American cinematographer (Feb-Dec 1922)

February 1, 1922 THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 7 oAllied Film Laboratories oAssociation Started Less Than a Year Ago It Has Weathered Severe Storms and Has Shown Motion Picture Trade That Organization Can do Much to Improve Laboratory Standards and Insure Best Quality Prints to the Screens of the Country Contributed by H. J. Yates, of Republic Laboratory, N. Y. JTS greatest single achievement is the perfection of laboratory standards so that the work of the great producer, director and artist is transferred from priceless negatives to quality prints without the loss of a single detail. And while this is important there is another important function of the Allied Laboratories and that is to embellish and enhance the work of the artist in transferring the negative to positive prints. In achieving this the new organization is not only serving the producer and distributor but greatly aiding the screens of the country, for, after all, the work of producer and artist will only attain its greatest eminence and bring added prosperity to the exhibitor when the prints, which represent the work of the producer and artist and which is the only means by which great work will be judged by the public, are standardized, of perfect quality and furnished to the theatres on schedule time. History of Organization The advent of the Allied Film Laboratories Association was but the logical development in the laboratory field. The idea when first suggested was immediately accepted on the general and very sound principle that organization is a benefit to every industry. There were a group of energetic leaders who grasped the situation and by incessant labor started the organization. The greatest impetus was given to the movement last Summer and Fall when issues arose that vitally concerned the independent laboratories. The need for a strong organization was then emphasized and the association functioned perfectly and the acute situation was met and after careful consideration first by committees and then by the whole organization was settled. The members of the association decided that it would be to their best advantage, and to the advantage of the industry they were serving, if a strong stand for American-made raw film stock was taken. They took that stand. There is no question that the possibility of laboratories built by foreign capital and using foreign made stock appealed strongly to the association and that in handling the situation as they did they forestalled a serious threat to the very existence of American laboratories. Need of Standardization In every technical industry there is need of uniform standards. The development and printing of motion pictures is both an art and science. Only by standardizing the technique and perfecting it are the best results obtainable. While each laboratory member of the association vies with the other and competition is keen on quality and service among all the members each laboratory specializes in its own way while the general needs and mutual benefits of the laboratory business are looked after, as in all co-operative organizations, by the Association. The Allied Film Laboratories Association is not a combination of laboratories but rather it is a society of laboratories with but one object in mind, the betterment of the laboratory industry and the improvement of service to the industry. Today the finest and costliest equipment obtainable is in operation at the laboratories of the association. The technical machinery comes from all parts of the world — wherever an improvement has been made. European laboratories are not to be compared to the American institutions. In the first place Europe does not have the quantity of films to develop and print. There are 18,000 theatres in America and the laboratories of the country have a much greater demand than do the European laboratories. Requirements, too, are higher in this country. Theatregoers in America are accustomed to the best pictures obtainable. The screen, as an institution, is older in America than elsewhere and its votaries are Editor The American Cinematographer — Herewith find $3.1 0 to pay for one year's subscription to The American Cinematographer. The extra ten cents is to pay for postage and packing on a replica of Rummydum, the God of Successful Days, which you promise to send at once to Name Address Place State v