The art of sound pictures (1930)

250 THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES a very difficult and commercially impracticable process. But the results which it obtains are beautiful. Theoretically, this is a process which gives perfect reproduction of natural colors, and, as a matter of fact, a very short length of motion picture in perfect color can thus be shown under exact laboratory conditions. But of course the moment the slightest lack of synchronization creeps in, the whole thing is blurred. A slight shrinkage in one of the differently colored films, or a tiny lack of adjustment in the prism or lens, will throw the whole thing out of adjustment, and the picture is ruined. Multiple Image Process Another method which has recently been improved by an English inventor is that of taking three tiny pictures in three different colors on the same frame of a motion picture film. This is accomplished by using reducing lenses which take each picture in miniature, so that it occupies only about one-fourth of the frame. Prisms are then interposed in such a way that each picture is placed separately in its own position within the frame. This adjustment must be very exact, so that the tiny pictures fit together neatly within the frame without any overlap. We then have the ordinary number of frames on a film, each frame carrying three tiny pictures, each picture with different latent color values. In projecting this type of film record, a correspondingly elaborate set of lenses and prisms must be used. The color results of this process are not quite so clear or beautiful as those obtained by the multiple film method just mentioned. Because of the small size of the pictures, there is less definition or sharp>ness of outline, and many of the details of the picture.