The Film Daily (1930)

THE Tuesday, October 21, 1930 11 First Day's Activities of S. M. P. E. Meet CRABTREE RE-ELECTED IT OF 8. M. P. E. (Continued from page 1) j bon Co.; F. C. Badgley, Canadian j Gov. M. P. Bureau; M. ,W. Palmer, i Paramount; J. A. Dubray, Bell & Howell; Peter Mole, Mole-Richardson; Simon Rowson, Ideal Films, London; K. C. P. Hickman, Eastman Kodak; E. I. Sponable, Fox Films; L. C. Porter, General Electric; D. Mackenzie, Electrical Research Products. The first-two named are new members. Opening the convention was an address of welcome by Major Edward Bowes, who declared that the society deserves more recognition than it has been given. President Crabtree responded and said that he believes the East is becoming increasingly important from the standpoint of picture production. He said that the society intends to inaugurate courses in motion picture science in universities. Kunzman reported for the convention committee, explaining details of the arrangements made. Secretary Kurlander, in his report, stated that the society now has 756 members, as follows: honorary members, eight; active, 371; associate 377. Total of 199 new members were added to the roster during the past year, Kurlander said. Hubbard, in submitting the treasurer's report, stated that the cash balance in the treasury is $32,263.45. The following tellers were appointed in connection with the election, balloting in which had previously been conducted through mailed ballots: Dr. R. P. Schwartz, James Frank, Jr., and John D. Elms. "Meeting Sound Film Competition Abroad" was the subject of C. J. North and N. D. Golden of the M. P. Division of the Dept. of Commerce. F. S. Irby, associate editor of "Electronics," discussed "International Re lations in the Sound Picture Field." "Removing the Fire Hazard from the Handling and Storage of Film in Laboratories" was the topic of R, C. Hubbard of Consolidated Film Industries. The afternoon session began at 2.30. After a discussion of wide film L. A. Jones reported in behalf of the Journal committee. L. M. Townsend, chairman of the projection committee, in reporting for that body, said that 600 projectionists were registered at the RCA projection school. He said plans are being drafted by the committee for a model projection room which includes sound apparatus. "Principles and Processes of Photography in Natural Colors" was discussed by G. E. Matthews of Eastman Kodak and the theme, "Three Color Subtractive Cinematography," was treated by Palmer Miller of Brewster Color Co. "Scenarios for Sound Pictures" was the topic of James McGuiness. Color films made via the Harriscolor, Colorcraft, Multicolor, Photocolor and Sennettcolor processes were shown. Nearly 200 registered at the convention the first day with total attendance adding approximately 100 to the gathering. Last night several talking pictures were screened. One-Third Wired About one-third of the picture theaters in the world were equipped with tither synchronous or non-synchronous reproducing devices by September, 1930. according to the progress committee of the S. M. P. E., which reported through its chairman, Glenn Matthews, at the opening session of the Fall meeting at the Hotel Pennsylvania yesterday. "In proportion to the total number af theaters, Canada leads the list of countries with 70 per cent sound installations. The United States is second with SS per cent and Great Britain third with 47 per cent." S.M.P.E. Progress Report -(Continued from opposite page) Pier Auditorium has been equipped for showing sound motion pictures and required one of the largest installations ever made. A social center motion picture theater has been completed in Newark, N. J. It contains a theater auditorium seating 436 persons, a ballroom, billiard room, ping pong room. coffee and cigarette counters, card room, and indoor golf facilities, all decorated in modernistic fashion. Eyring has shown that an auditorium to have a single optimum reverberation time, should not only be free from echoes and have the proper amount of damping, but the absorbing material should be fairly uniformly distributed, resonating bodies eliminated, and a condition for diffusing sound should be assured. MacNair has suggested that the rate of decay of loudness sensation is a better criterion for the arangement of damping material in auditoriums than decay rate of sound energy. Several colleges are planning to institute a cultural course on photo play appreciation during 1930-31. Arrangements have been made to release the negatives of outstanding historical pictures made several years ago, for re-editing for educational purposes. To correlate efforts being made in different countries on the production of educational films. Will has advocated that the International Cinematographic Institute (League of Nations) prepare a statistical record of the demand for such