Page 28 - 2015-12

THE RISE OF NON-FILM IMAGING

Mike Trickett

Reel Deals is unashamedly aimed at those and they provided regular training on new
interested in Film Collecting and the tech- products and techniques.
niques involved in the presentation of pro-
grams on film ( I refuse to use the much used The closure of the business in 2012, and my
(incorrect) term "celluloid", as celluloid (ni- eventual retirement, was the result of yet an-
trate film) has not been used in the industry other change in the electronics industry: the
since the early 1950s). “throw-away society”. We have now reached
a time when repairing a product is (in most
I thought it might be worth a look at the evolu- cases) no longer viable, simply chuck it out
tion of non-film recording and playing of mo- and buy a new one - the demise of yet another
tion images. In other words the introduction of industry.
a technique some 55 years ago, its evolution
and its eventual displacement of film as the Introduction to video tape
medium for the presentation of motion pic- In the early 1960, I paid a visit to one of the
tures. Melbourne TV stations for a bit of a tour. I was
looking at a telecine machine, this was a
This article is also a bit of a reminiscence on strange set up (to me at the time, anyway), in
my behalf, as I consider my introduction to the that it incorporated two 16 mm RCA projec-
industry in 1960, as a humble 16 year old tors and one slide projector, all aimed into a
apprentice, to have been perfectly timed, in prism and then into a black and white vidicon
that it gave me a good grounding in valve (tube TV camera, which produced the video output.
for those who have adopted the American
term) technology that was used (mainly) at the
time.

The mass introduction of transistors, followed
by integrated circuits (ICs or ‘chips’), all
brought new challenges and the need for more
study to keep abreast. There were more chal-
lenges ahead, with the change to digital sys-
tems and the move away from conventional
display techniques (CRT picture tubes) to
plasma and LCD panels and to hand held
cameras with digital recording. RCA telecine chain (source: Internet)

In 1969, I became self employed, eventually
growing the business to be the largest in Victo-
ria, outside of Melbourne, employing at its I was told that it was being used less and less,
peak, nine staff. With the service agencies for as they now have video tape machines. I was
most of the major manufacturers, keeping up then shown one of the video tape machines
to date was not a problem, as in those days, we they had. Little did I know that this was the
were a very important part of the manufactur- start of the decline of what turned out to be my
ers’ commitment to provide after sales service, life-long passion - film.

28 REEL DEALS December 2015