American Cinematographer - December 1950 - 20

NEW TECHNICOLOR SYSTEM
(Continued from Page 414)

had no formula to follow other than
the tentative instructions laid down by
Technicolor plus his long experience
with regular Technicolor photography.
He proceeded on the basis that color
temperature was all-important with the
new system. "Color temperature must
be correct in the light falling on faces,"
he said, "regardless how it is elsewhere
on the set. If color temperature in other
parts of the scene is slightly up or down,
it is relatively inconsequential."
Implementing the incandescent lamps
w'ere spun glass diffusers and frosted
gelatins. Arnold, in preliminary photo¬
graphic tests with the new Technicolor
system, had already established the fact
that China silk diffusers often prove
detrimental because of their tendency to
bleach and burn, thus changing the color
temperature of the light.
The sequences of tests photographed
at Fox by Arthur Arling were made on
three different sets. Arling's aim was to
put the new system to test following
customary production routine. Thus he
chose scenes and setups approximating
those normally used in regular Techni¬
color production.
The first set was a night interior of
a living room in which a girl and young
man meet. The camera ranges from
closeup to medium shots. The keylight
registered 125 foot candles. The action
was repeated and photographed several
times, each time with the illumina¬
tion setup altered slightly but without
changing the keylight level.
The second sequence of shots elicited
considerable comment for their lighting
artistry. The set was a full night in¬
terior of a bedroom with soft moonlight
falling on a window at the rear. A girl
on a couch, turns out the room light,
arises and goes to the window where
she opens the shutters, admitting moon¬
light. For this scene a keylight of 150
foot candles was used. This dropped to
100 foot candles when the room light
was extinguished. An arc with four
scrims was used back of the window for
the moonlight effect in the closeup of
the girl at the window; for the medium
shot of the moonlight effect, a Senior
was used with a Macbeth filter.
The third sequence was a full lit day
interior of a living room with shots
ranging from medium to closeup. Here
again, the keylight was 150 foot candles.
"These initial tests," said Arling,
"prove the great need at this time for a
good 1 OOO-watt CP incandescent globe.
For the new Technicolor system, the
present 2000-watt globes are too power¬
ful, requiring diffusion to cut down illu-

mination intensity. With the thousandwatt lamp we could dispense with dif¬
fusers and get correct color temperature
and light intensity at the same time."
"When we filter incandescent lamps
for regular Technicolor," he added, "we
lose sixty percent of the light. With the
new system, using incandescent light, we
gain back this lost sixty percent and have
the advantage of the full hundred per¬
cent of the lamp's potential illumination.
Where arcs are used with the new
Technicolor system, which requires use
of filters, resultant light loss from filter¬
ing is around 30 percent - an amount
easily expendable."
The test sequences photographed by
Charles Boyle at Universal-International
consisted of wardrobe and makeup tests
for the Technicolor production, "Don
Renegade." The takes ranged from closeups to medium shots, with an occasional
two-shot, and were filmed with a keylight of 150 foot candles. All illumina¬
tion on the sets was by 2000- and 500watt globes of 3450 K temperature.
Spun glass and frosted gelatin diffusers
were used. An incandescent broad was
used with a silk diffuser.
Commenting upon the new Techni¬
color system, Boyle said: "It is the most
important development in Technicolor's
history. After shooting Technicolor for
13 years, I just couldn't believe that
such results were possible until I tried it.
Working with Technicolor with a keylight of only 150 foot candles, I just
kept my fingers crossed until I saw the
results. It means big things for color film
production in general."
Lest it be interpreted from the above
that arc lighting is doomed to oblivion,
insofar as color photography is con¬
cerned, it should be stated here that in
the opinion of most directors of photog¬
raphy the general scheme for set light¬
ing will probably be as follows for the
new Technicolor system:
a-Small sets: practically all unfil¬
tered incandescents.
b-Medium sets: unfiltered incandes¬
cents with some filtered arcs,
c-Large sets: unfiltered incandes¬
cents with a larger percentage of
filtered arcs than used on medium
sets.
d-The use of arcs will vary with
the cameraman as at present with
black and white photography.
In recent weeks, considerable research
has been done on developing a suitable
gelatin filter for filtering arc light to in¬
candescent color temperature. I he initial
filter developed for this purpose has been
identified in the industry as the MT-i.

424 *

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AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

DECEMBER, 1950

Tests indicate that this filter is equiva¬
lent to two No. 54's and one No. 62.
It presently requires one Y-i gelatin
sheet added when used with the Duarc
and two Y-i sheets when used with the
high intensity arcs. Fading tests per¬
formed with this filter by Technicolor
are reported as satisfactory.
Development is continuing on a MT-2
filter which will be the equivalent to
two No. 54's plus the density of twothirds of a No. 62. Both the MT-i and
MT-2 filters reportedly have an absorp¬
tion factor of 40%.
As to the general availability of the
new Technicolor system, the corporation
is said to be aiming for full conversion
to the new process within four to six
months. It can handle some small Holly¬
wood production sequences immediately.
Developments are underway so that
some shooting under the new process
may be done in England by the first of
the year.

M.G.M. CAMERA
AND TRIPOD CARRIER
(Continued from Page 418)

the tripod with camera and set it down
in the new location in a matter of a
minute or so.
Construction of the Tripod Easi-Lift
is rugged but light, due to use of dural
tubes and bars, also use of the same
material in all clamps and fittings. The
telescopic feature of the device allows
the camera to be raised to any height
afforded by the tripod. The clamps fit
over each tripod leg and are securely
locked in place by thumb screws. As
shown in Fig. 2, handles welded to the
clamp sections provide the means for lift¬
ing the tripod with camera by grips or
camera assistants.
As shown in Fig. 4, the Easi-Lift may
be left attached to the tripod and folded
with it for storage or easy carrying,
eliminating the objection to "just an¬
other gadget to carry around."
First to use the Tripod Easi-Lift
was George Folsey, A.S.C., on location
shooting for "Mr. Imperium." William
Mellor, A.S.C., also used it on exteriors
for "Across The Wide Missouri," and
Charles Rosher, A.S.C., is using it on
"Showboat." The consensus of MGM
cameramen is that the gadget rates an
Academy Technical Award. The stu¬
dio, meanwhile is having all tripods
equipped with the Easi-Lift as standard
equipment. END.
American Cinematographer - December 1950

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 1950
