Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

Feb., 1930] MODERN NEWS REEL 207 There is bound to be some variation although we are doing our best to overcome it. An explanation of abrupt cut-offs is the fact that the news reel is 10,000 feet long and only 500 feet are shown. MR. RICHARDSON: This puts the projectionist in an embarrassing position. When level changes occur, the audience instantly blames the projectionist. Audiences have no means of knowing such faults are out of the projectionist's control. MR. JONES: You must remember that news reels are taken every day, and we haven't the time to cut or record sound as it is done in the studio. We get a story at noon, it may be something very "hot" and it's on the screen that night. We are getting better and not worse, however. MR. C. L. GREENE: The rapid improvement in sound film is certain evidence that the men in the production field are doing the best they can to eliminate faults. The projectionist who has passed through the hectic time of conversion from silent to sound basis can well appreciate what the news-reel man is facing. We know we cannot expect perfect recording, but perhaps those in production work don't realize the seriousness of some of these faults when the film gets into the theater. No recording can be good recording if it cannot be well reproduced. The audience, remember, doesn't know or care what the source of the disturbance is, but is prone to blame everything on the projection staff. We run Photophone recorded news reels on Photophone equipment, and I make a detailed volume cue sheet for each reel. It is not unusual to have this sheet call for amplifier gain control settings ranging all the way from 6 to 30 T.U., but this condition is not serious provided we have time to rehearse the reel and have a second or two of silence between the portions requiring greatly different amplification. The other day, however, we had a typical case that was serious. Essential dialog was recorded at such a low level that the maximum double amplitude of the sound track was only 0.005 in. Following within 0.05 in. or less than 0.003 second came the cheering of a large crowd recorded with a double amplitude of 0.065 in. The gain control had to be held at over 30 T.U. to render the dialog intelligible, whereas 10 was ample for the cheering. The result when the cheering started was that for one or two-tenths of a second the amplifier probably delivered in excess of 150 watts to the speakers, and they in turn sent forth a volume of sound which was extremely unpleasant all over the house. In the case of the patrons in the first few rows it was quite possibly painful. This was not a news reel, but a studio production. Run through one type of very high grade reproducing equipment it would probably have wrecked the speaker units. One speaker questioned the possibility of an amplifier delivering enough power to "blow people out of their seats." Scientifically speaking, of course, he is right, but when immediately following such a disturbance patrons leave the theater and are not seen in the theater again, it perhaps is not far wrong to say that they have been "blown out of their seats." MR. CRABTREE: I notice that one large manufacturer of radio receivers has an automatic control device so that the volume output is constant. I think the solution of the problem would be to install a similar apparatus in the projection booth.