Technicolor News & Views (April 1955)

Technicolor Report Traces Upswing in 16mm Color Printing to Increasing Use by Business and Industry TECHNICOLOR receives many inquiries about its important work in the 16 mm in- dustrial film field. Recently, Business Screen Magazine published an article on TECHNI- COLOR'S activities in this field, which an- swers many of the most frequent questions TECHNICOLOR receives on this phase of its work. We are privileged to reprint this article in full: The extraordinary upswing in TECH- NICOLOR'S production of 16mm film be- tween 1952 and 1953 (from 19 million to 35 million feet) — allowing for an in- crease in government-initiated orders — suggests a far more sweeping change in American industry thinking on commer- cial film than the obvious desire to be ready for color television. While some of recent TECHNICOLOR 16mm footage is being banked for later use on the net- works, another sizeable segment has been prepared with theatre-type projec- tion alone in mind. An increasing num- ber of companies seem to have reviewed both their sales and public relations pol- icies, and have decided to tell more of their story on color film. CinemaScope Prints for Ford One of the most ambitious projects of this "besides color television" policy in- cluded the 16mm Cinemascope prints which TECHNICOLOR made for Wilding Picture Productions, Inc., on behalf of the Ford Motor Co. The picture reviewed the entire Ford line of cars and trucks, and was planned primarily as a sales tool for Ford dealers. Other similarly large-scale projects were handled by TECHNICOLOR for the Greyhound Bus Company through Jerry Fairbanks, Inc., and for the Ameri- can Petroleum Institute through Roland Reed Productions, Inc. Clearly, the new concentration of interest in color film for television has reminded industry of the additional values of 16mm color film for theatrical-type projection, and touched off a twin boom in the 16mm world. The TECHNICOLOR 16mm Division has experienced very little except boom con- ditions since TECHNICOLOR President Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus organized it in 1939. By the end of 1953, the Division had turned out more than 135,000,000 feet of 16mm film. Its customers com- prise a kind of blue book of American industry (examples: duPont, General Elec- tric, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Stude- baker, Chrysler, Standard Brands, Amer- ican Telephone & Telegraph, RCA, Na- tional Cash Register, U. S. Steel, Carna- PtifHiliWIP?® m r r n rr rn t r rn y rn fFfTi HffifflSS Ei iM i Construction UnderWay at New Technicolor Laboratory in France Construction of the first buildings for the French TECHNICOLOR plant is now nearing completion at Joinville, France, just outside of Paris. Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, President and General Manager of TECHNICOLOR MO- TION PICTURE CORPORATION, reports that several TECHNICOLOR Hollywood and London engineers are cooperating in the construction of the new plant and in the design and installation of its equipment. D tion Milk). Technical improvement and added volume have enabled the Division to establish a base price of 6.25 cents per foot of release print. Aim at Greater Flexibility The continuing work of the TECHNI- COLOR laboratories toward entire flexi- bility has been a great factor in TECHNI- COLOR 16mm business. The Division pro- duced release prints on both dye transfer and color duplicating stock. They worked with three strip films, with color nega- tives and with successive frame (cartoon negatives). Even old hands in the industrial film business are surprised to see how far TECHNICOLOR has carried this flexibility. Today TECHNICOLOR will take 35mm color film at any stage — even cut nega- tives— and manufacture 16mm release prints which can be used either in a theatre or on television. The question of the quality on tele- vision of color prints not made specif- ically for television is still being heatedly debated. The TECHNICOLOR Television Division (organized in 1950) has worked out a method of making film for tele- vising that is overwhelmingly effective. Patently, any organization interested in producing film specifically for television would be wise to use the TECHNICOLOR facilities. On the other hand, NBC used a 16mm TECHNICOLOR print, that was not specifically made for television, for its first coast to coast color television demonstration on November 3, 1953, Continued in Column Three r. Kalmus stated "This engineering super- vision will insure that the French TECHNI- COLOR plant will be patterned after the existing TECHNICOLOR plants and that its products and services will be of the same top quality as those which have always been identified by the TECHNI- COLOR trademark and trade name." It is anticipated that the new plant be- ing erected by the Technicolor affiliate, Societe TECHNICOLOR, will have an an- nual capacity of at least seventy million (70,000,000) feet of color positive release prints. Release print production is ex- pected to commence some time in 1955 and will represent a further contribution to TECHNICOLOR world wide service. Business arrangements for the new French plant are patterned after the TECHNICOLOR company's British affili- ate, TECHNICOLOR, Ltd., and should sim- ilarly contribute to the earnings of the parent company, TECHNICOLOR, Inc. Technicolor Report on Industry Use Continued from Column Two and the enthusiastic acclaim was unani- mous. One can conclude from this that few TECHNICOLOR prints are barred from television, although prints made for elec- tronic projection are most desirable. Re- cently, specially manufactured release prints of a film originally photographed in 1940 for theatre projection, have been used in color television demonstrations throughout the country. The 14-year-old subject retained all its original, rich color —- which suggests that much of the film made by TECHNICOLOR during this interval can be utilized again on tele- vision. — THREE —