1 The Director of Photography – an overview

Film stock 75
logged and their relative position will be transferred to a separate part
of the computer memory.
This transfer of information is possible because every Key Kode, or
its equivalent, is printed onto the negative in two forms: a string of
conventional numbers (referred to as the man-readable numbers) and
a bar code (just like those found in the supermarket). These bar codes
can easily be read by a scanner as the negative passes through the
telecine during the neg.-to-tape transfer process.These are referred to
as the machine-readable numbers.
If the picture has been cut using a non-linear process such as Avid
or Lightworks, then at the end of the editing, when a final cut has been
agreed, the computer can be used to produce an edit decision list. The
edit decision list can be transferred to a floppy disk or be printed out
as hard copy. From this list it is easy to see, in one column, all the cuts
as the edge sign number plus the number of frames to the actual last
frame before the cut. This list is then sent to the neg. cutters to make
up the final cut neg. for printing.
Care, shipping and handling
Although film stock is a fairly robust medium, certain precautions should
be taken to keep it in perfect condition, especially before the image has
been processed.The main threats to image quality degradation are:
1 Temperature
2 Humidity
3 Fogging from gases or radiation.
Even when kept in perfect storage conditions, it is advisable to use the
film within six months of purchase. If you are travelling abroad it is
worth remembering that most stock manufacturers offer a service of
payment in your home country and collection from their nearest agent
to your location. In this way, you are at least assured that no deterioration
by any means has occurred before you start shooting.
Figure 6.14 shows the ranges of both temperature and humidity that
most manufacturers recommend for storing motion picture film.
The actual speed of the film will have an effect on the rate of or susceptibility
to various kinds of damage.This is particularly true of X-ray
radiation, where the more sensitive the film is to visible light, the more
sensitive it will be to X-rays.
When shipping undeveloped film stock, great care must be exercised
to reduce the amount of X-ray radiation the stock is subjected to.
If you have to travel with your film stock always take it in hand baggage.
Checked baggage that goes in the hold may receive far more radiation
than hand baggage and film can be completely ruined. Take with
you a changing bag and a spare, empty, film tin, together with a film bag.
With luck you may be able to persuade the check-in personnel to do a
hand-search of your film. This is far safer than letting it go through any
X-ray machine, even if they are labelled ‘Film Safe’. For our purposes it
is best to assume there is no such thing as a film-safe X-ray machine.
It is often possible to ring the customs department in advance and
warn them of your problem and ask for their co-operation when you
get to the barrier.