Business screen magazine (1938)

But KODACHROME is Practical — NOW 0. -''''''' * ces ,\o( rt\e ^oi°'' (Of color ILLUSTRATIONS INCORPORATED 152 W«tl 42n<l St., New York, N.Y. lOngacre 5-9255 business or pleasure it is Results you want . . so select the RCA 16 mm Sound on Film camera and be assured of gelting results you can be proud of . . . Bass engineers have perfected accessory apparatus assuring you of auccesshil work . . . made as easily as "silent films". Our special department for Industrial apparatus for making moving pictures is at your service. Come in or write us of your needs. Write for special Cine Bass Bargaingram No. 234 . . . listing thousands of items 8 and I6mm. — sound and silent . . . all real values. Dept. BU COLOR TELLS IT AND SELLS it! — from page 19 179 West Madison Street CHICAGO ILLINOIS piiiit l)y projection through the eelhiluid upon a specially prepared stock, which is then developed and processed in such a manner as to produce positive relief images in hardened gelatin. These three hardened gelatin reliefs are then used as printing matrices which absorb dye. This dye is then transferred by imbibition printing to another film strip which, when it has received all three transfers, becomes the final completed print ready for projection. To carry on the process of imbibition, it is necessary merely to press the matrix film into close contact with a properly prepared blank film and hold it there for several minutes. Matrices, of course, can be used over and over again. The art of the color cinematographer is intniuediate between that of the painter and that of the stage artist. The painter has to work \\ ith pigments having a limited range of cont rast but has great freedom of choice as to composition. The stage artist works with light, and so does not encounter the pigment liniitation; but he mu.st select his costumes, backgrounds, etc.. to be harmonious in a great variety of arrangements, most of which are more or less out of his control. In color cinematography the difficulties of both are combined; there is the pigment limitation combined with the comparative lack of control of composition. In color photography, it is necessary to opcrate at rather high levels of illumination. If (IMC is not careful, this may lead to a condition like this: given only relatively weak lightsources, one finds it necessary to use a great many of these sources, in order to attain an adequate level. The widespread distribution of these units then tends to kill all shadows and eliminate modeling on faces. If. then, the attempt is made to provide modeling by superimposing a localized shaft of light, as from a spot-light, the face is burned up. blotchy, and generally unrecognizable. The way out of this dilemma is to recognize that modeling should properly be produced by shadows, and to use IVwer and brighter sources or to mass the sources of illumination so that shadows have a cliaiice to exist. In other words, it is just as impiutant for the cameraman to determine directions from which light shall not come as it is 111 ilcliriiiinr directions from which light .s7i(j// roMie. While color contrasts will occasionally produce a pleasing result when Hatly lighted, that IS not the way to get sharp jjliotography, nor ill general, the most pleasing photography. The Ti ilinicolor process is capable of reproducing ,1 full scale of contrasts and those effects of light and shade {chiaroscuro) . and those direcI ional effects so striking in black-and-white are I \ en more effective in color. These consideralions apply not only to the lighting of figures .111(1 faces but also to the design and lighting of sets. In the design and painting of sets, the art director should have in mind the cameraman's problem of achieving the necessary light levels with a minimum number of sources of illumination. Under these conditions, it is always much easier to keep parts of a set in low key by keeping light away from them, than it is to paint them dark and then be forced to illuminate them strongly. It is the policy of the Technicolor Company to organize and maintain a nucleus camera department and color art department for the purpose of accumulating experience and disseminating information and advice as to the skillful and effective use of Technicolor. Beyond this nucleus the policy is to invite cooperation from the studio organizations and especially from those cameramen and art directors who desire to continue to lead in their respective fields. These men will generally be surprised, first, at the extent to which their conscious sense of color has become atrophied through lack of use while working in black-and-white; second, at the speed with which they can regain it; and, third, at the utter inadequacy of lilackand-white photography in comparison with good color photography.* ■from "The Technicolor Process of Three Color Cincnialoyraphv" by J. A. Ball, Vice-President and Technical Director, Technicolor Mo tion Picture Corp., Hollywood. California, originally presented at a meeting of the Technicians Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and reprinted from the Jnurniil of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. Vol. .\XV. No. 2, COOPER'S SHOE FILMS . . . {Continued from the previous page) measured right down to the last nickel's worth, the fact remains that our first slide film had a lot to do with increasing our business to a point where we were justified in doubling our advertising appropriation for 1938. only a few months after that first production. "There's another value we've enjoyed as a result of our use of sound slide films that can't be measured in monetary terms but that is just as important. By introducing the use of the .sound slide film into the men's underwear field, on top of our development of Jockey underwear, we scored another "first" and thus helped build up the reputation we are constantly seeking as the source of modern merchandise and alert merchandising." Coopers' latest slide film production. Hot House Legs, just released to every Coopers' salesman, is devoted to the merchandising of Jockey Longs which last season made a definite start toward putting long underwear back on the finest flower of American manhood during the shiver season. Hot House Legs is also organized to serve for consumer as well as trade shows and in the latter case is shown introductory to a second film which covers Coopers' current ailvertisiug and merchandising. B8