Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

MOVIE-MAKING EQUIPMENT 83
electricity into the air it is quite likely that the film set may be
near an antenna. If this happens, any number of effects can be
produced in the recording equipment, and it is easily possible to
record the radio program as well as or instead of the desired
dialogue. And a run-through with the actors to test for sound is
a matter of course.
Magnetic tape is being used more and more in exactly the
same way as film for double sound systems: that is, a magnetic
tape recorder running at a constant, synchronous speed is set up.
Sound is recorded on it in the usual way, and it can be edited as
easily as film. It offers two advantages over film: one, no process-
ing is required so one source of distortion is eliminated; and two,
it is possible to play it back as soon as the shooting is over, so that
dialogue
can be checked and if a reshoot is needed because of
sound it can be done while the set is still up. It is much cheaper,
too, for the tape can be used over and over again.
FILM STOCK
The major sources of film are Eastman Kodak, Du Pont, and
Ansco. The actual choice is usually a matter of personal preference
since most of the manufacturers offer films whose character-
istics are quite similar.
The only important point to consider in selecting film for a
specific job is to make sure that the emulsion speed
tion are suitable for the purpose. In other words,
and defini-
if a shot in the
Rockies is to be made at high noon Super-XX Panchromatic film
would not normally be used. It should be apparent at once that
and would
this emulsion is many times faster than is required
necessitate stopping the lens down to a very small aperture. The
net result would be a film which might be overexposed and which
would certainly be more grainy than need be. The proper film to
use would be a fairly slow, fine-grain film, the actual type depending
on the local conditions. Probably a Background-X type could