Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1952)

62 FEBRUARY 1952 THEY'RE YOUR PICTURES! NOT far from this forum, under the heading, With Gratitude, the Amateur Cinema League announces the addition by generous donations of two new pictures to the League's Club Film Library. They are In Fancy Free, 1951 Maxim Award winner by Glen H. Turner, ACL, and Venezia, Pearl of the Adriatic, 1951 Ten Best winner by Oscar H. Horovitz, ACL. We are truly proud of these pictures; and we are proud too (in a grateful way) of the friendship and confidence in the League's worth which prompted their donation. As many of you know, these films will be distributed by the ACL to amateur movie clubs across this country — and even to groups beyond the United States where this is possible. Sent wholly without charge to ACL member clubs, they will bring to uncounted thousands of individual amateurs the opportunity to see and study some of the best work being done in our hobby today. Admittedly expensive to create (in sound-on-film Kodachrome! ) , they will become over the years part of the League's most valued and important possessions. But will they? Will they last over the years? And are these pictures, in the broader sense, the possessions of the ACL only? We are prompted to ask these questions by two recent and rather heartbreaking occurrences which will bear directly on the answers. For, within the period of a single month, we have received back from clubs two of these "possessions" damaged almost beyond repair. In the one case, it was an outstandingly beautiful Ten Best winner (of an earlier year), in which the entire lead title assembly has been sprocketchewed to ribbons by careless threading. In the other, it was a long and elaborately scored tape recording (from another Ten Best winner), which had been torn and tattered and then imperfectly patched. In both of the cases, these splendid pictures may now have to be withdrawn from the League's library. And if so, who really will be the loser? Legally, perhaps, these pictures were the property of the ACL; and as such a part of our possessions have been damaged. Legally, perhaps, we could recover their cost from the offending (or unlucky) clubs. But we do not intend to. For here at headquarters we regard ourselves simply as the custodians of all the League's properties — -with the club library films outstanding among them. The entire friendly, fraternal body of ACL members are the real owners. Thus, when you put one of these pictures on a projector, you are actually handling your own precious property — your own and that of all your fellow members. As custodians of your property, we can only pray that you will treat it with care — and consideration for the other fellow . . . For they're your pictures! THE AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE, Inc. Founded in 1926 by Hiram Percy Maxim DIRECTORS Joseph J. Hqrley, President Ethelbert Warfield, Treasurer James W. Moore, Managing Director C. R. Dooley Harold E. B. Speight Arthur H. Elliott Stephen F. Voorhees John V. Hansen Roy C. Wilcox The Amateur Cinema League, Inc., sole owner and publisher of MOVIE MAKERS, is an international organization of filmers. The League offers its members help in planning and making movies. It aids movie clubs and maintains for them a film exchange. It has various special services and publications for members. Your membership is invited. Six dollars a year. AMATEUR CINEMA LEAGUE. Inc.. 420 LEXINGTON AVE.. NEW YORK 1 7, N. Y.. U. S. A. Mixing sound for movies | Continued from page 44] ing and require only a small hole for mounting. All other components were much as specified, consisting of a black metal box 4 by 4 by 2 inches in size, two 1 megohm. Mallory "Midgetrols" Type U-53, two 1 megohm resistors, dial plates, knobs, etc. Several months after the publication of the Morton article on this type of box, the suggestion was made by one of your readers that, by the elimination of the 1 megohm (R-2) resistors in the microphone circuit, much greater volume from the mike could be obtained. While Mr. Morton agreed that this was the case, he discouraged this change since it would tend to upset the balance of the circuit. However, I tried out this change and find that, for me at least, the advantages of omitting this resistor more than offset any disadvantages. In operation, I am now able to feed music or radio electronically into the recorder and at the same time make use of the microphone, the volume and the mixing of both being controlled at the two potentiometers. As a general rule the volume control of the recorder is turned up fairly high to be sure of plenty of volume when the microphone is to be used. Since the Webster recorder has provision for a crystal-headphone monitoring of the input volume. I have audible indication of the amount of volume needed to make the mixing satisfactory. When music alone is being recorded, the mike potentiometer control is turned about halfway off and adjusted so that it is balanced with the other potentiometer. This is probably the disadvantage that is occasioned by eliminating the resistor mentioned. While this variation of the original box is intended for my particular setup, it seems logical that a mixing box control would be the answer to the problem of recorders with only one input, whether they be wire or the popular tape types. No doubt there are other ways of overcoming this, by means of pre-amplifiers and mixers; but for a simple and inexpensive method it is worth a try at least. Not having a sound projector, I have not as yet tried using the box as originally described. However, by using my present box and using the stroboscopic method of recorder-and-silent projector control (see Synchronizing Sound on Wire, April, 1949 — Ed.) , I have achieved a very satisfactory combination of picture, music and voice.