American cinematographer (Feb-Dec 1929)

August, 1929 American C i n e m a t o g r a p h e r Seventeen Wide /mage on Standard Film Hollywood Inventor Claims Method Devised Whereby Image Twice Present Width Can be Made on Standard Film and Projected through Standard Projector By Captain Ralph G. Fear President, Cinema Equipment Co., Hollywood (Wide film is an important factor in the picture world today, and several companies are experi \ menting with various methods. To date, the methods call for special equipment in theatres I ■ and elsewhere. Captain Fear claims only the addition of an optical unit to standard projector y) and camera is only requirement for his method. Due to the unusual claims by the inventor, we I have had Captain Fear write his own detailed description and account. — Editor's Note. | WITHOUT doubt, the present size image in the motion picture industry is going to be changed. For years the standard dimensions of the motion picture film has been % by 1 inch. This is projected on the screen through a machine which decreases the picture size to about 45/64 by 15/16 of an inch. It is then enlarged during projection. Since the advent of talking pictures the picture has been decreased in width until it is almost square. Due to this small image enormous light intensity is required under great amplification and film grain shows. A change is surely coming. The change will be for a larger image. An image that is much wider than the standard width of the present. There are many attempts being made, and wide pictures are going to be the rule of the future. I have devised a method which I feel is to be the outstanding one of the future. By my method I can produce a picture twice as wide as the present standard image, and can produce it on standard size film. In addition to making a picture on standard film twice as wide as the present one, the sound track on my method will be twice as long as that of the standard picture, and a stereoscopic illusion will be given that approximates the natural vision so nearly that the effect of realism is startling. But the outstanding feature of my method, in my opinion, is the fact that while it gives a picture twice as wide as the standard, and gives a sound track twice as long, it requires no new equipment either in the laboratory, theatre or studio. Only an optical unit and an alteration in gears and sprockets need be added to a standard camera to photograph the pictures, and only an optical unit plus a change of gears need be added to a standard projecting machine to make it possible to project the wide image. In this way an untold amount of money can be saved everyone connected with the making and showing of the pictures, for under the new methods advanced by others, every bit of equipment used from the making of the film to the showing of the finished picture would have to be changed and replaced, with a cost that conservatively would run into millions of dollars. With my system only a slight change is necessary in the camera and projector and the saving is apparent. By reason of this, producers can go into production almost immediately with my system, and will not have to wait months for new equipment. The chief points of my new method are as follows: 1. It gives larger picture on standard film. 2. Gives a more natural picture on the screen because it more nearly approaches the normal angles seen by the human eye. 3. Gives a wider sound track for recording sound photographically on film, which improves sound record. 4. Gives a sound track approximately twice as long as the present sound track, therefore giving greater sensitivity in recording, because with present light valves the sound record for each vibration is twice as long. 5. Broadens the sound recording scope by giving increased length for recording, thus allowing recording of twice the present frequencies now recorded. 6. Can be projected through standard projectors now in use. 7. Can be printed on standard printers. 8. Standard reels used, also standard developing machines, waxing machines, polishing machines, speed and footage indicators and standard camera magazines. 9. Can be projected in any theatre having present equipment when only a slight alteration is made to projector, and standard cameras can be used with slight alteration. 10. Does not require alteration of present sound equipment. 11. Eliminates so-called "grain" in film, and no trouble with curling, together with comparative freedom from scratches. 12. All of the equipment now in use in studios, laboratories and theatres can be used with only slight alterations to cameras and projectors. I have given the name "Fearless Super Pictures" to this new type of film, and predict that it will be one of the most revolutionary inventions of the decade. I get my wide image on standard size film simply by using an optical system in the camera which places the image lengthwise on the film instead of across as is the present system. In this way I can get the desired width without using a wider film as the optical system is arranged so that the picture is thrown on the film to the desired width. Another optical system on the projector projects the image on the screen normally and there is the wide image from the standard size film with no added expense of new equipment. The pictures are taken upon a standard motion picture film and are approximately .800 of an inch high and 1.813 inches long. The film track is approximately .200 of an inch wide and is on the edge of the film. The picture is photographed, either in a vertical plane by use of an optical system that turns the image through an arc of 90 degrees and places it parallel to the edge of the film, or it may be photographed directly upon the film without the use of the optical system. In the latter case the film runs horizontally past the aperture. I have applied for patents on all phases of this new method; the method of photography, the film with the combination of a sound track and rectangular picture with the top of the picture parallel with the edge of the film; for a camera suitable for photographing these pictures; for the method of turning the picture optically from a vertical to a horizontal position for projection; and on the combination of the optical system and projector necessary for turning the picture from the vertical to the horizontal (Continued on Page 44) □ □□□□□□□□□ □ D □□□□□□□□ □□□□□□□□□□ — — □ □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ Image as photographed on film.