films. Motion pictures will be made from hidden viewpoints of all public events in Vienna in which the police take part ; the films will be used later for police instruction. Eighty per cent of the workers in a silicate factory in Russia are claimed to have been taught to read by means of sound films. Gottheiner and Jacobsohn have reported on improvements in their technic in x-ray cinematography. In this type of work, the difficulty in the past has been to get sufficient exposure to make pictures without over-dosing the patient and working the x-ray tube over its capacity. A new lens of f/1.25 was used constructed of two spherical cemented elements. A camera equipped with a shutter admitting more light, an improved x-ray tube, a fluorescent screen, and a highly sensitive film were employed. With this equipment it was possible to take pictures for as long as 25 seconds at a time whereas 2 to 3 seconds was the maximum exposure which could be used with older apparatus. Television An International Institute of Television was founded in Brussels, Belgium which will deal with results of researches in connection with the broadcasting of pictures. Eighteen companies were reported to have twenty-two stations in operation in the United States for television experimentation. No license is granted by the Federal Radio Commission however, unless evidence can be shown that the work represents legitimate research. A three-day test made in September, 193Q to transmit televised signals across the Atlantic ocean, failed and was abandoned. A permanent equipment installation for twoway television was set up in April between the Bell Laboratories and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company's offices, which are about two miles apart. Television images transmitted by radio were shown as a part of one regular performance at Proctor's Theater, Schenectady, N. Y., on May 22. A loud speaker system was used to transmit the voices of the actors who performed before a "television camera" at the General Electric plant, about one mile distant. A 48 hole scanning disk covered the subject twenty times per second. Four photoelectric tubes respond 40,000 times per second to the impulses reflected back from the subject. The images were transmitted on a wave length of 140 meters; the voices on 92 meters. At the theater, the light impulses were reproduced first on a small monitor "teloptikon." then transferred to a light valve where the light was broken up by a 48 hole scanning disk to reproduce the images which were projected on a screen six feet square set under the proscenium arch. Head and shoulders of the tufa were reproduced in a black and white picture showing gradation of tones. The system was developed under the direction of Alexanderson. Marked progress has also been made in England in the development of television in the hands of Baird Television, Ltd. On Tuly 1. 1930. a demonstration of television was made before press representatives on a 3 by 6 foot screen. Screen brightness was ensured by using 2100 ordinary metal filament lamps instead of Neon tubes and Kencells as in earlier experiments. Commutator contact switches, turning on one lamp at a time, sween the entire bank of 2100 lamps in one-twelfth of a second. The receiving outfit on a portable truck, was installed in the London Coliseum and demonstrated as a part of their regular variety program tb'-ee times daily from July 28th to August 9th. 1930. A talking film made on Friday. Au<r ust 8th was televised as a special feature of the program on the closing date of August 9. In another television system, patented by Lieut. Wold of the Quartermaster Corps, U. S. Army, mechanical scanning is said to be rendered unnecessary by the use of • lamp house having a jattic w™4f of foments, different junctions of which become luminous successively. An attempt to make a motion picture record of the moon*; wns»ftr>w f^om an piV^'-during the total eclipse of the sun on April 28, 1930 was partially successful. Clouds obscured t1-"* p-"-th he'ow t' "'->r~ ivb • at an altitude of over 18,000 feet, but the shadow bands were photographed on the cloud layer. A special sound recording camera fitted with an f/1.4 lens and hypersensitized panchromatic film was used. Radio time signals received by the plane were recorded. Accurate timinsr records made on a reel of sound film by Dr. Pettit during the eclipse showed it to be 1.7 seconds earlier than calculated. Color According to plans announced during the summer of 1930. positive prints made by the additive Herault Trichrorne process have the three successive frames dye tinted. Projection is made with a Continsouza-Combes noninterniittent projection which at 24 frames per second is said to suppress flicker. This projector does not use mirrors or prisms, only spherical lenses. The Wolf-Heide process is said to use a similar