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

Nov., 1932] STANDARDS REPORT 487 MR. JONES: It seems to me that in deciding what is to be done in the establishment of 16-mm. sound-on-film dimensional standards, we should consider present conditions and the dimensional characteristics of the 16-mm. silent film now in existence. Of course, this problem can be regarded from two distinct points of view: namely, that of the strictly home entertainment or amateur field, and that of the semi-commercial field. I shall speak largely from the standpoint of the purely amateur point of view. There are in existence at the present time millions of feet of silent 16-mm. film. This has been accumulated by amateur cinematographers during the past ten years, and many individual or home libraries are in existence containing films of great value to the individuals. We must not penalize the owners of this 16-mm. silent film in putting out and offering for their purchase 16-mm. soundon-film equipment that will not with perfect satisfaction be capable of projecting this silent film that they have accumulated and will continue to cherish for many years. It is highly desirable that we do not change the present dimensional characteristics of the 16-mm. picture and the proposal presented in Fig. 1 was formulated with this idea in mind. In the amateur field, the first and most probable market for 16-mm. sound film projectors will be among those individuals who have become interested in amateur cinematography and who are at the present time owners of 16-mm. cameras, projectors, and individual film libraries of their own making. If we are to appeal to these individuals with a 16-mm. sound projector, it is absolutely essential that it shall be of such nature that the present 16-mm. silent film may be run thereon with a maximum of convenience and efficiency. Doubtless eventually equipment will be offered to the amateur cinematographer such that he can do sound recording simultaneously with the taking of pictures. At the present time, however, he has available of his own manufacture only silent film, and for many years this silent film will be of great interest to the amateur and a large percentage of home projection will be of silent film. For the present, at least, he will have to depend upon sources other than himself, for instance, film libraries, for sound film. It is inconceivable to me that he will not on almost all occasions when he wants to run sound film wish to run some of his own silent film. The sound-on-film positive should therefore be completely interchangeable with his present silent film, and the equipment that is offered to him should be capable of running with absolute interchangeability. The film shown in Fig. 1 meets these requirements. That shown in Fig. 2 meets these requirements only partially. In Fig. 2 the picture area is about 35 per cent less than the area in Fig. 1. In order to obtain the same picture size with Fig. 2 it is necessary to use appreciably higher magnifications. This is undesirable. Even now the demand in the amateur field is for screens of larger size than those used in the past. This, coupled with a smaller picture area as shown in Fig. 2, means much greater magnification. Greater magnification means increased graininess in the projected picture with attendant loss in quality of the projected image. It means also that the film during projection is subjected to an appreciably increased amount of heat since, in order to obtain satisfactory screen illumination, the same amount of radiant flux must be forced through a smaller area of film, thus giving increased radiant flux density at the projector aperture.