South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-11-19

/ played the role Of a Mexican heavy.
/ In a majority OF his scenes he wore
q sombrero. Now, whenever the
/ action showed him in a sinister mooc
I 1 lighted his face in such a way as
! 20 throw a heavy shadow from his
/ hat brim across his eyes. This
/ shadow was 50 heavy that the eyes
were barely discernible. Small as
\ this may seem. il gave a tremend Gus
/ effect on the screen. In this same
! characters happier moments I
| lighted this shadow several degrees
In the same picture Conrad Ma
gel goes blind. HIS eyes are blue,
/ and il was therefore a simple matter
/ 70 throw great deal Of hard light
on his face, giving his eyes a chalky,
| blind look. Dorothy Dalton. who
/ played in many scenes with Nagel
/ during this episode Of blindness, was
| made 10 contrast with him by throw
! ing shadows of her eyelashes on her
! cheeks and giving her relatively soft
er lighting
Another interesting example Of
/ what might really be called char
acter Lighting is TO be found in
/ Blood and sand in which Rodolpn
/ Valentino plays the role Of a young
/ toreador. Before we started the pic
/ ture L studied Valentino carefully
/ We made extensive screen tests.
was unable 10 hit upon a character
I istic lighting scheme. For, surpr.s-
/ ing as il may be TO the unInitIaIec.
! every star role calls for a special
/ general light Characterization.
Almost by accident I found the
! necessary thing. Valentino has
slight scar on one cheek. 1t usually
/ escapes even the searching eye of
/ the camera. But in this case
/ stressed that scar 10 the Limits AT
/ my suggestion Valentino trained the
side-burns which he was growing for
/ the role so that the beard on that
side ran right into one end Of the
scar.
! BY throwing a shadow from his
/ hat brim that paralleled this scar
and bringing out the scar by lighting
and shadow, we succeeded in pro-
/ ducing an interesting character quail
/ ity. The effect of this scar was
/ heightened by not permitting it to
show until after Valentines first
/ bul.hght in the course of the story.
Most of these examples are ex-
detrimental and in the main restrict
ed TO characters rather than big
4 scenes. But in Cecil r. De Miles
! 'AIanslaughter' atmospheric lighting
+ is carried further. Some particular
t b. i'm
the prison scenes which form an i'm
portant part OF the picture.
I In the story a girl enters prison
hating the world and especially the
man responsible for her arrest. she
+ energies completely changed. This
transition is marked by 3 CORES
ponding variation in the lighting
/ Her suuen. resentful attitude IS en-
+ phasized by deepening the shadows
/ both on her face and on the back
/ ground OF the initial prison scenes
+ A the girl changes the lighting is
\ varied 10 make her face luminous
and 10 tighten the depressing atmos-
F. phere Of the prison.
Atmospheric lighting can be car
/ ried too far, however. There is a
constant danger that the lighting viii
over-shadow the action of the story.
. The eye viii be SO busy studying the
I Lighting effects that the action of
+ the characters and the psychology or
/ the scene Will escape the attention.
That IS fatal Atmospheric lighting
! is primarily designed to heighten the
dramatic effect. The moment ii as
sumes the preponderance all its
value it lost and .rreparable damage
is done The story is the important
thing; photography is only the
means Of conveying that story frs,
to the screen ara thence TO the spec
tator."
Ten thousand square feet Of floor
Sp0Ce, enough room 10 comfortably
mark $50 automobiles. was occupied
by a single set which served for inn
portant scenes in "Singed Wings
Penrhyn Stanlaws' production for
Paramount featuring Bebe Daniels
This set represented a section OF
waterfront along the san Francisco
bay and for the purpose an exact re-
pIica of a district of the northern
California city was erected at the
Famous Players-Lasky West Coast
studios.
A space approximately $50 feet
by 20 feet was required for the act
T ual set. while surrounding territory
more than doubling these dimensions
were required for camera-spacef
that is. Tor the camera 10 stand some
distance from the set IN order &c
take" the entire scene. Within thif
, space there was also included a poo
= of water So feet by So feet, this poo
/, serving the purpose Of the ocear
= front.
Seven complete buildings were ID
/ this district Of these. four were two
= stories in height, one was three
stories. one was a small cottage anl
: the remaining building was a fisher
mans shack, erected right at tht
: waters edge. A cObblestOne street
Us feet wide and approximately 20
= feet in length. wound its CROOKED
, way through the district. Balconies
] nearly 100 windows of ASSORTED
shapes and sizes and II doors wer'
, part Of the building. Two boats
, Law idly on the ocean, one Of these
/ a sail boat. the other equipped onl,