We have seen how the topical picture has developed into one of the most attractive and extensively appreciated phases of the art. Events of annual occurrence like the Derby or the Grand National, or those which have been advertised widely on all sides, such as an aeroplane race, are always anticipated with a keen curiosity.
At the same time, however, there are many incidents of daily occurrence which are of absorbing passing interest, such as the launch of a battleship, a railway collision, a big fire, or a public demonstration. Such subjects are not adapted to presentation as individual films of great length, being insufficiently momentous to grip the public for several minutes in the same way as the International Yacht Race, or some other dramatic item in our complex social and industrial life.
For some time occurrences like these were ignored. Sometimes weeks slipped by without any public event being presented on the screen, owing to lack of opportunity.
At this juncture one or two enterprising firms conceived a brilliant idea of turning these events to interesting and profitable account. Why not secure short lengths of film on various subjects of passing interest, and join them together to form one film between 200 and 350 feet in length, to provide a regular weekly topical feature? These little “topicals” were secured—a few feet of this, and a few feet of that, subject depicting the most striking or interesting phases in each news feature—and joined to form a continuous miscellaneous moving mirror of the world’s happenings.
When the idea was first carried into execution the film could scarcely be described as “topical.” There was no attempt to serve up the pictures to the public in a “red-hot” condition. The incidents portrayed in many instances had passed beyond the allotted nine days of wonder, and having been almost forgotten, aroused but a flicker of interest. The experiment recalled the days when newspapers first resorted to photographic illustrations; when the pictures were published often two or three days after the occurrence of the event to which they referred.
Yet the results achieved sufficed to prove that a new and promising field in cinematography had been tapped. Great possibilities awaited enterprise and energy. All that was required was to supply the pictures while the events were still fresh in the minds of the public. Haphazard methods promised only failure; a special organisation was essential to cope with the situation. In order to emphasise the motive of the undertaking, the topical film, which presented in tabloid form an assortment of news, was given a newspaper title; the animated “Chronicle,” “Gazette,” and “Graphic” appeared; while to render the newspaper idea more pronounced, the exteriors of the picture palaces were emblazoned with placards drawn up in the most approved newspaper style.
In the course of a few weeks, as the operators displayed keener competition to outstrip rivals in securing the first pictorial representation of something of importance, and the pictures assumed a more and more up-to-date aspect, the moving picture newspaper established its significance. Showmen were tempted to assist in the enterprise by being able to purchase the newspaper film at a lower price than the ordinary subject. Although the animated newspaper has been amongst us for only a few months, yet it has already developed into an institution. Many people would as soon think of missing the “newspaper” item as they would think of overlooking an opportunity to see the Derby re-run upon the screen.
From a cursory view no difficulty appears to be attached to the preparation of a film of odds and ends of topical interest; but as a matter of fact the task is quite as exacting and strenuous as the production of the morning newspaper.
The work can be handled successfully only by a firm having an extensive organisation, and with better chances of success if it has specialised in the ordinary “topical.” There must be an editor to direct operations and to prepare the film. He must possess a large and scattered staff, so that no part of the world is left uncovered by a cinematograph. His scouts must be active and keen, always on the alert, and ready to secure on the instant a few feet of any incident of importance in their respective localities. In the offices a number of skilled operators must be ready to hurry off at a moment’s notice to any desired spot.
The first-named emissaries constitute the special foreign correspondents, while the office staff feed the film in the same manner that the newspaper staff reporters supply the columns of the morning newspaper with material.
There is one feature in which the man with the camera holds an undisputed advantage over his confrère armed with notebook and pencil. He gives a truthful pictorial account of what takes place, not the garbled product of a vivid imagination. As a result the editor of the animated picture newspaper is spared the menace which hangs always over the head of the newspaper director. He is immune from the pains and penalties of the libel law!
In order to secure a more intimate impression of the work of the moving newspaper, we will go behind the scenes of one of the most flourishing and successful of these animated news-sheets—The Gaumont Graphic—and follow it through its successive phases of production. When the proprietors of this pictorial record embarked upon this new development, they had the experience of some twelve years’ work in the “topical” field, and their machinery and staff had acquired the instinct to “get there first.”
There is, of course, the editorial sanctum in which the presiding genius holds autocratic sway, and directs the many threads which control the acquisition of news. At his elbow the tape machine ticks merrily the livelong day. The telegraphic ribbon reels out the bald announcement that a big fire is raging in the City, that a devastating explosion has spread death and ruin somewhere in the north of Scotland, or that a Transatlantic liner has run on the rocks off some remote part of the coast. An operator is rushed to the scene, and there left to his own devices to secure a sensational few feet of film. He may succeed or he may not; it all depends upon the circumstances and conditions. Maybe he may have to wait four or five hours perched in an uncomfortable position, but if a few feet of film can be exposed to advantage he will not have failed.
