Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1947)

424 ORDERING DUPLICATES How the amateur can aid a laboratory and get better service VIRGIL E. BAUGH, ACL EVERY filmer has certain movies that to him are priceless and irreplaceable. They may be records of the children as babies; they may be footage of relatives and friends who are no longer living; they may be films made on vacations that are not likely to be repeated. You may be the meticulous kind of person who takes such good care of original pictures that they are never scratched nor damaged by repeated projection. More probably you are like the rest of us. and your footage gradually shows signs of wear. The answer to this problem of protecting precious movies lies in early duplication. It should not be deferred until damage appears. The time to have films duplicated is as early as possible after they are returned from the processing station and are edited. To make this operation as speedy and successful as possible, here are some suggestions, based upon my own experience and upon ordinary common sense. Hopefully, they will be of service to you. When to order duplicates It cannot be too strongly emphasized that early duplicating is important. Preservation of the original footage in good condition is thus insured. Then if one duplicate is accidentally damaged, you may still get another. What to send to a laboratory The original processed film is required if a good dupli • Many types of damage, even small scratches, can render useless film frames which are an integral part of your family history; protect these records with "dupes." cate is to result. A "dupe of a dupe," as the laboratory phrase goes, will inevitably result in an unpleasant loss of definition and color values. The film will, of course, have been edited, which means that it will also have been spliced. All laboratories know of the damage that poor splices can cause in the duplicating operation. When a faulty splice pulls apart in printing, it brings delays by work stoppage, raw stock waste and possible injury to the original film. Therefore, every splice should be tested and examined. If it has caused a lump in the footage or if, on the other hand, it is partially insecure from poor work in editing, it should be remade with great care. You may have decided that your picture will not be satisfactory without the addition of earlier material that may be itself a duplicate. You may as well face the fact that the duplicate of this mixed footage will not be satisfactory, because you will be sending to the laboratory footage that has the emulsion first on one side of the base, then on the other. In like manner, it is unwise to mix black and white and color footage in the same picture. While excellent monochrome copies can be made from color originals, your black and white footage obviously should be reproduced only in that medium. Things to watch If you include commercial or copyrighted material in your edited picture, you will lay yourself open to possible complaint, should you ever show the picture for any other than strictly amateur purposes. Of course, if you have bought the added footage outright or have permission from the copyright owner to use it in your own movie, you will be protected. It is probably better to omit this extraneous material. How fo pack and ship Unless you are sending your film to be duplicated through your cine dealer, you should give the laboratory a clear statement of what you want, in a letter. If you want a reduction print (16mm. to 8mm.) or an enlarged print (the reverse), if you want a black and white print of color footage or a straight color duplicate, you should say so unmistakably. Pack the film in a can, and then in a securely tied package. The name and address of the sender should appear on the reel, the can and the carton. Of course, the easiest arrangement of all is to use one of the familiar film shipping cases so widely offered. Sample charges Duplicating is not an unduly expensive operation, run [Continued on page 445] Philip Gendreau