Chapter I: Preface

The marvellous, universal popularity of moving pictures is my reason for writing this volume. A vast industry has been established of which the great majority of picture-palace patrons have no idea, and the moment appears timely to describe the many branches of the art.

I have endeavoured to deal with the whole subject in a popular and comprehensive manner. I have been assisted by several friends, who have enabled me to throw considerable light upon the early history of motion photography and the many problems that had to be mastered before it met with public appreciation:--MM. Weiss and Bull, the Director and Assistant-Director respectively of the Marey Institute in Paris; M. Georges Demeny; Messrs. Frank L. Dyer, the President of Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated; W. F. Greene, Robert W. Paul, James Williamson, Lumière & Sons, Richard G. Hollaman, the Eastman Kodak Company, Dr. J. Comandon, F. Percy Smith, Albert Smith, and the numerous firms engaged in one or other of the various branches of the industry.

I am indebted especially to the editor of _L’Illustration_, the well-known Parisian illustrated weekly newspaper, in conjunction with the Société des Établissements Gaumont, for permission to publish the photographs illustrating Chapters XIX., XX., and XXI., as well as the frontispiece; also to Mr. A. A. Hopkins, the author of “Magic,” and to Messrs. Munn & Co., the proprietors of _The Scientific American_, of New York, U.S.A.

The book makes no claim to being a practical manual, because thereby intricate technicalities would have been unavoidable. The information respecting the various mechanical aspects of cinematography are set forth in a readable manner, so that the broad principles may be understood.

While the most popular features of motion photography are described fully, I have not omitted to introduce the reader to the educational and scientific developments, which are more wonderful and fascinating. Indeed, the cinematograph will probably achieve greater triumphs in these fields than it has accomplished already as a source of amusement.

FREDERICK A. TALBOT.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHAT IS ANIMATED PHOTOGRAPHY? 1

II. THE FIRST ATTEMPTS TO PRODUCE MOVING PICTURES 10

III. THE SEARCH FOR THE CELLULOID FILM 23

IV. THE KINETOSCOPE: THE ANIMATOGRAPH: THE CINEMATOGRAPHE 30

V. HOW THE CELLULOID FILM IS MADE 50

VI. THE STORY OF THE PERFORATION GAUGE 57

VII. THE MOVING PICTURE CAMERA, ITS CONSTRUCTION, AND
OPERATION 65

VIII. DEVELOPING AND PRINTING THE PICTURES 76

IX. HOW THE PICTURES ARE SHOWN UPON THE SCREEN 88

X. THE STUDIO FOR STAGING MOVING PICTURE PLAYS 103

XI. THE CINEMATOGRAPH AS A RECORDER OF TOPICAL EVENTS:
SCENIC FILMS 116

XII. THE CINEMATOGRAPH THEATRE AND ITS EQUIPMENT 130

XIII. HOW A CINEMATOGRAPH PLAY IS PRODUCED 146

XIV. MOVING PICTURES OF MICROBES 161

XV. SOME ELABORATE PICTURE PLAYS AND HOW THEY WERE STAGED 169

XVI. PICTURES THAT MOVE, TALK, AND SING 179

XVII. POPULAR SCIENCE AS REVEALED BY THE CINEMATOGRAPH 190

XVIII. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
I. THE FIRST ATTEMPTS AT CINEMATOGRAPH MAGIC AND THE
ARTIFICES ADOPTED 197

XIX. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
II. DANCING FURNITURE: STRINGS, CORDS, AND WIRES: “THE
MAGNETIC GENTLEMAN”: THE “STOP AND SUBSTITUTION”: “THE
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT”: REVERSAL OF ACTION 207

XX. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
III. MANIPULATION OF THE FILM: APPARITIONS AND GRADUAL
DISAPPEARANCES BY OPENING AND CLOSING THE DIAPHRAGM
OF THE LENS SLOWLY: “THE SIREN”: SUBMARINE EFFECTS 218

XXI. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
IV. LILLIPUTIAN FIGURES: “THE LITTLE MILLINER’S
DREAM”: THE “ONE TURN ONE PICTURE” MOVEMENT: HOW
SOME EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENTS ARE PRODUCED: “THE SKI
RUNNER” 231

