The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1931-Jan 1933)

November, 1931 Motion Picture Projectionist 27 Report of the S. M. P. E. Progress Committee r M ' HE following is an abridgment JL of the report presented before the Society at Swampscott, Mass., October 5, 1931. The entire report will be published in the December issue of the Society Journal. The complete personnel of the committee is as follows: G. E. Matthews, Chairman, M. Abribat, L. N. Busch, W. Clark, A. A. Cook, C. Dreher, R. E. Farvham, H. B. Franklin, J. G. Frayne, E. R. Geib, A. C. Hardy, F. S. Irby, R. C. Hubbard, M. W. Palmer, G. F. Racket, M. Ruot, P. von Schrott, H. Sintzenich, and S. K. Wolf. Films and Emulsions — Interest in the adoption of wide film, though dormant for the past six months, is expected to be aroused again with the return of normal economic conditions. The high speed panchromatic emulsions introduced earlier in the year have been given exhaustive trial under the severe working conditions prevailing in the studios, both in this country and abroad. General satisfaction has been expressed by the trade on their characteristics. Huse has described a panchromatic film which has the emulsion coated on a support having a neutral gray density of 0.2 which is claimed to minimize trouble from halation. During the first week of August, the Eighth International Congress met in Dresden, Germany. At this important gathering over 100 papers were read by scientists from many countries. Studio and Location. — During the last six months, motion picture studios continued to make their sound recording equipment more portable and to bring the talking picture gradually to the same technical perfection as the old silent picture. Until recently, it has been common practice in Japan to show two and sometimes three feature pictures and shows lasted sometimes as long as six hours. In order to supply the demand created by such exhibition schedules, a great many feature pictures were required. Last year 650 features were produced and this year almost as many were planned. Cameras and Accessories. — Evident need for a greater standardization exists, particularly with regard to camera silencing. The Radio Corporation of America have announced the perfection of a silent 48 cycle camera motor which eliminates the necessity of gears between the motor and camera. They also announced a 720 r. p.m. silent camera motor for use on Fearless and Bell & Howell cameras. Safety devices have been introduced which prevent damage to the mechan ism of the Debrie camera in the event thpt tbo camera jams. A sound absorbing case covers the entire camera. For sti dio use, a special metal stand is provided which rides on three rubber tired wheels. The cameraman stands on a small rear platform. Huguenard and Magnan have designed a camera employing four lenses and taking 12 pictures in an area the size of our standard 35 mm. frame. With a linear velocity of the film equal to 3 meters per second, 2400 pictures may be exnosed per second. Pictures made of the free flight of a large fly show that it beats its wings about 100 times per second, whereas a Senegalese linit moves its wings only 30 times in a second. Proposes Survey on Causes of Film Mutilation Speaking as a member of the Projection Practice Committee at the recent convention of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Mr. P. A. McGuire of the International Projector Corporation directed attention to the tremendous losses incurred by the industry year after year through film mutilation. Characterizing the evil as one of the most serious now confronting the field, the speaker stated that in his opinion conditions had reached such proportions as to justify a nationwide survey on the part of the Society as a means for the determination of contributing causes, and predicated on the findings, the institution of vigorous measures to remedy such abuses as may be found to exist. An investigation such as that proposed, Mr. McGuire continued, would unquestionably prove of inestimable value, particularly, should it receive the whole-hearted support of all branches of the industry. In behalf of The Motion Picture Projectionist, it may be said that its staff is entirely in accord Mr. McGuire's proposal". The evil is one of long standing. It is high time for the subject to be given the serious consideration which it demands. The line of least resistance has been to censure the projectionist. Undoubtedly, careless handling on the part of some projectionists is a contributing factor, but an intelligent and impartial investigation of the situation is certain to bring to light many unsuspected and interesting facts concerning the matter. Studio Illumination — Very few new pieces of illumination equipment were introduced in American studios. An addition to the cast silicon-aluminum equipment announced in the previous report is a new spotlight employing a 2000-watt, 115-volt monoplane filament lamp. For general lighting in British studios, banks of lamps are commonly used with as many as 40 lamps in a unit consuming about 10 kw. Matted aluminum reflectors are used for each lamp. Sound Recording. — Maxfield has shown that an empirical relationship exists between the placement of camera and microphone, and the acoustic properties of the set. Some eight or ten pictures have been made using the technic, and the results were so well liked that a more general application of the principles is being made. For the first time in the making of a sound motion picture, short wave radio communication was maintained between a ship at sea and the studio lot in Hollywood in the recent filming of the "Corsair," a United Artists picture. With a new intensity meter, it is possible to measure sound and noise intensities in sound stages and theatres. Levels from 15 to 100 decibels above the hearing threshold may be measured. The instrument is characterized by its compactness and lightness of weight. A permanent magnet light valve has been devised recently by Western Electric, in which the bulky electromagnetic field coil used in the previous type has been replaced by permanent pole pieces. The ribbons are clamped permanently in position after the initial spacing and tuning operation. The valve is very compact when used in a stuJio film recorder. Satisfactory recording of frequencies up to 10.000 per second is claimed for the Fidelytone system of sound recording developed in England. An image of the cathode consisting of a long metal strip in an exhausted glass tube is formed on the moving film, the light glow extending along the length of the cathode from the metal anode opposite its center point. The length of the glow varies in accordance with the modulated input of the tube. According to a report from Hollywood, a new dynamic microphone has been introduced which has an essentially flat response from 50 to 10,000 c.p.s. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio have accomplished an innovation by placing the microphone and associated amplifier in a spherical metal