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

standards for this specialized form of motion pictures. Dr. L. Knopp, delegate from the United Kingdom and President of the British Kinematograph Society, then proposed that the writer be elected as Chairman of the meeting, which was promptly done. This responsibility was approached with some uncertainty, but was soon exercised with greater confidence as the fine cooperative spirit of the delegates became apparent, and as the bilingual machinery operated with much greater smoothness than we had anticipated. Mr. W. Rambal of the central ISO office in Geneva sat at the Chairman's right in the first sessions, to offer helpful advice on parliamentary matters as needed. As things developed, the formal meetings of the whole Committee were soon abandoned in favor of a series of six Working Group meetings on as many different subjects. These were attended by all the foreign delegates and by a limited number of U.S. delegates most interested in each particular subject. Chairmanships of these Working Groups were delegated to the French, German and United Kingdom representatives, as well as to the U.S., and all were conducted in a most efficient manner. Jean Vivie of France, Dr. Leo Busch and Wilhelm Waegelein of Germany, and Dr. L. Knopp and H. L. Griffiths of England worked tirelessly and conscientiously with all these groups, till late at night on Monday and Tuesday, and starting again early each morning. Gerald Graham of Canada was also present, but only as an observer since his country is not represented as a full working member of TC36; Mr. Foy, our indefatigable translator, was ever-present to bridge the language barrier. The U.S. delegation of 20 persons, ably headed by Dr. D. R. White, chairman of ASA Sectional Committee PH22 on Motion Pictures, had a somewhat easier time of it, with a different small number at each group meeting. The many months of preparation by PH22 and by the several Engineering Committees of SMPTE proved exceedingly helpful here, as did the active participation of The Motion Picture Research Council. W. F. Kelley of the Council cooperated in all the group meetings, giving much helpful advice where motion picture studio considerations were involved. Minutes of each meeting and copies of all resolutions were prepared in time for distribution at the next session, mimeographed both in French and in English. This required that an English version be prepared at the earliest possible moment. Henry Kogel, Staff Engineer of SMPTE, was of much service here, cooperating with J. W. McNair, Miss Virginia Kelly and Miss Carolyn Locher of ASA to get all of our deliberations correctly recorded. At the final formal meeting of TC36 on Wednesday afternoon, it was agreed that all the Working Groups should be continued on a more permanent basis, under the chairmanships first assigned. It seems certain that cooperation via correspondence will now be very much more effective than before these personal acquaintanceships were made. Certainly the foreign delegates gave every evidence of a high degree of competence and sincerity, and in all instances were very well prepared to discuss the various matters on the agenda. The U.S. delegates had also come well prepared and with open minds, as witness the agreement to recommend as a World Standard a picture-to-sound separation of 21 frames for 35mm film. The present American Standard specifies this distance to be only 20 frames, and any change at first seemed to be an altogether futile attempt to change a wellestablished U.S. practice. It soon developed, however, that the U.S. practice is in fact to use the 21 -frame separation: projectors are threaded at 20-frames, but the studios adjust the sound-topicture separation on the film to, give 350 October 1952 Journal of the SMPTE Vol. 59