Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1916)

3194 ACCESSORY NEWS SECTION Vol. 14. No. 20 A B C of the Motion Picture Operating Room The Film: What It Is, the Condition in Which It Should Be Received, and the Care That the Operator Should Give It While It Is in His Charge THIS week I shall endeavor to treat on the care of film, owing to the fact that photographs which I desired to illustrate this week's article with have not arrived, and there has been a general complaint from the operators at large regarding the abominable condition in which film is being received by them. What the Film Is In the course of manufacture film is generally made in strips about two feet wide by two hundred and fifty feet long. These strips are passed through a machine which deposits on one side the coating or emulsion which is highly sensitive to the light, ■called photographic emulsion. This emulsion when spread on the film has a thickness of approximately 1-1,000 of an inch, making the total thickness of the film about six thousandths of an inch. When the film has received its coating of emulsion, it is run through a machine which cuts it into strips 1^ inches in width and these strips become the film stock used by the producer. The negative stock is perforated by a specially designed apparatus for that purpose and then, when needed, is placed in the camera which has an intermittent movement, revolving shutter and lens, which act the same as do those of the projection machine, but with this difference : the mechanism of the camera is entirely enclosed and made light proof, so that the only light that enters the camera must enter through the lens, and as the film passes through the camera 54 of an inch of film stops in front of this lens and is exposed to the light and receives on its surface the object being photographed. Practically sixteen snapshots are taken per second, although this may vary as the camera men do not take the entire picture at the same rate of speed, but that rate is near enough for our purpose. Developing and Printing After the negative film has been exposed it is developed, fixed and dried as is done with an ordinary Kodak film, except that the film in this case is run over large " drums " which prevents it from touching or adhering to itself. The room where this •drying process is carried on is as free from dust and dirt as it is possible to get it, for nothing is more annoying to a director than to see a picture he has worked hard to produce full of pin holes, which is caused by flying particles of dust in the drying room. These particles of dust, no matter how small they may be, cause much trouble, for some of them may contain metal, which is attracted by the electricity in the film and these particles of metal cause scratches in the film when the film slips on itself or when it gets to the operator, and he in the hurry of rewinding performs what is known as the " pulling down " trick ; allowing the film to rewind rapidly without any tension than quickly stopping with his hand or brake the reel being rewound, allowing the momentum of the other reel to pull it taut. And you can readily see that if this is repeated day after day, as it generally is, the film will have a very short life. I know the operator is not entirely to blame, the film exchanges too are quite .careless in this respect, oftentimes trying to shift the blame on .the operator, for the reason that they will not pay inspectors to ■do the inspecting as it should be done. The drying process being completed, the film is then run through a projection machine so that the producer can make any "cuts" he may think necessary, or if need be retake any scene that might not be up to the requirements in photography or detail. When the film is finally ready, having passed the director, it is placed in the printing machine with the negative in contact with the positive. (The difference between the two being that a different grade of emulsion is used for the positive.) This printing machine also has an intermittent movement and revolving shutter, but no lens. The film is then exposed to a light of great intensity and each picture exposed for a fraction of a second, after which the positive film is developed, fixed and dried, and is then sent to the assembling room where it is put together, each scene in its regular order, joined together, the titles and sub-titles put in, and it then becomes the reel of film. Damaging Film Due to Carelessness When we know the fragility of film we ought to realize that it is susceptible to much damage if not properly cared for. A film can be torn, and it can be scratched, especially the emulsion. The sprocket holes too are subject to great strain, more so in those houses where high speed in the projection is the rule rather than the exception. The largest per cent, of tearing'film is caused by this high speed and the patches catching on the sprocket idler rollers or to the teeth of the sprocket itself, which may have become so badly worn as to have " undercut " teeth. Sometimes it is the tension of the take-up which will cause a film to part, but that is not half as bad as it would be should the film part at the aperture, for that would necessitate the shutting down of the projector, leaving a dark screen while the film was being re-threaded, something that careful operators try to avoid. As I said before the scratching of the film is largely caused by the " pulling down " process. When I said that the operator was at fault in this respect I meant that he was at fault indirectly, for though the film is in his charge and he is responsible for it, too often the actual rewinding is done by an usher who is in a hurry to get back on the floor, for fear that he might miss an opportunity to flirt with some " chicken," or it is done by some " kid " that works his way into the theatre on the plea of being of assistance to the operator, and who when he gets inside devotes all his time to watching the picture being shown on the screen. A condition like this should not be allowed to exist and if the various operators' locals and exhibitors' leagues would take the matter up it would help to relieve this state of affairs, and would also bring great credit to both organizations as well as increasing the box-office receipts of the exhibitor and giving the operator more credit for cleaner and consequently better projection. Even though the operator does the actual rewinding he must in many cases do so while the projector is running, and naturally he can not be expected to put on perfect projection, rewind and patch film all at the same time. No man yet has been able to do two things at the same time and do them both as they should be. No, indeed. The reel fault is that the manager is unwilling to employ sufficient COMPETENT help in the operating room to do the work as it should be. The operator has all he can do to watch his screen without being called upon to do anything else. And sooner or later the exhibitor will be made to realize this. The exhibitor owes something to the public and his patrons especially for the money he takes from them, and that something is, value for the money received. Exchanges Owe Something Too The exchanges likewise owe a debt to the exhibitors and it is up to the exhibitor to see that he gets what he has every right to expect ; good film for good money. Don't misunderstand me. I do not mean that an exhibitor who is paying for thirty-day service should receive first-run film, but he should receive his film in fairly good condition, and it is up to you to see that he does so. I know whereof I write, for I have received film thirty days old that could not be in worse condition if it had been run for thirty j'ears, and my employer was paying top price for service too. The excuse offered by the exchanges was : " We do not get the reels back from the exhibitor in time to examine them." It was hoped that the returning of the film to the exchanges at night would remedy this, but has it? NO, reels are taken from the cases and thrown into the rack under the key number of the exhibitor who is to use them next and there they lie until called for. by the carrier. This is with but few exceptions the regular .procedure, and it can only be remedied by the exhibitor DE. MANDINC; .THAT HE RECEIVE WHAT HE PAYS FOR, (Continued on page 3197)