The Photodramatist (May 1922-Feb 1923)

24 Photodramatist for September fleeted a relatively great amount of light through a camera lense onto the film, are impressed as areas of this opaque black silver salt, while those objects that were black to the eye, or which reflected a relatively small amount of light are represented by areas of uncoated and transparent celluloid. "In printing, or the preparation of a positive film., (the film which is used for projection or exhibition) much the same process is followed, except that in this case, instead of being reflected from an object through a camera lense, the light is projected through the negative directly on to the emulsion of the second film. The black, opaque portions of the negative serve to bar the light, the transparent allow it to pass freely and act upon the silver salts. Developed, the areas that were dark on the negative are light on the positive, and we return to the same relation of light and dark that was had in the objects photographed. "Placed in a projection machine, a very strong light is thrown upon the film, and passing through the transparent portions, lights up certain areas on the screen, while the dark objects are represented by the shadows of the darkened places on the film. ' ' A I *HE primary function of the lense in the camera is to reduce the size of the reflected rays of light so that they may be all impressed on a film small enough to be handled conveniently. The standard size of a single motion picture film or "frame" is %xl inches. No matter how large the view or objects photographed, they are all represented on this tiny rectangle of celluloid. Do you realize how microscopic then, the hand of the fair Dotty Dimple, resting on the hero's broad back as they glide through the ball room, will be when the entire ball room and several hundred couples are registered in slightly less than one square inch? "It is now up to the projection machine to get the picture back to a size that the audience can easily see. The lense of the projecting machine, therefore, reverses the work performed by the camera lense and enlarges the rays of light passed through the film forty, fifty thousand or more times. Any flaw, spot, streak or other imperfection present •on the film, if only as large as a grain of dust, may therefore become as large or larger than Dotty Dimple's hand or head on the picture screen. "In the handling of the film, cleanliness, therefore, becomes absolutely essential. Even the air in the rooms in which the films are developed, must be dustless. Our plant, which represents an investment of more than $300,000, was designed with the idea of making conditions and equipment as nearly perfect as possible for a careful and accurate processing of exposed film. < ' "C* VERY cubic foot of air throughout the plant is washed and purified until it is clean as air can be. Its temperature is raised or lowered to the point found by experience and scientific research to meet the requirement of the mechanical or chemical process carried on in the room into which it will be forced. Its humidity is also regulated, that it may not be too dry or too moist. Approximately 35,000 cubic feet of air is so treated every minute, and so great is the volume of air forced by gigantic turbine into each room, that if all the windows in the room were to be opened while a high wind was blowing outside, not one speck of dust could force its way through the strong draught outward. Every device that makes for cleanliness and the maintenance of constant, calculated factors in the processes of photography has been installed. "Of course, the human factor enters largely into the development of motion picture film as in its exposure. In the dark room, where the film, wound on to large wooden racks is immersed in the developing solution, the man in charge has a mansized responsibility, for he must determine as accurately as possible the correct time of immersion. He has for this determination a short length of film for a test. This, he develops with varying periods of immersion, and varying strengths of solution. Absolute accuracy of development is necessary for the negative film, for it may be easily ruined, entailing heavy expense for the producer. It might mean that the entire scene, perhaps the result of a whole day's work with an elaborate set and a crowd of several thousand persons, would have to be retaken. "Not only must he avoid mistakes that will mean the ruining of the film, but further than this he must often correct faults that occurred in the shooting, or exposure, such as imperfect lighting, color schemes whose values in mono-tone (the relation of color to the black and white of the film) defy calculation. All this in a room almost pitch dark. ' ' A FTER the immersion in the developing solu"^^ tion, the film once more undergoes a chemical bath to make permanent the chemical properties of the coating that remains. "It is then washed in water absolutely clean and pure and goes to the drying room, where it is wound on huge slat drums which revolve rapidly and have circulating through and around them great volumes of purified air. In the drying room in particular the humidity and temperature of the air must be closely regulated. Too rapid drying is apt to result in the warping or buckling of the film, or the splitting of the silver coating from the celluloid. "One print is made of every single foot of film exposed by the camera, and it is from this print that the story is assembled. This print is usually made the same day that the scene is made, or at night after the shooting is finished, and is called the "rush." The director and others immediately interested, view these "rushes" daily. In this way, any mistake or any flaw in the action or photography is discovered at once and the scene may be retaken before the set is destroyed, or if the company is on location, before they return. "From the positive film selected, the negative is assembled very accurately, so that in each scene every "frame" of negative corresponds with a certain "frame" of positive, and a master negative is secured. This negative is then passed through the printing machine and as many prints made as desired for the exchanges scattered throughout the country. In the work of assembling the negative so that it will match this master positive, the cutters use complete projection machines which are arranged to throw an image on a small screen a few feet in front of them. These machines are also used for a laboratory inspection of the "rushes," every foot being projected and viewed before it leaves the laboratory."