International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1935)

16 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST August 1935 UNIFORM PRINT DENSITY IS PROMISED SOON Varying print density, long a prime topic for projectionist objections, bids fair to be a memory soon, according to a report issued recently by the Academy of M. P. Arts & Sciences subcommittee which has just concluded an exhaustive survey of laboratory conditions. The report announced the future establishment of a set of standard density tablets to which instruments in all laboratories will be calibrated, A set of standard tablets made of a thin coating of platinum sputtered on a glass base are now being prepared by the Mount Wilson Observatory and the California Institute of Technology. These tablets will permit, for the first time, any laboratory to directly compare readings of its own instruments with readings of instruments in any other laboratory, and will help greatly to establish closer technical coordination between negative and release print laboratories. The. problem of release printing has always been complicated by the fact that negatives are usually made in one laboratory and prints in another (in the East or in foreign countries) thus making it difficult to transmit adequate instructions and control specifications. In the method under consideration release printing data will be placed on the negative in a space provided in the S. R. P. where it will be available for the information of any laboratory in the world. Further interesting data anent print density, of particular interest to projectionists, is contained in the appended discussion at a recent S. M. P. E. technical session: Dr. Goldsmith: If reels are printed to different densities and if the corresponding loudness of reproduction is different, that would not be so serious as it is at present if only the monitoring system in the theatres were simple, instantly available, and effective. In other words, if a skilled person were sitting ond, it is possible, by reducing the effective frame length on the negative and driving the sprocket at somewhat greater speeds, to attain three or four times this pictorial speed under certain conditions. Such "compressed" negatives must, of course, be separated to % of an inch frame spacing when printing the positive film for projection. There is an old saying that the hand is quicker than the eye. While this may be true for the unaided, credulous eye of the victim of the old-time shell game, nevertheless the eye, aided by the superspeed movie camera, can convert the sudden motions of a magician or the fastest efforts of a great athlete into something far slower than the hesitant plodding of a reluctant schoolboy past the old swimming hole on a June day. in the body of the house with a volume control under his fingers, and the instant the first spoken syllable or the first musical note were heard to be too loud, he could turn the control back to the necessary extent, or turn it up if it were too soft, that would not be so serious. If we are going to have unequal densities and unequal loudness on changing from one system of recording to another, it is necessary to have instantaneous and effective monitoring in the body of the house. If we are not going to have printing errors rectified, then we must have that type of monitoring. Mr. Shea: I understand that the Sound Committee at one time considered monitoring methods of that kind and ran into difficulties. They found it very difficult to recommend a satisfactory monitoring method. Dr. Goldsmith: With automatic or manual control? Mr. Shea: Either automatic or manual. Radio Broadcast Comparison Dr. Goldsmith: The control-room operator in a broadcasting station is able to monitor a broadcasting program and keep it within proper limits without the least difficulty; and I do not understand why a good broadcasting controlroom operator seated in the body of the house with a volume control in front of him and a trained pair of ears on him cannot correctly monitor a program. Mr. Tanney: Some years ago the squeeze-track was used. Wasn't that an attempt to modulate the sound to a constant level? Mr. Shea: The squeeze-track method related to the studio. It was to be used either in recording or in editing. The difficulties mentioned' here have relation to the laboratory that makes the release prints or the projection difficulties encountered in the theatres. There is a somewhat similar condition in radio, in that the broadcasting studios are about as particular as the motion picture studios, because their work is done only once; but the work of each individual theatre, like the adjustment of a radio receiver, affects only one group of listen Industrial Diseases Have Insidious Growth Many industrial diseases are slow in developing and difficult to recognize in their early stages. Not until considerable time has elapsed after exposure — in some cases only after several years — do the more serious effects of some diseases appear. Signs and symptoms of these diseases are not evident early enough to warn the worker, and often he may absorb what may prove to be a dangerous amount of poison before he even realizes that he is ill. There is a difference in susceptibility among the individuals exposed to the same amount of poison. There are also wide ranges of susceptibility varying with race, age, and sex. Young workers, both girls and boys, have proven more susceptible than older workers to certain diseases, such as lead poisoning (frequently encountered among projectionists) and tuberculosis. Women workers suffer from certain poisons far more seriously than do men. Good Projection a Vital Industry Necessity, Says Cecil B. De Mille PROJECTION is the neck of the bottle through which flows the sum total of all production efforts, said Cecil B. De Mille, noted producer-director in a recent press interview in New York. News reporters who gathered to interview De Mille expected him to discuss production problems in general or the merits of his latest opus, "The Crusades," the world premiere of which had brought him to New York. Upsetting the dope, however, De Mille floored his repretorial audience by plunging into a discussion of the importance of projection and sprinkling his monologue (it was nothing else) with caustic references to petty economies which result in poor reproduction. "Producers strive and strive, sometimes over a period of months, to make a given production letter-per fect from the studio angle, only to have their efforts fail because of inferior projection," said De Mille. "I often wonder why we make pictures at all, if the projection process is to render useless our best efforts. "Why, more than 50 per cent of the theatres in America are delivering inferior projection results, and this being so, how in the world are we ever going to properly merchandise our product?" De Mille criticized severely the uneven quality of sound in theatres, pointing out that in other industries manufacturers give their products the same presentation in small towns as they do in New York. When in New York, De Mille never fails to spend some time with Harry Rubin, director of projection for Paramount, and he insists upon Rubin handling all first showings of his big special productions.