Page 41 - Inside the Film Factory New Approaches to Russian and Soviet Cinema
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22 INSIDE THE FILM FACTORY
Figure 2 ‘Speaking pictures’: the cell scene from Pushkin’s Boris Godunov filmed at the
Khanzhonkov studio in 1911, to be widely toured by actors in the following vear.
The filming of ‘speaking pictures’ presented particular difficulties for both the
actors and the cameramen. Louis Forestier has recalled how the big scene from a
remake of Boris Godunov in 1911 was filmed:
The entire scene had to be filmed in one 320-metre shot but the camera only
held 120 metres of negative. When the film was getting to the end we had to
shout ‘Stop!’ to the actors. According to our prearranged plan, they had to
remain rooted to the spot while I reloaded the camera. At the order ‘Start’ they
continued acting until the end of the new reel, then stopped again and stood
motionless, and so on until the end of the shot. 44
So that they did not deviate from the text the actors had to have a prompter with
them during the shooting.
But the most complicated part was the process of adding the sound. Zhdanov
recalls:
