Volume I: Narrative History Volume I: Narrative History
A view of many of the technical processes at the Thanhouser plant is provided by a far-ranging article in The New Rochelle Evening Standard, March 14, 1910:
Making of Moving Pictures: Those who enjoy in the theatre the moving picture play probably seldom if ever give much thought to the care and labor that are expended before the pictures are ready for public exhibition. That it is a long and laborious process and entails the best work of experienced men in many branches was shown and explained to an Evening Standard reporter Saturday when he visited the study of the Thanhouser Company in the old skating rink building on Grove Street.
A large staff is needed of electricians, carpenters, scene painters, photographers, etc. to prepare the ground for the company of actors and actresses. A stock company of theatrical people of wide experience is an essential, for a mistake in action however small might, and often does, spoil a large roll of film. In a theatrical performance a mistake of this kind can be rectified or covered up by the cooperation of the other characters, or, if that be impossible, the mistake is one that appears in but one performance. The cinematograph film, however, is permanent and the mistake would be repeated every time the film might be shown.
There are difficulties, too, of expressing by gesture and action alone the feeling and meaning of a play or sketch in the production of a film play. There must not be one moment in which interest flags or the meaning is lost. It is to be noted that pantomime plays or sketches are produced only by players of fame and power. Bernhardt said that she hated pantomime because it showed how much speech is needed to express thought, and the late Coquelin, the elder, said it would take an actor to reproduce with success a pantomime but that an elocutionist could be a very successful member of a theatrical company.
The help of gesture to give full meaning to the spoken word is undoubted, but as a rule it is auxiliary, the words and not the action giving the sense of the play. So it will be readily seen that in a short play or sketch which depends entirely upon action the actor or actress must show great cleverness, and special training is always needed for the playing of a scene in a performance intended for the biograph.
The leading film producing companies and the phonograph companies have for some time been working with a view to producing words and pictures in conjunction. While this at first thought might appear to be a simple matter, there are many obstacles, the chief of which is the difficulty of keying the phonographs and the cinematograph camera to exactly the same speed, for, of course, were the words not to coincide perfectly with the pictured gesture, the meaning and the purpose would be lost.
The Thanhouser Company prepare throughout their own material - from the scenery that graces the stage to the plays that are produced, and have a large staff to cover the many details. Their own playwright produces the skeleton plays in which the wording is but little, only a few words being used as cues, and it is a form of writing that is peculiar to this newer branch of the thespian art. The play is rehearsed under the guidance of a director who has to be a capable stage manager, and all actions that are unnecessary or in the least foreign to the meaning of the play in hand are eliminated.
The stage setting is complete to a degree. Not a superfluous article is present, and even down to the articles of a dressing table not a thing is lacking. When the scenery has been built, painted and prepared and the properties arranged and the play ready for production, the photographs are taken. The camera accepts a large roll of film and takes pictures in quick succession, the speed depending on the scene or play being produced, it being necessary to have the pictures follow each other so closely that not an action is broken.
In a play of several scenes with the same setting, all these scenes are photographed in rotation so that the labor and waste of time entailed by a change of setting may be as little as possible. The films exposed are taken to the developing and fixing room. They are there wound on frames and developed in tanks so that uniform development is assured. They next pass to the drying room where they are wound around a large revolving drum. Revolutions cause an air current which expedites the drying process. Next the film goes to the joining room where the various scenes are joined into one string of film covering the whole play in its proper order.
A view of the joining room at the Thanhouser factory, circa 1911. Carl Louis Gregory estate, courtesy of Ralph Graham, M.D. (M-5)
The film is then rolled and flattened on a spool, after which they pass on to the perforating machine where holes are punched near the edge into which notches and the wheel of the projecting machines fit. This perforating machine has to be accurate to a fractional part of an inch for the delicate film will not allow of patching once a hole is wrongly cut, and a variation of even the smallest degree would cause a hitch in the projection and a possible tearing of the film.
The film is then measured on a machine which is an ingenious succession of cylinders with a recording table somewhat resembling a cyclometer, which shows the actual length of the film. The films, developed, fixed, washed, joined, flattened, rolled, perforated and measured are still in negative form, and in that form they pass the projection test rooms where projections are made in the same manner as in the theatre. Any defects are noted, and the film is cut where such occurs - as in the case of jumps where there is an interruption in a gesture. Rejoined, the film is sent back to the projection room, and this process is continued until the film is declared satisfactory. Longer exposures than are desired in the finished film are made to allow for this cutting and the films, once declared satisfactory, are remeasured and tabulated.
According to the subject, the films vary in length from about 160 feet to about 1,000 feet, the latter figure having been found to be as long as the average audience wishes to see. Positive prints are made from the negative films by electric light exposure, the average exposure lasting about three seconds, with a 16 candle power light for each negative. A good negative may be used a limited number of times, and prints are obtained from it. When printing is completed the negatives are stored in circular metal boxes to protect them from damp, etc. and filed. The positives are developed and finished in the same manner as the negatives, enclosed in the same kind of box and sent out to the various exchanges.
That extreme care in the various processes is necessary is evidenced by the fact that the prints are magnified from about one half inch by three quarters to the size seen on the screen in the theatre, and a defect that would appear minute in a negative would assume enormous proportions in the theatre, and retouching is difficult on account of the small size of the original print.
The Thanhouser Company, since its inception here October 1, 1909, has produced at least 15,000 feet of finished negative film from which many positive films have been made in preparation for the general release or sending out to the various exchanges. A large stock company, varying from about 15 to 100 for the bigger plays, is retained. Note Some of the leading members have recently been playing in Broadway productions. One of the most interesting features of the building is the electric lighting plant. A power of about 210 volts is possible, but an average of about 110 is generally used. To light the stage for the usual production requires lamps of a total of over 44,000 candlepower.
One of the few contrivances noticed on the projecting machine, simple in itself, is of great use. It is in the form of a propeller with three blades which revolves rapidly immediately in front of the lens. This overcomes to a great extent the flickering so common in a cinematograph film. This may be tested in a very simple manner by anyone attending the cinematograph exhibition. With the fingers separated, pass the hand rapidly to and fro before the eyes and the flickering will not be so noticeable. That flickering is the result of the lack of photographic impressions in the negative during the short time which it takes the shutter to close and open. It is not nearly so noticeable now that it is possible to take the cinematograph photographs at the rate of thousands Note to the second as it was a few years ago when the industry was in its infancy and the apparatus more crude.
The Thanhouser Company is represented in New Rochelle by Edwin Thanhouser, president; G. H. Thanhouser, secretary; Lloyd Lonergan, vice president; Barry O'Neil, general manager; L. B. Carleton, assistant manager; John Adela, press representative; Blair Smith, chief operator [cameraman]; Charles Zimmerman, stock superintendent; William Heiss, chief developer; Frank Champury, scenic artist; C. J. Van Houten, master machinist; Clarence Dull, property master and a large staff of working people of all kinds.
Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.