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26 PRINCIPLES OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
Standard Dimensions for Film Perforating
Although the introduction of emulsions coated on flexible film support promised to solve many of the problems previously described, a state of affairs soon existed which threatened to stop further progress for some considerable time. Each inventor had his own ideas concerning the most useful size to adopt for the actual picture dimensions, the shape to cut the perforations in the film and also the film width.
In the year 1899 six independent camera manufacturers had each standardised on a particular film width which was different from the other five. Also, at the same time, five different types of perforation were in use and the distance between the perforations varied from one manufacturer to the next. It must not be imagined that each camera manufacturer also made his own film. The usual practice was to purchase the film cut to the desired width and then to perforate it to suit any particular type of camera.
So long as those films made by any one company were not expected to be projected on machines made by a second company this state of affairs was no great hardship. However, once the motion picture had proved its worth small cinema circuits were set up and, in principle, were operated in a manner similar to present day practice.
It was therefore apparent that, once a manufacturer had managed to get his equipment installed in a large number of cinemas, he was certain of holding all the trade from those houses. As would be expected, this practice was quickly turned to profitable account and many peculiar situations existed.
This condition was naturally upheld by those manufacturers who had managed to equip large numbers of cinemas with their apparatus. It was, therefore, perhaps fortunate that at least one film producer found an unusual method for overcoming these monopolies since, by so doing, it lead to ultimate standardisation throughout the industry. A particularly good film had been made and was *playing' to ever increasing audiences in those houses equipped with one particular type of machine when the proprietors of another projector, which was not capable of showing this film, hit upon the idea of printing copies from a film perforated to suit the competitors machines onto film perforated to suit his own machines.
Once this had been done it went far to convince the manufacturers of equipment that the time had come to standardise on one size of film, carrying one type of perforation and having those perforations spaced along the film length at regular standard intervals.