The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1931-Jan 1933)

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December, 1931 Motion Picture Projectionist 11 As The Editor Sees It o II Fair Rewards NE of the more recent editorials published in this magazine emphasizes the importance of closer cooperation among the various technical branches of the motion picture industry. For a striking example of the value of such coordinated effort and mutual understanding, the attention of our readers is directed to the timely proposal of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the standardization of motion picture apertures. Complete details of the plan as prepared by the Academy appear on another page of this issue. Simple in its conception, involving merely the establishment of a definite and universally accepted dimensional standard for the picture aperture, the scheme, which is deservedly meeting with general approbation, will be far-reaching in its application. Its advantages are many and inevitable. Its possible disadvantages, which are listed with engaging frankness in the report, are trivial and inconsequential. One's first impression gained upon reading the proposal is the enormous saving which its adoption will represent in time, labor and money. We quote from the report : In the Studio: "Scaffold lights can be lowered from three to five feet, thus making possible a reduction in the wattage and the number of units. "The tops of large sets can be lowered by as much as six feet and all sets can be reduced without making any change in the placing of essential action and props as photographed for the past year. "A single aperture will make for better composition on the set for both the cinematographer and the director. "The studios will be assured that the picture will be projected as it was photographed. Projectionists have had wide leeway in framing and no guide to show them when their proportional aperture was centered until they saw heads and feet cut off on the screen. "Microphones can be lowered from three to five feet, resulting in an obvious advantage in sound quality and convenience for the sound department. "Camera lenses can be recentered on the new aperture for better optical coverage." And in the Theatre : "All pictures can be projected through a single standard aperture, doing away with movable flippers and changes of screen masks, aperture plates and lenses during the show. "The frame lines just outside of the aperture, as they used to be for silent pictures, will be a help to the projectionists in keeping in correct frame. If the picture should momentarily go a little out of frame the projectionist will be warned by seeing a frame line, but as the lines are wide the misframe can be corrected before the audience notices it. "Standardization of exact dimensions by the studios will give the projectionist more uniform prints from the various companies. "Theatres now using reduced proportional apertures will gain four per cent more screen image without additional magnification. "Theatres now using the movietone aperture or the old silent aperture will gain the advantage that the studios can fill the whole area of the new standard aperture with essential drama action and will not have to leave a border of unimportant picture." The validity of these claims is amply established in text of the proposal. The cost of the change, insofar as the average theatre is concerned, entails merely the purchase of new aperture plates at an estimated total cost of three dollars — a small sum indeed, in view of the enormous, advantages to be derived by so many and varied departments through its acceptance. That the new aperture specifications will be adopted, there is not the vestige of a doubt. Many of the leading studios and several of the foremost theatre circuits! have already signified their approval. Possible objection to the proposed change rests principally in the fact that a large part of foreign release is now on full frame disc and exhibitors are accustomed to showing the American product in this way. However, as is pointed out in proposal, economic considerations will doubtless induce the foreign producers to accept the American standard, and foreign theatres now showing full frame can make the same adjustments as those recommended for the American houses. It is also noted that there will be a period when prints with different apertures are circulating side by side, but as the committee's report justly observes, the advantages of the new aperture dimensions far outweigh any temporary inconvenience. Considered in all its aspects the proposal reflects greatly to the credit of its originators. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is deserving of high praise for the distinguished service which it has rendered to the industry. Charles E. Brownell.