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

Board of Governors Meeting The first 1954 meeting of the Board took place on January 28. In reviewing the Society's activities and plans for the coming year constant emphasis was put on the need for relating the services the Society would like to offer to the resources at its disposal. Services presently enjoyed by members should not be allowed to suffer, but any move to increase them must be contingent on an increase in resources. The problem of how to augment the latter therefore lay at the base of all the Board's deliberations. Financial results of Society operations in 1953 were explained by Barton Kreuzer, former Treasurer and now Financial VicePresident. As will be seen from the financial statements published in this issue, operating expenditures for the year showed a deficit over income. This could be attributed to a number of factors: test-film income was below expectations, as was income from membership dues and subscriptions ; Journal costs were up because more pages were published in 1953 than in any prior year and more copies printed; and convention costs had risen, aggravated by the light registration at the fall convention. Reports on the 73d and 74th Conventions were presented by J. VV. Servies, Convention Vice-President. A proposal to change the number of conventions from two to one per year, as a possible economy measure, was heavily opposed and abandoned. In the absence of Editorial Vice-President Norwood L. Simmons, Boyce Nemec, Executive Secretary, reported on publications. The Journal in 1953 had been by far the largest in the Society's history and had come very near meeting the members' wishes both in volume and in scope of technical coverage. Of several suggestions offered for increasing income from publications, three were accepted: the price of single copies of the Journal will be increased to $2.00 for each one-part Journal and $2.50 for special two-part issues, members being given a 10% discount; charges for authors' reprints will be increased 10%; and beginning with the July issue the Journal format will be changed and advertising will be published. This last decision was a part of the program to increase the Society's resources and services and was largely based on the interest in advertising shown by the returns to the Membership Service Questionnaire (see July 1953 Journal). Many members will recall that advertising was a feature of the Transactions and Journal up until the last war. The change in format, which will be to an 8 \ X 11 Hn trim size, was conditioned by the value of accommodating a standard 7 X 10-in. advertising plate. Engineering Vice-President Axel G. Jensen presented a report, the major items of which were covered in the Engineering Activities column in the March Journal. The Board approved for SMPTE sponsorship several proposed American Standards for forwarding to the American Standards Association. The Board considered a proposal for the formation of a Canadian Section of the Society. Information is to be sought on numbers and location of members in Canada, and the matter reconsidered, if the prospects warrant it, at the next meeting. Gordon A. Chambers reported that the special Awards Study Committee had completed its work. For the first time, a uniform schedule of procedures in connection with the bestowal of the Society's various awards has been prepared, and is to be incorporated in the Society's Administrative Practices. — D.C. Announcement : Advertising in the Journal The Society's Board of Governors has decided that the service offered by the Society to its members can be substantially improved by the inclusion of advertising in the Journal. Beginning with the July 1954 issue, advertisements will be carried as a regular feature. In earlier days, the Society found that advertisements gave members a source of information on the availability of new equipment and services which could be profitably used in conjunction with the technical matter contained in the Journal. It was, in fact, not until the war years that advertising came to be dropped. That there is a real and widespread interest among members in its revival was clearly 320