Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1952)

254 SEPTEMBER 1952 A YEAR OF PROGRESS WE regard our readers, by and large, as pretty observant people. It should come as a surprise to but few of you, therefore, if we summarize a portion of our past year's editorial policies by saying that we are "high on sound." For, interestingly enough, it was just a year ago this September that Movie Makers, first in the photojournalism field, announced the advent of the RCA 400 magnetic projector and, correlatively, the availability of Magna-Stripe, the Reeves Soundcraft film striping service. With these two pioneer products, the era of magnetic sound on film was opened for the amateur. Developments in the twelve months since then have been eventful, accelerated and exciting. In swift procession there have come three more magnetic projectors— the Filmosound 202 and the DeVry JAN for Sixteen, the Movie-Sound 8 for Eight. And in step with them have been announced two more film strip ing services — Soundstripe from Bell & Howell and Sonotrack from Eastman Kodak. Partially allied with these products, at least in its final audio function, there has been also the important development of Synchro-Tape by the Revere Camera-Minnesota Mining team. Movie Makers, during this momentous twelvemonth, has reported on these products with authority, accuracy and enthusiasm. We are proud of our editorial record in this field. For we are, truly, high on sound. We believe that the ambitious, intelligent amateur wants sound — not simply to ape Hollywood; but, rather, to bring to his own creative ideas the third dimension of audio intelligence and aural color. We believe strongly that personal movie making (both for the amateur and the industry) has just seen a year of exciting and significant progress. And we look forward with enthusiasm and eagerness to the new era which lies ahead. THE AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc. Founded in 1926 by Hiram Percy Maxim Joseph J. Harley, President Walter Bergmann, Treasurer Arthur H. Elliott Fred Evans John V. Hansen DIRECTORS Frank E. Gunnell, Vicepresident James W. Moore, Managing Director George Merz Stephen F. Voorhees Roy C. Wilcox The Amateur Cinema League, Inc., sole owner and publisher of MOVIE MAKERS, is an international organization of filmers. The League offers its members help in planning and making movies. It aids movie clubs and maintains for them a film exchange. It has various special services and publications for members. Your membership is invited. Six dollars a year. AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc.. 420 LEXINGTON AVE.. NEW YORK 1 7. N. Y.. U. S. A. your projector and recorder, should not require any further explanation. Let me stress, however, that they are important, for all motors tend to gather speed as they heat up in operation. USE AUDIBLE START MARK As for start-mark systems, these fall generically into two classes — visual and audible. Since, once you start projecting, you are operating in the dark, any form of visual start mark impresses me as inefficient. I prefer an audible system and operate very simply as follows: thread your film in the projector so that its first projectable frame is over the aperture. To guide other operators (say at a movie club screening) in selecting the same frame that I do, I have marked the exact frame with a wax crayon. Add a suitable amount of blank tape (I use 37x/2 inches for 5 seconds) before the first sound on your recording. Start the recorder and, at the first note of music, start the projector. SYSTEMS FOR SYNCHRONY Your problem now will be to keep your picture and your sound in synchrony. There are several methods of doing this, each of which has been outlined in helpful detail by other con tributors to Movie Makers. I shall, therefore, simply run over them briefly at this time. Whichever one seems to suit your needs, I'm sure the ACL will be glad to fill you in on it. There is first the method which calls for mounting a suitably patterned stroboscopic disc on the top of your recorder capstan — which is revolving at a fixed speed. This disc is then scanned under the intermittent light created by the projector's shutter interruptions. Thus, any variation in the projector's speed will immediately be evidenced by a drifting of the strobe pattern — and a suitable adjustment of projector speed can be made via the rheostat. Effective as this system is, it has seemed to me to have several drawbacks. Perhaps all are minor; but here they are nevertheless for your own consideration. First, the strobe disc system does not correct for errors in synchrony created by the tape stretching, shrinking, or slipping on the capstan. Second, this system requires the positioning of your recorder directly in front of and slightly below your projector; such an arrangement may not always be convenient or even possible. And finally, use of the strobe disc system requires you, the operator, to rivet your gaze on the revolving disc throughout your show. You therefore have little, if any, opportunity to enjoy your own film. The second synchronizing system, only recently announced, is the use of the new Revere tape product called Synchro-Tape. This is, of course, simply a variant of the strobe disc method, in which a suitable stroboscopic pattern is imprinted directly on the back of the tape itself. This pattern in turn is then scanned under the projector's intermittent light . . . Synchro-Tape, by virtue of its built-in stroboscope, does do away with drawback No. 1 — lack of correction for stretching, shrinking or slipping. Drawbacks 2 and 3, however, are as inherent to Synchro-Tape as they are to strobe disc operations. My system, therefore, is to decide on a number of visual cues throughout the course of the film against which I can check the synchrony of known musical passages or bits of narration. Operating in this way, I can correct for a lack of synchrony no matter what its cause; I do not have to position my projector and recorder in a fixed and unalterable relation; and I can pay attention to the picture, instead of watching a dizzying strobe pattern. This may be naive on my part. But I like looking at my own movies! Don't you?