Projection engineering (Jan 1932-Mar 1933)

Page 16 PROJECTION ENGINEERING economical director, in attempting to cut scenes, to overlap at least part of the dialog and action when progressing the scene through various angles, and to particularly watch that the dialog is timed perfectly with the action in each angle that he shoots. The actual mechanical features involved in the editing of sound pictures are relatively simple. They involve the use of the synchronizing machine, the moviola, the splices and the rewind. All of these devices are easy to operate and require only a minimum amount of experience to attain more or less perfection in their handling. Synchronizing The synchronizing of film by edge numbers has been explained previously. In additon, each editor is supplied with a synchronizing machine, the purpose of which is to enable him to keep the film in synchronization as he handles it. This device can best be described as a machine which carries anywhere from two to four sets of sprockets. The editor, while handling the film, places both the sound track and the picture film over these sprockets, keeping the film in synchronization at all times while he is passing it from one reel to another during its handling. Should the film by any chance slip over the sprockets, the editor has the edge numbers as a guide, thus avoiding the necessity of going back to the original start mark to check the sound track with the action. Most editors, however, do not use the synchronizing machine but prefer the moviola (film viewing and checking device). The practice is to place the sound track underneath the action, both passing over the same sprocket wheel. Inasmuch as the greater part of the sound film is clear, the light passes through and the cutter is able to handle both films without interfering with observation of the picture. Experienced editors require the synchronizing machine mostly for lining up sound effect and musical tracks after the picture has been cut, enabling them to run the action on one set of sprockets ; the dialog on the second, the sound effects on the third, and musical or other background noises on the fourth set. In this manner, the editor can run all of the film through the synchronizing machine at one time, matching in everything in the one operation. Patching There are two different type patches used in the cutting room, one which covers the full sprocket and the other covering only the half sprocket. At Universal we find the half sprocket satisfactory, because that type seems to pass through the projection machine more readily, not tearing apart after repeated use as does the full sprocket patch. Each editor is of course assigned one or two assistants, each of whom should have speed, care and system in the handling of film. System in the cutting room naturally results in cleanliness. Film at all times should be kept on file in cans and in fire protection cabinets. Fire is a hazard in any part of an organization where film is being handled and the less film that is exposed, the less the hazard. Particular care should be taken to expose as little film as possible and the efficient editor, with the assistance of an efficient assistant, will have very little film about his room at any AAA one time. The following mechanical devices really comprise the fittings of a cutting room: metal re-winding tables, each table with one set of re-winders and racks for the filing of small rolls of film, with either artificial or natural light in the background, facing the rack. Steel cabinets for the filing of excess film ; combination sound and silent moviolas ; film bins and clips for the clipping together of film preliminary to splicing and also the necessary reels required in the handling of the film. It may be added that editing involves a great deal of careful and intelligent work. Give an efficient editor the above mentioned equipment, plus one pair of scissors, and no picture is too great a task for him. I have found it a great advantage to surround myself with men who have a number of years' experience. In general the longer the experience the greater the proficiency. An editor with the handling of each picture learns and experiences situations which perhaps have not confronted him before and in time becomes thoroughly familiar with dramatic, comic and fast tempo situations. Often he is able to create situations in the picture which, from all appearances, the film would not permit. Summing up, I might suggest that a thorough knowledge of film editing is perhaps the best requisite for success in almost any branch of the production end of this business. Directors who have risen from the ranks of editors are the ace directors of the business, the knowledge which they gained as cutters being of untold value to them in their subsequent work. Fabric for light reflecting screens t AMR. WILCZEK, in the screenimporting business, testified that to March, 1930, he was in the motion-picture-screen manufacturing business, and that he bought material like that in question from the Western Commercial Company, the plaintiff herein, about January, 1929, of a width of from thirteen to sixteen feet, for use in making moving-picture projection screens; that after being cut to size the cloth is covered in front with a spray of two or three layers of white paint, and then with a layer of white enamel in which are embedded glass beads; that the paint seeps through the back of the cloth and is brushed in back and in front to make an even surface, and that the surface in back, which is white, is then usually covered with a fFrom a recent decision of the V. S. toms Court. Cus black paint ; that it is left for a week to dry, and then rolled up and packed . in boxes for shipment to the theatre for the projection of pictures thereon; has furnished these screens to the Roxy Theatre, New York City; to Loew's and Proctor's theatres, also to Keith's, Fox's and Moss & Brill's theatres — altogether to about 500 or 600 theatres throughout the United States — and that sound pictures are made from the same material, except that the screens are perforated where the sound comes through. Another of plaintiff's witnesses, Nathaniel Schneider of the Schneider Scenic Studio, New York City, manufacturers of scenery and draperies for the stage, states that his concern bought cloth like that under consideration from the plaintiff, which in that particular case was used for making mural panels for a church affair, for which cotton cloth without seams was necessary. For these mural paintings the cloth is first sized with a liquid solution of starch, water and a little glue to fill in the pores and give a solid surface so that the water color will stick to the painting. The design is sketched on the cloth, and then filled in with water color by spray or hand. He further stated that he used material like. Exhibit 1 for these murals ; that he never used waterproof materials for mural paintings, as water colors could not very well be applied to a greasy substance ; that you could not apply paint to the raw cloth, although water colors could be applied to this kind of cloth without putting anything else on it, and that it would stick.