Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

May 9, 1931 Motion Picture Herald 67 AN INTERSTING LETTER FROM ENGLAND HERE IS a most interesting letter from George T. Miller, projectionist of the Picture House, Botchergale, Carlisle, England. Friend Miller says, "I have long intended to write you. There are scores of subjects I would like to write on, but am only going to raise one particular subject in this letter. "In the first place, before I enter into my chief subject I will say that I am employed as chief projectionist at the above theatre, where I have been for five and one half years. It is only a small house, seating 1,000, but has a first class projection outfit, of which I am very proud. We have Simplex projectors, Peerless high intensity arcs and RCA, Model D, sound equipment. I can assure you, Mr. Richardson, it produces very clear sound. It is in every way reliable. In 15 months not a single moment has been lost because of any fault in the equipment, which is, I think you will agree, not at all a bad record. I would like to say, in passing, that I regard our reproduction as far ahead of that put out by any other theatre sound equipment I have yet heard. "I was very much interested in your article in a current issue on RCA improvements. I have since spoken to the RCA District engineer and have shown him the article. He is going to try and get one of the latest type speakers for this hall, so that our reproduction will be still better than it is. "And now I am going to ask a question which will possibly be quite unique to you. Some time ago 1 read your remarks, as well as those made by others on the subject of threading up 'talkies.' Much emphasis was laid on the fact that the film loops must be of such size that there would be exactly 14j4 inches between the sound and picture start frames, this being necessary to insure perfect synchronism. Now most sound films received are printed with the sound start and picture start frames exactly twenty frames apart, hence, to be accurate one cannot be entirely guided by these. And now at last I come to the point. "If every sound film was printed with the sound and the corresponding action exactly 14J/2 inches apart, and if every projectionist were to thread up with this precise theoretical distance between these two points, I maintain that they would all be wrong, since they would be, strictly speaking, threading to suit the front rows and the projection room monitor horn only, and would be very much out of sync for the back seats, which may be as far even as 150 feet from the horns behind the screen. "Sound, you know travels 1,150 feet per second. It will therefore take approximately one-fifth of a second for it to reach the back of our hall. Threading up to suit the back of the hall would mean a shortening of the loops between the gate and sound apparatus by between two and one-half frames, but of course one has to suit the average distance from the screen, so we thread up from 13 to 13i/2 inches between." There is considerable more to this, but the main idea is already rather fully set forth. Our English brother is in error. He is in error because, while the patrons seated nearer the screen can see the lip movement very clearly and instantly recognize any slip in exact synchronism, this is not true with those seated at a distance from the screen. Moreover we are accustomed to exactly this sort of thing every day in every day life. We see and hear a man 70 feet away talking. There is a certain discrepancy between the sound and the lip movement, but that discrepancy is perfectly natural and we therefore do not notice it. Moreover, we do not notice it because we do not see the lip action clearly at that distance. The same thing is true at a distance of 150 feet. The only difference is in closeups, and in my opinion, closeups in which there is talking should be avoided. I might add that this particular thing has been considered by the Society of Motion Picture Engineers and by others, including this department. However, it is to the credit of Friend Miller that the thought occurred to him. His idea seemed very plausible to many others, including myself, until it was discussed at length and all phases of the matter were carefully considered. BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS REFLECT ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE THEATRE . . . 641 THEATRES ARE USING THE You, too, can profit with the Cutawi. U se this wonder-working machine to get Action, Sensation, and Unlimited Variety! Use it on your stage settings — lobby cutouts, outside signs, trucks — anywhere that displays are required. 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