Year book of motion pictures (1951)

TURN TO THE ENGINEER By E. I. SPONABLE Past President, SMPTE M lOVIES are better than ever. They are better in every way— they have in fact reached such a state of perfection that many people ask what chance of further improvement can there possibly be. These pessimists are among the ones who see no future for the industry in the face of declining revenues and increasing competition from other media. SPONABLE A fresh point of view is clearly called for, as is some genuine enthusiasm for the future. But, before any general revival can be brought about, we need an adult and an unemotional appraisal of the present state of affairs by one whose thinking is reliably objective in its approach to a new problem. Frankness in his attitude is a first requisite; a second is a reasonable immunity to the prevailing pessimism. The right man can be found on the payroll of every studio, every manufacturer and every theater circuit— he has been there from the very beginning of the industry. He is the engineer of proven ability. He invented motion pictures in the first place; he took out the basic patents on which the industry cut its legal eye-teeth; he provided the ideas, materials, and equipment that became the foundation for every one of the industry's film and equipment companies. During the mid-twenties (another period of falling income) he came along with sound, to be variously praised for producing the movies' salvation, and damned for administering the final fatal blow by robbing the film of its artistry. As it turned out, time and receipts at the box office were his vindication. He asked for nothing more, but went along quietly finding simpler, more reliable ways of making better motion pictures. Not a single step in the process has escaped his attention, with the result that the technical quality level of pictures went continually up. But his success has been his undoing— by his years of quiet application to the job at hand, he has become taken for granted. Now, however, since the economic emergency is serious enough to force the closing of many theaters, and some studios, this is clearly the time to call on all the technical talent available. The engineer can provide a critically important measure of stability to immediate and future plans; his years of technical experience, together with professional training, have developed an objective outlook that insists upon logical reasoning. Decisions call for action, and actions have consequences, direct and indirect, which the professional technical man searches out and evaluates instinctively. This, then, is a time for plans, decisions and actions with predictable consequences; a time for vision and vigor in all things; particularly for motion pictures— otherwise the present internal state of the industry is apt to render it less able to assume its serious national and international obligations than it was at the start of World War II. Technology made the picture business— it saved the day 25 years ago— it can do it again. The basis for a sound continuing growth has been provided during the years immediately following World War II. Some of these developments are known only in a general way, a few are already in limited use. The bulk of the new products, processes and ideas that can brighten the horizon can be made ready for public demonstration as rapidly as men and funds are provided; some will be finished soon, and when they are, no time should be lost in putting them to work. One observation, the importance of which can scarcely be overemphasized, (and not immediately apparent to any one other than a motion picture engineer) should be made: the industry has now been standardized. Accomplished by years of painstaking effort, the practical result is that any new device or technique proposed to the industry today will have already been tailored to "fit" where it should, without loss of time in expensive on-the-job changes, or costly delaying field trials. A firm foundation on which to build further has been provided. Through the administrative and technical committee structure of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the technical leaders of both motion pictures and of television have developed a practical avenue for the easy exchange across commercial boundaries of information that has a pro 853