Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

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TELEVISION LIGHTING* WILLIAM C. EDDY** Summary. — Lighting a television production presents many problems peculiar to this new field of public entertainment. These problems have necessitated the redesign of lighting equipment and the establishment of a simplified technic for handling the equipment that differs radically from moving picture practice. To cope properly with the lighting requirements of the continuous action sequences, characterizing television productions, a system employing inside silvered incandescent lamps in a standardized unit was developed by NBC engineers. Based on multiple standardized group of ll/z kw each, these units are used in both the foundation light and modeling equipment of the television studios in Radio City, thus insuring quantitative as well as qualitative control of lighting by the personnel. With cameras generally in motion and an average duration of pick-up from one camera a matter of seconds, the problem of modeling in the sets becomes acute. This appears to be satisfactorily solved by the technic now in use wherein the major interest is centered around the close-up camera. Even this solution, however, required new and ingenious equipment to maintain light in the sets and still give floor precedence to the cameras and sound equipment. While NBC at the present time has appeared to have standardized on the inside silvered lamp, exhaustive tests were carried out in an attempt to utilize more orthodox equipment. Actual tests under production conditions proved, however, that certain requirements of space, weight, and flexibility could not be had without a serious sacrifice of foot-candles on the set, resulting in the present set-up of equipment and personnel that are handling the television lighting assignment in the East. Under these circumstances, our producers — relying on their scientific skill, the richness of their facilities and resources, and the variety and range of talent available to them in every field — will, it would seem, be well advised to stress most strongly in the foreign markets the factor of the superior quality of American films . We should export only pictures of unquestioned excellence. High quality will continue to retain for American motion pictures an exceedingly worth-while place in the markets of the world. Although the practical application of lighting to the presentation of television studio programs will admittedly be subject to further improvement, the imminence of a public television service warrants a description of the lighting equipment and operating technic which * Presented at the 1939 Spring Meeting at Hollywood, Calif. ; received April 13, 1939. ** National Broadcasting Co., New York, N. Y. 41