Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

FILMS FOR TELEVISION Once Used Mainli) as Stop-gaps in Visual Prcgramtning. Motion Pictures Now Have Essential Role in Television Entertainment area. The film thus exposed is rushed back to the laboratory, de- veloped, printed and frequently put on the air the same day. Regularly on Monday and Thursday evenings, these films comprise a substantial portion of the NBC Television Newsreel as presented on WNEJT by "Your Esso Reporter." Whenever time is an important factor in rushing an outstanding story to the television screens, a negative print instead of the usual positive print is run through the film projector. By making certain changes in the transmitting equip- ment, the negative pictures are made to appear on the receiver screen in their natural, positive form. Perhaps one of the best instances of this rapid-fire handling of a news events film was the recent spectac- ular Staten Island pier fire. The New York Fire Department sound- d its fifth alarm shortly after 2 o'clock one afternoon. By 3, NBC cameraman Irving Browning was at the scene in a police boat. By 3:30 Harry Tugander and Jack Hartley of NBC Television, in a chartered tug, were filming scenes from another vantage point. It was By Paul Alley Television Film Editor, National Broadcasting Co. MOTION picture films should not be looked upon as a sub- stitute or a stop-gap when building programs for television. Quite the opposite! They are destined to be- come an important and increasingly valuable segment in the overall show. Current operations support this statement. Approximately 60% of NBC television programs today are on either 16- or 35-milli- meter celluloid. Furthermore, there is no indication that this figure will decrease when television moves ahead out of its present prepara- tory stage into its full stature as a nationwide source of entertainment. Basically, there should be no ar- gument between "live shows" ver- sus films. Each has its place. It is generally conceded that television's most dramatic role will be in bring- ing to the screen important events as they happen. But even when television cameras become increas- ingly mobile and flexible in opera- tion, there will be many events, both spot news stories and news features, to which television cam- eras cannot go. These events will, of necessity, be covered by motion picture cameras. This sharing of responsibility is standard practice today. Camera- men working out of the NBC Film Office at 630 Ninth Avenue, New York, are assigned to cover news- worthy events in the metropolitan [RADIO AGE 23| 6 o'clock before the first reels reached the laboratory. There they were developed and assembled just as photographed. At 9:20, NBC l)ut the films on the air, giving viewers a chance to see the blaze almost as it happened. Under normal conditions, the processing of films takes much longer. First the editor screens the negatives, tslls the film cutter hov\' long he wants the story to run and in what sequence of scenes for best dramatic eff'ect. The cutter lists the scenes and measures the footage. With this information the editor then writes a running com- mentary to fit the respective scenes. Appropriats background music is selected from a library of record- ings and synchronized with the pic- tures. Finally, when picture, script, music engineers and commentator are ready, the film is projected in rehearsal. At that time, the com- mentator, sitting in front of a tele- vision screen runs through the script as he watches the pictui'e develop, while listening to the music through earphones. This procedure is the same as though the sound- track were being recorded on the film itself. Since beginning its regular twice- weekly 10-minute newsreel, NBC has made an enviable record. Staff cameramen in 12 weeks have cov- ered 101 difl'erent stories in and around New York City. In addition to these local reels, stories from PERCHED ATOP A STATION-WAGON, AN NBC TELEVISION FILM CAMERAMAN RECORDS ACTIVITIES AT A MADISON, N. J., DOG SHOW, FOR USE IN A LATER TELECAST ON WNBT.