The country is divided up into districts where cinematographic reporters are retained in readiness for any emergency, and they have command over a certain radius around that centre. For instance, if an accident happens in northern Scotland a telegram to the operator responsible for that locality hastens him to the spot. The editor of the Gaumont Graphic has branch offices at Newcastle—which covers the north-east of England—at Glasgow for Scotland, and at Liverpool and Manchester for the north-west of England, the Liverpool operators being ready to proceed to Ireland or the Isle of Man should the necessity arise. In addition, there are what might be described as sub-offices at Bristol and Birmingham, whence any point in the Midlands and the west of England can be gained, as well as another at Scarborough, so that the whole of Great Britain may be said to be mapped out and covered cinematographically.
As far as the foreign areas are concerned, owing to offices being established in all the large centres from China to Peru, no difficulty is experienced in gathering items of interest from all parts of the world. Operators are searching constantly for films of general interest from the industrial, commercial, scenic, travel, or some other point of view, and in the course of their work secure pictorial snippets of topical interest. As a result a steady stream of items recorded in animation pour in constantly from all parts of the world. The European and Asiatic items in the form of lengths of film pass to the French headquarters in Paris, while those of Canadian and Australian interest flow to London. A daily record of the films of a news interest received from foreign correspondents is received from France for the London editor to sift and select what he considers of interest. When this has been done, he telegraphs to Paris for what he requires—so many feet of this and so many feet of that film.
In addition, he has a tabulated statement of what may be described as “fixed” functions, such as a race meeting, a motor competition, a flying-machine test, a society wedding, and what not, to which operators are dispatched.
In due course the small lengths of exposed film filter in by train and post. So soon as they arrive they are developed and printed. Proofs are handed over to the editor to be scanned and revised, sections which he considers the most suitable and likely to interest the public being snipped from each film-proof, by the aid of the indispensable scissors. Possibly much of the material when it reaches the editor’s eye fails to win his appreciation, and meets an inglorious and premature end in the editorial waste-paper basket. A certain amount of wasted effort is unavoidable; for space, that is to say, length of film, is limited, and when the Graphic appeared only once a week, sifting was of a searching character. When a considerable amount of incident has occurred and has been cinematographed during the week, the selection process is by no means easy; many interesting items find themselves crowded out to be held over until the next issue, or destroyed.
As the pieces of each film are selected, they are “pasted” together, and each incident receives its full explanatory title and sub-title. These revised proofs are connected up so as to form a continuous length of film, and copies are reeled off in the printing, developing, and drying rooms at tip-top speed, the operation corresponding with the printing machine room of the newspaper. The first complete proof is submitted to the editor’s approval by being projected on the screen just as it will be submitted to the public. Further revision may be requisite, in which event the film undergoes another trimming process with the scissors, or possibly some late news has been received, and space has to be found for its inclusion at the expense of some other item.
The “composition,” or, as it is called, the “make-up,” of the animated news film is just as complex as that of a newspaper or magazine. It is essential that it should be diversified in its contents so as to appeal to the tastes of all classes of the community. There are the big items which stand pre-eminent, and which range from London to South America, and from Paris to China. Around these have to be disposed various other features of lesser importance.
Seeing that the length of the film newspaper is limited to between 500 and 650 feet, and is built up of from ten to seventeen subjects which vary in length according to their respective importance, careful discrimination is necessary. The public has become hypercritical in regard to animated pictures, and the appeal has to be made to the great majority. As a rule, endeavour is made to incorporate regular features in each issue. Sport is represented by some one or other of the many branches of athletics and racing; society finds itself displayed in a wedding, garden-party, ball, or other fashionable function; the woman’s page has its equivalent in the animated portrayal of the latest Paris fashions as displayed by the manequins—generally in order to give an enhanced effect this section is reproduced in colour—and so forth. Effort is made also to incorporate, if possible, a special function of some description performed by some personage looming prominently in the public eye. Variety is the keynote of success as much in the successful cinematograph newspaper as in its ink-and-paper contemporary.
The Gaumont Graphic has an extensive and influential foreign and colonial circulation, and accordingly special attention has to be devoted to the requirements of these readers, or rather spectators. The special topical films are ransacked, and little excerpts made. For instance, in the Coronation number of the Gaumont Graphic, two or three of the greatest features of the long Coronation film were cut out and pasted together to form a prominent item of news; the same applies to the inter-University boat race and other sports, the Derby and great race meetings, the Football Final; in short, to every important annual event. This procedure is necessary, for the animated newspaper reaches remote parts of the world, where perchance the complete film of an individual event may never find its way.
One noticeable feature is the friendliness extended to the cinematographic news-gatherer, who often meets with greater appreciation than his confrère, the Press snap-shotter. The latter, armed with his small camera, often allows his zeal and enthusiasm to overstep his discretion—a fact that is particularly noticeable with regard to society and royal events. The cinematograph operator, on the contrary, being burdened with a somewhat cumbrous apparatus, is forced to remain at a fixed point. The apparent drawback is really a blessing in disguise, because special care is invariably taken to afford him an advantageous position. The outcome is that cinematographic portraiture ninety-nine times out of a hundred is far better than that secured by the snap-shotting fiend, who thrusts himself forward and catches his quarry, perchance, in an unhappy moment.
