Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (1950-1954)

necessarily black, or if they are on black then where the letters are near to areas of light tone — not necessarily, again, of completely white areas. That is not very well expressed, perhaps, but it is descriptive of a transitory effect and may strike a chord in those who have had similar experience. Assessment of the Stereosound Of the stereosound in the Telecinema I must say that from personal experience it is by no means as successful in illusion as the stereo picture. The latter is noticeable from any seat and from any angle. The depth in sound is effective from central seats only and best from the central seats in the circle. In side seats there is an occasionally noticeable roving sound. On the occasion of one visit I had a downstairs seat on the left-hand gangway, about one quarter or less from the back wall. By dint of knowledge and conscious effort I could hear sounds corning from the rear and side, but only when I decided that I ought to be hearing them in that manner. Subsequent visits and some thought given to the troubles I knew the recording people were experiencing have produced the opinion that it is the methods used as much as the natural circumstances which are responsible. For instance, in The Distant Thames bird noises are supposed to travel round the auditorium. They do, undoubtedly, but background music appears to have no direction, or else it comes from the screen end only. To me, there was auditory confusion. If at any one moment only one sound direction were used and a directional sequence were employed to make that sound travel, the illusion would succeed whatever the position of the hearer. The only check employed was to question a neighbour on the downstairs gangway in deliberate non-clue language. I asked him "What did you think of the direction of the sound." He had no idea how, or reason for answering, to please and said "Why! from the front, I suppose." Both of us were within ten feet of one of the nearer rear speakers but he certainly hadn't noticed anything coming from it. And I had only by conscious effort. The point was confirmed by a friend a little further to the rear on the same occasion. From the same seat I did notice that sounds following movement in depth certainly did so with considerable realism but I question whether it was better done or results were better than firstclass recording and a normal singlechannel system would produce. Having made these remarks by way of criticism and for the record it would be wrong not to say that in summary there is here at the Telecinema a concrete example of very considerable and noteworthy achievement. Theoretical concepts have been brought to reality in a remarkable space of time and if some of them point to ways which should not be followed, then they may equally point to ways that must. Someone at some time had to make a start and it is with national pride that we here see that the British Film Institute has taken the lead. The Telecinema is to stay. It has a site that no one is likely to covet and it is to be hoped that sufficient money has been taken at the door during the exhibition to finance more experiment. I am certain that when dialogue, for instance, is recorded and characters to left and right are heard to speak, as is usual, one at a time, then the effect of stereophony will be much more easily heard and understood than at present where unplaceable noises have to fight for their presence with overall background music. I am looking forward with the keenest pleasure to seeing more and more programmes not only in the Telecinema (whose title I hope they will change but I fear they won't) but also in the 310 AprU 1952 Journal of the SMPTE Vol. 58