Photography plays an important part in the reproduction in natural colours, and the fact that dyes and chemicals can be used for this purpose is overlooked by many people—red, orange, green, yellow, violet and blue, when mixed in varying degrees, produce any shade known to the human eye.
The earliest attempt at a natural colour process for the film was made in 1907; the combined efforts and experiments of an Englishman and an American. Their efforts were very successful, the pictures being particularly clear and realistic. An improved process has been developed which reproduces objects, whether stationary or in motion, bringing forth the natural colours to be found in nature at her best.
It is to be regretted that the colour films cannot be cheapened in the process of production, for nothing delights the hearts of patrons more than to see before their eyes scenes and places with which they are familiar; every object of still life (plants), or the living animals roaming amidst their natural-coloured surroundings.
Talking Films.
The talking picture commenced its venture, fettered. It was introduced to the public whilst in its infancy; experiments had been few, hence these two combining factors failed to work in harmony, and consequently faith in its future progress was badly shattered.
The leading difficulty was the question of synchronising the sound and pictures, for to speak accurately they must be in perfect step. The simplest talking film is the combination of an ordinary phonograph and a projector. The phonograph placed near the actors registers the sounds whilst the camera records the action.
In the question of synchronism lies the difference of the various schemes promoted in the past; the two main essentials must be kept in unison, otherwise the whole thing becomes a farce. Intricate time-arrangements, synchronized motors, loud-speaking telephone arrangements have yielded but poor results. One attempt was tried whereby the film carried the sound record along one edge side by side with the pictures. A stylus is made to travel in a groove on the film, and apparently synchronization is complete, but the test results turned out anything but satisfactory.
For recording sounds or speech, sensitive microphones are distributed about the scene where the play is being acted. These microphones are skilfully concealed, in a fern or palm, underneath a desk or table, anywhere so that it is skilfully camouflaged from the vision of the actors taking part. The sound waves impinging on the microphones are transferred to a circuit including a battery and a string-galvanometer, highly sensitive; the string attached to this galvanometer is hung over a series of very powerful electro-magnets, and the slightest fluctuations in the current passing through it causes an immediate distortion. Powerful arc lamps are mounted at the rear of the camera and a beam of light penetrates through the galvanometer, throwing a shadow of the wire on a steadily moving film behind a narrow horizontal slip. The wire is so arranged that one side of the exposed film is always in the shadow, the developed film shows a straight edge and a series of mountain tops, or peaks.
The galvanometer is the heart of the sound recorder. A single wire was employed in the earlier forms. An oil bath is provided through which the upper part of the wire passes, which damps the movement. This instrument can be easily opened; provision also being made for adjusting the wire best suited for the sound record.
The reproducing process is easy. A fine telephonic relay, highly sensitive, is employed in circuit with the selenium cell and battery, in addition, a clear-speaking telephone with its own battery is operated in the secondary circuit. The second record of the film is transmitted into sound waves, which are generated throughout the cinema at the same time the pictures are being shown on the screen.