American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1945)

MAKING THE MOST OF THE FILM SITUATION By JAMES R. OSWALD CRITICAL film shortages have played havoc with picture taking plans this summer, but the movie maker who can content himself with black and white filming for awhile, and whose camera isn’t of the magazine load¬ ing type, will find solace in the fact that there is a reasonable substitute for the popular reversal films which have prac¬ tically disappeared from the market, providing he is willing to forgo the ad¬ vantages of daylight loading stock in favor of buying his film in bulk. No, I’m not daydreaming when I say that dealers’ shelves are literally stocked to the hilt with this film, and further¬ more I’m not having hallucinations when I tell you that you will experience the greatest economy in movie making you have ever encountered . . . 16mm. film¬ ing at less than two cents a foot. This may all sound like a bit of soap box oratory, but here are the facts: Professionals and advanced amateurs are already familiar with positive film . . . its use in the motion picture labora¬ tory ... its title making aspects. But for those who are not so well acquainted with its characteristics let’s elaborate a little on the subject. The positive emulsion, so called be¬ cause its primary use is for making positive projection prints from master negatives on a motion picture printer, is of extremely high contrast, which brings to light why it lends itself so well to title making. The film is usually developed in much the same way as a regular film negative, the black portions of the original, or of the title, becoming white, and vice versa. This further ex¬ plains why amateurs have come to ap¬ preciate its value towards making their own titles . . . titles made with the ease All photos on this page are actual frame enlarge¬ ments from 16mm positive film developed by the reversal method. Positive film has furnished a rea¬ sonable solution of the film situation for Mr. Oswald during the war, and he recommends its use by others until such time as film situation gets back to normal. of black ink result on the screen in clear white letters with a crisp black back¬ ground. Wanting to explore the possibilities of regular movie making with positive film, developed by the customary reversal method, I set out to conduct a few ex¬ periments along this line, to see what the results would be. Since that time, practically all my black and white film¬ ing has been done on positive film, which, indeed, was the solution to my film problem last year. For those who wish to do a little ex¬ perimenting of their own, I am happy to pass along this information which may prove helpful to interested readers. Positive film comes spooled on a core, not on a reel, and must be handled in the darkroom, under a red safelight. it costs approximately one dollar per hun¬ dred feet in 16mm. size, but this does not include developing. In the darkroom, the film is spooled on a discarded cam¬ era or projector reel, emulsion or dull side in. Thence 'it is threaded in the camera in the conventional manner. Since there is no allowance made for leaders, the entire film is coated with picture taking emulsion, so no footage need to run off to get to the “starting point,” as is usually done in the case of regular reversal film. Upon completion of the reel, the film is unloaded, under the red safelight of the darkroom, where it is carefully sealed against the light, packed, and forwarded to one of a number of inde¬ pendent film processing laboratories, specifying development by the reversal method. Developing charges range from 85 cents to $1.25 per hundred feet, 16mm. It is not the writers intention to “glam¬ orize” positive film as being equal to, or greater than, the familiar reversal types. As a substitute, however, the ac¬ companying frame enlargements speak for themselves. When purchasing posi¬ tive film, simply ask for 8 or 16mm. positive, as the case may be, and open the way to continued movie making. As to exposure, it compares favorably well with orthochromatic type films, and is suitable for outdoor filming. 310 September, 1945 • American Cinematographer