International projectionist (Jan 1963-June 1965)

Volume 39 February, 1964 Number 2 That Vital Leader Footage By ROBERT A. MITCHELL The Few Seconds between the appearance of the motor-start and changeover cues on the screen constitute projection's "moment of truth," the most critical period of the entire projection process. Although this crucial period lasts only about seven seconds, it recurs at every changeover with all its inherent dangers. When it exposes the projectionist's neglect in the inspection and repair of leaders and cue marks, it does so right on the screen for all to see! This is when a film break is most likely to occur, or, less serious but still intolerable, a misframe, a sudden change in light or focus, a momentary "blackout," or a "white screen." It is unfortunately true that slip-ups sometimes happen in spite of the best projectionist's best efforts, but why invite trouble with neglect or carelessness? Those 15 or 20 feet of leader footage that the audience never sees are the most important of the entire show! Professional presentation of a film program begins with inspection and repair of the prints. The projectionist can be reasonably confident about the performance of the projectors because he works with them every day and has plenty of opportunity to keep them up in good working order. The prints are a different matter: he never knows what he is going to find when he opens up the shipping cases and begins to inspect the footage on his hand rewind. This is particularly true in subsequent-run theatres. In view of the crucial nature of the changeover period, the standard film leader which heads each reel is extremely important to the quality of the presentation. And yet the leaders are often mangled and soiled and excessively patched even when the picture footage is in excellent condition! All projectionists know that every splice in a leader offers one more chance of a misframe, a momentary blackout, or even a film break which will interrupt the show and cause audience grumbling. Unlike the operators of television stations, we can't excuse our faults by announcing that we are "experiencing slight technical difficulties"! Moviegoers expect perfect, uninterrupted projection on the theatre screen. Now, the irony of the situation is that the vital leader footage is more exposed to abuse than any other part of a reel of film. It may be damaged by careless threading of the projectors, torn, indented by sprocket teeth, mashed in the gate, the edges of the film chipped, and much of it unwound upon the floor where it picks up oil and dirt, and is occasionally creased and cracked by being stepped upon. No wonder that leaders have to be replaced several times during the useful life of a release print! Standardization of Film Leaders The standardization of the release-print leader is its most valuable feature. Accordingly, any alteration of its length or transposition of its parts greatly diminishes its usefulness. The general lack of leader stand ardization in the days of silent movies required the projectionist to measure off and "play out" the requisite length of framelined blank film. We would be doing this today were it not for the standard leader. The modern release-print leader begins with several feet of opaque or transparent "projection leader" on which the picture title and reel number may be written lengthwise in large characters for ready identification. Then comes the "identification leader" which gives in each of its 24 frames the print type, reel number, and picture title. This is followed by 12 feet and 20 frames of the main "synchronizing leader" having black frames separated by rather thick transparent framelines. Every 16th frame of the synchronizing leader is transparent and marked with an inverted footageindicator numeral for threading purposes. The footage-indicator frame located exactly 12 feet from the first frame of the picture is marked "Picture Start." One foot from the Picture Start frame is the indicator frame "11." Each succeeding foot is marked by a numbered frame, "10," "9," "8," etc., down to "3," followed by three feet of black film and the first frame of the picture. Each indicator frame, including the "Picture Start," is preceded by a sound-synchronizing diamond exactly 20 frames ahead of it. Television leaders containing image adjustment patterns and focusing targets should not be used on theatrerelease prints. The "protective leader" of transparent blank film or opaque raw stock is supposed to be restored to its initial length of 8 feet when repeated use has reduced it to 6 feet. This leader is threaded onto the takeup reel; and because its end is frequently trimmed with the (Please turn to page 6) International Projectionist February, 1964