FilmIndia (1939)

Technical Progress During the year IS3S The Editor Bulletin A. C. T. I. With the close of the year 1939 and the beginning of 1940, we feel that we must pause for a while and review our activities for the year. While the opinions of all and sundry both in and out of the Industry have been fairly unanimous in agreeing that the past year has been a definite step forward in the technical progress of our art. we feel that some sort of a more detailed resume on our own part would not only, not be amiss, but would be of great use in removing the many erroneous impressions created about ourselves by several indiscriminate articles in both home and foreign publications. One of the outstanding features of the last year has been the rise in popularity of the automatic system of film development as compared to the rack and tank system. It is gratifying to note that in Bombay, which is the largest centre of film production here, the close of the year saw nearly all the major producers equipped with completely automatic plants some of them Operating with more than a pair of machines, while as many as four large capacity units were completed for an independent concern catering | to the needs of the smaller producers. In Calcutta three plants lhad been already working and the □rear under review saw the completion of two more, while another two would have been installed had it not been for the closure of the firm of Agfa with whom orders had been mlaced and even executed but for nie actual delivery. In Southern India several plants had been working and about the same number are at present under construction. The gamma system of development has now been accepted as the standard practice for positive de Kumar — the hero of many an outstanding hits, appears in "Laxmi", A Circo production. velopment while for the negative the votaries of the test and gamma methods are still divided. Two studios use standard light testers while the majority still rely upon the trained tester. In the field of sound, the year 1939. has seen a fair standardisation of equipment, and the older and cheaper American sets such as the Audio Camex, The Jenkin and Adair, the Tanar, etc., have been either set aside or relegated to the very small producer of stunt or travel type of picture. There are now over a dozen R.C.A.'s operating in the country and about the same number of such excellent British sets as the B.A.F. Visatone and products of other allied concerns. In addition to these there are quite a large number of Fiddelytones operating with great success. Ke-recording has become very popular, most of the major studios have facilities for it, their apparatus being mostly of indiginous manufacture while there are also about half a dozen or so of foreign manufacture in use. It is rare to find a completed picture today even of average quality that has not had the benefit of some recording, the smaller producer having his work done wherever else he can get the facilities. On the sets the play back has gradually become the only method of recording songs and dances, entirely superseding the direct method. It is not unusual to find even the smaller producer hiring out his playback equipment for the day, because every Director today has realised its value and insists upon it. The result of all this has been a marked improvement in the quality of our recordings and a much more intelligent use of sound and music as a directorial aid. 25