Year book of motion pictures (1929)

Technical Progress Spring, 1928, Report, Society of M. P. Engineers THIS REPORT OF PROGRESS in the motion picture industry is composed of abstracts taken from the public press and from technical journals and transactions of scientific societies. The items reported, therefore, consist of opinions, plans, hopes, as well as the facts of solid accomplishment and the vital statistics of the industry. The report is necessarily brief and incomplete, but it is hoped that it indicates clearly the several strong trends that are moving the industry at the present time. The report was submitted by Frank Benford, Chairman; J. I. Crabtree, C. E. Egeler, K. C. D. Hickman. The Report (Original Sources of Information Pertaining to Technical Devices Described in This Article Are Indicated by Numeral Reference Marks, Complete List of Which Appears Immediately Following.) Color Photography The tri-color camera problem has been attacked by a method in which the three color records are preferably taken simultaneously with transparent reflectors to intercept the cone of rays from the lens and deflect certain proportions to the three image planes. Thin colored glasses, mounted in aluminum alloy castings are preferred to cemented filters as reflectors. The use of an ordinary plate for the blue record, a red-sensitized plate with an orange or yellow filter for the red record, and a pinaflavol-bathed plate for the green record is claimed to give greater speed than the use of three panchromatic plates with blue, green and red filters: (1). In a two-colored additive process, the two color records are taken with a beam splitter and made to occupy the same space as one ordinary frame. The pictures are at right angles to the ordinary direction. The positive film is projected in an ordinary projector fitted with color filters and two sets of prisms and lenses to erect the two pictures and project them in superposition on the screen. The advantage of this process over the subtractive process lies in its cheapness : (2). In the Horst three-color additive process, the three color records are taken on panchromatic negatives of 60 mm. width. Beam splitters are used with a sing'e f/2.3 objective to avoid parallax. The positive, printed on' a projection printer, is on film of normal width, and has the three pictures at the corners of a triangle. The pictures are superimposed on the screen by three projection lenses: (3). A patent relating to color motion pictures has been issued, wherein two separate emulsions on opposite sides of a base record different sides of the spectrum. Each positive is printed with a design through a ruled screen so that on one side the lines register between the lines on the other s;de. These lines may be about 400 to the inch : (4) . Under the title "Imbibition Coloring of Motion Picture Films," the author gives a brief description of producing color films by a stencil process. The "color plates" or stencils are made by hand. The dye is then transferred to the positive by an imbibition printing method. The "color plates" are said to be very durable, permitting the production of a practically unlimited number of prints. The negative is usually taken in a two-color camera. A black and white print is made from the red filter record and the color from the various stencils corresponding to the color separations desired is printed on this by imbibition. The color printing is done by suitable machines which must be constructed with great precision: (5). Cameras To enable the cameraman to follow rapidly moving objects, a device supports at eye level a 35 mm. motion picture camera from the shoulders and chest of the operator. The camera is driven by an electric motor supplied with current from a portable battery: (6). A detailed explanation of telephoto lens systems is given with diagrammatic illustration. To indicate the particular and specialized uses of telephoto lens, the advantages and disadvantages of telephoto pictures are discussed. Various makes of telephoto lens are described and their apertures listed: '(7). A high-speed camera has been designed to operate at 120 to 140 frames per second or at normal speed. The intermittent mechanism consists of the usual pair of claws for advancing the film and in addition another pair which is moved in and out of the film plane to bring the film to rest in the correct position: (8). A new high-speed camera of simplified construction consists of a rotating wheel carrying a number of lenses all focused for infinite distance. An auxiliary lens of focal length equal to the object distance collimates the light striking the objec tives. The apparatus takes 50 pictures in 1/20 second, the pictures being about i/i of an inch in diameter: (9). A motion picture camera which will take 48,000 exposures a second and which will be useful in scientific and experimental work has been invented and patented in Germany: (10). The invention of a new camera and projector has made it possible to project a screen picture 35 ft. wide. The camera uses film 57 mm. or 2J4 inches wide as compared with standard film of 35 mm. By mounting the lens on a mechanism which has its center of rotation below the optical center of the lens, it is poss'ble to get an angle of 60 0 as against the usual 44 ° angle of a 1 Yn inch lens. The lens action is similar to that of a panoramic Kodak. Likewise the projector is equipped in a similar way, but the sprockets are so arranged that standard 35 mm. film can be projected when so desired. The mechanism can be adapted to practically all standard projectors on the market. The camera and projector are distributed under the trade-name "widescope" : (11). Educational The Moving Picture Managers' Institute, Inc., is giving a course in theater management, starting Jan. 16, 1928. Theater advertising and theater 983