Boxoffice-March.04.1950

sets off a title with a touch of the spectacular.
Unless your projector is capable of dissolving
from one slide to another, don't try
changing colors in the middle of a title,
since this would let it relapse into black and
white, spoiling the effect.
A superimposed color is most effective
on darker titles, because the lighter titles
wash out the effect of the less intense
illumination from the slide projector. In
the latter case we have another old trick
up our sleeves—the color wheel.
A search of any theatre supply house
should reveal color wheels adaptable to
mounting in front of the projector lenses,
but the boss may be saving his money to
buy "Samson and Delilah" and close the
purse to such "foolishness."
MAKE YOUR OWN COLOR WHEELS
The image projected through this arrangement
does not lose much sharpness
and is quite satisfactory, at least where
we have seen this done.
The wheel is set in operation with a
colored section in front of the lens and the
trade mark is projected through it. At the
fadeout to the main credits, the wheel is
rotated to the next color. The colors should
be changed during title dissolves, adding,
instead of detracting, from those effects.
You'll find the image is not objectionably
disturbed while the opaque dividers in the
wheel are rotating across the projection
beam.
To avoid frantic ripping of a gelatin
section when the credits end, better leave
one blank space in the wheel, advancing
this during the final credits fadeout. With
a little practice you can time your colors
quite expertly, since most credits follow a
standard pattern.
We are absolutely not responsible for
credits which appear in the middle of the
picture, or at the end. Better take a look
at the top of the reel before trying anything
fancy.
FOOTLIGHTS FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS
If you have colored footlights with selective
switching from the booth, you can
also do an impressive job with this medium.
We like this at the beginning of the show,
for newsreels and other subjects accompanied
by spirited music.
If the boss spends a great deal of money
on coming attraction trailers they can
become monotonous to a customer ^and
projectionist) , especially in a three or fourchange
house. They are still one of the
most efficient show-sellers around, however,
as results prove.
BOXOFHCE :: March 4, 1950
Although it is an accepted practice in
some houses, many don't like to see trailers
pop on the screen "cold." That is, without
some introductory strip, even one of
the moth-eaten "prevues of Coming Attractions"
animated monstrosities still in
circulation in some localities.
Use of a silent date strip is a matter of
opinion. We're for them to avoid cutting
into the music, and because a moment of
silence, in itself, can be impressive.
Some theatres prefer to use a stereopticon
to superimpose the date of the coming
attraction over the "prevue" itself, since
this practice more closely associates the
date with the trailer. Factory-made daters
are available, or you can make your own
with a radio mat and the proper masking.
Although mentioned before, here's a little
note worth repeating. Take a blank slide
and cover it with a thin layer of white shoe
polish, which is opaque after drying. Writing
with a sharp pointed instrument on the
If this is the case, you can make an even
better one yourself with a little inventive
genius and that bent reel you're hiding
from the fire marshal. The sides are detached
from the hub and mounted flush
legibility
with pieces of colored gelatin cemented
and artistry.
into
If you want to handle your prevues in
the openings. A reel with large openings,
a truly flamboyant manner, pick up a lens
of course, is preferred. The color wheel
of longer focal length than those you are
thus evolved is mounted at the port hole,
using. In other words, one that makes the
so it can be turned manually. Do not use
colored cellophane since it is inflammable!
shoe white appears as white lettering on
the screen. The advisability of this stunt,
of course, is directly proportional with your
picture smaller than the customary image.
Run your trailers on separate reels, behind
the longer lens, projecting a colored border,
preferably of artistic design, around it.
This also leaves room for a jump In picture
size when you hit the changeover, adding
a wallop to the subject following.
USE TRUE SHOWMANSHIP
To hold the movie fan from the lure of
TV, however, you must capitalize on the
superiority of the motion picture image
size and quality—along with the showmanship
miracles a true projection artist can
perform. The often unheralded little
touches in the booth count more than ever.
To have seen perfect projection is to have
seen imagined reality, with mechanics so
unobtrusive, they are unnoticed. So if the
public seldom notices your moments of
genius, that alone is a great compliment,
for to see life itself, breathed into magic
being from 35 millimeters of celluloid, is
an experience patrons will continue to pay
their money to see.
For
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