Cinematograph

“ The cinematograph camera differs entirely from the instruments used in other branches of photography. While the advanced worker and the prosperous picture-play producer employ costly and elaborate machines, the amateur, or the independent worker, in the particular field which he has selected for his operations, can get equally good results with an apparatus only a fifteenth or even a twentieth part as expensive. ”

“ The history of the cinematograph impresses upon us at every turn the necessity which experimenters were under of devising special facilities and improved apparatus in all of the numerous fields that impinged upon their work. They were obliged to break ground in every direction. For instance, besides securing the right kind of film, they had also to find the best means of developing it. ”

“ If the battle is short and sharp the results are disappointing both to the cinematographer and his public, but if it be long, requiring several hundred feet of film, he is happy. The prize-fight film, however, is meeting with considerable opposition, which should be welcomed as a healthy sign even by the film-producers themselves. The cinematograph can surely do more elevating, profitable and entertaining work than the recording of a prize-fight. ”

“ In cinematography, as in ordinary photography, the judgment of the brilliance of the light and of the right stop to use on each occasion, is the one important factor for which mechanical provision is impossible. This is because of the extreme variation of the light conditions. But, while no hard and fast rules concerning exposure can be laid down, it is possible to give the beginner a little guidance to keep him on the safe side. Practice alone can make perfect, and experience is the more necessary because the cinematograph is an all-the-year-round machine. ”

“ Nothing rivals the cinematograph for picking a movement relentlessly to pieces.
The most expert workman is taken for the purpose of the investigation because his skill must be dependent upon his ability to reduce movements to the minimum. Moreover, he [180] serves as an excellent model for speeding-up if such is required. By the time his workmanship has been analysed and perfected by the elimination of all waste or unnecessary motions, and by his mastery of the best methods, the photographing in animation of his experience serves as a pattern for the benefit of all in the factory. ”

“ Profit and pleasure combine to win recruits for the art of animated photography. As an entertainment offered to the public, the moving-pictures have had no rival. Their popularity has been remarkable and universal. It increases daily, and, since we are only now beginning to see the magnitude of what the cinematograph can effect, it is not likely to diminish. This development has stirred the ambition of the amateur or independent photographer because the field is so vast, fertile, and promising. ”

“ With the double cinematograph, therefore, as a section of sensitised surface always is exposed during the running of the machine, either through the right or left-hand lens, it follows that the whole of the movement must be photographed. ”

“ Accordingly, great ingenuity has been displayed by cinematograph investigators in the evolution of a means of snapping such extremely rapid movements at sufficient speed to make the films interesting or scientifically useful. ”

“ Considering the position which the motion-picture has attained in our social and industrial life, the establishment of national cinematograph laboratories appears not only to be opportune, but necessary. ”

“ Animated photography is nothing more than a Kodak worked by machinery. Instead of the shutter being actuated by hand to make an exposure, and the film afterwards moved by turning a roller so as to bring a fresh area before the lens, the two movements, in the cinematograph, are combined. The rotation of the handle alternately opens and closes the lens, and moves the film forward a defined distance after each exposure. ”

“ At times their revolutionary ideas are put into practice before they are thoroughly understood, and the result is far from satisfactory. The improvement proves to be more imaginary than real. But if recourse is first had to the cinematograph, the process can be submitted to a searching practical trial before it is installed. A film can be taken and each separate image can be examined minutely with the aid of the magnifying glass, until a pretty complete idea is gained as to the true value of the invention. ”

“ Nothing is too difficult for the motion-picture man, and he has never proposed a feat so daring but what he could find plenty of actors willing to take the necessary parts. Battles, scenes from history, sessions of Congress, railroad wrecks, earthquakes and hundreds of other spectacles have been planned, staged and acted out by the makers of cinematograph films, while, of course, all the plays that we see on the screen are planned and carefully rehearsed before they are photographed. ”

“ The tendency towards this state of affairs, happily, is improving every day, for the cinematograph is appealing more and more to the cultured classes, who, after all, constitute its most substantial support. ”

“ What information there was to be had on the subject was scattered between the pages of various business publications in occasional articles, which fact set me to work to write a concise handbook, embodying everything worth knowing about Motion Picture Advertising.
It will probably seem rather strange to you that an invention like the cinematograph, which has achieved widespread fame as a form of entertainment, can perform the functions of advertising, but it is none the less a fact. Wonders have not yet ceased in this every-day world, believe me. ”

“ Naturally, as the intricacies of the craft are mastered, the tyro will wish for a more elaborate apparatus. He can gratify his ambitions in accordance with his progress, or with the improvement in his financial position.
The mechanism of the modern cinematograph [26] camera is very simple in its character and very easy to understand. The necessary parts are very few in number. In all cameras the chief object is to effect the forward intermittent movement of the film at regular intervals and for a defined distance. ”

“ Apart from this movement other independent enthusiasts have recommended the formation of moving-picture laboratories in connection with the various training institutions, so that students might be trained on the correct lines. Doubtless the perfection of continuous-record cinematography, and of cameras capable of working at the highest speeds, will stimulate the movement, for they provide a method of getting information which even the cinematograph has not hitherto been able to give. ”

