Actual shooting generally requires more than a month for an "A"
picture, and to an outsider an interminable amount of time seems to be
wasted: in an eight-hour day only three to six minutes of film are shot
which will be seen in the theatres. But the long waits are a necessary
part of production, during which the many technical adjustments of
lights, camera, and sound are made. The script girl is an indispensihle
aid to the director during production. Sitting beside him, she takes
detailed notes concerning "business," use of props, and camera angles.
Many scenes are shot in violation of the story's chronology, to enable the
production office to get the maximum amount of service from stages as
well as from actors. But the shooting schedule, with its careful synopses
of scenes, makes this a less difficult task than it might seem. Shooting
out of continuity is, however, a major reason why directors like to re-
hearse the entire script before any shooting takes place.
Most stars as well as directors know that their best efforts can be
spoiled by an unsympathetic cinematographer. Formerly called the
cameraman, this technician is in actual charge of shooting the scenes.
He must, besides possessing the technical skill to create consistently first-
rate photographs, be artistically sympathetic to both stars and director.
Many director-cameraman teams function on a more or less permanent
basis, and the contracts of many stars make provision for their favorite
cinematographers. The cinematographer rarely touches the camera,
other than to view his set-up on the ground-glass foscusing screen. His
real work is to direct the photography of the scene leaving the me-
chanics of camera operation to his crew, which consists of an operative
cinematographer, who actually runs the camera; one or two assistant
cameramen who handle details of focusing, checking and caring for the
equipment; a still man who makes the hundreds of still photographs
during shooting that are used in theatre lobbies and magazines; and a
gaffer, or chief electrician, who is not actually a member of the camera
department but is nevertheless in charge of the matter of lighting and
an invaluable aid to the cinematographer.
Unless busy on other productions, the cinematographer enters active
participation in the preparation of a picture during the early conferences
of the art department, costumers, directors, and writers. His experience
helps in selecting sites for outdoor scenes, for example, as he determines
which points can be conveyed successfully by photograph. By the time
shooting begins, the cinematographer has made detailed plans concern-
ing camera angles and positions, and with the aid of stand-ins the light-
ing has been roughed in. During rehearsals he perfects such details as
92 LOS ANGELES
changes of lighting required by movements of the players and unwanted
reflections cast by a piece of furniture or a bowl of flowers. Every
factor may be photographically correct in the first take, but four or five
are generally made, and the cinematographer tries to make each one
better than the last. It is a tribute to Hollywood's camera experts that
a scene is seldom retaken for photographic shortcomings.
The cinematographer's intricate technique of painting pictures with
light beams to create illusions of depth and roundness owes its steady im-
provement to the development of improved tools. In the movies' early
days lighting simply meant illumination by means of floodlights. Today,
almost the only survivor among the cinematographer's early tools is the
broadside, commonly called the broad, which is a simple lamp housing
two looo-watt globes side by side in a box-shaped reflector which spreads
their light in an even flood over an angle of approximately 60 degrees.
The fundamental tool today is the spotlight, of which there are two
basic types: the older lens-spots, and the reflecting spots which form
their beam by means of a parabolic mirror rather than a lens. A new
type, combining the features of both, is called the solar spot. It uses
a bull's-eye lighthouse type lens in combination with a small spherical
mirror to produce a smoother and more controllable beam than either of
the older types. Among a number of special-purpose lamps in use today
are the Lupe, a long funnel-shaped lamp holding a tubular globe and
mounted on a double-jointed standard which permits it to be used in
almost any position; the sky pan, a bowl-shaped reflector used against
painted sky backings or backdrops; and the relatively obsolescent banks
and strips, which are simply big floodlights holding four, six, or more
globes. For natural-color photography the standard lamps are replaced
by rotaries, sun-arcs, and Hi-arcs, noiseless arc-lighting units that pro-
duce light almost identical with natural daylight.
Many tools are used to control the light projected from the
various lamps. Because present-day camera lenses frequently pick up
objects in too great detail, the diffusing screen is used to soften a picture.
