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Presentation & Projeetion

by T. B. Sansom,
With the approach of the winter months the projector comes to the fore
to show not only the films made throughout the summer but a~~O' selections from
the Pathescope Catalogue which caters for all ages.
Many hours have been spent preparing scripts, arranging scenes, shooting
the material, titling and editing, so producing the finished film ready for present-
ation to our audience. Unless equal care is taken in screening the material the
effort put into making the film may be lost to a large extent through poor
presentation, the audience losing interest soon after the first fifteen minutes.
PRESENTATION. After practically fifteen years of showing with every type
of Pathescope projector ever made, with audiences ranging from the -family
circle to several hundreds, I have been able to formulate certain essentials which
I now pass on in the hope that some may benefit from my experience.
The first essential is of course a good projector combining adequate screen
illumination with flickerless projection; reliability and quietness of operation are
also of equal importance. The "Gem" and "Son" have all these requirements
and form a solid foundation upon which to build the other essentials.
A good screen ranks only second to the projector. For the family circle and
audiences up to thirty people a matt white surface is preferable, even more
so if you are showing in a square room and some of the viewers have to see the
screen from rather a sharp angle. Should your interests however take you
outside the, family circle and into halls where you have to cater for I 00 or so
then it is better to invest in a glass beaded surface which gives a greater
intensity of illumination.
One word of warning here however, the glass beaded surface is directional
and the illumination falls off greatly as the angle increases. Your audience
should therefore be arranged so that it views the screen direct so that full
advantage may be taken of the beaded surface. Seats at any appreciable
angle to the screen should be avoided as far as possible.
Screen size is always a debatable point, nevertheless experience has tied
down certain facts.
Never sacrifice screen illumination for a large picture, always keep the size
within the possibilities of the machine. It is far better to have a 3 ft. picture
well lit than a 5 ft. picture that is under the required standard. A standard I
have found most satisfactory is to limit the size of picture to 3 ft. if a matt white
surface is being used. With the glass beaded surface one can obtain a well
illuminated picture up to, but not exceeding 6ft. x 5 ft.
It is important to note however that these remarks apply only to the "Gem"
and "Son" projectors incorporating the high intensity lamp and optical system,
with the possible exception of that wonderful pre-war machine, the 200-B.
Having decided on the screen size, remembering that the size should not be
greater than the nearest person to it, make sure that the available throw is·
long enough for the picture to entirely fill the surface area, there is nothing
worse than a picture that only fills three quarters of the available area.
Make sure your audience is comfortably seated and in a comfortable atmos-
phere. Recall your own discomfort in the public cinema that is cold and
draughty, not to mention the hard seats of the past. Stray lights from fires, etc.,
can also be annoying and a screen should always be used if the fire is particularly
bright.
cont,
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