The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

October 1956 CINE TECHNICIAN 157 TV PRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS DANCE Guest of Honour at the Guild of Television Producers and Directors' Ball at the Savoy Hotel will be the Right Honourable Hugh Gaitskill. Among the other guests will be Gilbert Harding and Richard "stinker" Murdoch, who is also compering the glittering top-line cabaret which will include Vera Lynn, Lester Ferguson, Naugton and Gold, George Benson, Sally Ann Howes and Shirley Bassey. The ball, which will be held on Monday, October 29th, promises to be one of the outstanding events of the television year. Highlight will be the presentation by Dame Edith Evans of the Guild's awards for the best television contributions of the year. There will be dinner at 7.30 and dancing until 2 a.m. The profits will go to the National Television Fund, which exists to provide television sets to the sick and aged. Tickets — 3 guineas per person— are available from The Guild of Television Producers, 27 Carlton Vale, N.W.6, or The Secretary, National Television Fund, 12 Whitehall, London, S.W.I. VIVIAN MILROY. TECHNICAL NOTE Ansco have produced a 16mm. reversal colour film with a speed rating of 32 A.S.A. With special processing provided by Ansco the film can be rated at 125 A.S.A. In a recent issue of American Cinematographer an article by Jim Mitchell describes how this film was used in the production of an industrial, for which all the shooting had to be done by available light at an Industrial Tooling exhibition. The camera used was a Bell & Howell 70-DL with the new B. & H. f/.95 lens. Exposures were determined by a Norwood meter. The author says though there was some graininess in the film (under the circumstances not objectionable) the colour was exceptionally good. The latitude of the Ansco stock gave good rendition where the lighting ratios were as high as 6/1 or 7/1. E. A. JEAKINS. General Council in Session TV BRANCH FORMED At its October meeting the Council unanimously agreed to the proposals of the TV Producer/ Directors' Section that a Television Branch of the Union be set up under a constitution similar to that of the Feature Film Production Branch; the by-laws, which the Council approved, set out that the membership of the Branch be comprised of all fully-paid up A.C.T.T. members " who are normally employed on Television." One of the first jobs of the Branch would be to put forward to the Executive its ideas on a recruitment campaign in TV. Meanwhile the Laboratory Committee of A.C.T.T. would be discussing the request of the TV Producer/ Directors' Section that consideration be given to the possibility of asking lab members to " black " films shot for TV by non-members. GEORGE ELVIN. Best wishes for a speedy recovery were sent from the Council to the General Secretary in hospital, and the Council heard of the steps already taken by the Finance and General Purposes Committee to express to him the Association's feelings. The appointment of Bert Craik at Acting General Secretary was confirmed. OLYMPIC WEEK-END WORK. Bessie Bond gave an emergency report on negotiations with the Olympic Kine Lab management over week-end processing of a BBC television sports programme; the Council was very disturbed at how far short of the week-end TV processing agreement with Kay Labs were the proposals of Olympic, and decided to refer the matter back to the Lab Negotiating Committee. The company's threat of redundancies caused great concern at the meeting and it was agreed that the Union's negotiators should strongly press Olympic to withdraw their redundancy threats during negotiation. FOREIGN TECHNICIANS. Arising from the minutes of the September meeting (see September CINE TECHNICIAN, p. 140), it was reported that the Minister of Labour had not agreed to meet our proposed deputation, but suggested that the deputation should see a member of his Ministry; A.C.T.T. agreed to this as a first step and elected the following to represent us: The Hon. Anthony Asquith, Bert Craik, Sid Cole, Charles Wheeler, Bob Dunbar, Desmond Davis, Derek Twist and Ivor Montagu. " BUNNY " GARNER, the Employment Officer, attended the meeting and reported that 99 members were registered on his books as unemployed, as compared with 37 this time last year; he had filled forty-four vacancies during September. After discussing the redundancies at Technicolor and Associated Rediffusion and the efforts to find employment for these members, it was agreed to give wider publicity to the services of the Union's Employment Bureau. CELEBRITY CONCERT IN AID OF BENEVOLENT FUND. The Executive considered a proposal that a Celebrity Concert should be organised in aid of the Benevolent Fund in connection with which a member would be able to lay on certain artistes. It was agreed that a Sub-Committee, composed of Fred Swann, Frank Fuller and an Organiser, should meet the member for further information. HUMPHRIES LABS, DERMATITIS. A member, who had contracted dermatitis while employed at Humphries, had been sacked, whereupon the following resolution was carried: " This mass meeting of A.C.T.T. members at George Humphries unanimously agreed that members who contract Dermatitis shall be assured of employment at Humphries Labs and, should medical advice be contrary to this view, compensation in the form of life pension should be given ". The Executive agreed that an Organiser should see the Management together with the Shop Steward to make further representations that the man concerned (Continued on next page)