LESSON XXV.
The Production of a Photoplay.
We want to give you a general idea of the inner workings of a Scenario studio, and the production of Photoplays.
In the first place, the Scenario Editor puts the finishing touches on the manuscript, if necessary, and turns the same over to the Stage Director.
The Director examines the Scenario very carefully, changes it a little to suit conditions, plans his scenes, and selects the actors and actresses he thinks are best qualified to play the various parts. He rehearses them with the utmost care before he sends for the camera man.
Then, the camera operator turns the crank of the camera machine, as the different scenes are enacted and winds off the film on which the photographs are taken.
The pictures are produced on the screen, by the projecting machine, with such rapidity that it deceives the eye, and appears as one picture.
The projecting machine is called upon to reproduce a picture three-quarters of an inch square, to one from 15,000 to 30,000 times that size, according to the dimensions of the screen on which the picture is shown.
When the picture is first produced on the screen in the studio, the photography, and work of the actors is carefully examined and criticized. The defects in photography are taken care of, and improved, and the mistakes in acting are pointed out to the actors at fault.
If some of the scenes are very poorly acted, they are cut out and re-enacted.
When the Film Manufacturing Co. thinks the picture is in a satisfactory condition, they send it to the Exchange, who in turn supply the Theatre.