“ Even the largest producers, who have huge theatres and command the services of expert scenario writers [6] and players, do not hesitate to purchase from outside sources.
A cinematograph camera, and a little luck, will make anyone's holiday profitable. The travelling amateur penetrates into places overlooked by the professional, and usually takes greater pains with his work. Afterwards he finds his market in the fact that the demand for travel pictures is so great that a good film of 300 feet will fetch £40 ($200) and upwards. ”

“ Yet it is not so quick that it cannot be deceived. If the pictures of a cinematograph are projected upon the screen at the rate of so many per second, the effect upon the eye is that of perfectly natural movement. The laws that govern this illusion have been discovered in a very interesting way. A positive film was prepared, but between each successive image a wide white line was inscribed. This film was then passed through the projector, and the pictures were thrown upon the screen at the speed generally accepted as being necessary to convey the effect of natural movement ”

“ In recent years a wholly new problem has presented itself by the invention of the cinematograph. The present state of picture palaces gives much room for thought and almost makes one weep. The attractiveness and low price bring it within the reach of all. ”

“ Such are a few of the many motion-picture activities which have sprung up in the last few years, and made it possible for us to see whatever is interesting in any part of the world, on the cinematograph screen. Beside the professional cinematographers, there are of course any number of smart boys and young men who are having fine times with the amateur projecting outfits sold by the big makers of apparatus. These machines run from mere toys made up for a little roll of film, already prepared, to projectors with which very creditable parlour shows can be given. ”

“ The modern cinematograph camera is completely self-contained; the film boxes are incorporated within the case that carries the mechanism for moving the film forward. Further improvement is hard to imagine. Bulk and dimensions are reduced to the minimum, with, at the same time, the maximum of efficiency. ”

“ The arrogance of the trained writer of fiction or of drama and the price of the producer were still beyond conciliation.
The first borrowings may have come in taking excerpts from history to make the modest spectacles that gave a new note to cinematography. Suffice it to say, that soon familiar masterpieces of fiction and dramatic literature began to appear. The moment that the exhaustless stores of literature were opened to the needs of cinematography we may say that the photodrama really had its inception. ”

“ The manipulation of the moving picture camera does not demand a long course of tutelage to enable pictures to be taken. Accordingly, whereas formerly the hand camera constituted a prominent part of the impedimenta, the cinematograph now occupies the pre-eminent place. The films obtained command a distinct value, which fluctuates according to the popular interest created in the particular exploration achievement to which they refer. Any film manufacturing firm will undertake readily to place the subjects upon the market under a handsome royalty. ”

“ The speeding-up of relatively slow movements has become a favourite branch of research among cinematograph workers mainly because it is simple, inexpensive, and comparatively easy. The worker needs to develop only one special faculty. That is patience, for the recording of [125] a single subject may easily extend over a period of a month or so, and the camera has to be kept going night and day to produce a faithful record. It is a field which the amateur can follow very profitably. ”

“ It contains the very best efforts of its creator; the other is probably of poor quality, because the man with a name does not realise what the people want, and thinks that for the cinematograph anything is good enough. ”

“ Before there can be a cinematograph play there must be a negative film upon which the pictures are taken, a camera to take the pictures, an apparatus for developing them, a positive film which corresponds to the printing paper in still photography, upon which the pictures are printed from the negative film, a printing machine to print the positives from the negatives, and lastly a projecting machine to throw the picture upon the screen in the schoolroom, college lecture room, or theatre.
Every boy who is an amateur photographer is familiar with the photographic film. ”

“ This is the Motograph Film Company of London, which has completed contracts with the most prominent European scientific cinematographers for their entire output of educational, scientific and natural history subjects. It is also endeavouring to persuade the eminent teachers of certain subjects to commit their work to the celluloid film instead of to printed books. It is a difficult quest because the professors are apt to regard the cinematograph as a joke. At the same time, once the development becomes started upon the correct lines, it cannot fail to meet with success. ”

“ In the United States the growth of the cinematograph theatre has been phenomenal. The success of the first displays with the Lumière machine at the Eden Musée prompted the proprietors of other places of entertainment to introduce the biograph in their programmes. ”

“ It is probably beyond dispute that the popular scientific film, treated in such a manner as is indicated in this chapter, is certain to command the approval of the public in the end. At the present moment the popular scientific cinematograph picture is in its infancy. It will be only through the perseverance of the scientist who has the happy faculty of amusing as well as entertaining a general audience that this class of film ever will have a vogue. ”

“ It has already been pointed out that the intermittent method of taking cinematograph pictures results in the loss of certain motions which occur during the interval when the lens is eclipsed by the shutter. A similar loss is experienced by the eye, in daily life, when it blinks. ”

“ While it is a moot point whether the automatic cinematograph camera will ever displace the orthodox machine entirely, it is a useful and even indispensable machine for working under difficulties. It has been used in the aeroplane and has been found successful. ”

“ When two or more rivals in a single town are making a common bid for popular favour, the public naturally patronises the establishment which offers the most refined pictures combined with comfort in the seating arrangements. The inferior film is being driven from the better class of cinematograph theatre, where a programme is offered which is varied in character, and of the highest excellence from the photographic, dramatic, and educational point of view, as well as from that of sheer amusement. ”