American cinematographer (June 1937)

June, 1937 • American Cinematographer 231 Completing arrangements for annual spring convention of Society of Motion Picture Engineers are William C. Kunzman, National Carbon sales manager, convention vice president, and Glenn E. Matthews, Eastman Kodak, technical editor and chairman papers committee. used in place of the older 80 ampere rotary spot, the MR Type 150 “Ul- tra H,I. Arc” in place of the 24" sun spot, and a new 65 ampere spotlight (MR Type 65) developed. The 36- inch sun arc is still used where a deep penetration of light is desired on particularly long throws or where a particularly sharp shadow is neces- sary. The MR Type 90 and the older 80 ampere rotary are of approximately the same size and weight, but the Type 90 at a beam spread of 40 de- grees delivers over three times the light of the 80 ampere rotary, and O NE of the highlights of the Con- vention of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers was the Tuesday evening session held at the Universal Studio for which Past President Ho- mer Tasker had enlisted the aid of vir- tually every studio department in an unusually complete demonstration of “How Motion Pictures Are Made.” The four hundred members and guests of the Convention assembled on the studio’s scoring stage which was actually in use at the time record- ing a pre-scored sound track for use on the morrow’s production. This at a beam spread of 16 degrees twelve times. Improvements in the laboratory processing of the film, details of which are outside the scope of this paper, have made it possible to reduce the light intensity on sets by as much as 40 per cent and to change the il- luminating technique from that of a more or less flat lighting with a uni- form overall light intensity to an ad- vanced color technique with widely varying levels. Because the lighting of a motion picture set is often a compromise between the cinematographer’s desire T note of legitimacy characterized the entire session. Following Studio Manager Val Paul’s official welcome. Associate Pro- ducer Robert Presnell outlined the problems of translating a story into celluloid entertainment. He empha- sized the difficulties of adapting stories to fit a program production budget, choosing writers, director, di- rector of photography and a cast, and yet remaining within the allotted ex- penditure. Next Bernard Brown, chief music and dubbing mixer, described how song for a given effect and the limitations of the equipment and process it is difficult to attempt to state the num- ber of lamps required for any given area. The table shows an estimate given by Ray Rennahan, chief cine- matographer, of the number and types of units he used to photograph the huge ballroom set of “Becky Sharp,” the first three-color Technicolor fea- ture. In comparison is Rennahan’s esti- mate of the lamp equipment which would be required for the same set under present conditions of lighting. The reduction from the original re- quirements is apparent. "=30 MR Tvpe 159S t40 MR Type 90S sequences are made by recording first the accompaniment, then the voice while the singer listens to the re- corded accompaniment through an ear-phone, and finally photographing the picture to a synchronized play- back of the music. To illustrate this Deanna Durbin actually recorded a song from “100 Men and a Girl,” sing- ing to an accompaniment she alone heard. Following this, members of the studio’s art department gave a dem- onstration of the making of set sketches and plans. Adjourning to a production stage, Joseph Pasternak, associate producer of “100 Men and a Girl,” substitut- ing for Director Henry Koster, dis- cussed the director’s duties, after Continued on Pape 2-39 Engineers See Picture Made Under Hand of Emcee Tasker