Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1901-06-20
{ MOVING PICTURES.
HOW THE SKETCHES ARE REPRO.
OUCED UPON -HE FILMS.
The Amount Of MO.cmcnt That May
BE Crowded into Fifty Seconds.
The Greatest Successes Are often
Brought AbOut by Accident.


Brought About by Accident.
"a queer thing about moving pic.
tures," said an expert operator in that
line to a New Orleans Times Democrat
reporter. sis the illusion they generally
produce as to the time they occupy
while on the screen. What is known
as the standard exhibition film is 80
feet long. 1t is used almost entirely
Cor comic scenes, trick pictures and
other effects that are got up in the
studios of the experts who make them
speciality. Every tleatcr goer has
seen them, and l will venture the as
scrtion that the average man viii de-
minutes in passing before the eye. AS
matter of fact the picture is on the
screen less than one minute You can
easily figure it out for yourself. The
ordinary 30 foot film of the kind to
which | refer is put through the repro
ducinS machine Mt the rate of 1G pic
lures to the second. Each picture is
u.
makes the IL measure exactly one
foot, edge to edge: in other words, the
film travels foot n Second-JO feet, so
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 it is i'm
view. Until the moving picture was
I <l,:,
the least idea how much could be done
i'll 80 seconds. 1t seemed hardly time
enough to turn around in, vet when
the experts began to study it's posi-
biliticS they found it was ample for
hundreds Of little pictorial comedies
that have since delighted audiences all
over the world.
III IS entirely Il 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 Il comic bur-
glaly 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 tho window. That doesn't sound
particularly side splitting. but in the
hands Of intelligent comedians it can
be made really very funny. The all es-
sential thing is to crowd it into so sec
OndS. and to that end each bit of ac-
ton is carefully timed and made to
fit into each other bit like so many
well geared cogwhecls. 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 ut last after dozens
Of rchcarsals 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 it one occurs the film is spoil
ed. and they must try all over again.
No wonder it seems impossible to flu
ture spectators that so much could
lTdHSpIe III ~ seconds.
But some of the most telling effects
in composition pictures" continued the
operator, "have been the result of acct
dent and were entirely unpremeditat-
ed. That was the case with IA film that
l had hand in preparing and that
afterward made tremendous hit and
proved to be one of the best sellers
ever put OH the market. In getting
up the picture our principal purpose
was TO introduce a large and very in
telligent bulldog l owned at the time,
and We sketched out Il simple little
scene i'll which Il tramp steals pie
IRON 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.
"The training Of the dog was the
main trouble, but finally taught him
to lay hold Of anything red. and we
SOwed big piece of flannel as Il mark
to the back of our tramp's coat. Red
photographs black, so it couldn't he
seen in the pictures. and after u 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 pic, hooked