The Project Gutenberg eBook, Practical Cinematography and Its Applications, by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See [ https://archive.org/details/practicalcinemat00talbrich]

Practical Cinematography
and its Applications

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Price 6s. net each.

MOVING PICTURES: How they are Made and Worked.

LIGHTSHIPS AND LIGHTHOUSES.

THE STEAMSHIP CONQUEST OF THE WORLD.

THE RAILWAY CONQUEST OF THE WORLD.

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN.

By permission of the Motograph Co.

How to take Moving-pictures of Wild Animals in Safety.

Messrs. Newman built a huge dummy cow fifteen feet in height of papier-mâché. The operator stands inside with his camera and the pictures are taken through a small hinged door. With this "property" dangerous animals can be approached closely.

Practical Cinematography
and its Applications

By
Frederick A. Talbot
Author of
"Moving Pictures" etc.

London MCMXIII
William Heinemann

Copyright.

PREFACE

This volume has been written with the express purpose of assisting the amateur—the term is used in its broadest sense as a distinction from the salaried, attached professional worker—who is attracted towards cinematography. It is not a technical treatise, but is written in such a manner as to enable the tyro to grasp the fundamental principles of the art, and the apparatus employed in its many varied applications.

While it is assumed that the reader has practised ordinary snap-shot and still-life work, and thus is familiar with the elements of photography, yet the subject is set forth in such a manner as to enable one who never has attempted photography to take moving-pictures.

At the same time it is hoped that the volume may prove of use to the expert hand, by introducing him to what may be described as the higher branches of the craft. The suggestions and descriptions concerning these applications may prove of value to any who may be tempted to labour in one or other of the various fields mentioned.

In the preparation of this volume I have received valuable assistance from several friends who have been associated intimately with the cinematographic art from its earliest days:—J. Bamberger, Esq., of the Motograph Company, Limited, James Williamson, Esq., of the Williamson Kinematograph Company, Limited, Kodak Limited, Messrs. Jury, Limited, and Monsieur Lucien Bull, the assistant-director of the Marey Institute, to whom I am especially indebted for facilities to visit that unique institution, and the investigation at first hand of its varied work, the loan of the photographs of the many experiments which have been, and still are being, conducted at the French "Cradle of Cinematography," and considerable assistance in the preparation of the text.

Frederick A. Talbot.

[CONTENTS]

CHAP. PAGE
I.ATTRACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE ART[1]
II.THE PRINCIPLES OF CINEMATOGRAPHY[13]
III.THE MOVING-PICTURE CAMERA AND ITS MECHANISM[21]
IV.CAMERA AND HOW TO USE IT[35]
V.HAND CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY[51]
VI.DEVELOPING THE FILM[62]
VII.PRINTING THE POSITIVE[79]
VIII.ABERRATIONS OF ANIMATED PHOTOGRAPHY[94]
IX.SLOWING-DOWN RAPID MOVEMENTS[108]
X.SPEEDING-UP SLOW MOVEMENTS[124]
XI.CONTINUOUS CINEMATOGRAPHIC RECORDS[135]
XII.RADIO-CINEMATOGRAPHY: HOW THE X-RAYS ARE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MOVING-PICTURE CAMERA[147]
XIII.COMBINING THE MICROSCOPE AND THE ULTRA-MICROSCOPE WITH THE MOVING-PICTURE CAMERA[161]
XIV.MICRO-MOTION STUDY: HOW INCREASED WORKSHOP EFFICIENCY IS OBTAINABLE WITH MOVING-PICTURES[174]
XV.THE MOTION PICTURE AS AN AID TO SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION[185]
XVI.THE MILITARY VALUE OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH[197]
XVII.THE PREPARATION OF EDUCATIONAL FILMS[209]
XVIII.PHOTO-PLAYS AND HOW TO WRITE THEM[224]
XIX.RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN STAGE PRODUCTIONS[238]
XX.WHY NOT NATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPH LABORATORIES?[248]
INDEX[259]

[LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS]

