International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1951)

Seven-Year Survey of Film Print Damage By ERNEST TIEMANN and DENCIL RICH University of Indiana Film Center IN VIEW of the emerging critical shortage of raw film stock, the division of adult education and public services at Indiana University has made a number of studies covering a seven-year period to determine the cost of film maintenance and film damage and ways to reduce such film damage. In making the study, a detailed classification of injuries to film was developed from film damage reports filled out by inspectors of periodical analysis and evaluation. From this information a complete report was prepared to determine what course of action needs to be taken to assist users in keeping film damage to a minimum. Accessioned print control, inspection, and booking cards were studied for each of the 192 prints. It was found that careful inspection and use records were maintained for each of these films. By checking the booking records, we found that the 192 prints were used a total of 18.149 days — an average of 94.5 days for each film. Average Replacement Footage We discovered that for the seven-year period 83 of the 192 prints were damaged to the extent that replacement footage was needed. A total of 110 different replacement parts were added, requiring 5,264 feet of film. All of these replacements were black-and-white except one. The total cost amounted to $476.36. Our figures showed that the average cost for replacement footage per print has been approximately $2.50. Our maintenance costs for replacement parts alone totaled $2.50 for each print in general during the seven years. Our further study showed that a number of factors influence the maintenance cost of damaged film replacement. These include: 1) the number of bookings; 2) standards of maintenance: 3) proportion of black-and-white and color prints; 4) fluctuating costs of replacement parts; 5) technical improvement in projection equipment; 6) training of projectionists. Faulty Threading a Major Cause We find that the damage of sprocket teeth marks on sound tracks is no longer as serious as it was in former years. This may be due to one of two things, or both : the use of silent projectors has dropped off considerably, or the literature sent out by many film distributors is working for our benefit also. Many of these concerns are using leaflets with their shipments which warn of the consequences of threading sound film into silent projectors. Were it not for our constant practice of keeping each film provided with a leader and credit title of appropriate length, the damages reported would no doubt be much more numerous. On many occasions various films are saved from injury by the fact that the leader and the credit title serves as the necessary margin of warning to the operator to stop the machine when the film does not feed correctly. Failure of proper loop formation, for instance, accounted for many of the numerous injuries at the beginning of films. We are overcoming this hazard to a considerable extent by sending all users of our films, without cost, a 100-foot roll of practice film. We recommend this procedure to all film libraries as a sound measure of reducing film damage. Checking Procedure Followed Our survey has borne out our previous conclusion that 800-foot films require proportionately less maintenance expense than films of shorter length. In our library, 800-ft. prints comprised approximately 26% of the total, yet only 17 per cent of the partial damages and 17 per cent of the total damages were among these films. Damages rarely occur at the ends of 800-ft. films. As a basis for our study, we followed the following procedures: We separated total from partial damages, then broke down the reports into months and into the four lengths of films involved— 400, 800. 1200, and 1600 feet. For each month for each length of film we tabulated and classified all the damages, indicating the data relative to the color of the film amount and location of the injury, and the type of injury. After all damages were classified each damage type was given a code number for ease in handling data. There were 28 such classifications which we set up in a series of charts from which the conclusions herein were taken. Some Damage Classifications In the survey, the total black-and-white film damage at the beginning of 400-foot films amounted to 2863 feet, with 814 feet of color film damaged. Chipped sprocket holes accounted for 40% of the 96 damages reported. Damages that started and ended in the middle of 400-foot films amounted to 1874 feet for black-and-white, and 271 feet for color film. On the extreme end of 400-foot films, a total of 58 damages was found. Damage to black-and-white film amount to 1225 feet, and 589 feet of color film were damaged. A total of 57 damages on 800-foot black-and-white films were found, and a total of 10 damages on color film was found. Total footage damaged on blackand-white film amounted to 1386 feet, and 686 feet on color film. Few damages to 1200-foot films were found, with only 31 reported and 1081 feet damaged. On 1600-foot films. 22 damages were reported, with 2442 feet of film involved. Theater Equipment in Critical Supply Listed by NPA NPA has asked IP to enlist the support of all projectionists in the conservation of critical materials needed for national defense. Full cooperation of the motion picture industry in promoting conservation and salvage of critical materials to aid the nation's defense effort was promised by motion picture industry representatives at a recent conference with NPA officials. Need for conservation of such materials as copper, cobalt and nickel, used in manufacture of motion picture equipment is acute. A single jet engine requires one ton of nickel. A shortage of in-car speakers for drive-in theaters looms within the next few months, officials say. Demand for loudspeakers for this use can be met by repairing defective speakers which ordinarily are discarded and by guarding against loss of speakers. Speaker magnets contain nickel and cobalt. As these magnets may be used again in rebuilt speaker units, NPA pointed out that manufacturers and distributors who establish a rotating inventory of rebuilt speaker units will help greatly to keep the drive-in theaters in operation. Other conservation measures discussed centered on copper drippings, dry plate rectifiers, obsolete equipment and film handling. Trade sources estimate that 100,000 pounds of pure copper could be recovered, annually, from motion picture theater drippings. The copper content of the drippings averages about 94%. Manufacture of copper-oxide dry plate rectifiers up to 65-ampere capacity may have to be prohibited to save copper. This dry plate rectifier uses about 35 pounds of copper, in contrast to the one-half pound of copper used in tube rectifiers. If making of copper-oxide dry plate rectifiers up to 65 ampere capacity is prohibited, NPA does not contemplate eliminating manufacture of repair parts for rectifiers now installed. Thirty-five mm film is the most critical of all the materials used in the motion picture industry. NPA stressed the need for great vigilance in handling film to get the greatest possible use from the available supply. 12 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST July 1951