen trying to scale
the back fence with the animal hang
ing to his coattails.
1.-THE training of the dog was the
main trouble, but finally taught him
to lay hold of anything red, and we
sowed q big piece Of flannel as mark
to the back of our tramp's coat. Red
photographs black, SO 1t couldn't be
seen in the pictures, and after q good
many rehearsals the dog learned to
dash out at exactly the right moment
and nail the marauder, whose cue was
then to rush for the fence and consume
the remaining time in making an ap-
parently desperate effort to scramble
over the top. At last we got every
thing all ready. gave the word and
started the record machine to take the
picture.
Immediately the little comedy be-
gan. The tramp appeared, looked
around stealthily, saw the pie, hooked
1t and was having feast when out
sprang the bulldog and seized him by
the coattails. he thereupon sprinted
to the fence and was about to carry out
the rest Of the programme when, to our
CONSERVATION, the boards gave way,
and he came down bang on top Of the
dog. The film had about ten seconds to
run, and 1t was occupied in recording
one of the liveliest scraps that ever
happened. There was no hippodrome
about 1t. Both parties were out for
blood. When the fence fell, the bull
dog had promptly transferred himself
from the tramp's coattail to the tramp's
calf, while that unfortunate person
snatched up q broomstlck and tried to
pry him loose. They rolled over, and
put about 80 times as much action and
animation in the last ten seconds as
had been crowded into the preceding
40. We finally pulled them apart, and
1t was not until the negative was devel-
oped that we realized what prize we
had accidentally secured. That ear
| nest and fmnromntu wind I'm has con-