Popular Science Monthly 



925 



A screen of graduated transparency slides 

 in front of the lens, running from trans- 

 parency to opaque. 



For dissolving views, as in cases where 

 one scene appears to blend into another in 

 a gradual and pleasing manner, the "fade- 

 out" and the "fade-in" effects are em- 

 ployed. The first scene is 

 faded out by the camera 

 man, who carefully counts 

 his turns or notes the posi- 

 tion of his film-indicator 

 hand. He then winds back 

 the film the same number 

 of turns, or until the hand 

 on the indicator has re- 

 turned to the position where 

 the "fade-out" began, keep- 

 ing the lens covered all the 

 while. Then, with the 

 diaphragm entirely closed, 



camera lens, and equipped with an iris 

 diaphragm which is manipulated by a long 

 lever. Since the sharpness or softness of 

 the vignette edge depends entirely on the 

 distance between the diaphragm and the 

 lens, the tube is of telescopic construction 

 to permit of sharp or soft outlines. When 

 the diaphragm is placed as 

 far away from the lens as 

 the tube will permit, the 

 circle vignette is sharp, but 

 if the diaphragm is brought 

 near to the lens, the outline 

 is barely discernible, al- 

 though of course the device 

 accomplishes its mission 

 just as effectively, and far 

 more artistically. Whether 

 the vignette edge should be 

 soft or hard depends en- 

 tirely on the subject which 





A circle vignetter in an ex- 

 tension tube on lens barrel 



Side view of the circle 

 vignetter showing iris 

 which operates lever 



he begins taking pictures in 

 the usual way for a "fade-in" 

 effect, which is timed the same 

 as the previous operation for the fade-out. 



A new-comer in the film field is the effect 

 known by several different names, such as 

 "circle vignette," "circle-in," and "round 

 dissolve," which has met with great favor 

 imong film producers. In the films it 

 < auses a scene to shrink gradually, changing 

 from a square or oblong image to a round 

 image, which becomes smaller and smaller 

 until it disappears in the center of a black 

 mass. The effect is also used in isolating a 

 character or an object, so that it will stand 

 alone in a round, vignetted picture. At 

 other times, it is used to soften the corners 

 of an oblong picture. 



The "circle vignette," or whatever one 

 may choose to call it, is produced by an 

 extension tube placed in front of the usual 



A curtain dissolver for 

 use in matching what 



A square dosing dis- ^^ called a "split stage" 



solver that moves all 



four sides gradually 



is to be photographed and 

 the effect that is sought. 



Another recently introduced effect is 

 the "square closing dissolve," which at- 

 tains the same ends as the circle vig- 

 nette, but with the difference that- the 

 effect is a square one instead of circular. 

 In a "square closing dissolve" the four 

 sides of a picture move toward the 

 center and the rectangular shape is 

 preserved until the scene disappears 

 entirely in a field of black. The device 

 employed to secure this result consists of 

 two shutter leaves with their facing edges 

 cut out to form a right angle notch, which 

 through the agency of parallel levers oper- 

 ated by a handle, overlap each other, more 

 or less, as desired. Thus the size of the 

 square opening formed by the overlapping 