XXII. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
V. “PRINCESS NICOTINE” AND HER REMARKABLE CAPRICES 242

XXIII. TRICK PICTURES AND HOW THEY ARE PRODUCED.--
VI. SOME UNUSUAL AND NOVEL EFFECTS 254

XXIV. ELECTRIC SPARK CINEMATOGRAPHY 264

XXV. THE “ANIMATED” NEWSPAPER 277

XXVI. ANIMATION IN NATURAL COLOURS 287

XXVII. MOVING PICTURES IN THE HOME 301

XXVIII. MOTION-PHOTOGRAPHY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FORCE 312

XXIX. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: THE GROWTH AND POPULARITY OF THE
CINEMATOGRAPH: SOME FACTS AND FIGURES: CONCLUSION 319

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_To face page_
Trick Cinematography--The Automobile Accident _Frontispiece_

Dr. E. J. Marey’s Famous Experiments--Photographic Gun of 1882 16

Consecutive Pictures of a Gull Flying, taken with the
Photographic Gun 16

Chronophotographic Apparatus for taking Consecutive Pictures
upon a Single Glass Plate 16

Dr. Marey’s Animated Pictures made in 1884–6 for the Analysis
of Motion 17

Edison’s First Kinetoscope 32

Edison Film made about 1891 for the Kinetoscope 33

Edison Film made in 1911 for the Cinematograph 33

Paul’s Camera showing Mechanism for moving the Film
intermittently past the Lens 36

The First Kinetoscope Film made in England 36

The “Black Maria,” the First Edison Studio for making
Kinetoscope Films 37

The Dissolving Room 52

The Mixing Barrel 53

A Battery of Celluloid Mixers 54

The Liquid Celluloid Storage Room 55

Paul’s Rotary Perforator 60

The First Cinematograph Studio-Stage 60

The Williamson Film Perforator 61

The Perforating Room of the Cines Company in Rome 66

The Film-moving Mechanism of a Cinematograph Camera 67

Paul’s Complete Developing, Printing, and Drying Outfit 70

The First Developing Room in Great Britain, at Robert Paul’s
Pioneer Film Factory 70

After Development and Washing the Films were transferred
from the Racks to the Cylinders 71

