American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

Plan For Sound (Continued from Page 331) fessionals did, and go to sound-on-film recording. This is at present only possible in 16mm. Recording direct-synchronized sound is outside the scope of this present article, though with a recorder like the Auricon, for example, it isn't by any means beyond the skill of the amateur who wants to acquire the necessary equipment. But sound can be added to any 16mm. film after tlie film has been processed and edited. To do this, you simply take your edited film to any of the several 16mm. soundrecording studios in various parts of the country, and record your musical score, sound-effects and narration with projector and recorder operating in synchronism. A positive print is then made of this sound-track record, and sound and picture are "duped" to a third film to form your composite sound-and-picture projection film. This naturally adds to your expense; putting sound to a 400foot reel of 16mm. Kodachrome costs slightly over $100: but you then have a perfect sound-film reel in color, which can be run on any 16mm. sound-film projector, and will always be perfectly in sync. It is interesting to note that over in England, just before the war, a special 16mm. sound-system for home use was developed with the aim of eliminating the extra cost of making the composite sound-print which add? so much to the cost of substandard sound-filming. This device consisted of a special base upon which a Bell & Howell sound projector could be mounted, and which was fitted with arms to hold extra feed and take-up reels. In use, the silent picture-film was threaded through the picture projection mechanism in the usual manner, and taken up on the auxiliary take-up. The sound track film was placed on the extra feed spindle and threaded past the sound aperture to the projector's regular takeup. If both were started at marked starting-points, both would naturally stay synchronized from start to finish. The sponsors of this system claimed, too, that sound for use with it could successfully be recorded and reproduced at the silent-picture speed of 16 frames per second instead of the usual 24-frame sound speed. While offhand it would seem that with the film moving at this slower speed there would be quite a loss in the high frequencies and hence in intelligibility and quality, there would certainly be a saving in film-footage which would be welcome to most homemovie makers. There would also be the advantage of being able to add sound to films shot at silent-picture speed without unnaturally speeding up the action as is the case when pictures shot at 16frame speed are projected at 24 frames. But regardless of what method of adding sound to your films you may choose, you'll get better results if you plan your films for sound beforehand, rather than shooting haphazardly and adding sound as an afterthought. Speaking generally, you'll find it a good idea to make your scenes a bit longer than you would for a silent picture, and also, to cover each place or action with especial thoroughness, getting plenty of different camera-angles for use in cutting. The reason for this is that shooting this way, you can be mote sure of having sufficient picture-footage of each place or action to synchronize well with the narration describing it. After all, if you're going to the trouble of sounding a picture, you don't want to have scenes FOOTAGE, SCREEN-TIME AND NARRATIVE WORDS 8mm. 1 2 3 6 12 25 33 50 128 ' 200 feet 16 2 I&mm speed feet 243 soeed feet Time Minutes Seconds 5 Maximum Number of Words 12 4 " 6 " 10 25 6 a 9 " L5 37 12 " 20 " 30 82 24 it 40 tt 1 00 164 50 " 77 " 2 05 325 66 " 100 " ■2 10 416 100 tt 150 tt 4 39 650 256 (t 385 " in 40 1603 400 tt 600 tt 16 47 2724 CAMERA SUPPLY COMPANY ART REEVES ISIS North Cahuenqa Boulevard Cable Address— Cameras HOLLYWOOD Cable Address— Cameras CALIFORNIA Efficient-Courteous Service New and Used Equipment Bought — Sold — Rented Everything Photographic Professional and Amateur FOR SPEED GRAPHIC OWNERS! . . . SUPER 8PEEDFLASH SHOTS— arc easy with SI3TOGUN, mad* »7 the makers of the famous Kalart Speed Flash and Range Finder. Write for Literature. Dept. XG-7. THE KALART COMPANY INC. Taft Bldg. Hollywood, Calif. 16MM. 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