[Illustration: THE "AEROSCOPE" MOVING-PICTURE HAND CAMERA.
A. Air valve. B. Button for varying photographing speed during exposure. C. Exposure button.]
[Illustration: THE COMPRESSED AIR RESERVOIRS OF THE "AEROSCOPE" CAMERA.
One charge is sufficient to expose 600 feet of film.]
But perhaps the most unnerving and difficult conditions under which moving-pictures can be taken are those pertaining to the filming of wild animal life at close range under natural conditions. In this case a good nerve, a steady hand, and acute presence of mind, are indispensable. A wild elephant trumpeting madly and dashing towards the camera at full speed, or a lion springing towards the operator may form the subject for a thrilling incident in a film, but does not inspire confidence in the cinematographer. Under such conditions a tripod outfit is worse than useless. It not only endangers the operator's life, but the pictures taken under such conditions are invariably of poor quality, even if they survive the results of the animal's mad frenzy. To stand one's ground and to keep turning the camera handle steadily at two revolutions per second up to the last moment with the _sang-froid_ of someone filming a street procession would put too great a strain on human nature. Even the coolest man would not obtain first-class results at uncomfortably close quarters. Instead of turning the handle in a steady rhythmic manner the motion would be in a series of erratic jerks, some fast and some slow, producing a result which the public would ridicule. Mr. Cherry Kearton, whose pictures of jungle life constitute some of the marvels of the cinematographic art, considers that this branch of cinematography cannot be excelled for thrilling excitement. The operator must stand his ground undismayed, because the close-quarter pictures are always the most fascinating. Yet at the same time he must keep a corner of one eye fixed upon an avenue of retreat, so that he can get clear in the nick of time when the crisis arises. The attention given to the photographic work must be reduced to the absolute minimum, so as to be practically automatic; the camera must be as small and as compact as possible, for the only way of escape lies often up a tree.