Appendix 1

Appendix 9: Deconstructing Several Films’ Workfl ows
Geography of the Imagination is a very unusual 16 mm fi lm that followed an equally unusual workfl
ow. The fi lm was made in the late 1980s when workfl ows like this were somewhat commonplace,
but even for its time, this fi lm used some exotic sound mixing workfl ow that was somewhat esoteric
(and the brain child of this author).
This was more or less the way fi lms were made from 1930 to the late 1980s with the exception of
the sound mix. In this era, most fi lms were mixed by loading all of the magnetic or optical tracks
onto individual playback machines that were interlocked together. It could take more than fi fty playback
machines, or “dubbers,” in order to perform such a mix.
For Geography of the Imagination, most of the fi lm was shot on black-and-white reversal fi lm. Some
was shot on super 8 color fi lm that was projected on a screen and rephotographed in black-and-white
reversal fi lm. This produced a very fl ickery, contrasty, and unstable image that was exactly what the
fi lmmaker had in mind. Other shots were printed from stock footage.
All footage was work printed and edited on a Steenbeck fl atbed editor. The fi lm has no sync sound
so that was not an issue. All sounds were transferred to 16 mm mag stock and the sound design
created right on the fl atbed editor.
The work print key code information was logged and printing cue sheets prepared. All original camera
reversal fi lm was pulled to the key codes and glue-spliced into A-B rolls.
Preparation for the mix is where the workfl ow became somewhat exotic and is the reason for mentioning
it here. Even though the mix was going to be preformed to video, there was to be no pulling
up or down. The mix would be done at 24 FPS. At the time, true 24 FPS workfl ows were thought
to be the superior system and are still used and promoted as a simpler system. A quick review of the
workfl ow on Help Wanted will show some of the potential pitfalls of a 24 FPS workfl ow.
For Geography of the Imagination, all of the sound tracks were transferred two at a time from two
playback dubbers. The dubbers were locked to 60 Hz line sync to ensure 24 FPS playback, and they
were then locked together by means of a “servo interlock,” a system that is still used to lock multiple
machines together. This way, when one machine moved forward or backward they both moved
together in sync.
The system works like this: every machine has an “optac,” short for optical tachometer. This
sends a signal whenever the machine moves forward or backward. A servomotor that can move
forward or backward drives each machine in very small and controllable steps. Each machine also
has a computerized controller. When the master machine moves forward some number of steps, its
optac sends this signal to all other machines that in turn are moved forward by their controllers until
their optac informs the controller that they have moved exactly the same number of steps in the same
direction. Any number or size of recorders or projectors or whatever can be locked together this
way.
The master machine was “line locked’ to the incoming 60 Hz line current (in other words, the electrical
power from the wall plug). Electric clocks use this reference and, while it is not as accurate as
the house sync, in this case, it is the best reference. The house sync is a video reference and is
intended to keep 29.97 FPS devices in sync. If the dubbers were locked to this, they would run at
23.98 FPS, just like a telecine machine. Because this is a 24 FPS workfl ow, the dubbers needed to
be locked to a 60 Hz reference and so line power was used.
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