International projectionist (Jan 1961-Dec 1962)

o a □ a a o o o o B □ O CD O O O O FIG. 3 — A suggested change in the perforating of 16-mm film to minimize film damage, increase print life, and give steadier images. The type of 16-mm film shown in A is already made as a "double-8" millimeter film for home-movie cameras. If one row of perforations were omitted, as in B, a 2-hole-per-frame 16-mm film would be obtained. This, shown in C with blank camera frames and an unmodulated soundtrack, is urged for commercial 16-mm use. is, of course, its relatively low cost and conveniently small size. 35-mm Film by Edison, Dickson It is worth remembering that many early film standards of a basic nature were changed when the need arose. Turning to theatrical 35-mm film, we encounter many standards initiated at a very early date, and which have withstood the test of time and universal use. Among these are the width of standard film and the manner of peforating it. Both standards stem directly from Thomas Alva Edison and his able laboratory assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. Edison and Dickson chose a film width of 35 millimeters, a frame pulldown of %-inch (establishing the 3:4proportioned frame which was standard in theatre practice until the early 1950's), and they perforated their celluloid film, supplied by George Eastman, with four sprocket holes per frame in each margin. All these things go back to the developmental years before 1890, and none have ever been changed except the size of the perforations in the single case of CinemaScope film. Other early pioneers in the art of cinemaography and projection leaned heavily upon the Edison-Dickson standards because of the availability of Edison Kinetoscope "peep-show" films. There were many early attempts to introduce other film widths and frame aspect ratios, but 10 the Edison film prevailed as the model for the films of most other movie pioneers. It was decided as early as 1894 by the Lumiere brothers of France, however, that Edison's exposure rate of 48 or 50 frames per second was needlessly fast and wasteful of precious film for projection purposes. Accordingly, the Lumieres reduced the rate to 16 frames per second; and this speed remained the international standard until the adoption of sound in 1928-1929. Although Edison's film width of 35-mm was retained, the Lumieres reduced the number of perforations per frame from Edison's four on each side to one, very much like silent 16-mm film. The Lumiere perforation was circular; but a single rectangular perforation per frame in each margin persisted for many years in negative stock for use in certain makes of cameras. David Wark Griffith's negatives have this type of perforation, but were printed on positive release stock having the regular four holes per frame. A year or two later (about 1895) Oskar Messter, the famous German film pioneer, combined the Lumiere frame rate of 16 per second with the Edison-Dickson film specifications and manner of perforating the stock. Messter also introduced the geneva intermittent, the takeup reel, the projection arclamp, and other features which, in improved form, are still integral components of the theatre projector. The Messter film (based on Edison and Lumiere standards) became the international standard for the 30year era of silent movies when the dramatic eloquence of the screen was the pure poetry of motion accompanied by the myriad organ voices of the "Mighty Wurlitzer." Stepped-Up Frame Rare for Sound The 35-mm standards of the talkless motion picture firmly established, the advent of sound changed very little. Even the very earliest silent films can still be run in theatre projectors — it is only necessary to use an aperture dimensioned for the full silent frame and to slow the machines down to a speed of 16 frames a second. Silent movies shown at the standard sound speed of 24 frames a second move much too fast. The foregoing indicates the changes in film standards made when sound came in. The size of the frames (and projector apertures) was reduced very slightly and shifted to one side to accommodate the soundtrack, which is 1/10 of an inch wide. The frame rate was increased from 16 to 24 exposures per second. The change in the frame rate was made, not so much to reduce projector-shutter flicker and render the motion smoother, but to obtain a higher linear speed of film travel in the interests of sound recording. If modern methods of recording had been available in the late 1920's, film speed would probably never have been changed. The need is now imperative for another increase in the frame rate. Instead of 24 frames a second, it should be 30 or 32 frames a second to eliminate flicker, reduce heating and buckling of the film, and to make rapid motion in the pictures smoother and more lifelike. As a matter of fact ( a rate of 30 per second was advantageously employed in the first few Todd-AO 70-mm productions. Later wide-film practice has unfortunately returned to the 24-per-second rate to facilitate the preparation of standard 35-mm versions of 70-mm productions for theatres not having wide-film equipment. This was a serious mistake. Every projectionist from Madawaska, Maine, to Corpus Christi, Texas, knows full well that live or taped TV is superior to filmed pictures with regard to absence of flicker and smoothness of the depicted motion. And they are justifiably ashamed of an industry that knowingly keeps {Please turn to page 17) International Projectionist October 1962