Home Movies (1947)

HOME MOVIES FOR FEBRUARY • Fig. I — If your projector will transport two films simultaneously, you can use it as a film printer for malting duplicates, as shown above. A support with two spindles is employed to hold supply and takeup spools for raw film. • Fig. 2 — The original and the unexposed raw film are threaded through projector, as shown here, with emulsion sides of both films in contact. How To Make Copies Of Yoor Movie Films Using Your Projector As A Printer, You Can Make Duplicates Of Your Best Films And Preserve The Originals PERHAPS you have often wanted to have a copy made of one of your films as a safeguard against possible injury or loss of the original, or perhaps an extra print to sell or give to a friend. There may be times when a copy of just a few feet from a reel may be wanted. Whatever the occasion, you can make these duplicate prints on black and white film yourself. Duplicates of 8mm. or i6mm. film can be had commercially for 5 to 10 cents a foot, but there is usually a certain minimum footage which will be accepted which often prohibits having a short length of film duplicated in this way. The movie amateur who also likes the workshop phase of his hobby and who is willing to experiment can have fun doing this interesting work himself. The first step is to determine if your projector is adaptable for copying work, that is, if two films will run through the machine simjultaneously and without giving trouble. In using the projector as a printer, your original film, along with a strip of raw film stack, run through the machine, and as the two pass the film gate, exposure takes place on the raw stock which is later developed or processed to a screening print. So the first step is to take two short lengths of film, put them together — one on top of the other — and thread them in your projector. Then start the machine and let it run until the strips of film have passed through completely. If the films jam, either in passing over the sprockets or in the film gate, then you cannot use your projector as a printer and you might as well forget the whole project. However, this is not likely with projectors of fairly recent vintage, and with this initial test out of the way — and providing, of course, the test run was successful — you are ready to begin. Either 8mm. or i6mm. copies can be made at home, using inexpensive positive film that costs about one cent a foot in bulk. Eight millimeter film may be a little harder to work with. Coming to you in bulk in the double 8mm. width, it must be split into single 8mm. widths before you can use • Fig. 3 — Then the regular projection lamp is replaced with a lamp of lesser intensity such as the 25 watt tubular shown here. • Fig. 7 — 16mm. films may be developed in certain types of roll film developing outfits, if the core is adaptable to the size. 86