Among diffusers in use are nets of fine gauze, screens of frosted gelatin,
and glass discs with a spiderwork tracery of fine lines or concentric
circles. There are also such other devices to control the lamp rays as
flat or adjustable screens, called niggers and bogos; conical hoods, often
called snouts; and snouts with adjustable, flat flaps, which are called
barndoors.
Out-of-doors light is controlled by means of reflectors, large squares
of plywood covered with tin, aluminum, or gold paint that disperse
shadows. Booster lights are also frequently used, as are canopies of
netting, called scrims, which are stretched over the players' heads to
soften or eliminate direct sunlight. Another important outdoor acces-
THE MOVIES 93
sory are the color filters the cinematographer uses to accent particular
colors.
Films, lenses, and cameras have all advanced apace, as has the
technique of using them. The development of film is largely one of
progression from color-blind film sensitive only to blue and ultra-violet
light, to the super-panchromatic film in use today that sees colors in
very much the same relative strengths as the human eye. Lenses have
grown more and more accurate in their delineation of scenes, and faster.
Cameras have evolved from relatively unsteady and undependable in-
struments into high-precision machines costing from five to fifteen thou-
sand dollars.
No hard and fast rules concerning cinematographic technique can
be laid down, but there are certain fundamental principles that good
moving picture photographers always bear in mind. They attempt to
keep their lighting in tune with the dramatic mood of the scene, using
an ingenious assortment of variations of the accepted rule that tragedy
requires lighting in a low key, while comedy calls for a high key. As
with the lighting, the technique of camera angles is essentially a series
of elaborations using a simple basic vocabulary. Camera angles are
based on the long, or establishing, shot; the medium shot, a closer ap-
proach to the subject; the two-shot, which is the closest the camera can
approach two people and keep them both in the picture; the close-up,
and the extreme or big-head close-up. The effect of an oppressed char-
acter is heightened by having the camera look slightly down on him ; the
effect of happiness or lightheartedness portrayed by a player is intensified
by having the camera look slightly up to him.
Moving-camera technique is one of the cinematographer's most
difficult problems. Such variable factors as speed, timing, and lighting
must be considered. Lighting a big moving-camera shot is in itself a
problem. Ordinary lighting satisfactory from one viewpoint is unsatis-
factory when the camera has moved to another point. The lighting
must be such that during every inch of motion the camera sees things
as they should be.
Special process shots, also in the cinematographer's sphere, include
trick shots of some varieties, but the purpose of most special process
photography is to film normal action more effectively or safely than
could otherwise be possible. The most common types of special-process
shots are scenes in miniature and projected-background or transparency
shots, in which a desired back-ground perhaps in the Swiss Alps or an
African jungle is projected on a translucent screen behind the actors.
The making of special-process shots generally requires the services of a
group of cinematographic experts of the special-effects department, but
when the principal players appear in such scenes the co-operation of the
production's cinematographer is imperative.
94 LOS ANGELES
Natural color photography, the latest development in cinematog-
raphy, has brought to the fore new problems in lighting and composition,
but cinematographers consider them minor ones and are confident that
as color photography nears perfection they will be able to carry on with
the same standards they have achieved in black and white.
The motion-picture studio sound department owes its existence to
inventions in the field of radio amplification. Because the recording
of sound on wax discs has given way to recording on film, the essence
of sound recording today is the transformation of sound vibrations into
light and onto a roll of film from which they may at will be repro-
duced as sound. The personnel of a studio sound department usually
consists of a director of sound recording, whose work is both technical
and administrative ; a chief engineer responsible for the technical phases
of operation; a chief mixer, in charge of the various staff units working
on various pictures; several operating transmission engineers in charge
of the recording circuits and other equipment ; and sound crews assigned
to individual pictures, usually composed of a mixer, a number of stage
helpers, and a recorder responsible for the operation of the recording
machine and its auxiliary equipment.
