International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1952)

VOLUME XXVII NOVEMBER 1952 NUMBER 11 Safety Film: Performance Characteristics WHAT about splicing? Many projectionists interviewed by the writer within recent months still would rather make half a dozen nitrate splices than one safety splice. In some cases I really believe that the trouble was psychological — if the projectionist had been unaware of the fact that he was splicing a different kind of film with a different kind of film cement, he would have experienced no difficulties at all. This is not to say that difficulties in splicing safety film are purely imaginary, for that would not be true. Some projectionists are inclined to hoard film cement as though it were liquid from the fountain of youth. That's bad for two reasons. First, nearly all cements deteriorate with age, as air, moisture, and dirt get at them. Second, some of the earlier safety and "double-purpose" film cements actually weren't much good anyway. They worked with nitrate film, but were not very effective when applied to safety film. So keep in mind that within the past few years a number of changes have been made in the film-cement field. Ever hear about FilmWeld, Ethyloid, and Jefrona all-purpose cements? They are advertised in IP. Why not give them a try? Splicing Problems If the cement you are using takes too long to "set" the splice, or demands scraping even the blank side of the film, or gives a weak splice with safety film — then change your brand in a hurry! Some well-known brands are very slowacting and yield splices of uncertain strength. Moreover, some are too thin in consistency to permit application of an adequate quantity on the scraped stub where the cement is needed. The splicing of safety film has been discussed by various writers numberless times. Truth to tell, some of this advice PART II By ROBERT A. MITCHELL It is an evident fact that safety film theatre release prints are here to stay, come what may, and it is in the best traditions of the projectionist craft that it use this film stock so as to achieve the best possible picture quality on the screen. This is no more and no less than an enlightened, an alert and intelligent self-interest. sounds rather academic, and we wonder if it actually originated from practising projectionists. Our time is limited ; and there are times when we cannot give each and every splice the same degree of attention demanded of a jeweller assigned to study and split a diamond. It's simply a question of how much time we can afford to devote to the repair of prints and the making up of "coming attractions" prevue stuff. Some exhibitors have apparently never heard of the Emancipation Proclamation, and some of the ivory-tower boys just don't know what practical theatre projection is. With close shipping and shows starting at 2 p.m. or earlier, the average projectionist has good reason to dread a change of bill, especially when the exchanges have passed their undone work along to him. Splicing really begins with the identification of the film stock unless a good double-purpose safety-film cement is used. Such cements exist, and we are thankful to them for making it unnecessary to find out whether the film is nitrate, acetate, or a mixture of both. But to those projectionists who insist upon using nitrate cement for nitrate film and double-purpose cement (most brands of safety-film cement ) for safety film alone, the problem of correctly identifying the type of film-base is very important. Nitrate film is identified by the words NITRATE FILM printed at intervals along the edges, by lateral dashes printed as frame guides on the outer margins of the film, and by high inflammability. But since anything can be printed through to the release positive — manufacturers' identifications, footage numbers, print letters, and also the words NITRATE FILM and SAFETY FILM— anything at all from original negatives, master positives, and duplicate negatives— the only infallible proof of the nature of the base is to touch a lighted match to a clip from the print. If it burns like fury, it's nitrate. Or at least, the clip was. Safety film is identified by the words SAFETY FILM or simply SAFETY at intervals along the edges. But, here again, these words may be print-throughs onto nitrate stock. So don't believe everything you read. Double Check for Safety Safety film of Eastman manufacture is framed-marked by longitudinal dashes between every fourth sprocket-hole. But don't trust these, either. I have before me on this desk samples of prints containing several varieties of dots and dashes, including squares, triangles and various other geometric hieroglyphs printed between the sprocket-holes. So try the flame test. If the film burns like paper, or merely melts and sizzles, it's safety film. Or at least that part of the print from which the clipping was taken was safety film. As a matter of fact, the use of nitrate along with safety film can be extremely dangerous if the projec INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST November 1952