The Photodramatist (May 1922-Feb 1923)

From Pen to Silversheet By Melvin M. Riddle XIV— THE FILM LABORATORY WHAT is the next step in the treatment of motion picture film after it passes through the motion picture camera, with an exposed record of the scenes filmed during the day? This is a question which very few could thoroughly answer, because the laboratory, the last great department of studio production, is a place to which very few people are admitted. The average studio visitor never gets a glimpse into this complex and highly interesting department. The necessity for absolute perfection of organization and efficiency in the various phases of laboratory work was recently emphasized by a Lasky Studio expert when he remarked : 44 \ FTER all the expense and work and genius "^ involved in the making of a motion picture, the only thing that a film company has to sell is a series of little pictures on a strip of film. If the laboratory is inefficent in its final treatment of this film, then the work of all other departments is injured and if the laboratory workers, through accident or mistake should destroy the precious celluloid, then all the efforts of other departments, all the time and money involved, have been for nought and nothing remains to show for such expense of time, genius and money." In describing the modern motion picture laboratory, its operations, the various processes which the film undergoes therein, we shall take the plant in which the Lasky laboratory work is done as an example. This plant is housed in a large concrete, fireproof building consisting of many rooms and branches and several vaults in which the film is stored. It is operated continuously, night and day, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year and two distinct shifts are kept constantly employed. Before we proceed further, an explanation of the two kinds of film used in motion picture photography is essential. These two types are negative film and positive film. Negative film is the kind that is run through the motion picture camera and corresponds to the photographer's plate or the kodak film in still photography. Positive film is the type that is run through the projection machine and exhibited on the screen and corresponds to the finished paper print in still photography, except 6 Few Writers Realize the great importance of the laboratory expert in the preparation of films. Although the story is the foundation of any good photoplay, and the director, actors and cameramen play a vital part in motion picture production, the fact remains that the best screen drama ever conceived would fail of success, were it improperly developed and printed. Mr. Riddle, in his usual interesting manner, gives you a clear insight into the functions of this essential phase of the picture industry. that in this case, transparent film is used, so that the light may reflect it on the silversheet. The negative, after being exposed by the cameraman, through his camera, is developed in the laboratory and from this finished negative the positive is printed by being placed in direct contact with the negative and exposed to strong light, and afterwards developed and fixed in chemical solutions. Any number of positive prints can be struck from this basic negative film, which is the only record of the picture and is carefully guarded and preserved. HP HE average output of Lasky film is eight -'■ hundred seventy-five thousand feet of positive film a week and from fifteen to twenty-five thousand feet of negative film each day. The negative film is sent into the laboratory by the cameraman at intervals during the day. Every time he has used up a four hundred foot roll of film he sends it in to the laboratory for development and printing and at the end of the day's work, the directors, cameramen and players assemble in the projection room in a corner of the building and look at a sample positive print of the day's takes. The negative, if okeyed by the director, is then stored in a vault reserved for that particular picture. The negative rolls may be identified at any time by a key plate, containing the numbers of the picture, the name of the director and the color which the positive is to be tinted, which key plate is photographed on to the finished of each scene filmed during the day. After the sample positive film has all been assembled, cut and is in its final, perfect state, the negative is cut in like manner, after this sample print. Then, from this completed, assembled negative strip, the many positive prints needed for general distribution throughout the country, are struck. The key numbers on the negative are also printed right on to each roll of positive film in the earlier stages of preparation and identify the positive and enable the director in assembling the various short scenes into one, continuous, coherent strip, which constitutes the picture. {Continued on Page 38)