Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

338 DECEMBER 1953 Clini FILM CAN MARKER Ever try to write identifying names or dates on your film cans and reels? Well, the Chemical Rubber Company, 2310 Superior Avenue, Cleveland 14, Ohio, has just the gadget you need. It is called a Labmark Pen (No. T-937010) and it comes complete with a 2 oz. bottle of black Labmark ink for $5 plus postage. This pen has a felt point for making broad, poster-type letters, so that it is particularly good for lettering on film cans and reels. The ink looks like waterproof India ink, dries almost immediately, and — best of all — may be removed with carbon tetrachloride when you wish to change your labeling. Oscar H. Horovitz, FACL Newton, Mass. THREE LEGS-THREE SERVICES What with one's camera tripod, gadget bag, exposure meter and so on, the average amateur these days has plenty to tote around on any filming jaunt. Therefore, I claim that any further addition to this load should be designed for multiple duties. The lightweight, demountable gadget pictured on this page is such a one. Three legs — and three services. As pictured, my primary use for this three-legged stand was as a slate holder. I was working at the time on a fully scripted picture, so that it was possible to take advantage of the very real aid in editing which "slating" one's scenes provides. Also, for my own guidance on future shooting, I added the exposure data as a check on results. The second use for this tripod developed quite by accident one day when I was shooting closeups of flow ers. Came a shot where, it seemed to me, more light was needed on the shadow side of things. So a white card replaced the black slate, and we had an adjustable reflector which didn't need holding. My third use of this device was as an improvised titling stand to be used outdoors in the field. Here title cards replaced the other two units, as an attractive girl — much as in the old vaudeville routine — placed them one by one on the stand and pointed prettily to their legends. C. C. Chuvax Hollywood, Calif. SIDE-BY-SIDE SYNC I have recently changed over to the Levett-Dow system of tape synchronization, as outlined in the January 1952 Movie Makers, with amazingly improved results. Pictured herewith is one very simple change in the setup, which works fine with my recorder-projector combination and which should work equally well with many other such combinations. Basically, the change consists of placing the tape recorder beside the projector, rather than in front of it. In such a position the strobe disc is illuminated by the excess light spilled from the opening between shutter and gate, rather than by the light emanating from the projection lens. Such a positioning offers these advantages: 1. Illumination of the strobe disc is much brighter, thus providing easier visibility. 2. Illumination of the disc is constant. It does not vary with the density of the projected image, as is the case when the disc is illuminated by the light beam coming from the projection lens. SIDE-BY-SIDE placement of recorder ond projector is urged by H. D. Shumway, AACL. This sync system, depending on spill light from the projector, works equally with a disc or Revere Synchro-Tape. Chester Taylo TRIPLE PLAY gadget above serves alternately slate>, reflector stand and titler. as scene 3. No reflector, with its critical adjustments, need be attached to the projection lens mount. 4. Controls of both the projector and recorder are grouped together for immediate and easy access. Such positioning works equally well when Revere Synchro-Tape is used. Herbert D. Shumway, AACL Greenfield, Mass. PANACEA FOR PANNING Some time ago I had a friend of mine shoot movies for me of my wedding. Inexperienced, he panned much too fast on certain of the scenes, with the inevitable result that they are an unpleasant eyestrain to the viewer. Unable to get married again just for the sake of good movies, I decided to do the next best thing. I edited out the offending scenes, sent them to a local film lab and had them double-printed — that is, each frame was optically printed twice, thus creating the effect of 32 frame per second shooting. Now when I run the projector at about 24 fps, the unpleasant panning is slowed down. While this is not a true cure-all for rapid panning, it may help you save a valuable film already marred in that way. David Rosenblatt New York City