Preparation for sound recording of a picture starts with study of
the final script to determine the special recording problems that the pic-
ture advances. When the sound director and chief mixer have deter-
mined the nature and scope of the picture's problems, a sound crew
and suitable equipment are assigned to the new picture. The micro-
phones, amplifiers, mixer panels, recording machines, and other apparatus
required for a single recording constitute a recording channel, which
will be of the fixed type for sound-stage recordings, and mobile, usually
mounted on a truck, for location scenes.
Sound crew members report to their posts an hour or so before
shooting begins in order to connect power lines, suspend microphones,
and test their equipment. While the cast is in rehearsal the mixer checks
the quality of sound on his instruments and the recorder is simultane-
ously checking the sound volume delivered to the recording machine.
When the director signals the mixer for a take, the latter signals the
recorder, who starts his motor system. Camera and recording machines
are of course synchronized. After the take is made the mixer again
signals the recorder, who stops the motor system and marks the film
for the next scene. If the take is satisfactory from all standpoints it
is approved or "choiced" for laboratory processing.
Dialogue is nearly always recorded during the actual filming of a
scene, but music is frequently pre-scored, and most other sounds are
dubbed in later. Most music scoring is done on stages specifically con-
structed for that purpose. In pre-scoring a soloist with orchestral ac-
companiment for instance, the orchestra is first rehearsed to check the
THE MOVIES 95
arrangement; then the soloist and orchestra rehearse together; and
finally the orchestra alone is recorded. If the recording is good the
orchestra is then dismissed, and the soloist records her song, synchroniz-
ing it with the orchestra background which has already been recorded by
means of an earphone. Because she is not being photographed she is free
to indulge in facial contortions and mannerisms that would not other-
wise be allowable. Voice and orchestra are later combined in one record
which is played during actual shooting of the scene in which the solo is
heard. The reproducing machine is interlocked with the camera; con-
sequently the camera and playback run at identical speeds. During the
shooting the soloist makes lip movements only, concentrating her atten-
tion on a visual performance.
The regular scores that add so much to a picture's mood are usually
dubbed in after it has been filmed and edited. As a rule they are writ-
ten specifically for each picture by one of the many numerous composers
who have been drawn to Hollywood. Other dubbed-in sounds such as
the chirp of a cricket or the roar of a train are secured from the extensive
files of the sound library.
Although during the making of a picture sound and photographs
are recorded on separate films, later to be synchronized and transferred
to a single strip of film, today few sounds are faked. Sound engineers
believe the actual sounds to be more realistic than imitations, as indeed
they are when recorded and reproduced by Hollywood's increasingly
precise and delicate recording instruments.
Echoes are a constant torment to sound men. On sets where heavy
draperies cannot be used echoes may spring unexpectedly from a water
glass on a table or from the corner of a set. On location, rain and wind
are likewise problems, which sound men have ingeniously circumvented.
Wind gags and rain gags consisting of a wire framework covered by
light silk or linen cloth do not completely eliminate such disturbances,
but are sufficiently effective to enable recording to be carried on when
it would otherwise be impossible.
At the close of each day's work the director, producer, actors and a
few chosen others view the previous day's "rushes," or "dailies," which
have been received from the laboratory. The most desirable takes are
selected and turned over to the film editor. Although a few studio cut-
ters edit films from movietone prints with both pictures and sound on
the same film, the majority prefer the more flexible system of working
from separate sound and picture prints.
In dealing with these "dailies," or "rushes," the film editor must
exercise ingenuity and a strong sense of pictorial story-telling. His job
is to condense 30,000 to 300,000 feet of disconnected pictures into a
smooth-flowing story seldom exceeding 12,000 feet.
The more important equipment in a cutting room consists of metal
96 LOS ANGELES
rewinding tables, film bins, storage and filing cabinets, splicing and num-
bering machines, and moviolas. The moviola is similar in appearance
to a projection machine, but much smaller. The picture is seen through
magnifying lens on one side, and the sound is heard on the other. The
editor uses it to make certain his cuts on the sound track are correct.
