British Kinematography (1951)

March, 1951 PRODUCING FILMS FOR 16 MM. RELEASE 07 Mr. Riley suggested that part of the fault in sound quality lay in the diction of artistes. Mr. Cricks agreed with this point, and objected to the [use of background music ; it was undesirable on 35 mm. and far worse on 16 mm. I Mr. Leevers agreed that it needed extraordinary |skill to add background music to 16 mm. Mr. iHissey suggested that the director should hear, Ifor comparison, 35 mm. and 16 mm. reproductions, since the average reproduction quality of 16 mm. equipment was far below that of 35 mm. jMr. Matt Raymond claimed that a very large (percentage of 16 mm. projectors gave reproduction quality up to 35 mm. standards. tMr. Leevers described the method he used to ;nable the director to hear the effect of his recordng. The original material was recorded upon a magnetic tape, which was played over before transferring. In almost every case the director [would approve unsuitable material because he could not visualise the effects of further processing, of transfer to 16 mm. and reproduction on 16 mm. equipment. The skill and experience of the recording engineer must be the guiding factor. ,The use of magnetic recording in this matter gave (the added advantage that a decision as to whether it should be transferred to 35 mm. or 16 mm., or [both, could be deferred to the last moment. Mr. Bland, while approving this method, objected that often a director would over-ride the views of the recordist and later express dissatisfaction at the resultant quality. Mr. Leevers thought that the professional director was not often an offender in this respect. The real offenders were amateurs and semi-professionals, who often ignored the advice of the recordist and yet had insufficient experience to judge matters for themselves. Mr. Chase enquired whether a certain voice might be unsuitable for recording, due to its extending above a certain frequency. Mr. Bland suggested that a more serious problem was the use of dialect speakers whose speech would be incomprehensible to two-thirds of the people in the country. Another requirement was that people should speak out. He did not think that a high frequency range had much effect upon quality, although he had experienced trouble with excessively bass voices. In feature productions there was a tendency for artistes to whisper : this was even worse in the case of documentaries, where often there was not the advantage of synchronous lip movement to assist comprehension of dialogue. He urged that some standard of recording quality should be set up for 16 mm. Mr. Smith stressed that for 16 mm. recording artistes must speak more clearly and more slowly. TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS Most of the periodicals here abstracted may be seen in the Society's Library FIFTY YEARS OF KINEMA I. Landau, L. Lobel, G. Mareschal. H. Piraux, G. Lechesne, A. Bruyneel, A. O. Guibcrt and R. Barkan, Tech. Cine, July/ Aug. 1950. A survey of technical developments in the French industry, covering studio, laboratory and kinema. R. H. C STRESS RESEARCHES ON PERFORATIONS H. Voigt, Foto-Kino-Technik, Aug. 1950, p. 243. Stress patterns in a model of a film perforation are used to assess the stress upon the perforation edge caused by different forms of sprocket teeth. R. H. C. A REFLEX 35mm. MAGAZINE MOTION PICTURE CAMERA A. Coutant and J. Mathot, /. Soc. Mot. Pic. & Tel. Eng., Aug. 1950, p. 173. A detailed description of the Camerette reflex camera (formerly known as the " Cameflex " — see this journal, 14, No. 6, June 1949, p. 178). DESIGNING ENGINE GENERATOR EQUIPMENT FOR MOTION PICTURE LOCATIONS M. A. Hawkins and Peter Mole, /. Soc. Mot. Pic. & Tel. Eng., Aug. 1950, p. 197. Engineering factors involved in the design and construction of portable lighting generators are evaluated. A 120 v. D.C. generator with a two-wire output of 750 amps, to 1,400 amps, will satisfy most load requirements. For special cases and colour work, larger loads up to 2,500 amps, may be required, and if supplied from a single generator unit, 3-wire system is preferable. Prime mover may be petrol or diesel engine. Requirements of noise control, portability, ripple voltage, protective devices and maintenance are described. Details are given of a 150 kW power unit contained in a portable cubicle, suitable for leading en a truck cr trailer. B. H,