International projectionist (Jan 1961-Dec 1962)

IP's Own List Color Designation By Wavelength Often Useful Which shade of blue is "true blue"? What colors, exactly, are meant by "chartreuse," "aquamarine," "violet," "purple," or "orange"? Which are the most serviceable hues of red, green, and violet-blue for primary colors, and which shades of cyan, magenta, and lemon-yellow are complementary to them? These are but a few of the technical color questions best answered from an accurately specified catalogue of hues based upon equal sensation-difference steps through the spectrum and the nonspectral purples and magentas. The accompanying descriptive list supplied by Robert A. Mitchell, IP's technical editor, is herewith presented in response to requests for the wavelength designations of colors. The nonspectral colors have no wavelengths, of course, but are really additive combinations of violet light having a wavelength of about 400 nanometers (or millimicrons) and red light at about 700 nm. These colors are therefore designated by the wavelengths of their complementaries on the basis of diffused daylight (CIE Illuminant "C") as the "white point." (Example: PURPLE, c564nm signifies that standard purple is the complementary of a yellow-green having the wavelength 564 nm.) The stated dominant hues of the spectrum colors, however, are completely independent of the vagaries of the 1931 CIE 2 "-field colorimetric data, although their complementaries have been computed on the basis of these data and Illuminant C. In fact, the 1959 provisional CIE 10°-field functions have proved to be so great a disaster to confidence in colorimetry, it is suggested that the dominant wavelengths of dyes and other colorants be determined by the methods of spectrophotometry instead of with a trichromatic colorimeter. In order to facilitate the computation of empirical trichromatic data in the field of additive 3-color display lighting and natural-color picture reproduction, however, the hues RED, GREEN, and ULTRAMARINE (not blue!) have been standardized at 700, 525, and 460 nm, respectively, and their exact complementaries (Illuminant "C") at 492 nm for CYAN, c525 nm for MAGENTA, and 570 nm for LEMON (not yellow!). iP Standard Hues for Defining WAVELENGTH COMPLEMENTARY OF HUE (nm) NAME DESCRIPTION WAVELENGTH NAME REDS c494 494 Cyan c493 CARMINE Rose-red 493 Cyan c492 492 Cyan 700 RED Deep red 492 CYAN 648 492 Cyan 635 SCARLET Bright red 492 Cyan 626 491 Cyan 619 VERMILLION Orange-red ORANGES 491 Cyan 614 491 Cyan 609 MANDARIN Reddish orange 490 Cyan 605 490 Cyan 602 ORANGE Bright orange 489 Peacock 599 489 Peacock 596 PURREE Yellowish orange 488 Peacock YELLOWS 593 487 Peacock 590 SAFFRON Orange-yellow 486 Peacock 588 485 Peacock 585 GAMBOGE Rich yellow 483 Turquoise 582 482 Turquoise 578 YELLOW Bright yellow 479 Cerulea 574 474 Blue 570 LEMON Greenish yellow 460 ULTRAMARINE 566 GREENS c566 Violet 561 CHARTREUSE Yellowish green c561 Purple 556 c566 Amaranth 551 CITRONELLE Yellow-green c551 Tyrian 545 c545 Tyrian 539 VERDANTE Grass-green c539 Magenta 532 c532 Magenta 525 GREEN Intense green c525 MAGENTA 519 c519 Magenta Hollywood IATSE Men Become Press Agents Something new under the sun is happening in Hollywood. Thousands of union members, representing dozens of crafts, have turned themselves into voluntary press agents for a movie. They are out to help promote the big new Super Technirama 70 production, "Spartacus". The campaign is spearheaded by the Hollywood AFL-CIO Film Council. For a number of years, this group has been struggling to solve a serious unemployment problem created by runaway American movie productions — pictures produced abroad, for the American market, in order to escape American wage standards. Right up to now, that trend has been growing alarmingly. By contrast, however, Bryna Productions decided to make "Spartacus" in this country. They believed the time saved through utilizing the unmatched know-how of Hollywood's craftsmen would offset the more advantageous scales prevalent in European studios. The Hollywood craftsmen, most of whom belong to the IATSE, feel they have much at stake in the "Spartacus" experiment. They believe the success of this film, released by Universal-International, might well prove the turning point in their drive against runaway production. That is why they want to bring the picture and its fairminded producers and distributors to the attention of union members throughout America. 12 International Projectionist January 1961