Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1932)

52 I MOTION PICTURE HERALD January 30, 1932 TECHNCLCeiCAL liiiiiii SMPE ACTIVITIES The Serious Problem of Film Mutilation Viewing with much concern the great loss which the motion picture industry sustains each year due to the spoihng of motion picture film during projection, the Society of Motion Picture Engineers has set about determining the causes of this mutilation of film and the means to be taken for overcoming it. This problem involves at the same time a study of the socalled methods of "processing" green film preparatory to the first run, and closely connected with it is the method of treating the film to preserve the picture and sound track surface from dirt and scratches. As is well known, under the action of the heat radiated by the light source of the projector and the pressure of the guides against the film, small amounts of emulsion may be scraped ofif the green film and collect on the guides, increasing the friction between the film and the gate, and requiring a greater pull on the sprocket holes and causing unsteadiness of projection. Various methods of lubricating the film so as to overcome these difficulties have been devised, some of which have seemed quite satisfactory, but as the mutilation of film still continues, it remains to be found out whether the methods are not so satisfactory as they seem to have been„ or whether the continued mutilation is due to failure to apply the methods, either properly or at all. The projection Practice Committee of the SMPE reports that the situation is quite serious, involving a loss to the industry of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. The work begun by this Committee is to be continued in great detail by the Committee on Development and Care of Film, and it is to be hoped that a solution of the problem will be available in the near future. Some of the work done on this problem during the past several years has been ably described in the Transactions and Journal of the Society by J. G. Jones, J. I. Crabtree, C. E. Ives and O. Sandvik. Past work seems to indicate that molten wax, when used for lubricating the edges of film, is likely to cause considerable trouble if not applied correctly, but when it is applied correctly, is quite satisfactory. Both paraffin and machine oil have been used for lubricating the film, although paraffin is preferred on account of the smaller tendency it shows toward spreading and accumulating dust. Sufficient lubrication is obtained if the lubricant is applied along each edge of the film which comes into contact with the pressure springs in the projector gate, and it is not necessary to lubricate the entire surface of the film. Only the slightest amount of lubricant is necessary to obtain adequate lubrication, the quantity required being so small that even if a slight amount does encroach upon the sound track, no appreciable ground noise would be created. The objection to the use of wax in the past has been the lack of a rneans of accurately controlling the amount of wax deposited upon the film. Generally too much wax was applied, and upon becoming heated and upon cinching the film in the roll it would spread to the sound track. Recent developments of waxing machines have adopted the method of applying the wax as a solution in a volatile solvent such as carbon tetrachloride, which was applied by means of applicator discs, over which the film was passed, so that a narrow band of the lubricant was deposited along the edges of the film. This system was adopted on account of the ability to control the viscosity of the solution, and consequently the quantity of wax-deposited solution of known concentration on the edges of a film moving at a known rate by discs of given width and controlled speed of rotation. Forrnerly it was thought advisable to coat the entire surface of the film with a wax, such as carnauba, which is somewhat harder than paraffin, and which protects the emulsion surface from scratches and does not gather dust particles as easily as the softer paraffin. In view of the greater care with which film is now handled in the laboratories, it may be that the carnauba treatment is not so necessary as it was. Theatre Architecture and Motion Pictures Recognizing the important relation which subsists between the architectural design of the theatre and the possibility of presenting high-quality motion pictures in a theatre and the ability of patrons to view them comfortably and to derive from them the utmost enjoyment and rewards in return for their having paid the fee of admission, the Society of Motion Picture Engineers is initiating a plan of cooperation with the American Institute of Architects with the view of improving in future developments the conditions under which motion pictures are displayed. The present-day motion picture theatre is the result of an evolution from the socalled legitimate theatre, which, in turn, evolved through the centuries from the early days of the histrionic art. As the motion picture is young compared with the art of acting, it is to be expected that the presentday theatre represents merely an adaptation of the legitimate theatre to the presentation of motion pictures. In other words, the industry has taken the original theatre, and, with hardly any fundamental alterations in the structure, has introduced into it the motion picture. However, tlie industry has grown to such a state of importance that it is now imperative that a theatre be designed around the motion picture ; that it be designed primarily for the motion picture, and in accordance with the principles involved in projecting it. The requisite properties of such a theatre are quite well known; apart from the architectural style, relating mainly to the aesthetic and certain utilitarian features, it must possess good sight-lines, permitting a clear view of the screen from all points in the house ; it must provide a sufficiently low location for the projection room, so as to permit the projection of pictures free from the distortion caused by large angles of projection; the acoustical properties of the theatre must be good, reverberation must be controlled, sound pockets avoided, and the sound must be capable of penetrating with adequate intensity to all parts of the house ; the physical comfort of the patrons must be provided for, both with regard to the posture which their bodies must assume in order to view the picture with ease and with regard to various other physiological factors. These are some of the problems, the solution of which is of importance both to the architect and to the motion picture engineer ; they are of more than academic inter est to them — they possess an economic importance which should not, in these days of economic readjustment, be underestimated. For, in the final analysis, the theatre architect must be as intimately concerned with the receipts of the box-office as the motion picture engineer, and it is in the box-office that these factors display their proximate effects. Past issues of the Journal of the SMPE have included papers dealing with all these various problems, but it was not until the last year or so that the necessity and appropriateness of interesting the architect in. this work was fully realized. The motion picture engineer knows what is required in order to display motion pictures to the best advantage, but he does not know how to design buildings ; the architect knows how to design buildings, but may not know what acoustical, visual, and other properties the building should have in order to do this. Preliminary meetings between representatives of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers and of the American Institute of Architects have already been held, and the industry may look forward to the accomplishment of a great deal of constructive work in this direction which will be of inestimable value to the entire industry.