924 



Popular Science Monthly 



Making Movie Films for 

 Artistic Projection 



IT is a generally accepted theory that 

 art is far removed from anything me- 

 chanical. We are told by artists that where 

 mechanics and matter-of-factness exist, 



A special shutter opens and closes gradually 

 to make a fade-in and a fade-out picture 



there can be no true art. But how about 

 the modern film plays? Even the casual 

 attendant of motion picture theaters can 

 not have failed to notice the highly artistic 

 merits of modern film plays, especially dur- 

 ing the past year. One by one, striking 

 photographic tricks have been introduced, 

 until today even the most commonplace 

 scenic film is replete with pleasing effects. 

 Strange to say, these artistic arrangements 

 are produced by simple mechanical devices 

 which in the majority of instances do not 

 form an integral part of the motion picture 

 camera. They are accessories. They are 

 the products of the mechanic's brains and 

 the palette of the film artist — a heresy 

 indeed, for here we have recourse to me- 

 chanics in securing art. 



Perhaps the oldest photographic effect 



in the films is the "fade-out," as well as its 

 companion, the "fade-in." In the first, 

 the entire picture, while retaining its origi- 

 nal size and shape, gradually darkens until 

 it disappears in a mass of black. In the 

 reverse operation, the "fade-in" gradually 

 develops a picture out of blackness. The 

 fade-out effect is secured simply by slowly 

 reducing the opening of the camera lens 

 by means of its iris diaphragm, so that 

 successive exposures receive less light. 

 Hence the positive print becomes darker and 

 darker. The second effect is merely a 

 reversal of this operation. 



However, it often happens that the iris 

 diaphragm of a lens does not close com- 

 pletely, in which case unusually light sub- 

 jects refuse to fade out thoroughly. For 

 this reason other means are sometimes em- 

 ployed. One of these is a special form of 

 shutter, the opening of which closes grad- 

 ually as the scene is being photographed, 

 the action being entirely automatic and 

 adjustable for a complete "fade-out" or 

 "fade-in" in a given number of feet of film. 



Double exposure work produced by the fade- 

 out and fade-in with the curtain method 