projection method. A new two color additive process is reported to have been used in making "The School for Scandal" shown during the early part of October, 1930 at the Plaza Theater, London. Sound prints by the Technicolor process are now made with a silver image sound track having a contrast or "gamma" of unity which is claimed to represent a material advance in the art of reproduction. The feature picture "Whoopee" was made with a sound track which was developed in this way. It is stated to be impractical to control the gamma of the sound track as closely as this on black and white prints. A new plant for the Multicolor process, being constructed in Hollywood during the summer and fall of 1930, will require 200 men and will have a capacity of 3 million feet of film per week. A school for color cameramen is being conducted. Irby estimates there are over 200,000 home motion picture sets in use. Interest during 1930 appeared to be centering in the development of sound motion picture devices for use in the home. To date these have all been of the type requiring disk turn tables, and range from simple models to very elaborate ones. Putting sound records on 16 mm. film beside the picture is a difficult problem because of the narrow space available and the delicate equipment required for recording the sound. Visionola is a radio-phonograph and motion picture instrument in which any combination of the three units is attainable. The image from the projector may be reflected onto a 2 by 3 foot screen mounted at the top and hack of the cabinet or it may be focused directly on a large screen. Two loud speakers arc included ; one static and one moving roil the former being mounted behind the smaller screen. A compact mercury vapor lighting unit 50 MILLIMETER EILM TENTATIVELY ADOPTED (Continued from page 1) prove the decision of the committee the width will be put into general use. Discussion of wide film and its problems constituted one of the most interesting features of the S. M. P. E. session yesterday afternoon at the Pennsylvania. The topic came into the program when A. C. Hardy reported for the standards committee. The committee, Hardy stated, has decided on a frame size ratio of 1.8 to 1. O. A. Ross and Ernest Stern also spoke on the matter. Ralph G. Fear of Fearless Camera Co., Hollywood, in speaking of advantages of enlarged pictures, pointed out that more detail is possible in backgrounds. Rebuilding of projectors to handle wide film is practical, he declared. Wide film must be obtained through widening of the picture but not through increasing it in heighth, he said. Fear stated that within 90 days four wide him productions will be started at the C oast for "release to independent houses." Herbert Griffin of International Projector said that in the East no great difficulty has been encountered in the projection of wide film. When Eastern information is disseminated at the Coast, he declared, whatever problems existing there at present wilj b? over has been made available for amateur use, designed as a portable studio unit with a power rating of 450 watts. Dallmeyer has issued a new telephoto lens of f/2.9 aperture which is stated to give a linear magnification of three diameters. It is supplied only in 3 inches' focal length. The f/0.99 lens made by this firm has been withdrawn from the market. About eighty per cent of the amateur scenarists have been eliminated because of their inability to write dialogue for sound motion pictures. According to an estimate made by Manefee, a million and a half dollars were expended in the production of industrial films during 1929 which indicated a great gain in the popularity of such films. One-third of the amount was devoted to the production of sound films. Theaters in the province of Szechwan, China on the border of Thibet exhibit Anier ican as well as Chinese pictures. There are 27 theaters with a seating capacity of 115,000. As this is an average of more than 4,000 seats per theater, some of the theaters compare favorably in size with several of New York's big cinema houses. The population of the province is 60 million, however, so that only a few can attend at one time. Only silent pictures are shown to date. Average daily attendance at 18 of Broadway's leading theaters with a seating capacity of 37,000 has been estimated as 100,000. More Standardizing Efforts of the S. M. P. E. to standardize color of screens and sound intensity were announced by A. C. Hardy yesterday in reporting as chair, nan of the committee on standards and nomenclatures. He stressed the nped of making uniform the brightness of screens. Hardy stated that his comnittee has compiled a glossary of terms used in connection with the technical end of the business. The committee has agreed that 90 feet per minute is the proper speed for taking of both silent and sound pictures, he announced. —