Amateur Cine World (December 1935)

Readers FE print below a selection of the many useful W hints received for our monthly competition. Half-a-guinea is awarded for the best and half-a-crown for those of lesser interest. Hints for the January issue should reach us not later than November 26th. Address all entries to Hints Competition, The Editor, Amateur Cine World; 4-8, Greville Street, London, E.C.1. Half-a-guinea is awarded to the senders of the following two hints. 16mm 95mm 9 5mm Py long Knuth og Needles ) A ZL iY) 7 / ] Above : processing lengths of film. hint, col. 2.) Right: Varying tempo for Device for short (See wipes. (See hint, Distiin: 2 Dragon's col. 2) Slow Tempo Fast Tempo SHOT TIMING RULE As a ready means of measuring and cutting each shot to the proper time at the editing bench, a rule should be marked along the front edge of the bench. This rule should be graduated in feet and inches, in seconds (of running time) and in frames as shown in the sketch. The graduation marks may be cut into the bench with a small chisel or knife and a carpenter’s marking gauge and filled with paint, the necessary lettering being done with paint or india ink and the whole varnished, or it may be drawn on paper or tracing cloth, stuck to the bench and varnished. If the latter method is used the finished job should be carefully measured to ensure that the rule has not shrunk or stretched while being placed. A small finishing nail should be driven part way into the bench at the end of the rule to hold one end of the film to be measured so that one hand may be free for the scissors. The necessary measurements for the graduations are shown in the following table :— Seer POR ley Se | ee ae ee a | Time in 8mm. 16mm.|} 8 128 1 7.2 3 2.4 pons Frames ft. ins. ft. ins. | 9 L4Ae ee sOG gh eo i 16 2.4 4.8.) 10°" 160 2 0 4 0 | 2 32 4.8 9.6} 11 ieplepounraeeP hey} 3 48 7+2 ET 26g4 12... 192 2 418 4 64 OO ages eer aae 2° Wo 5 80 Teaco 2a Lae 22402 BONO 6 96 E254 (2) 48 09R: 240° 3.0 F. W. Motton, 4380, Beaconsfield Avenue, Montreal, Canada. PRIZE-WINNING © Hess PROCESSING SHORT LENGTHS Like many other amateurs, I do not process my own films, but occasionally, say with a single shot* at the beginning of a spool, wish to do so at once. The device consists of two wooden discs held apart by four knitting needles. The apparatus fits into a standard 20 oz. cylindrical measure, which serves as a developing tank. The two discs of wood, 24” diameter, have four holes drilled at their edges equidistant from each other. The two knitting needles, which must be non-metal, are filled to fit in each hole and a piece of lead is attached to the centre as a sinker. The ends are dipped in paraffin wax and strained. When cool, any surplus is removed from the needles. The film is fixed: lightly by a drawing pin to the edge of one of the discs wound on and attached to the other disc by another pin. This will hold about four to five feet of film and can be used for developing titles and also for reversal processing as the wax is not attracted by permanganate or dilute acids. FE. Saunders, 21, Sedgwick Road, Bexhill. Half-a-crown has been awarded to the senders of the following two hints. VARYING TEMPO OF WIPES There appeared in these columns a few months ago a suggestion for wipes on 9.5mm. film by means of painting out each successive frame by degrees and bringing in the following scenes by the reverse process as shown in Fig. 1. Whilst this process is satisfactory as far as it goes and may be used for all sizes of film, it has the effect of slowing down the tempo to a far greater degree than a normal wipe. I have evolved a wipe of pleasing appearance and good effect which I use on 9.5mm. and 16mm. film with great success. It overcomes the tempo difficulty and yet saves the expense and difficulty of elaborate printing processes, which again are only possible on 16mm. film. The film is spliced as in a normal cut. An elongated X is drawn with a pin or similar instrument, not a knife, over 14 frames (16 frames in the case of 16mm. film), the junction of cross-strokes being at the splice. The film is blackened as shown in Fig. 2. N. L. Crabtree, The Parsonage, Dukinfield, Cheshire. FILM JOINS Breakages occurring at joins in a film are not usually due to the corners of the film catching, but to the forward edge of the unprotected film catching on the edge of the frame aperture of the projector. To overcome this possibility, make sure in joining two pieces of film that the forward edge of the unprotected piece is always joined in front, i.e., to the guide or lamp side of the piece of film already shown. J. L. Swanston, 8, Townsend Crescent, Kirkcaldy. Finishing Nail (hee ee mo SN Rule for timing shots. (See hint, col. 1.) 404