The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 52 The Educational Screen Film Mutilation and Insurance Protection WE CONGRATULATE the Screen on Publish- ing Dr. H. A. Gray's article "The Matter of Film Insurance."* We need more such ex- changes of ideas on the part of those who really set the stage for the use of slides and films in the classrooms. Film mutilation is not the subject of distress it was formerly to us. ^Ve began our crusade against mutila- tion by making it unprofitable to the mutilators. Care- ful inspection of slides and films coupled with a carefully kept record of the physical condition of each slide and print made it possible for the Inspection Section of the Exchange to definitely place the blame for each mutila- tion. The mutilator was assessed a charge based on footage—replacement cost. He was given a month in which to pay the charge or suffer discontinuation of all service from the Exchange. The next step was to soften the blow without easing the relentlessness. This was accomplished by develop- ing our insurance plan mentioned by Dr. Gray. And this plan works. It not only works, but our thousands of users like it. We created and announced this plan in June 1937. The first year we charged a fee of three dollars, payable before bookings were permitted. This protected the participant up to $50. Whenever a mutilation occurred the cost of replacement was established; a statement of the cost sent to the oflfender together with a statement of the status of his account which showed how much of his insurance protection, if any, remained. Most mutilations were valued under five dollars, and the first year only ten units out of the vast number of users went over the $50, and, therefore had to make a cash settle- ment. So good was the first year's balance that the Exchange was able to declare a dividend of $1 to each account. This put the fee for old u.sers down to $2 for the ensuing school year. Newcomers continued to pay the basic or initial fee of $3. Because it was impossible for the Exchange to place responsibility for damages done by an individual school within a city or county system, if the city or county booked as a unit, the Exchange ruled that the three dollar fee and fifty dollar protection applied to the entire booking unit irrespective of its size; therefore Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Akron and others, which book as units, can only buy $50 protection for the en- tire system. If the individual schools book separately then each school becomes a unit and can buy $50 pro- tection. No unit may buy over $50 protection. The Exchange also ruled that a school is a single building no matter whether or not there operates in said building both a grade and high school. The quota for booking is based on the enrollment of the unit. The Exchange was able to take care of all damage situations under the plans described except that muti- lation known as "scratching" run-ofifs and torn sprockets seldom continue throughout an entire reel and a few dollars spent for new footage will usually repair the film. But scratches usually go through the entire reel or even a whole series of reels. There was no way of meeting this situation except to completely replace the ♦The Educational Screen, June 1942, p. 221. B. A. AUGHINBAUGH Director, Slide & Film Exchange Ohio State Department of Education reel—a costly matter to either mutilator or Exchange. Then the next step was taken. The Exchange set up a cost schedule covering scratching. This schedule called for a damage assessment (against the S50 pro- tection) of $10 on reels valued up to $25. C)n reels going to $50 the assessment was placed at SIS and over that $20. Charges were assessed right and left, and when the school year ended about ever\- user had one or more assessments; some barely escaped going over the $50 limit; several cities did go over, and a few went as high as $300. One city became such an offender that the Exchange withdrew service to it. But no one complained. The Exchange's rulings were always fair, honest, and lenient. Above all the Exchange did every- thing possible to please its clientele. But these charges shot the next year's assessment now to $6 ($3 for the basic fee plus $3 for the share of the damage total). And then amid the storm appeared the rainbow. A successful process for removing scratches—not merely for protecting against scratches—was developed. There are several similar processes but Eastman Kodak sug- gests placing the film for 10 minutes in Kodak D-72 diluted with 1 :1 water followed by a minute wash and then immersion in a 1 :8 dilution of Kodak F-5-.\ or Kodak Liquid Hardener and a 10 minute wash. This process swells the gelatine of the film, closing the scratch. We can report that the treatment is not only successful but can be repeated as frequently as neces- sary. There are firms making a business of removing scratches from both positives and negatives. Tlie cost on positives runs around $3 for 400 foot 16mm reels. Most scratching we believe is not done by dirt so much as it is done by the development of microscopic rough spots in the aperture plates or gate shoes. These spots may be either due to corrosion from moisture or a wearing away of the plating. Makers of projectors should not sacrifice this plating—it should be good or it will later cause the owner much costly damage by scratching film. The owner of a projector should fre- quently carefully examine the aperture plate and gate shoes using a microscope. If there are pits or worn spots in evidence he should run through a piece of un- scratched film as a test. Most scratching is not on the dull or emulsidu side as might be expected but it is on the glossy side of the film—the part that touches the gate. Most operators clean the aperture but overlook the gate. To see scratches on a film do not try to look through it but hokl it so that the light from a lamp or window strikes it at an angle—then look doivn on the film. When scratches are new, or are printed into a positive from the negative, they appear on the .screen as white streaks. Always examine new prints sent you by the laboratory to see that they do not contain negative-made scratch marks or scratches produced on a printer. When scratches become filled with oil and dirt they show as black streaks on the screen.