Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

310
THE PROGRAM ANGLE
carefully many times to make sure that it does not contain any
trick shots which will require the use of specially prepared equip-
ment and increase the costs.
And, probably most important of all,
is the decision whether
to use lip sync or narration. Upon this depends in most cases the
decision whether to use single or double system sound. This then
runs on into whether to use 16 mm or 35 mm film for the pro-
duction. If it is to be the cheapest possible job and intended for
local station use only, then 1 6 mm film can be used for the original
But if it entails
negative shooting as well as the release prints.
distribution to networks or originating stations, then 35 mm is a
must for 1 6 mm quality is not good enough for use in an origina-
tion over the network lines. This latter statement refers not only
to the negative but to the positive as well. But unless the film is
for national distribution there is very little point in using 35 mm
for release prints since not many TV stations have the equipment
for using this film due to its expense. From this it will be seen that
1 6 mm can be used exclusively for the original negative and release
prints; 35 mm can be used in the same way for 35 mm negative
and release prints, in this case for special key station use generally ;
or the negative can be made on 35 mm film and release prints
made on 16 mm. The latter usually gives a much more satisfac-
tory picture than straight 16 mm all the way. There is nothing
to be gained by shooting on 16 mm and then enlarging to 35 mm.
This chapter started out to offer a comparison between the
pros and cons of films for television commercials, but it seems to
have finished up as a rather one-sided argument in favor of films,
period. It is not exactly what was intended for this chapter, but
it seems that what has been said above tells the story itself. Sum-
ming up, it might be said with a fair amount of truth that films
are more satisfactory, cheaper (apart from initial cost in some
cases), and infinitely more convenient than live commercials for
television in the majority of cases.
To recap briefly, probably the biggest single objection to
films for television commercials today is the poor technical and
photographic quality of so many of the commercials seen on the