Very few things in the development of motion picture art have advanced
so noticeably as this trick of portraying dual characters on the
screen by means of double exposure of the film. Theoretically,
it is extremely simple. There is a middle--or at any rate an
arbitrary--dividing line to the stage. A mask being placed over
one-half of the camera lens, the film is run through and the action of
Carton in a certain scene in which he is supposed to face Darnley is
taken. Careful track is kept of just what important moves he makes at
different stages of the count. Later, after he is made up as Darnley,
the first half of the lens is masked in the same way as before, while
the second half is exposed and the action of Darnley is gone through
with, with the gestures and other action properly timed to
synchronize with the action of his "double"--and that is all there is
to do. But the skill of the director is tested in his timing of the
moves of the characters, just as his knowledge of lighting and
backgrounds is tested so as to avoid showing the line where the two
differently exposed parts of the film join. Then, too, certain
directors have, of late, procured some "double" effects which well
deserve to be called wonderful, as when in a certain William Fox film
the two different characters, played by the one woman, are made to
meet and kiss each other most naturally.
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