The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-03-27
MOVING PICTURES.
HOW THE SKETCHES ARE REPRO.
DUCED UPON THE FILMS.

Brought About by Accident.
E"A queer thing about movtng MI,
lures said an expert operator In that
line TO 4 New Orleans Times Democrat
reporter, is the Illusion they generally
produce us to the time they occupy
while on the screen. What Is known
az the standard exhibition film Is 81
feet long. II 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
n specially, Every theater goer has
seen them, and | VIII venture the as
scrtion that the average man VIII 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 it ont for yourself. The
ordinary 20 foot film Of the Kind TO
which | refer IS put through the repro
ducing machine at the rate Of lG pic
lures to the second Each picture Is
three-fourths of an inch broad, which
makes the Ii measure exactly one
foot, edge to edge; in other words, the
film travels foot n 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 it is IN
view. Until the moving picture was
| invented | DONE think anybody had
! 81 ha
in 80 seconds Il seemed hardly time
| enough To turn around IN, yet when
the experts began to study its possi-
bllitIes they found 1t was ample for
hundreds of little pictorial comedies
that have since delighted audiences all
over the world.
1T is entirely II matter of rehearsal.
A subject Is selected, generally calling
for from three to four people, and ey-
cry detail of the business or action is
carefully worked out in advance. Sup
pose, for Illustration, that n 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 ac-
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, 1t 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 flu
ture spectators that so much could
transpire In 80 seconds.
but some of the most telling effects
in composition pictures" continued the
operator "have been the result OF accl-
dent and were entirely unpremeditat-
! ed. That was the case with n film that
/ had II hand in preparing and that
afterWHrd 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 n large and very In
telllgent bulldog l owned at the time,
and we sketched out n simple little
scene In which n tramp steals pie
from n kitchen window, Is pursued by
the dog and is last seen trying to scale
the back fence with the animal hang
ing to his coattalls.
"rhe training Of the dog was the
main trouble, but finally taught him
to lay hold Of anything red, and we
sowed Il big piece of flannel as mark
to the back OF our tramp's cont. Red
photographs black, so it couldn't be
seen In the pictures, and after good
many rehcarsals the dog learned to
dash out Mt 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 up
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
II and was having feast when out
sprang the bulldog and seized him by
the coattalls. 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 it was occupied In recording
ono of the lveliest scraps that ever
happened There was 10 hlppodrome
about it. Hoth 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 n broomstiek and tried to
pry him loose. They rolled over and
put about 80 times as much action and
animation in the last ten seconds ns
had been crowded iuto the preceding
40. We finally pulled them apart, and
1t was not until the negative was devel-
oped that we realized what n prize we
had accidentally secured. That ear
nest and impromptu wind up has con-
vulsed audiences all over Christendom
and made fully as much of hit in Eu-
rope as II did Mt home"