Sponsor (Jan-June 1956)

2. WHAT you should know about Like Gaul, it's divided into three parts. Here's a primer for admen on watt ^^ut this piece in the lab and mark it rush. We've got to have that fine grain by five today." "Change that third cut to a soft left-to-right wipe and shorten the fade at the end by 15 frames." "That plane take-off effect at 68 feet is much too much. It covers the narration. Hold it down or we'll have to take it out altogether." Admen won't even admit it to their wives, but they get a big bang out of flinging around instructions like those above. You, too, can toss around such phrases in film processing. One thing: Make sure you know what you're talking about. And if you do, consider how much what you say will cost. More likely than not, the above instructions, if translated into an actual situation, would cost an advertiser a fistful of money. If a "soft wipe" is Greek to you and you're interested in film production, read on. What follows is a basic course in the three major segments of film processing — the film labs, the optical effect firms and the sound recording studios. The going may get rough at times, but you should know a lot more when you're finished. You can even go home and try out some processing instructions on your wife. The film lab: The basic function of a film laboratory is to develop the negative exposed in shooting the commercial and make prints used on the air. Since the final prints incorporate the work done by optical effects and sound recording people, the film lab comes into the picture repeatedly at various processing stages. Labeling: The first "must" in film processing is to make sure the exposed negative in the can is delivered to the lab with proper identification. This is one of those I-know-it-sounds-obvious-but-for-Heaven's-sake-do-it-right matters. All labs complain of getting cans of film with a phrase like "coffee picture" on it. Even when accom panied by the name of producer or agency, it is a slipshod way of doing things. The label should include the name of the producer, the name of the product, a number designating the commercial to differentiate it from other commercials for the same product and the name of the agency, like so: XYZ Film Productions — Manischewitz Bacon— #117 — Snark Advtg. It might even be a good idea to put the date of delivery on the can. All these facts will be particularly helpful, for example, if the negative is needed months or years later. The negative should be accompanied by a camera log. This shows which of the many "takes" are to be printed (print-takes), which are to be held for future use or reference (hold-takes) and which are no good (out-takes). 1 he name of the cameraman and producer or director should also be included. Finally, one or more short strips of test film should be in the can, loo. These strips are developed before the commercial negative so that the lab knows what developing time to use. Where the entire commercial is shot under similar lighting conditions, one strip will suffice. Where there is, say, an indoor scene, an outdoor daylight scene and an outdoor nighttime scene, each should have its own test strip of film. Developing: Once entered on the laboratory books, the film is developed, fixed, washed and dried by automatic machinery. This is a continuous developing process with continuous strips of film. New film is constantly added at one end and taken off the other. Since different strips of film re Optical Effects: This is most mysterious side of processing. While admen cannot bene in field, they should be familiar with the basic effects so they can talk to their elk; 42 SPONSOR