Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

234 LEADERS and TRAILERS Part 2 of a survey, in which the Eastman Kodak Company reports definitively on its film packaging and processing procedures LAST month, under this same heading, Movie Makers presented on behalf of Ansco a definitive report on (1) the actual amount of 8 or 16mm. film footage packaged by that company in its daylight-loading rolls and in its magazines; (2) the exact lengths of this footage which are removed by Ansco's laboratories in several operations incident to the film's processing, and (3) the amounts of finished picture footage which are returned to the customer. In this last category, it was shown that in every case (roll or magazine) the Ansco film user received back from that company film footage equal to or in excess of the total promised on the carton. This month we have the pleasure of surveying the practices of the Eastman Kodak Company on film lengths packaged and what happens to them at Kodak processing stations. For this information we are indebted to G. W. Mentch, Manager of the company's Sales Service Division, and to Fred Welsh, Manager of the Cine-Kodak Sales Division. Mr. Mentch, speaking for them both, now has the floor. It may sound like one of those "It Pays to be Ignorant" questions. But a lot of movie makers have been asking "How long is a 100-foot roll of 16mm. Cine-Kodak film?" (Or some other size.) Some of the answers they get would surprise you. Of course the question really is not as silly as it sounds, when you consider that each roll of film has a certain amount of leader and trailer in addition to the length of film intended for shooting movies. Often, a movie maker thinks that he can squeeze out a few extra feet of movies from the unfogged portions of the leader and trailer by loading and unloading his camera in the dark. When he fails to get these extra scenes back from the processing lab, he wonders why. It certainly doesn't pay to be ignorant, if you shoot important movie scenes on footage that isn't usable. So let's see how long Cine-Kodak roll films really are — before and after processing. The accompanying table lists the most popular sizes of Cine-Kodak roll film, and shows just how much footage there is to begin with and how much is used in the various processing steps. To follow the processing steps in sequence, read the table from top to bottom for the 8mm. films, and from bottom to top for the 16mm. films. The reason for this is that double-frame 8mm. film is run through the camera twice, so that the leader ends up on the outside of the exposed roll. Since 16mm. film goes through the camera only once, the trailer is on the outside of the roll when the processing station receives it. Here, then, is what happens after the processing station receives your roll of film. (The following applies only to 16mm. film. You can see where the procedures for 8mm. film differ by referring to the table.) First, the film goes to a "numbering SPOOLING AND PROCESSING MEASUREMENTS OF CINE-KODAK ROLL FILMS NOMINAL SIZE 16mm. 100 ft. 16mm. 50 ft. 8mm. 25 ft. 8mm. 100 ft. for Bolex Cam. ACTUAL LENGTH-S 108 ft., 11 in. 58 ft., 1 in. 33 ft. 108 ft., ll£ in. CUT OFF BEFORE PROCESSING 65i in. 55i in. 36^ in. 42j in. SPLICE 4 in. 4 in. 4 in. 4 in. BSULSION NO. o AND SPACE 6 l£ in. lj in. lj in. 5j in. ** § PICTURE AREA o o 100 ft., 3 in. 50 ft., 3 in. 25 ft., 3 in. (50 ft., 6 in. after slitting) 100 ft., 4 in. (200 ft., 8 in. after slitting) % PROCESSING « HO. AND SPACE 3 in. 3 in. 3 in. 3 in. PROCESSING NO. AMD SPACE 4 in. 4 in. 0 0 SPLICE 4 in. 4 in. 4 in. 4 in. CUT OFF BEFOhE PROCESSING 22 in. 22 in. 44 in. 44 in. * Rolls may var Y slightly from these figures because of manufacturing tolerances. ** Also include s processing number. room" where most of the trailer is cut off. A processing number is perforated twice in the remaining trailer, and 4 inches of trailer are left for splicing the film to the preceding film in the processing machine. After it has been spliced to the preceding film, the film is wound off its reel and most of the leader is cut off. The film emulsion number (which is perforated in the film leader during manufacture) and a space for splicing to the next roll are left on that part of the leader which is attached to the main section of film. Following processing, the film goes to the shipping room, where the rolls of film are separated. Before the film is wound onto the return reel, one of the two perforated processing numbers is cut from the trailer and later attached to the outside of the reel for checking against the perforated number on the shipping carton. We've given this brief summary so you can see how some of the extra length of Cine-Kodak film is used during processing. Most of the extra footage, however, is intended merely as a wrapper to protect the picture-taking area from becoming light-struck during loading and unloading. Naturally, in doing so, the leader and trailer are at least partially exposed. There is, of course, a margin of safety — a short length of leader or trailer which may or may not be exposed under average conditions. Our spooling and processing procedures are necessarily based on average use of the film. The average user takes advantage of the convenience of daylight loading and unloading which the generous leader and trailer make possible. Therefore, our uniform method of handling the film calls for cutting off before processing all of the leader and trailer except the short lengths required for splicing and identification. In any event, the leader would be useless for picture taking because of the perforated emulsion number which is located just ahead of the main portion of the film. If you will draw a circle around those figures in the table representing "picture-taking area," that's the answer to your question "How long is a 100-foot roll of 16mm. Cine-Kodak film," or any of the other sizes shown. You can see that any usable film in excess of the figure that appears on the carton is only a matter of a few inches, not feet. Thank you, Mr. Mentch. And our thanks to the Eastman Kodak Company [Continued on page 243]