American cinematographer (Oct 1933)

248 American Cinematographer • October 1933 ROY DAVIDCE FILM LABORATORIES Negative Developing and Daily Print Exclusively 6701 SANTA MONICA BLVD. GRanite 3108 ©DEVELOP YOUR OWN© FILMS AND TITLES EASILY—AT LOWEST COST PHILLIPS DEVELOPING RACK for 16mm. Film. Send for descriptive circu- lar showing how you can finish 100 ft. of film in a llxl 4-in. tray. Also a new 25-ft. rack for titles. PHILLIPS LABORATORY 653 Hillcrest Ave. Westfield, N. J. 30% to 60% Cash Savings on 16 mm. and 35 mm. cameras, projectors and accessories. Write for Bass Bargaingram. Specify size of apparatus interested in. For over 22 years Value Leaders of the nation. Your copy is ready. Write for it. BASS CAMERA COMPANY 179 W. Madison St., Chicago, III. HARRISON LIGHT FILTERS Distributed by CAMERA SUPPLY CO. 1515 Cahuenga Blvd. Phone CL-2404 Hollywood, Calif. Hal Rosson, A.S.C., Marries Jean Harlow Another cinematographer-star combin- ation has become a permanent institu- tion! Hal Rosson, A. S. C., who has photographed Jean Harlow in many of her recent productions, recently surprised his friends by an airplane elopement to Yuma, Arizona, where Miss Harlow be- came Mrs. Rosson. Returning to Holly- wood, they proceeded with the final scenes of “Bombshell,” Miss Harlow’s latest production, after whic hthey plan a honeymoon in Honolulu and on the other the rejected or “out” takes. One-half the exposure test strip is separately wrapped and put into the can with the film that is to go to the laboratory. The remaining part of the exposure test strip is put into cans with the “cut” takes. The operator who breaks down the film, wearing gloves so as to avoid mak- ing finger-prints, allows the film to pass between his fingers, stopping the re- winds whenever he comes to a notch be- tween takes. The film is broken be- tween the accepted and rejected takes, and each take is wound on its proper spool. No attempt is made to splice takes together in the break-down room. All film to be developed is spliced at the laboratory, where film to be processed is checked for any weakness or breaks and where any film weakened by notches is strengthened. Risks. — In breaking down the prede- veloped negative, there are the usual hazards incident to handling and process- ing film: (1) scratches and rubs, (2) static, (3) breaks in developing tanks due to faulty splices, (4) abrasions of sprocket holes and edges of film, (5) fog, and (6) dirt. Precautions. —The danger of scratch- ing and rubbing may be minimized by carefully handling the film and by taking care not to wind it too tightly. Static may be largely avoided by rewinding the film slowly. Little difficulty has been encountered in the form of splices break- ing in tanks. The possibility of abrading the film at the sprocket holes or at the edges has not proved to be great. If the darkroom is properly equipped, the danger of fogging is insignificant. Proper ventilation of the darkroom and careful handling of the film are necessary to avoid getting dirt on the film. Special care must always be taken in all phases of handling undeveloped film. A conscientious and painstaking operator, who will guard not only against the va- rious hazards, but who will also be me- ticulous about checking and rechecking film and reports, in order to send the proper takes to the laboratories, is, therefore, essential. Added Safety Factor. —Although cer- tain risks are involved, an important factor of safety is gained as the result of breaking down the negative before de- velopment. As was mentioned before, previously to the adoption of this sys- tem, all takes of scenes were sent to the laboratory at the same time for develop- ment. If a failure should occur in the laboratory, for example, and the nega- tive were stopped in the developer, all takes of a given scene might be dam- aged. If only one take of a scene is at the laboratory, only that one take can be damaged. Since usually two or more satisfactory takes are made of a scene, the good takes which have been held at the studio can be developed and printed, and iretakes avoided. This additional factor of safety ordinarily makes it un- necessary to use two recorder heads and to make duplicate sound records on loca- tion or at other places where the danger of damage during processing has to be specially guarded against. Storage of “Out” Takes. —Storage space for the undeveloped film must be provided and the film in the cans must be indexed so as to be readily available. The undeveloped film is ordinarily kept until the picture has been completely edited and shipped. Reversal and Use of Printing Stock.— When it has been determined that there will be no further call for the rejected, undeveloped takes, they are removed to a splicing room, which is lighted in the same manner as the positive darkroom. Here the notched portions, the identifca- tion marks, and the five feet of film preceding and following, that might pos- sibly have been fogged, are cut out. In practice, no take of less than forty feet in length is used. All the other takes are spliced together into continuous, 1000-foot rolls. The rolls are put into cans labeled according to the emulsion numbers on the film. The laboratory, using the portion of the film opposite the part that was originally exposed in recording, makes prints of daily rushes and prints for editing purposes on the reclaimed stock. This procedure was suggested by Mr. J. Wilkinson of RKO Studios. Splicing Precautions. —Special precau- tions must be taken in the splicing opera- tions. Here again, the skill and con- scientiousness of the film spliced are all- important. He must wear gloves at all times to prevent finger-prints and grease from getting on the film. The gloves must be changed frequently, as they be- come soiled or wear through from con- stant contact with the film. A carefully ground emulsion scraping blade must be used on the splicing machine. It must be set exactly in the scraper so that the olade thoroughly scrapes the emulsion from the portion of the film to be spliced and yet does not cut into and weaken the celluloid base. It must scrape cleanly and evenly. To do this effectively, it has been found that if the emulsion is scraped from the center outward in both directions, a better splice is made pos- sible than when the emulsion is scraped off in complete sweeps from side to side. Well prepared contact surfaces and a film cement of high quality assure the