Business screen magazine (1946)

BUSINESS SCREEN REVIEWS SPECIAL SERVICE FIELD: (CONTINUED mOM I'HKCKDING PACK I is too often expected ot ihem. Colorprinting, especially, is not a rase of "punch the middle button down — and the film comes out here." Color printing takes as much skill as thai of any cinematographer setting his lens diaphragm. It takes time, consideration— and lah men' are unanimous that good as iheir work now is — the more lime they have to push the "right button" — the right color or density filter — at the time, the more often the "perfect" print uill result. Lab Equipment Makers Contribute New Techniques ♦ W lull (jf llu inanulaclurci uIm supply the labs? One is pre-eminent and has been for decades, but all the labs seem to agree that none of the niaiinfaitnrers have an inferior ]iroduct ami some, by a spark of genius, gain a significant advantage, from time lo time, that can be exploited. While color seems lo be a predominant interest with many labs, black and while film is an important pari of their bread and butler. And the labs have not stood still in this respect. One big lab has doubled its capacity to haiKlle b/w in the past year, and has instituted 28 new improvements on its old melhodswhich were said to be leading the industry at the time. .'\ specialized reversal film operation has tripled its capacity and is bursting at tlir seams. New, faster slocks, higher developing leinperalures and spray processing for the sanu quality oulpiit have tremendously increased the labs' capacity for quick, quality TV service. What the b/w deparlmenis of many labs have accomplished is "Music Mall quality in one hour service." Another laboratory has specialized in improved printing of sound tracks, eliminating multi-generation techniques to provide electronic printing on prints for optical sound from magnetif' originals. Film Care & Treatment Now an Important Business ♦ To keep films in good condition, a big bu.siness has grown up in Progress During Year Noted treating them to pre\int damage from hard usage or (limate. And when valuable films do look worse for wear, other film laboratories are >cl up to put them bark into lop sliape again. Today's Music on Film Far Cry from Trite Past * A decade ago. business film? were notable for one defect — every time a eerlain type of sequence came on the screen vou could bet that the same musical background would be heard. People who saw a lot of films would somelinies go about whistling "The Waltz of the Grinding Machines" or "Jigs and Fixtures." Nobodv c'\cr heard IIh' tntiis anvuhere in Survey of National Sources else, but they got endless mileage in commercial films. Tho.<e davs. hajipily. have long departed. A million or more feel of new music on film is available to producers in 195 L and the art of scoring films has improved immeasurablv. 1 be modern business film will be scored so carefully that the music would seem to have been specificallv written for the film. Old methods of laving on music hellerskelter, almost in an "A & B roll" type of unrelated dissolves, has become more and more rare. New York is the headquarters for film music, and producers from all over the counlrv send in their films THe fIneSt CAPITAL FILM LABORATORIES, INC. Formerlu McGeary-Smith Laboratories. Incorporated 1905 Fairview Ave., N.E., Washington 2, D.C. printing Processing RCASound Editorial Sound Stage Lawrence 6-4634 III h I k to be scored. Some arrive with no olber instructions than just "Put some music on this;" others are sent with general instructions about what the producer thinks he wants; some are sent with very exact, scene by scene breakdowns of what seems to be required. It has not even been unknown for a producer lo get on the phone and explain what he wants in terms of hummed "Ta Ta Turns." However it comes in, the film is studied carefully by technicians who have grown up in the trade and have learned to avoid the slereolvpe. Many film music firms can arrange for the out-oftown producer not only music scoring, but can do a one-stop service in providing narration, sound effects and re-recording. Optical Effects. Film Art Make Specific Contributions ♦ A very imporlanl service to film producers are the firms which specialize in effects, animation, art, inserts and special |)hotographv. These range from small one-man operations doing just one phase of highlv specialized film work lo the large eflects companies with dozens of employees and enough equipment to tackle almost any kind of job. from a simple title lo ihoii'^ands of feet of full animation. The art, animation and effects companies are non-conqietitive to the producer, and in actuality, arc set up to operate as a department in the producer's own business. Whatever job there is to be done, there is some sort of service company to do it. One producer estimated, the other day, that if he bad to do the whole production, himself, he'd need another 50 people on his pavroll, and they couldn't do the job half as well as bis loyal and silent partners — the film service companies. |{' Inspect-O-Film Editor Checks Film Quality While Editing * Among llic new audio-visual machines unveiled at the rcc(>nt NAVA convention in ('bicago was a 16mm film editor wliicli ins|)ccts film quality while editing the strip. Inspect-O-Film Kdilor Model K, manufactured b\ llic llaruald ("o.. Inc.. Evanston. 111., is cquit)pcd to eliminate projet-tion failure caused In dcfi'ctive film and to simplify the checking of sound and visual conlinuitv while film is being etlitcd. The Model K is capable of foru:ird liliH >pii(is ranging from 36 feel per niimitc to 6(H) feet per minute. During the editing process, lilm can be moved either forward or backward. .'\ feed reel and lake 62 BUSINESS SCREEN M \ (; A Z I IN E