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

SECTION MEETING 311 Energy at the Projection Aperture." The instrument described permits a value of total center aperture energy to be read directly from an indicating meter. The next paper, "The Future of Drive-in Theaters," by Charles R. Underbill, Jr., Product Sales Manager, Theater Equipment Sales, RCA Victor Division, was read by J. D. Phyfe. The construction of drive-in theaters from about eight a year before the war to about two hundred and fifty a year since the war has been largely due to the development of the in-car speaker. "University Productions in 16-Mm" by Robert W. Wagner, Department of Photography, Ohio State University, was presented by R. E. Buchanan, a director cameraman in this group. A production crew of four, using professional recorders and cameras, is producing one picture a month. "A New Portable High-Intensity Arc Spotlight," was presented by Russell Ayling of the Strong Electric Corporation. The "Trouper" a new 215-pound spotlight features an automatic carbon feed and produces a clear-cut spot which may be varied in size. A two-element variable-focal-length lens system which continuously focuses on the aperture is used to project the desired spot sizes. Individual color filters are held in place by a permanent magnet located at the top of the holder. "A Precision Lens Testing and Copying Camera," by M. W. LaRue, Jr., of Bell and Howell, was well illustrated with excellent slides. A special back has been designed to hold the photographic material in very exact alignment and a special means of focusing was also described. The meeting was then turned over to R. T. Van Niman who acted as moderator for a "Symposium on Visible Music," the report of which is given below. At 8:00 P.M. an evening technical session was held at the Macomber Vocational High School. The session started with the projection of a 16-mm Technicolor print, "Carbon-Arc Projection," a film produced by the National Carbon Company. Introductory comments were made by C. E. Heppberger of that company. "The 4-Mm Film: Its Evolution and Future" by B. A. Aughinbaugh of the Ohio State Department of Education, makes a plea for the use of 4-mm film in some type of personal viewer that could be used for communication and education on a par with the printed book. Visible Music Symposium Section chairman Van Niman, acting as moderator, briefly outlined the general subject of visible music, citing the work of Ralph Potter of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Norman McLaren of the National Film Board of Canada, Robert E. Lewis of Armour Research Foundation, Cecil Stokes of the Crosby Research Foundation, and mentioned that some of the sequences in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" came close to what is now being considered as falling into this classification. The first item was a showing of several sections of one of the "Auroratone" films made by Cecil Stokes for the Crosby Research Foundation, and lent for the occasion by Mr. Crosby. These films, which are being used extensively in mental therapy to produce relaxation, consist of symphonic or vocal music recordings accompanied by slowly changing color patterns on the screen, more or less keyed to the mood of the music. According to the information furnished with the film, the abstract patterns are etched on glass plates and the color is produced optically, probably by a polarization process as light is projected through the