Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1952)

310 NOVEMBER 1952 THE WEAKER SEX? Jk S YOU READ these words, the Ten Best screen^^k ings for 1952 will have come to an end. • Unblinking now is the Cyclopean single eye of the League's projector — an eye which has brought us brief, bright glimpses into the homes and hearts of so many. Muted at long last are the tapes and the tracks, the discs and the stripes. The projection room is stilled and the silvered screen is empty of its magic imagery — for the first time in weeks. Comes now the delicate decisions between one dedicated effort and another. In this pause before the fateful dice are cast, we salute those countless cameramen who have competed in this contest. For, whether their results have been able, average or ineffectual, we are well aware of the hopes and heartaches which go into the making of even the simplest movie. Therefore, we salute these men. But we should like as well to salute with a warm sincerity the patient, hard-working helpmates who have stood behind these men. For in the multiple and increasingly complex operations of making a modern movie, four hands are better than two — and two hearts will ever beat more staunchly than a lone one. Not seen in the screened results are the littered living rooms, the cluttered kitchens, the missed meal times and the disrupted disciplines of family life. And yet their calm and uncomplaining acceptance by the wives of movie makers must contribute much to the winning of the ultimate accolade. Helpmates of home filmers everywhere — thee we salute! Who called you the weaker sex? 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, Vicepresideni 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 17, N. Y. U. S. A. immerse the rack of film in the solution and agitate gently for 2 minutes. Remove from the solution, drain briefly, and hang the rack of film on a nail or hook in a dust-free room. It will dry within an hour or so. Photo-Flo is very inexpensive to mix, so discard it after each developing session to prevent accumulated bits of dirt and emulsion from lodging on the film. Step 21. Here is the final step of slitting that will make your 8mm. film ready for projection. With the use of an inexpensive film slitter (sold by most movie supply firms) , double 8mm. film can be slit quickly into two sections each 8mm. in width. First rewind the film onto a camera spool. Then, with the camera spool placed on the loading stand spindle, slit the film as you unwind it from the spool as shown in Fig. 16. Splice these two sections together and wind them onto an 8mm. projection reel. TRY A TEST STRIP That's all there is to 8mm. movie processing. However, there is one hint that may help you to secure the best possible results. Perhaps you will find that developing a test strip before processing the whole roll will help you, particularly at first. A test strip is simply a 6 inch piece of film cut from the beginning of the roll. This strip is held by a film clip (as shown in Fig. 17) and run through the solutions. Since the only result you desire with this test strip is a check on the first development, all washes as well as time in the bleach and clearing bath may be cut to the minimum. By this speeded-up test, the time of first development can be checked and altered if necessary to produce the best results for the entire roll. Of course, the reliability of this check depends upon giving an equal exposure to the test strip and to the entire roll. With a little practice you will be able to judge results by viewing the bleached-out images left in the emulsion immediately after removing the film from the bleach, making it unnecessary to carry out the remaining steps. TWO TYPES OF TITLES Quite likely you'll want to add a few titles to your home-processed reels. Here, too, these tanks are most convenient; for excellent titles may be obtained by filming white letters on a dark background and then developing the titles by the reversal method just described. However, you'll get equally good titles — with far simpler processing — by photographing black lettering against a white background and then developing the film as a negative. Such development will then result in a film having the titles with the desired white letters on a dark background. Here's how easily it's done: For negative title developing you'll need only two tanks (the developer tank and the fixer tank) plus the wash tank. Best all-around title developer is Kodak D-ll, a high contrast developer that combines fine grain results with excellent keeping qualities. This also comes ready-mixed in 1 gallon sized cans. For titling film choose any positive type film; even the orthochromatic film used for reversal processing gives snappy titles when developed as a negative. Using orthochromatic film (ASA 16), you'll obtain excellent titles by developing in D-ll for 4 minutes at 68° F., rinsing briefly, then fixing for 5 minutes, followed by a thorough 15 minute wash in cool running water. Exposure for such development should be about //4.5 when the title is illuminated by two No. 1 photofloods, each placed at a 45 degree angle to the titling board and 3 feet from it. Exposure and development for your particular titling setup and film can best be determined by developing a few test strips. There you have it! Try combining this negative title development with the reversal development of your picture films and you'll find that these movie processing tanks form a very versatile unit indeed. For quick, sure, simple movie processing, this system is "tops."