International projectionist (Jan 1959-Dec 1960)

1/4-inch wide pre-recorded tapes carry four side-by-side tracks, and probably magazine loading. The object is to bring the price and convenience of tapes into line with discs. What interests us is that four separate tracks, meaning five separating spacing gaps and four soundtracks can be put into 1/4 inch, or 0.250. It is probable that the signalto-noise will be slightly increased, but overall quality will be better than disc. The width betv/een 35-mm perforations and film edge is 0.086 inch for "foxholes" and 0.079 inch for standard holes. It is worth observing that four of the six soundtracks of 70-mm ToddAO are outside the perforations. Substantial Gains Realizable In this way the industry, both studios and exhibitors, would gain a substantive commercial advantage of 25% reduction in film footage for the same audience running time. Coupled with this, a gain in projector aperture area of 47% as compared with 2:1 and 36% for 1.85:1 in wide screen. Reel loadings would drop 25%, so that the obvious ideal of one fully automatic projector, loaded up with a whole program, could draw nearer. Do I hear somebody say, "What about rewinding?" It seems that we are inevitably approaching separate and distinct performances. The refreshment intervals? Just right for rewinding. My plan will have the criticism that the projectionist will have to cope with 5-tooth. 4-tooth and 3-tooth pull-down. If the projector manufacturers solve a quick changeover for one, the problem is pretty nearly solved for the other. After all, projectionists now have to change aperture plates frequently, and an appropriately designed system changing the sprockets and gate position need not take much longer. Maintaining the pitch line of the intermittent sprocket tangential to the gate, for all three of the apertures, should not be impossible of solution; in fact. I have devised several methods. Multiple Philips Lamp Unit The new Philips light source is attractive from the point of view of light efficiency passing through a rectangular aperture. In the square aperture used in 5-tooth pull-down, it might therefore be necessary to slip in an auxiliary vertical cylindrical lens, but I have insufficient knowledge of the optical system to be sure of this. The point is that the light source and ray being so tiny and the light virtually "cold", this need not be expensive. It will not be of great interest to the large theatres, as they cannot begin to take this new lamp seriously (or Xenon for that matter) until they can produce 10,000 or 12,000 lumens net, however efficient the screen may be. For the large and super-duper theatre, I am vastly intrigued at the thought of the new miniature Philips lamp as a multilamp unit, a bunch of them ganged together, rather on the lines of a compact filament incandescent lamp. I see nothing against it — fabulous! For the medium and small theatre, Q* When is a mistake a blunder? A > When a projectionist is not a regular subscriber • to IP — MUST reading for the projectionist craft. USE THE HANDY ORDER FORM BELOW INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST 19 West 44 St., New York 36, N. Y. . , D 1 year (12) issues— $3.00 Enter my subscription for ,-, ., ' . )nA{ . Ze nn □ 2 years (24) issues — $5.00 FOREIGN: Add $1.00 per year Name Address City Zone State the merits of these new lamps cannot be left out of consideration, by management or engineers. Screen Performance Data As for screens, obviously the highei the gain, consistent with a desirable polar curve, the less the number of lumens called for from the lamp. Almost as important in a screen is its contrast ratio — which means the difference between the darkest darks and the lightest lights. Yet a third and vital factor in a screen is its capacity to reject stray light. Quite a small quantity of stray light will absolutely "murder" the darks and all colors will be degraded. A matte white is at the very bottom of the class in this, a narrow theatre lenticular silver at the top. Pearl is almost as bad as a matte white, although careful manufacture can reduce this. This factor is deadly also in the case of extreme curvatures: the higher the acceptance of stray light, the greater will be the quantity of light the screen will reflect back onto itself and so destroy the contrast. If this article does nothing more than set you thinking, then it will partially have served the writer's purpose. CINEMASCOPE: KEYNOTE OF MODERN PROJECTION (Continued from page 6) having only one speaker assembly behind the middle of the screen. "Bastard" Unit Setups Just as anamorphic lenses and projection lamps have been improved in recent years, so have theatre loudspeakers. Imagine using today a bastard system which was "modernized" ten or fifteen years ago by the addition of a dynamic "woofer" to a 1929 exponential horn unit! In fact, speakers as late as 1950 are now hopelessly obsolete. Their response is usually so "peaky" that they have a characteristic tone (?) often described as "hollow," "tinny," "wooden," etc. Summarizing: trade press and general newspaper talk about "great" and "blockbuster" pictures as to content means nothing if that content be mangled, either visually or aurally, by inferior projection equipment or technique. Re-evaluate your projectors, lamps, lenses, screens, and sound equipment, measuring their capabilities in terms of C-Scope quality. Examine the screen results and sound quality in other theatres. If you find that other theatres give a better show, ascertain the reason therefor; then "talk turkey" with your management— and keep on talking. 26 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • MARCH 1959