The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

134 CINE TECHNICIAN September 1956 A Technician's Notebook MORE WIDE SCREEN SYSTEMS WIDE screen and big negative systems continue to be announced. Here are some details about some of the most recent ones. Joseph and Irving Tushinsky, responsible some while back for a variable anamorphic projection lens, are also the inventors and developers of the Superscope process. They have announced the perfection of the new Superscope 235 process, with a screen aspect ration of 2.35 to 1 against 2 to 1 of the original Superscope. Superscope is photographed on 35mm. negative with standard camera equipment and according to its inventors retains the advantages of conventional 35mm. production practices, including normal exposure and depth of focus, in addition, there is no " fall off " at the sides when the anamorphic print is unsqueezed in projection. The Tushinskys have proceeded on the premise that the most advantageous location of the anamorphic optical system was in the laboratory for processing of release prints; and that the camera should not be burdened by the addition of a "squeeze" lens to add to production problems. The system uses standard Mitchell Camera, with gate aperture which should be .980" wide and at least .650" high. The picture is composed in an area .940" x .440". After the regulation 35mm. negative is processed and edited the anamorphic treatment of release prints is accomplished in the laboratory by means of a series of spectral lenses developed by the Tushinskys and fitted to the printer. It is claimed that colour negatives using the Technicolor dye transfer method for release prints maintain the quality of the original at no additional cost over standard prints. The producer using Superscope pays a license and service fee of one dollar a cut foot of negative. Say about $9,000 for a production. Standard aperture release prints for normal projection can also be made from the negatives shot by this method. M.G.M. has filmed $5,000,000 production Raintree Country, with Dmytryk directing and Surtees photographing, in its own new 65mm. system. A negative photographed in 65mm. can supply prints for roadshowing in a 3 to 1 ratio filling the largest screens in use today. Same negative can supply prints in 2.55 to 1, 2 to 1, 1.85 to 1, and standard screen ratios. By A. E. JEAKINS M.G.M. Camera 65, as the system has been named, is the result of years of study and experiment stemming from the studio's first use of wide film 26 years ago in Billy the Kid. The research programme was directed by Douglas Shearer and John Arnold. Optical equipment was produced by Panavision Ltd. The following information on new developments is reproduced from The International Photographer. After two years of research and development by engineers of Republic Pictures and Consolidated Film Industries, Republic is introducing its own anamorphic wide screen process under the trade name of Naturama. Prints shot in the system will have an optical sound track only, with aspect ratio of 2.35 to one. Prints will be made available also to theatres without wide screen projection lenses in the 1.85 to one size. After a year of intensive study of every anamorphic system in use or in stages of development. Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic, ordered specially designed lenses made according to specifications of the studio's engineering department. These lenses were fabricated by one of the optical manufacturers in France. After months of revision of the original and subsequent lenses, Republic engineers developed a small and compact anamorphic camera lens which can be used with the standard Mitchell camera. Preliminary tests indicated greatly improved resolution and definition. The Naturama system originally was designed around an adaptor type device. A separate anamorphotic lens was used with the standard Mitchell camera lenses. Subsequently studio engineering department designed an adaptor attachment which controls the simultaneous focusing of both the anamorphotic and the Mitchell camera lenses. This type of control device was not attempted or perfected by any of the other studios in adding anamorphic lenses to existing cameras it is claimed. Initial picture to be produced by Republic in Naturama is The Maverick Queen. U.K. & U.S.S.R. Should Exchange Films Film exchanges between Britain and the U.S.S.R. should these days be considered in the context cf trade as well as of culture, A.C.T.T.'s representative on the British-Soviet Friendship Society, Christopher Brunei. told the Society's last council meeting. After outlining the possibilities of developing the showing of Soviet films in our commercial cinemas, he stressed that the reciprocal exchange of pictures was an essential of A.C.T.T.'s policy in the matter. He suggested two main ways to extend trade in films: 1. The export of Technicolor copies of British films — the Technicolor process being ideal for maintaining quality with the very large number of copies required for release m the U.S.S.R. 2. The dubbing of Soviet pictures into English, which would give work to British film employees.