FACING
PAGE
How to take Moving-pictures of Wild Animals in safety[Frontispiece]
A Moving-picture Expedition into the Indian Jungle[4]
Polar Bear Diving[5]
A Lion and Lioness at Lunch[10]
Caught![11]
Operator and Camera buried in a Hole[14]
Making Moving-pictures of Wild Rabbits[14]
Nest of King Regulus, showing curious Suspension[15]
Mother King Regulus feeding her Young[15]
The Jury Moving-picture Camera[24]
The Williamson Topical Camera and Tripod[25]
The Williamson Camera threaded for Use[42]
Lens of the Williamson Camera[43]
Adjustable Shutter of the Jury Camera[43]
The "Aeroscope" Moving-picture Hand Camera[52]
Compressed Air Reservoirs of the "Aeroscope" Camera[53]
Lens, Shutter, Mechanism and Gyroscope[56]
Loading the "Aeroscope" Camera[57]
Mr. Cherry Kearton steadying himself upon a Precipice[58]
Mr. Cherry Kearton slung over a Cliff[58]
Vulture preparing to Fly[59]
A Well-equipped Dark Room showing Arrangement of the Trays[64]
Winding the Developing Frame[65]
Film transferred from Developing Frame to Drying Drum[72]
Film Wound on Frame and placed in Developing Tray[73]
The Jury Combined Camera and Printer[73]
The Williamson Printer[84]
Water Beetle attacking a Worm[85]
Marey's Apparatus for taking Rapid Movements[112]
Cinematographing the Beat of a Pigeon's Wing[113]
First Marey Apparatus for Cinematographing the Opening of a Flower[128]
First Motion Pictures of an Opening Flower[129]
Development of a Colony of Marine Organisms[129]
Continuous Moving-picture Records of Heart-beats[136]
Continuous Moving-pictures of Heart-beats of an Excited Person[137]
Continuous Cinematography—Palpitations of a Rabbit's Heart[142]
Stero-motion Orbit of a Machinist's Hand[143]
Lines of Light indicating to-and-fro hand Movements[143]
A wonderful X-ray Film made by M. J. Carvallo[148]
Moving X-ray Pictures of the Digestion of a Fowl[149]
Stomach and Intestine of a Trout[152]
Digestive Organs of the Frog[152]
Lizard Digesting its Food[152]
X-ray Moving-pictures of the Bending of the Knee[153]
X-ray Film of the Opening of the Hand[153]
Micro-Cinematograph used at Marey Institute for investigating minute Aquatic Life[164]
Micro-cinematography: The Proboscis of the Blow Fly[165]
Micro-cinematograph used at the Marey Institute[170]
One of Dr. Comandon's Galvanic Experiments with Paramoecia[171]
Micro-cinematography: Blow Fly eating Honey[176]
The Ingenious Gilbreth Clock[177]
Rack, showing Disposition of Component Parts, for Test[177]
Film of Workman assembling Machine[182]
Film of Rack and Bench, Floor marked off into Squares, and Clock[182]
Cinematographing a Man's Work against Time[183]
Moving-pictures of a Steam Hammer Ram[188]
Dr. Füch's Apparatus for taking Moving-pictures of the Operations of a Steam Hammer[189]
Wonderful Apparatus devised by Mr. Lucien Bull for taking 2,000 Pictures per second[190]
Moving-pictures of the Ejection of a Cartridge from an Automatic Pistol[191]
Motion Photographs of the Splintering of a Bone by a Bullet[191]
Soldiers Firing at the "Life Target"[204]
Front View of the "Life Target" showing Screen Opening[205]
Screen Mechanism of the "Life Target"[206]
Cinematographing Hedge-row Life under Difficulties[207]
Moorhen Sitting on her Nest[212]
The Young Chick pierces the Shell[212]
Chick Emerging from the Shell[213]
Newly Hatched Chick struggling to its Feet[213]
Chick, Exhausted by its Struggles, Rests in the Sun[214]
The Chick takes to the Water[214]
Fight between a Lobster and an Octopus[215]
Story of the Water Snail[215]
The Head of the Tortoise[218]
The Hawk Moth[218]
Snake Shedding its Skin or "Slough"[219]
The Snake and its Shed Slough[219]
Exterior View of Dummy Cow[226]
Mr. Frank Newman and Camera hidden within Tree Trunk[227]
Lizard with Spider in its Mouth[240]
Digestive Organs and Eggs of a Water Flea[241]
Moving-picture Naturalist and the Lizard at Home[241]
A Novel "Hide," with Camera Fifteen Feet above Ground[250]
"Hide" Uncovered showing Working Platform[251]