Projection engineering (Jan 1932-Mar 1933)

Page 20 PROJECTION ENGINEERING public-address amplifier. This circuit attenuates the low frequencies sufficiently to correct for the effect of chest vibration. Provision is' also made in this circuit for supplying direct current to the microphone, and suppressing clicks when it is switched in and out of circuit. Complete equipment, consisting of the microphone, the flexible cord and the apparatus unit which contains the input circuit is shown in Fig. 3. The unit shown is arranged for connecting only one microphone at a time and is provided with a lamp which lights when the microphone is connected in circuit and is ready for use. Another unit permits a number of microphones to be connected at one time, of which any one can be selected at will. A plug and jack are provided in the cord so that the microphone can be disconnected if desired. The plug contains a small condenser to prevent the cohering of the carbon granules which would otherwise occur were the plug withdrawn from the jack while the microphone is connected in circuit. When in use, the plug and jack are placed in the coat pocket. This prevents mechanical vibration from being transmitted through the cord to the microphone and introducing noises. S. P. Grace was the first to use this microphone. His audiences have marveled at the loudness and clearness with which his voice reached them, even in large auditoriums, and for the most part have been unaware that he was using a microphone. They have only realized its part when he called to their attention that he had concealed the microphone in his coat pocket, and the cord by passing it down his trouser leg. The portability of the instrument has enabled him to move about freely while demonstrating his apparatus, in a way which would otherwise have been quite impossible. It is expected that the lapel microphone will find application in churches, convention halls, banquet rooms, lecture rooms, and the like. The instrument will be a boon to speakers who depend on gestures for effective delivery, who must turn to explain lantern slides or use a blackboard, or who find it difficult to put their personality into their message if their position is restricted. Talking picture productions for college alumni THERE has just been completed a production of a three-reel talking picture "Life on the Quadrangles," for the University of Chicago. The university has been seeking for some years the most effective means of satisfying requests of its alumni and of high schools for information concerning its activities, and adopted the sound picture medium as providing the most vivid and satisfactory method. Touching on all phases of college activities, the picture presents realistically the student life of the University of Chicago. It takes the audience into the lecture room, the conference room, and the laboratory. It enables them to hear President Robert Maynard Hutchins explain the new educational plan Among other notables seen and heard are Thornton Wilder, the novelist, advising a student writer, and director A. A. Stagg, the famous "Old Man" of . Chicago athletics, talking to his football team before it takes the field in an important game. There is a representative selection of campus activities, among them scenes showing women's athletics, archery, hockey, and swimming, the staff of the student newspaper at work, dramatic rehearsals, and informal views of dormitory and fraternity life. A scene of unusual beauty in the University chapel emphasizes the spiritual life of the University. While the picture maintains a tone of dignity throughout, it moves swiftly and holds interest to the final fadeout. The voice of Quin Ryan, of radio fame, makes running comment on outstanding features of the picture. The "Alma Mater," sung by the University choir, furnishes an attractive accompaniment to the title footage. Staging of scenes was avoided in producing the picture and the action is consistently natural. Pre-views Well Received Several previews of the picture were held to test audience response of the groups toward which the picture is directed, and the University authorities were greatly pleased with the reaction. Three different high school student bodies, totaling 2,500, were keenly interested in the picture, and alumni clubs have been enthusiastic in their reception. A special preview at the University of Chicago for the benefit of the unemployed packed Mandel Hall, and netted $900. A portable sound projector, operated by Kenneth A. Rouse, assistant to the dean, and former Chicago football captain and winner of the Tribune trophy. is being used to show the picture before high schools and alumni in the middle-west. The University is now planning to have the picture reduced to 16 mm. for use before small groups at distant points where it is not convenient to send the present equipment. "Life on the Quadrangle" was produced at the University and the Vitalgo Studios, under the direction of Avery B. Chereton. The photography and sound are theatrical in character and of a quality not ordinarily found in straight commercial productions. An enormous amount of incandescent lighting was used on a number of the University scenes. The Vitaglo Corporation formerly de voted their entire efforts to the manufacture of recording and reproducing apparatus for the major production studios, but on discovering the tremendous field existing for the production of commercial and educational pictures, suspended manufacturing operations and are now devoting their entire facilities to the making of pictures. HARVARD TO TEST VALUE OF FILMS IN EDUCATION EXPERIMENTS to determine the value of talking films in education are to be begun in three Massachusetts cities. The tests, which will continue over a six weeks' period, were devised by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, working with a $25,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The junior high schools of Lynn, Quincy and Revere were selected for the tests. Three hundred students will receive film instruction as well as instruction with textbooks. A large "control group" will be instructed with textbooks alone. At the end of the period both groups will be given tests which have been devised especially to determine the comparative effectiveness of both types of instruction. Eight films will be used. They deal with physiography and biology and present the fundamentals of each subject as covered in the last-year course of junior high schools.