Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

90
FUNDAMENTALS
periodically to prevent the acquisition of curl through being
wound tightly on cores or small reels.
Whatever the cause of focus drift it should be watched for by
the projectionist and corrected as necessary. The practice of some
operators of lacing a projector, switching it on, and forgetting it
until time for change-over cannot be too strongly deplored. It is
people like these, maintaining a consistently low standard of operation,
who give both television and movies in some of the smaller
houses, a bad name.
Fluttering, or unsteady images on the screen, is due to buckled
film. The intense heat to which the film is exposed causes it to
shrink, and because the edges of the film are the only parts in
contact with the projector they absorb more heat than does the
frame area which has only momentary flashes of light and heat on
it. Consequently, the excess shrinkage of the former pushes the
frame out of shape and results in buckling, with its attendant
fluttering in and out of focus of the screen image.
It is possible to restore short lengths of buckled film. Nitratebase
film is more likely to suffer from this trouble than the 1 6 mm
safety film used in television, although of course the 35 mm
projectors used in some stations may use either nitrate- or acetatebase
film. However, TV stations will probably not suffer exten-
sively from this trouble for the lower heat developed by the tele-
vision projectors since they require less light does not have
much effect on the film. Unfortunately many of the release prints
in circulation on this circuit have been made from old negatives,
or even from old positives in the case of foreign films where only
positives are available. The 16 mm print made under these conditions
will, of course, have the same flaws as the original. Some-
times the 35 mm print supplied to the station will be in such poor
condition that it is buckled and curled.
To restore nitrate film it is wound emulsion side out, and
placed in a humidifier film can with an absorbent blotter which
has been impregnated with camphor and lightly moistened with
water and glycerine to maintain the moisture content. It is left in
this atmosphere for one or two weeks. Absorbent material can be