The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

72 The journal of the Association of CineTechnicians Dec, 1936-jan., 1937 market. Americans kind to meritorious features, somewhat harsh with second or as they call it, Class B product. Fair enough. By and large, definitely a year of progress. Bernard Knowles. TELEVISION MAKE.S ITS DEBUT As Television has now made its public debut, after a long round-the-corner period, all that remains is to explain exactly what is required in the new industry. It is claimed that Television introduces a new technique. This .statement seems to me "highly imaginative." As a fact, the method used in Television is that which was employed in the early talkies, especially the musicals. You have long shots, mid-shots and close-ups, as before ; the same lighting has to make do for the lot. What makes it more difficult still, there is no chance for a "retake" in Television. That factor makes Television a more etxacting job than the talkie. For that reason it is essential that, to obtain the most effective results for television fans, only first-class technicians who have had experience in film technique should be employed. As to what will be the future of Television, in a serious journal like this, I know tipsters are barred. But I can foresee, when the novelty of "seeing by radio" is worn off, that a still more exacting standard of entertainment value will be demanded. It is up to the B.B.C. to see that a higher grade of production, using film as a medium, is followed — specially written scripts, expert camera set-ups and editing that expresses the highest possibilities of television. Its immense possibilities are such that it ought to command the services of every grade of worker in the Film Industry. Alan Lawson. THE MIXTURE AS BEFORE There has been nothing very progressive in the English film-music of 1936. Opera lovers who hoped for great developments to follow the success of "One Night of Love" have been disappointed, as producers seem satisfied to reproduce — "the mixture as before." The Tauber musicals made by Capitol have content of merit, as was to be expected, the star being an expert musician as well as a fine singer. Gaumont-British have shown Jessie Matthews in "It's Love Again," a first-class light musical and A.T.P. have marketed a successful Oracle Fields back-stage story, "Queen of Hearts." There have been notable attempts to use background and atmospheric music by English symphonic composers, but there is an intrinsic difference between the development of a symphony and that of a film, and the gulf has not yet been bridged. A bold attempt was made by Basil Dean to popularise the mighty Mozart in "Whom The Gods Love." High hopes were raised by the i)reliminary publicity of "The Robber Symphony," but it turned out not to be a symphony at all, but just a collection of simple and engaging tunes. An example from Holland of good symplionic "atmospheric" music was "Dood Water," the Dutch Zuyder Zee picture, recorded by Mengelberg, with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Technically, the most interesting things that have come under my observation are two R.C.A. improvements in the recording system. The first is the use of the ultra-violet ray in the sound-camera, thereby securing greater clarity of definition in the sound track with corresponding improvement in the laboratory results, especially in high frequencies. The second is the "Push-pull" system of modulation which, though unavailable for cinema projection owing to the double scansion necessary, is invaluable in the studio because of its faculty of eliminating background amplification when mixing tracks. Ernest Irving. COLOUR CONSOLIDATES ITS POSITION In so far as the colour film is concerned, the past year has not been remarkable for any outstanding technical advance ; it has been characterised rather by a consolidation of the position so far reached. Thus Technicolor have spent the last twelve months completing their elaborate plant on the Great West Road, which should be ready for processing films early in 1937. The first feature film to be made in Technicolor in British Studios has been completed at Denham. Gasparcolor have continued their production of advertising lilms, in which class of film they have indisputably opened up new territory ; while the general quality of their product has shown steady improvement. Next year we sliall see what this process can accomplish in studio production. D. C. DICKINSON CAMERAMAN AVAILABLE FROM JANUARY 1ST, 1937