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MOTION PICTURE SOUND RECORDING BY FOX FILM CO.
E. H. Hansen*
The Fox Movietone system differs from other types of film recording in the translating device of the amplified sound currents. The Movietone method utilizes a slit of constant width and a varying light intensity known as the Aeolight.
This Aeolight was developed by Theodore W. Case, and is a gaseous discharge tube which varies its illumination in accordance with the impressed speech currents. In the use of the light valve, which may be termed an electro-mechanical translator, it is possible to provide for certain deficiencies by the tuning of this element. With the Aeolight it is necessary that all equalization be provided in the electrical circuits.
Fig. 1 is a photograph of the Aeolight.
The Aeolights are tested for the purpose of determining the intensity of light with a known standard so that uniformity of exposure may be accomplished, and the modulation capacity or overload and extinguishing limits established.
In Movietone recording the Aeolight is not focused upon the recording film but rather a portion of its illumination is permitted to pass through a quartz slit, which is in contact with the film. This slit and the attendant Aeoligh holder are shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a quartz base .2 of an inch square by 20 mills thick, upon which is placed a silver coating. This silver coating is then engraved to the desired slit width and length, usually 0.01 by .0008 inches, and is then covered with a quartz glass, the thickness of which is 1 mill at a point opposite the slit. The slit is then mounted on a floating metal shoe and is a part of the Aeolight tube holder, which is inserted in the sound camera in such a manner that contact is made with the recording film at a pre-determined point on the sound camera sprocket.
The sound camera consists of a light, tight box, with grooves
^Operating Head of Movietone Division, Fox Studios.
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