The Drying Room, showing Films wound on the Drying Drums 71

The Developing Room at the Pathé Works 78

The Drying Room at the Pathé Works 79

A Row of Printing Machines in the Rome Works of the Cines
Company 82

The Williamson Printing Machine 83

The Projector and Mechanism 100

The Complete Projecting Installation 100

The “Chrono” Projector 101

Outstripping the Human Eye 101

An Early Open-Air Studio-Stage for producing Cinematograph
Plays 104

The Scene-Painters’ Shop at a Pathé Studio 105

Battle Scene from “The Siege of Calais” 108

Exterior of the Modern Edison Film-Play-Producing Theatre 109

Building a Solid Set for “The Two Orphans” 109

Building a Scene on one of the Pathé Studio-Stages for a Film
Play 112

The Wardrobe Room at the Selig Film Factory 113

The Selig Stock Company at Los Angeles 113

The First Topical Film 118

The Fall from the Balloon 119

The Luxury of the Modern Picture Palace 134

The Lantern Room of a Modern Cinematograph Theatre 135

The Trial Scene from “Rachel’s Sin” 140

How the Sound Accompaniments to Pictures are Produced 141

The Film-Play Producer at Work 148

Taking Three Picture-Plays Simultaneously 149

The Fight for the Boats in “Atlantis” 152

“Sauve qui peut” at the Wreck of the Liner 152

The Sinking of the Liner “Roland” 153

Sorting, Examining, and Joining the Strips of Film 156

Preparing the Titles 157

Dr. Comandon’s Apparatus for taking Moving Pictures of
Microbes 164

The Phenomenon of Agglutination in a Fowl’s Blood 165

The Blood of a Fowl suffering from _Spirochæta Gallinarum_ 165

A Triumph of the Cinematographer’s Art 172

The Gigantic Horse being Hauled by the Greeks under the Walls
of Troy 173

“The Fall of Troy” 173

The “Battle of Waterloo” upon the Film 176

Building the Scenery for the Film Performance of “Hamlet” 177

The Ghost Scene from “Hamlet” 177

Nature and the Cinematographer--Mr. Percy Smith at Work 192

Fly Seated in a Diminutive Chair Balancing a Cork 193

An Unfamiliar Juggler--Bluebottle Balancing a Piece of
Vegetable Stalk 193

Fly Lying on its Back Spinning a Wheel 194

Juggling Flies 194

The Fly Walking Up the Turning Wheel 194

The Life of the Butterfly 195

The Magic Sword: A Mediæval Mystery Explained 200

A Christmas Carol: How Scrooge saw Bob Cratchit’s Home 201

“Ora Pro Nobis,” and How it was Produced 202

The Secret of the Haunted Curiosity Shop 203

Motoring Round the Ring of Saturn 204

The Car Circling the Sun 204

The Animated Swords 205

The Travelling Bed 208

The Magnetic Gentleman 209

The Pursuing Man-hole Cover is a Wooden Property 210

The Lamp-Post is a Stage Article Hinged in the Centre 210

The Trick Picture--The Automobile Accident: The Actor being
replaced by the Legless Cripple with the Dummy Legs 211

The Taxi-cab Running over the Sleeper and Apparently Cutting
off his Legs, but in Reality Displacing the Legless
Cripple’s Property Limbs 212

Observing the Effects of the Disaster, the Doctor Proceeds to
Replace the Severed Legs 213

The Limbs Replaced, the Patient and Doctor Shake Hands 213

The Roysterer, after being run over by the Taxi-cab, Sitting
up and Brandishing his Severed Limbs 214

The Legless Cripple being Prepared for the Act 214

The Fountain of Youth 215

Pumpkins Running Up-hill 215

The Revolving Table 220

The Secret of the Fairy’s Disappearance: While a Length of
Film is being exposed the Diaphragm is closed slowly 221

The same Length of Film is re-exposed after the Fairy has
entered the Picture, under a slowly opening Diaphragm 222

The Effect of Double Exposure under closing and opening
Diaphragm 223

The Mystery of “The Siren” 226

The Mystery of “The Siren” revealed 227

A Workshop in which Tools move without Hands 238

The Skater approaching the Factory Chimney 238

The Result of the Collision with the Chimney 239

The Ski-runner Disappears into Space 239

Princess Nicotine--A Dainty Trick Film 246

The Fairy, Buried in the Heart of the Rose, Smoking a Cigarette 247

The Diminutive Form of the Fairy on the Table 247

The Fairy Imprisoned in the Bottle. This effect is obtained by
double exposure 250

The Fairy, after Coquetting with the Bachelor, is driven away
by the Smoke from his Cigarette 250

The Fairy proceeds to Build a Bonfire with Matches 251

The Fairy, her Accomplice, and Properties, which are Enlarged
Reproductions of the Actual Articles 251

The Dissolution of the Government 258

The Latest Craze in Trick Cinematography: Silhouettes with
Models 259

A Quaint Advertisement Film 260

Mr. Asquith in Cartoon 260

A Novel Curtain Idea 260

The Human Butterfly: How are the Effects Obtained? 261

M. Lucien Bull’s Complete Apparatus 270

The Novel Camera showing Stereoscopic Lens 270

A Bee Cinematographed in Full Flight 271

A Dragon Fly in Flight 274

Cinematograph Film of a Bullet Fired through a Soap Bubble 275

Preparing the Pathé Colour Films 288

The Pathé Colour Machine-Printing Room 289

The Kinora Camera 302

The Mechanism of the Kinora Camera showing Paper Negative
Film in position 302

The Reel of Positive Prints 303

The Kinora Reproduction Instrument 303

The Bettini Glass Plate Cinematograph 308

A Section of a Bettini Glass Plate Record 308

The Birth of a Flower 309

Waging a Health Campaign by Moving Pictures 309

Cinematographing Africa from a Locomotive 314

Mount Etna in Eruption: Looking into the Crater of the Volcano 315

The Plumes of Smoke as seen from the Observatory 315

The “Cradle of Cinematography”: The Marey Institute in Paris 322

The latest marvel in Moving Pictures: Combining the X-rays
with the Cinematograph 322

After Fifty Years. This Film won the First Prize of 25,000
Francs at the recent Turin Exhibition 323