American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

September, lOi'G AMERICAN CINEMA TOGRAPHER Eleven PROJECTION * Conducted by Earl J. Denison Troubles of the Projectionist « Standardized Methods for Care of Film Eliminates Expensive Economic Waste (A lecture delivered by Earl J . Denison, before the American Projection Society.) Until the last year or two if you had made an inquiry of any projectionist as to what his great single trouble was, it is the foregone conclusion that the answer would have been "condition of film." If branch managers had been approached with the same query, in the greater majority of the cases, the answer would be the same. It appears therefore, that your troubles and his troubles were closely related. In the past a great deal of time was wasted in useless recrimination between exchange managers and projectionists. During the period that these recriminations were being indulged in, little constructive effort was made to determine the cause for the great amount of excess film damage then existing. Shortly after my return from Europe in 1919, I was employed by the Famous PlayersLasky Corporation to investigate the cause for the great amount of excess film damage which had been of long standing and was costing the company a great deal of money, and only spasmodic attempts had been made to find a remedy, and to my mind the entire proposition had been approached from the wrong angle. Conditions Studied My first commission was to visit all of our exchanges in order that I might observe actual conditions. In following up cases of specific film damage which would be reported by an inspection department, as having been returned from a certain theater, I would then visit that theatre, inspect the equipment and make a general check-up on projection conditions. In all, I inspected approximately 300 projection rooms throughout the country. Improper Splicing After classifying the kind of damage, the final analysis conclusively proved that approximately 75 percent of the excess film damage was traceable to improper splicing in our own exchanges. After presenting the proper executives with sufficient evidence I was again commissioned to devote my entire time in correcting this unnecessary evil, and in following up this particular line of work for a period of seven years a great many interesting discoveries were made regarding the proper care and handling, inspection, and splicing of motion picture film. In most cases examiners in our exchanges knew absolutely nothing about film and each examiner was making a different kind of »a splice of various widths, shapes and sizes. There had been practically no attempt at standardization and in the majority of cases, film splicing was done in the crudest manner possible; their working tools being a pair of shears and a razor blade; with any kind of cement kept in uncorked bottles and applied with any kind of a brush that could be purchased in the nearest store. Mis-framed splices were as common as framed splices withd no attempt being made to splice in frame, in fadeouts. Preferred Hand Methods Practically everyone connected with exchanges was antagonistic toward any kind of a mechanical device for use in splicing film, their argument being that better splices could be made entirely by hand. Another very common cause for film damage was the use of bent and loose reels. Also there was no attempt at that time for the proper handling of the film; that is, keeping the film in containers while being inspected and awaiting shipment. Splice Standardized Our first step was to standardize on the type of splice, method of handling, and equipment. The only thing obtainable was the ordinary splicing block which simply registered the perforations and applied pressure to the splices. But even this crude equipment showed a remarkable improvement in conditions in a very short time. But it was one continual battle to get examiners to use the equipment that we installed ; we were constantly carrying on research work trying out devices, in fact doing everything possible to still further improve conditions. Although we realized a certain percentage of the damage was caused by improper (Continued on Page 17)