Amateur Cine World (May 1936)

al Technical Features of Some May Releases (Continued from page 81) Mail—though here the problem is admittedly simplified by the subjectmatter, dealing with the journey of an express train from terminus to terminus; and even here the temptation to sentimentalise over the arrival has not been fully avoided. In Nursery Islands, a study of bird life, Miss Mary Field’ has solved the problem in her own way by discarding the manufactured ending altogether and coming to a close quite briefly without flourish of any kind. This is a procedure only permissible on rare occasions. To return to fiction: Faithful is interesting as an example of poor material made up into reasonably presentable shape by efficient direction and acting. Note the general smoothness of the continuity. point there is a transition, from the hero raising his glass to drink a toast to the vamp, to a shot of the heroine’s landlady also drinking in the same way from a glass, Simple though the transition at table with the heroine. Warning shadow. A scene from ‘‘ Crime and Punishment,’ reviewed in this article. beginning, which is, its virtue lies in the fact that the parallel action which joins the shots has in’ each case a definite § meaning, quite apart from its surface value as a visual link. In the second shot, what it tells us indirectly is that the heroine has at last given up waiting for her husband and has in despair invited the landlady to join her at her meal. There is another type of transition, used near the is much weaker. This is the one where we first see the girl indignantly asserting that she At one Overcoming FILM SCRATCH (Continued from page 72) a matter of the internal design of the charger. In the Pathe chargers, the roll of raw film is merely dropped into the top chamber and the film led out through the channel to the take-up, leaving the roll loose and free to move about in the top chamber. The weight of the film, combined with the pull when running, causes the roll to rotate with part of the circumference in contact with the charger, and this, to my mind, is a fruitful source of trouble. Using my own chargers, I have overcome this by fitting a small metal pin about 3/32nd. inch in diameter, over which is slipped a short piece of brass tube which revolves easily on the pin. The raw film is just slipped over this pin and roller, and is thus prevented from running about loose in the charger. Using the new Dekko with its rollers at top and bottom of the gate, there is now no place where the emulsion touchesthroughout its course in the camera. No Trouble At All The new 9.5 mm. Selo film, in a special metal charger, has a bobbin in the top chamber like the take-up bobbin, which serves the same purpose as the pin that I have fitted. Using the Selo film in its charger in the Dekko, I have had no trouble from scratches at all, nor have I had any bother using the modified Pathe chargers. In fitting the pins to the chargers, the diameter must be small, or the inner end of the film has a tendency to grip and wind itself up around the pin, eventually jamming. The small diameter of the pins I have fitted does not afford any grip, and the revolving tube is an additional safeguard. I would respectfully suggest to Messrs. Pathescope that they add this pin to their chargers. If moulded in, during the process of manufacture, it would add little or nothing to the cost, but would, undoubtedly, make for more perfect pictures. At the same time, I think they would do well to alter the shape of the openings a little, rounding off the sharp nose at present existing at the apertures. With these two slight modifications, I think the chargers would not cause any trouble in any camera. Make a Trial First Readers with their own chargers could carefully file this nose away a little, making a smooth rounded entrance and exit for the film, but before doing so, I should advise them totry a charger with film in, but with lid off, running in the camera, and note exactly where contact, if any, takes place, as it is largely a matter of the exact position of the gate in relation to the charger that determines this, and in some cameras it may not occur. A small piece of velvet ribbon, obtainable at any milliner’s, glued at these two points might prevent the trouble, and those who do not care to go to the trouble of fitting pins inside the top chambers might try the effect of a piece of velvet ribbon glued round the inside of the top chamber. A word of warning is advisable here. If velvet is used, it must be kept scrupulously clean, or it will 83 will cut off all relations with her fiance : ately afterwards both are observed coming out of a registry office, married. The same kind of thing occurs in Personal Maid’s Secret, where a scene showing the husband objecting to his wife’s idea of moving into a more sumptuous flat is followed by another of the couple then immedi (Continued on page 86) most certainly cause more scratches than ever . There is another source of scratching that is, perhaps, not generally recognised and that is bad storage. The non-flam base of all sub-standard films is very susceptible to changes of temperature and humidity, which cause shrinkage. In the case of 9.5 mm. film, shrinkage causes slight buckling of the film around the central perforations, the raised edges of which may scratch adjacent layers of film in a reel. Properly kept, however, no fear need be felt on this score. Curb Your Impatience Another very prolific source of scratches is the enthusiastic examination of a roll of film, which is unwound without the use of a reel, the film being allowed to coil up on the floor. On rewinding, dust and dirt are picked up and rolled into the film, and even if the film is allowed to unwind into a flannel lined basket, there is the danger of the sharp edges of the film rubbing and scoring the emulsion. In editing, this does not apply, as only short lengths are dealt with. Anything more than three or four feet of film should only be examined when wound on a reel andthe free end wound on another reel. If this cannot be done, then one should curb one’s anxiety until such time as the film can be seen under proper conditions. It is a poor consolation to have a perfect film, only to have it marked and marred through impatience to look at it. Care, cleanliness and common-sense are three essential virtues in cinematography. Moody reminiscence, overheard :— “I got up at the end of the reel and there was a horrid scrunch, and I realised that the take-up hadn’t been working.”