The American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

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The factors that affect the quality and the cost of your release prints. TThe basic stages are essentially the same in all A 35mm B&W motion picture production: expose camera stock, process it, print a working copy, edit, conform, make the first intermediate negatives and/ or masters, make a first trial print, and finally the release prints. There are, however, some choices that can be made within these stages. During the shooting of a production, a record of all takes is noted on the camera log (or scene-andtake sheets), with notations to print or not to print the various takes. Following the processing of the negative, the laboratory follows these instructions and removes the unwanted takes before printing. Obviously, this serves two purposes: it saves money and it is a first step in the process of editing the film, since it eliminates unwanted material from the footage that is to be handled by the editor. After the unwanted takes are removed by the laboratory and the remaining negative footage is spliced, the dailies are printed. Although there is occasional demand for one-light dailies, the normal requirement is for timed dailies which enables the producer to estimate his eventual release print qual¬ ity while screening the daily footage. Ultimately the dailies are edited and strung to¬ gether to form what is known as the workprint. Sometimes a producer will require an additional copy of the workprint so that the sound recording department and the film editor can work on the picture simultaneously. In such instances, the usual practice is to make a temporary dupe negative from the edited workprint and a temporary positive print from the temporary dupe. While it is true that an¬ other set of dailies can be made from the camera negative, this is inadvisable because it would subject the negative to additional and unnecessary handling, and it would also involve the additional work of conforming the second set of dailies to the first workprint. In the matter of release prints, there are two choices available to the producer, and the choice he makes will partially determine the other laboratory services. His prints may be made directly from the edited camera negative or from a dupe negative. The printing choice may involve both 35mm and 16mm, the latter being provided by reduction print¬ ing from the edited camera negative, or by contact printing from a 16mm dupe negative — with the dupe reduction printed from a 35mm master positive. The factors involved in making the choice be¬ tween printing from camera negative or dupe nega¬ tive include print image quality and price and size of the print order — the latter considered in relation to the life expectancy of the printing negative. Here the question naturally arises: “Just what is the life expectancy of an edited 35mm negative?*’ Each passage of the negative through the printer may result in scratching or other damage to the film. This can happen even where the laboratory has the most modern machinery plus the latest mechani¬ cal and electronic safeguards, and strict standards governing the handling of customers’ film in the print. A continuous movement printer is gentler with film than a step-printer, which is the type printer used in reduction-printing. But any printing opera¬ tion has some element of hazard. In the production of 35mm release prints on a continuous printer, the number of acceptable quality prints made from a 35mm edited camera negative has run up over six hundred, but the normal run of quality prints is closer to two hundred. In making individual 16mm reduction prints, the average is around one hunderd quality prints, although there are instances where much higher totals have been achieved. The price advantage is with the 16mm contact print from a 16mm dupe negative reduction-printed from the 35mm master positive. This is because the 16mm dupe negative is fully timed, has all the necessary effects incorporated — making it possible 24 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, JANUARY, 1963