International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1948)

a thing quite apart from physical injury of the film, of course, but it proves an annoying factor to projectionists when it is confused, as it frequently is, with faulty projection. What projectionist has not at one time or another received complaints of poor light when running a print so dense that no amount of illumination would provide the screen image with satisfactory contrast values? Likewise, "development flicker" may be charged to an unstable arc; incorrect '"gamma" (contrast-factor) to a soiled lens ; poor camera focus or print "fuzziness" to poor projector focus; and print unsteadiness to troubles in the projector mechanism. Excluding normal wear and deterioration, more real physical damage is inflicted upon film in packing and shipping than by any other factor. More than nine-tenths of the splices found within the first 50 feet and the last 25 feet of film in the average reel are occasioned by "shipping damage." Every projectionist recognizes this type of film mutilation: the bent and torn edges that require trimming with scissors and the torn perforations that have to be "smoothed off," or which even necessitate cutting and splicing the film. Shipping damage may be attributed to the shipment of loosely and unevenly rewound film in bent and battered cases. Projectionists are to be congratulated on the great pains they take to avoid scraping the edges of film-rolls while prying reels from crushed cases. Damage in Handling Film frequently suffers from injudicious handling — a term employed here to include inspection, repair, and projection— but not all such damage can be attributed to projectionists. The matter of splices immediately comes to mind. Projectionists, as a class, are vastly more painstaking in splicing film than are exchange examiners. The projectionist is, of course, under the urgent necessity of avoiding film breaks and their attendant dangers, and there is also such a thing as professional pride. Now, the general effects of the careless handling of film include scratches and "rain," oiliness and accumulations of dust, torn and cracked perforations, creased and torn sections of film, defective splices, "sprocketing" indentations, and cue-mark mutilations. Instead of pointing out the specific causes of these forms of damage, it should suffice to recommend procedures by which film may be handled with a minimum of damage and wear. Injury to prints frequently occurs during the comparatively simple process of pre-show inspection, a "must" for projectionists. In one instance a deep scratch throughout the entire length of a long feature was traced to the fingernails of an exchange girl. If the projectionist is in the habit of allowing his index finger to rest lightly on the surface of the film, he would be wise to avoid doing so on the emulsion side. New ("green") prints must be handled with extra care, for the emulsion is very soft, having absorbed moisture from the processing baths. Motor-driven rewinders, highly recommended for routine rewinding during the show, are useless for inspecting film. Hand-driven rewinders can be stopped and started with much less strain on the film. High-speed rewinding must be avoided for several reasons, one of which is the tendency of oily film to loop back upon itself when the rapidly turning reels are brought to a stop. If such a loop in the reel is not discovered and corrected before projection, an accident will occur. Splices are tested by bending or twisting them very slightly, special attention being directed to the ends. Yanking the film in an effort to pull the splices apart, assuming that they will hold if well made, is bad practice. Rewinding Procedure Rewinding at excessively high speeds is a constant temptation to both projectionists and exchange examiners, for both are usually under the pressure of time. Careless rewinding, especially on instruments not equipped with sufficient hold-back on the dummy element, may cause dust particles on the film to scour multitudinous scratches which appear as "rain" in the projected image. Damage to the edges of the film may occur if the rewinder elements are so far out of alignment that the film is scraped by the sides of the reels. The process of "pulling down" loosely wound rolls of film is an exceedingly injurious practice. Prevue trailers are frequently mistreated in this way. A loosely wound reel of film should be rewound twice at low speed to form a satisfactorily tight roll. FIG. 1. Showing several methods of smoothing and rounding off torn perforations. 0 0 c 1 SATISFACTORY «i Reels which are bent or otherwise damaged injure the edges of the film. The sides of bent shipping reels may be "spread" on the rewinder, but the consensus of opinion is against the use of shipping reels in ' the projectors, this despite the request of exchanges not to rewind the film after the last showing. Keep the theatre's projection reels in first-class condition and use no othexs in the projectors. The rough edges of film damaged in shipping must be smoothed by trimming with scissors. If this is not done, small chips of film may break off in the projectors or, in extreme cases, the film will tear and break. Torn perforations, too, must be smoothed or rounded off. Fig. 1 illustrates the right and wrong ways of doing this. If more than two consecutive sprocket holes are torn, the film should be. cut and spliced. (To avoid cutting on important scenes, some projectionists ingeniously cement patches of clear film over the torn perforations.) In every case where the projectionist doubts that trimming will render the print safe to run, he should not hesitate to remove the defective sections in their entirety. Splicing Precautions The splicing of film is such a commonplace operation that it may seem superfluous to discuss it. But because most projectionists are harassed by innumerable bad splices in prints ostensibly in good condition, further discussion is in order. Incredible though it seems, there are thousands of theatres in which projectionists are required to effect repairs on film without the aid of mechanical splicers. Now, although a well-made hand splice is nearly as strong as a machine splice, it is apt to buckle and, unless the sound track has been "blooped" with movietone lacquer, it produces a thump or click in the speakers. Moreover, exact registration of the perforations is a matter of luck, so as likely as not the screen image will jump when a hand-made splice passes through the gate. But whether splicing is done by hand or by machine, certain basic rules must be observed if the splice is to provide a smooth joining and is to last for the life of the film. The scraping must be thorough. It is well to moisten the stub a second time and wipe it with a cloth to remove adhering traces of gelatin. The celluloid side of the film should be wiped free from oil. Film cement should be applied liberally, and the film should not be left in the splicer longer than 6 or 7 seconds, else the splice edges will be weakened by the solvent action of cement squeezed out by pressure. Slight roughening of the (Continued on page 25 I INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST March 1948