It also enables him to be certain he has not cut into a movement which
should be completed.
The film editor or his assistant put the two separate strips of film
sound and pictures through a machine that automatically numbers
them identically, foot-by-foot. This numbering system enables the cut-
ter always to keep his scenes perfectly synchronized. The film strips
are next cut into scenes, after which they are assembled according to the
script. The editor endeavors to select shots that give variety and add
to the emotional tone of the story. When the various shots have been
assembled into a "rough cut" it is ready for projection first by the
film editor to catch slips, and later in a projection room before the di-
rector and producer. After the latters' suggestions have been incor-
porated in the film by means of a recutting, various devices such as
fades, dissolves, and wipes are inserted at points that had been previously
so designated by printed titles. Such devices, formerly produced on the
set by the director and cameraman at great expense, are now made with
an optical printer, an intricate machine that holds an illuminated posi-
tive in one end and focuses it on unexposed film by means of a lens.
Fades, for instance, are made by decreasing the aperture of the lens.
Inserts, symbols of thoughts or ideas such as letters, newspapers, and
clocks are also added, after which the film is sent to the laboratory again
where the negative is cut to match the new working print and a new
print made, called the "feeler print." Then, after the addition of sound
effects, dubbed-in music and the like, a print is made on which sound
track and picture film are combined.
The film is then ready for a sneak preview at a small theatre in
some neighboring town where studio executives and some of the techni-
cal staff carefully observe its effect on the audience. Because the film
is not yet in final form, the studio endeavors to keep the first preview
a secret from the press. After a conference among the studio officials
and technicians who witnessed the preview, the picture may be altered
considerably, and new scenes may even be added. A final preview is
usually then held, to which members of the trade press are usually in-
vited. The picture is then released to the public and its success is
measured by the degree of the public's interest as registered at the box
office.
Before the picture's release, however, the publicity office has done its
bit to make the public acquainted with its story, its players, and its ex-
cellence. Studio publicity officials estimate that more than 350,000
THE MOVIES 97
words are written and distributed daily by the 350 press agents employed
by them. A major studio publicity office includes a director; "planters,"
whose job it is to get the studio's material into desirable newspapers and
periodicals; unit men who write stories and interviews concerning the
players, theme, and anything else they can think of about the specific
productions; artist and photographers.
Hollywood also contains more than 300 correspondents, each repre-
senting journals of 40,000 or more circulation; more than 100 part-
time correspondents for smaller papers; and approximately 100 out-of-
town columnists, feature writers, and magazine writers who appear at
the studios with special assignments at least once a year.
Publicity for a picture may begin before the purchase of the story
if the latter is a popular play or novel. Short notices may be released
"rumoring" that a certain producer is "angling" for the purchase. But
the carefully-budgeted "B" pictures generally receive a publicity allow-
ance approximately 15 per cent of the cost of production. The money
is divided among newspapers, magazines, press sheets, billboards, pic-
tures, electrotype plates, newspaper mats and the like, but 90 per cent
of all paid advertising is placed through eastern advertising agencies.
The advertising for "A" pictures is more complex and indeterminable.
If the studio is reasonably certain of a hit, money may He spent lavishly
and without any relation to production costs. An advertising campaign
is of course launched in the larger metropolitan areas in order to stimu-
late interest, but in addition to this a "world premiere" costing perhaps
$25,000 may be held, and percentage arrangements may be made with
exhibitors whereby the latter agree to share advertising expenses as well
as profits. Miracles have been requested of the publicity departments
in the past, but studio officials are learning that publicity cannot make a
picture successful or a star permanent. The trend is away from ex-
cessive ballyhoo, and toward emphasis on the story and title rather than
the stars.
^&&&<&&G&&^
Radio
RADIO broadcasts are as popular in Los Angeles as elsewhere,
perhaps more so. Fully 95 per cent of the homes have radio sets,
and the proportion of automobiles equipped with radios is also
high. Radio listeners in Los Angeles like what all America likes, and
their radio programs are the standardized fare of Jersey City or Des
Moines. In the political field, however, radio in southern California
reflects the peculiarities of the region ; prior to elections the airways are
heavy with the propaganda of panacea movements. The EPICs,
Townsendites, Utopians, and particularly such pension movements as
"Ham and Eggs," have broadcast to an extent unknown in the rest of
the country.
