American Cinematographer - August 1994 - 96

made "trick films" that
or

equalled
surpassed those being made in

France. He

was one

of the first

to

artificial

light creatively, such
as lighting an entire room from a
fireplace in which he had hidden
an arc light in The Seven Ages
use

(1905).

George Folsey, ASC,
employed by Porter at Famous
Players, recalled that in 1914, Por¬
ter was the first cinematographer
to demand and get a full-time as¬
sistant

cameraman.

Within

two

many cinematographers
bought them. The body was made

founded the ASC. Ned Van

of wood covered with leather, and
the crank was on the back rather

first

than the side. Two

turns

yielded the 16 fps desirable
for normal scenes; comedy and
chases were usually undercranked
to produce speedier action, but
certain

scenes were

In 1908,

overcranked.

Bell & Howell of

Ghicago introduced film perforat¬
ing equipment which produced,
for the first

time,

accurate, stan¬

dardized

forward. Assistants carried the

tion would have been

camera

scene,

and

it up,

slated each
kept track of footage,
set

sprocket holes (they

anonymously on hun¬
during the in¬
fancy of the movies, finally gain¬
ing fame and recognition for his
work on multi-reel productions.
By 1909, many moviegoers had
commented that the American

Biograph pictures were superior to
other product. All Biographs

most

from mid-1908
total of

to

late 1913

-

a

450

productions -
were directed or supervised by D.
W. Griffith, and most were pho¬
tographed by Bitzer. The innova¬
some

tions of this

collaboration, includ¬

ing "Rembrandt lighting," vi¬
gnetting, a meaningful employ¬
ment of close-ups, and more rapid
cutting, delighted some patrons
and annoyed others.
The most famous GriffithBitzer

picture, 'The Birth of a Na¬
tion, was made in Hollywood in
1914. In this and all his subse¬

quent

silent pictures, Bitzer used

lightweight Rathe camera, a vast
improvement over the clumsy
Biograph cameras. Introduced in
about 1910, the Pathe cost only
a

A SC's

Seventy-fifth Anniversary

of

photogra¬
phy with pan film. In 1927, James
Wong Howe, ASC bullied Para¬
mount into letting him use pan
film on Underworld; he got his
wish, delivered a great job, and
fired.
A

of the features cinematogra¬
phers wanted, especially a system
of pilot pin film registration which
eliminated the unsteadiness that

houette (matte) element. These

had

moving

possible,

except that the available cameras
allowed the film to weave or jit¬
cameras.

dreds of short films

use

color filters in outdoor

practical way of placing
settings or dan¬
gerous situations without "ghost¬
ing" had eluded cinematogra¬
phers for years. Joseph Walker,
ASC invented a viable traveling
matte composite system in about
1917. The system involved pho¬
tographing actors in front of a
screen and, on a contact
printer,
generating from the negative a sil¬

B & H,

with Dickson in 1896 and

following year. The latter dra¬

matically illustrated the

actors

ing

reer

beautiful South Seas film,Moana,
the

film). Now perfect frame registra¬

ter.

worked

all-panchromatic feature, The

Headless Horseman, in 1922, and
Robert Flaherty followed with his

was

loaded and unloaded the maga¬

They didn't
just make life easier for the cin¬
ematographer, they enabled him
to concentrate upon putting the
best possible image on the screen.
George W. "Billy" Bitzer
was among the earliest great cin¬
ematographers. He began his ca¬

Buren, ASC photographed the

are
still standard for all 35mm cine

zines, delivered exposed film to
the lab, and sometimes took stills
and did the lab work.

per sec¬

ond

of his colleagues were
getting assistants, and the art of
cinematography took a great step

years, many

94

$300, and

therefore, began mak¬
The expensive all-

metal Model 2709 of 1912 had
most

compromised in-camera ef¬
high cost, the

fects. Because of its
camera was

within

slow

to

catch

on,

but

few years

it became the
most popular studio camera and
remained so during the rest of the
silent film era. Cinematographers
took ftdl advantage of its superi¬
ority to bring cinematography to
a new plateau of artistry.
Of equal importance to
cinematographers was the im¬
provement of film stock, which
was gradual before 1920 but then
accelerated rapidly. A film back¬
ing was devised to control hala¬
tion. Static generated by film mov¬
ing through the camera, which
plagued early cameramen, was
brought under control. Light sen¬
sitivity was increased, although
truly high-speed films were far in
a

the future.

Panchromatic film, which
was

sensitive

to

all colors, was

in¬

troduced
use

in

by Eastman in 1913 for
making separations for the

Gaumont Chronochrome color
process.
wanted
balked

Rosher

Some cinematographers
to
at

use

it, but studios
Charles

the expense.

began using it for se¬
in Alary Pickford produc¬
tions in 1919, the year he co¬

quences

August 1994

into unusual

mattes were introduced
background photography
in a bipack camera or in a contact
printer, providing a protected area
into which the normally exposed
original image of the actor could
be doubled in the printer.
Cinematographer Frank
Williams bought the process and
into the

in 1918 established

a

lab

to

pro¬

vide these

composites, known as
"Williams Shots." The technique
won praise for a harrowing se¬
quence in Beyond the Rocks (1922),
in which Rudolph Valentino res¬
cued Gloria Swanson from

a

mountain crag.

It was then show¬
spectacularly in two 1925
epics: 'The Tost World, wherein a
cased

brontosaurus

runs

amok in Lon¬

don, and Ben Hur.
Color complementary
traveling mattes (made possible
by pan film) emerged in systems
by Hans Goetz, Max Handsheigl,
Friend Baker, ASC, Roy Pomeroy,

ASC, Dr. L. AI. Dieterich, and
others. The most popular was the
Dunning Process, invented in
about 1925

by the youthful C.

Dodge Dunning, ASC. It com¬
bined new photography on raw
stock with contact printing of pre¬

viously photographed footage in
American Cinematographer - August 1994

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 1994
