Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

250
THE PROGRAM ANGLE
and said the remainder of the original film would be shown as
soon as possible. "The Shadow" reel ran out, and then a very
embarrassed man came to the screen and admitted that they
could not find the second part of the western ! So they used a short
filler. Don't let that happen to you; there is no excuse for it, and
it drives viewers away.
When checking the film for television suitability, it is advisable
to project it onto a screen no larger than the standard home re-
ceiver size; that is about twelve by sixteen inches. A point which
is sometimes overlooked when this is done is that the projector
brightness should be reduced slightly to compensate for the increased
brilliance with a small throw between projector and
screen. Watch for too many long shots or medium long shots
which will not be reproduced too clearly on television. In this con-
nection it is a good idea to sit at least ten feet from the screen
when making this viewing test so as to approximate as closely as
possible the actual conditions. The best method of previewing
does not seem to be used much because it entails tying up the
film chain and sometimes bringing in a technician especially to
operate equipment,
at overtime rates. If this is the case at the
reader's station, it might be possible for him to learn to operate
the equipment or schedule the checking of films for later in the
day when men are available. The use of the actual film chain is
obviously the best possible method of performing these checks and
if possible should be used.
Avoid films with a lot of night or very dark scenes since the
iconoscope tube suffers from the previously
mentioned fault of
edge flare. If there is a succession of alternate dark and light
scenes, the job of the shading technician will be made much
harder, and he will probably be unable to cope with the rapid
adjustments
of his controls. For the same reason it is well to avoid
films which have fades-in or -out unless the shading man is good.
The changing light during the fades makes it most difficult for
him to keep an even tone on the screen.
What is probably the most important feature sound has
been left until last. Today the chief criticism of many
movies seen