The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1929-Oct 1930)

August, 1930 Motion Picture Projectionist 31 Wide Film vs. Wide Image on Standard Film By James J. Finn GRANDEUR must not be adopted by the motion picture industry ! Thus the decision reported to have been reached at a recent conference of leading producers and exhibitors who, alarmed at the advance ccst analysis of a new wide film system, have banded together to resist the introduction of wide film on any other basis than as an attachment to present equipments. Grandeur or any other wide film system necessitating the purchase, installation and operation of wholly new equipment, in addition to requiring a radical change in production and reproduction standards, must not be, simply cannot be — according to the idea of the aforementioned executives. When a process can be found which will give a satisfactory wide film image with standard reproducing equipment, why should anyone go to the great expense of buying all new equipment for his theatre? This is the argument advanced by the industry's leaders, an argument which has launched an intensive worldwide search for a process with which results can be had — and cheaply. All this activity has resulted in the development of a number of processes which are regarded as possible answers to this mooted question. It is of interest, therefore, to look into the merits of the best of these developments and endeavor to ascertain just how firm is the foundation on which such weighty hopes rest. The Fear Process Many readers of this publication will recall the article by Captain Fear, "Wide Image on Standard Film," which appeared herein recently.1 This article advanced the cause of "shooting" the film horizontally on standard film, thus securing proper proportionate height and width, while in reproduction the film would run past the aperture horizontally instead of following the present vertical path. Nothing further having been done with this process, it is assumed that the idea has been discarded. However, this system was easily the most promising of the many submitted to actual tests. And now we come to a system which is understood to have the endorsement of a leading producer, distributor, and exhibitor organization as the . answer to the problem of a wide image on standard film — the process upon which high hopes have been placed and upon which development work has been progressing for the past several weeks both on the West Coast and in New York City at a Broadway theatre. The proponents 1 Sept., 1929, Vol. 2, No. 11. of this system hold it in such high esteem that they scoff at the idea of introducing Grandeur, Spoor Berggren, or any other "regular" wide film process. However, their reluctance to disclose the details of this new and "revolutionary" system piques the curiosity of the technicallyminded and prompts a delving into the meager bit of information available on the process in the hope of uncovering some facts which would justify the bullish attitude of its sponsors. Reduction in Printing The conclusions reached after due deliberation of the problem are set down in subsequent paragraphs, and the reader may draw his own de- Greatly enlarged reproduction of wide image on standard film. Note spacing between frames ductions therefrom. This new process involves the "shooting" of a picture on 70 mm. film and its subsequent reduction during the printing operation to standard 35 mm. proportions. Projection of the image is then achieved by means of a special three-combination lens of extremely short focal length. Special high intensity lamps drawing 160 amperes are employed for purposes of illumination. This and no more information is available at present. In the accompanying illustration is reproduced a strip of film produced with this process. Examination of this strip reveals that insofar as proportionate dimensions are concerned the effort is a success — but how about the quality of the picture? It will be noted that there is quite a bit of space between film frames, the answer to which is that in order to secure width provision must also be made for height. But since height is not desired, the proportions of the image must be maintained in another fashion — thus the spacing between images. To our mind this blank space is the first indication that the process tends toward the makeshift, despite the fact that the blank space may be comfortably taken care of in projection by a special masking arrangement. Printing Difficulties To begin at the beginning, it is obvious that even with a perfect negative it would be next to impossible to transmit every detail of the picture to a positive film one-half the size. Let us assume the presence of a thin line on a wide film; what would this line look like if reduced by one-half? It probably wouldn't s-how up at all — which suggests that this new process lacks sufficient definition even in the positive print. Graininess in film is the problem in the production end. It will be noted that the accompanying film strip has no sound track, which suggests the use of separate sound equipment or the further reduction of the present image by at least 100 mils, or more, to accommodate the track, with a consequent further proportionate reduction in size as a result. The resultant image would approximate 16 mm. film in size more closely than it would 35 mm. Optical Problems, When one pauses to consider the tremendous magnification required to secure a picture of, say, 45 feet, one is impressed by the extremely difficult optical problems involved. Just what is this "special three-combination lens" is not quite evident at the