Radio's early history in Los Angeles was one of hit-and-miss, of
trial and error the identical experience of radio throughout the United
States in the days of crystal sets and earphones. Radio broadcasting
began in Los Angeles in 1922, when four stations were established.
Three of them KNX, KFI, and KHJ dominated local broadcasting
from the beginning and continue to do so today, each representing a
major national chain. As elsewhere in the country, radio was considered
merely a novelty in 1922. The development of KNX, the stormy petrel
of early radio in Los Angeles prior to its acquisition by the Columbia
Broadcasting System, was due to the originality and persistence of Guy
C. Earl, promotion manager of the Los Angeles Express, who entered
the radio field in 1923 by arranging for his newspaper to give away a
thousand crystal sets as part of a circulation drive. So successful was
this first effort that he decided to use KNX permanently for promo-
tional purposes. By 1924 the station was selling advertising regularly
and operating on 500 watts, though there were no definitely scheduled
broadcasts. In 1925, however, the station turned in a profit of $25,000,
and Earl began to devote more of his energy to radio, courting feuds
with other stations and local newspapers, and accepting advertising from
patent medicine firms. Always seeking the sensational, he broadcast
a local murder trial despite repeated ejections of his operatives from the
courtroom, and in 1928 broadcast the Rose Bowl game by telephone
though the telephone company had sold the broadcasting rights to KFI.
KFI, founded by Earle C. Anthony to further sales of his automobile
agency, avoided KNX's indiscriminate commercial policy. Under-
writing losses, Anthony enabled KFI to pioneer in the use of musical
98
RADIO 99
and educational features that he thought would appeal to potential
buyers of the automobiles he wanted to sell. The station elaborated
continuity and program techniques and initiated a policy of co-opera-
tion with schools, government agencies, and civic organizations. In
1924 it presented the first broadcast of a symphony orchestra in the
West and sponsored the country's first pick-up of a complete opera pre-
sentation from the stage. During these formative years, KFI pre-
sented many educational talks for government and city departments,
and it was the station's boast that every important personage who visited
the West coast addressed KFI's listeners. In 1929 Jose Rodriguez, a
musician and newspaperman, joined the station and later developed new
types of broadcasts. A few years later when KECA had been started
to supplement KFI and found itself burdened with unsalable time,
Rodriguez purchased several hundred fine phonograph recordings, broad-
cast from them, and asked for audience reaction. Seeking 10,000 ap-
proving votes, he received 70,000 within a week; since then such musi-
cal broadcasts have been an important part of KECA's program. In
1924 KFI had joined KPO of San Francisco in the first West coast
network, and was the point of origin for the first West-to-East broad-
cast. KFI also made the first Hollywood Bowl broadcast. Power was
increased from the original 100 watts to 500 in 1924 and then in 1931
to the present 50,000 watts.
KHJ was founded in 1922 by Harry Chandler, publisher of the
Los Angeles Times, and station identification was by singing canaries.
Conservative in policy, it specialized in public events and children's
programs. Chandler sold the station in 1927 to Don Lee, automobile
agency owner. KHJ became the Columbia outlet in Los Angeles until
1936 when Lee joined the Mutual network. As one of the leaders in
experimentation, KHJ has done a great deal of work in the field of
television.
In 1927 KFI joined the Red network of the National Broadcasting
Company and a year later Columbia Broadcasting System took KHJ
into its chain. KECA became the local outlet of NBC's new Gold
network in 1934, and after this chain died, of NBC's Blue network in
1936. In 1939 KECA absorbed KEHE and assumed its wave length.
A small station connected with the Hearst chain, KEHE had specialized
in sports and spot news broadcasts. Within the past two years two