Yet the editor of the film newspaper is not relieved from worries and anxieties. Cinematography is dependent mainly upon a bright light; thus the success of a film, at least in Great Britain, is never certain beforehand. When the elements are adverse it is difficult indeed to collect the news. The operator may wait for hours to film a subject, or perhaps he makes his exposures in despair, and with a blind trust in luck. When heavy fogs hang like blankets over the great centres, passing events of importance defy recording, and it is a sheer waste of film to endeavour to secure pictures. As a result the film newspaper is much easier to produce in summer than in winter, and this climatic influence probably constitutes a unique feature in newspaperdom.
The animated newspaper even has its stop-press feature; that is to say, it can deal with pictorial records of events which occur after the paper is being printed off or has been circulated. A short film of some great incident trickles into the editorial room. It cannot be delayed until the next issue—by that time public interest in the item will have vanished. Consequently it is rushed through, and all subscribers scattered throughout the country are advised by telegraph that a record of such-and-such a topical subject has been obtained, and can be dispatched at once for display in the form of supplement to the animated newspaper now being shown. The late item is sent out, and upon arrival at the picture palace is attached to the end of the newspaper film already received, its inclusion perhaps necessitating sacrifice of some other item of less importance.
When the Gaumont Graphic first appeared, it was issued weekly, and accordingly corresponded to the weekly illustrated newspaper. Now it is published twice weekly, and with increased success. Indeed, the pictorial news film reaches its subscribers in the colonies and foreign countries contemporaneously, or even prior to the arrival of the illustrated weeklies, which are dispatched by mail.
In Australasia, Canada, India, and the smaller British colonies, the idea of giving the week’s news in animation has met with a remarkably hearty reception, inasmuch as it serves to bring the world’s happenings far more vividly before the public in those remote parts of the world than can be done in a brief newspaper cablegram or a single photograph published in the pages of the illustrated weeklies. The history of the world is re-enacted before them; they are brought to the localities where the episodes occurred—a miracle of transportation not to be effected by any other known scientific means.
How does the film newspaper affect the cinematograph theatre? What is the attitude towards the idea? Does the showman regard it with favour? These are questions which naturally occur to the mind. Opinion is best reflected by the success of the enterprise. Now that the picture paper is published twice a week, the expenditure of the showman is doubled; but this fact does not appear to have exercised a deterrent influence. When the Gaumont Graphic was published weekly, its circulation approximated 200 copies per week. In other words, 200 showmen subscribed towards this feature. This, by the way does not represent its full circulation, as a single subscriber may control two or more halls in one city, and very often the one film suffices for several picture palaces under one control. These 200 copies of the film newspaper, then, were seen, at a modest computation, by several millions of people weekly. Seeing that the subscriber is unable to hire the film newspaper for the week, but has to purchase it outright at a uniform price of 2½d. (5 cents) per foot, and that its average length is 600 feet, his outlay amounts to £6 ($30) for a subject, the exhibition life of which is restricted to three or seven days. As the average showman is a keen and shrewd business man, it is not to be supposed for a moment that the investment of such a sum every week is otherwise than remunerative from his point of view.
Will the cinematographic newspaper ever supplant its printed rival? By no means. It acts rather as an illustrated supplement to printed details; it renders the latter more comprehensive by bringing scenes and actors vividly and naturally before the eye, thereby causing a more living and detailed impression than can be obtained through the medium of words. On the other hand, it is beginning to rival the illustrated paper, which depends upon photographic contents, and this competition will be felt more keenly as time goes on.
The day is probably still far distant when a man, instead of giving a penny for a printed daily newspaper to see what has happened during the previous twenty-four hours, will spend the same sum to enter a picture palace, and devote a quarter of an hour to seeing in full animation what paper and ink merely describe. The modern business man acknowledges that he only has time to glance through the staring headlines of his morning newspaper; and surely comprehensive titles and a series of excellent pictures would perform the same service for him, and more besides. Producers would aid the development by giving careful attention to titles and headlines.
Thus the era of the daily cinematographic newspaper is not so remote as may be thought at first sight. The Gaumont Graphic is quite ready to appear daily if the demand should arise. The organisation is perfect so far as the news-film collecting, printing, developing, and other technical details are concerned. A complete paper could be turned out in four hours. That is to say, films could be received up to about ten o’clock at night, and the newspaper could be ready for projection by two o’clock in the morning. The early special trains which now leave the great cities at express speed for the delivery of printed newspapers to remote parts of the country may yet be called upon to carry small boxes of daily news-film for similar distribution. The manufacturing cost of the film is being constantly reduced; and once this essential is brought to a very low figure, enterprising showmen will not hesitate to spend a few shillings per day to reproduce in animation before the general public the chief episodes of the preceding twenty-four hours.