Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

SCENERY AND PROPS 347
with a fine mesh placed close to the lens so that the camera can
"see" through it and with enough light on it so that it is hazy and
indefinite and tends to make the picture look indistinct.
Props include dummy autos which can be dismantled, wind
machines, cobweb makers, back-projection equipment (already
discussed), rain and snow makers, and, of course, hand and stage
props.
Taking the last first, anything that is handled by
the actors
is known as a hand prop; stage props are, in general, pieces of
stage scenery which are not normally moved, such as floor lamps,
etc. The organization required to handle all these props is quite
complex.
Rain makers are almost universally used in preference to the
real thing. Contrary to popular belief rain cannot be relied upon
to descend when required and when a company is on location,
it becomes necessary to assist nature and manufacture its own. For
one thing, real rain does not photograph well and is usually un-
satisfactorily reproduced due to lighting difficulties. For perfect
rain making a set of pipes is built over the whole of the set with
a special spray in front of the lens to ensure that the camera
really does get some rain to photograph. Or it can be done with
a spray in front of the lens and damp-looking people in the back-
ground.
Automobiles are next to impossible to use "as is" for photo-
graphic work. The various parts of the bodies get in the way of
the lens and block the view. Although in real life a glance through
a car window seems so natural, when a camera sees the same shot
the little matter of the door pillars or windshield frame is exagger-
ated by the lens and the result is sometimes ludicrous and always
unsatisfactory. Therefore, a special car body is built which can
be disassembled to allow shots from all angles. The front can be
removed to allow the camera to look back into the car and watch
the faces of the passengers in the front seat. The hood and front
seat are both removable to allow full-face shots of the rear seat
passengers; the same thing can be done with the rear so that unobscured
shots from all angles are possible. Of course, process shots