Weird Devices in Talkie Unit

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 660, 11 May 1929, Page 27

Weird Devices in Talkie Unit

Auckland Projector DUTIES OF OPERATORS

j A brilliantly-lit cabinet, in the { centre of which stand twin J machines of strange and com- | plicated appearance. Finished I in glossy black lacquer , they I fairly bristle toith weird | ! devices — cables, wheels, levers .. j i and sprockets. ! i 1 1

tlie rear wall is a large electric switch-board. Facing in on the opposite wall are rows of meters and indicators. Hanging from the ceiling is a black loud-speaker bora. Business-like steel cases* "packed with spools of film, stand in the corner

and other cases, filled with what appear to be out-size gramophone records, are piled in a convenient spot. Such is one’s first impressions of the operating-box in an Auckland sound and talking picture theatre. It is as different from the old-style operating-box as a motor-cycle is from the homely push-bike. In the first place the expensive projection machines are much larger than the comparatively simple film projector of the old regime. Two are necessary to ensure continuity of screening over the many spools of a picture. stand a few feet apart, each toward the theatre screen through its own wall aperture. A mass of wiring attached to regulating switches joins them. MOVIETONE SYSTEM At the side of each machine, not far from the lens, is the wonderful light bulb—the heart of the Movietone—which picks the rays from the sound strip on the film and transforms them into sound vibrations. From this bulb or valve the sounds are transferred to the sound projection system and eventually belch forth from the huge horns behind the theatre screen. For the operators the Movietone system is relatively simple of control. The film, with its accompanying sound strip, is fed into the projector and, provided that everything is well, the marvellous apparatus does the rest. The operator merely sees to it that spool follows spool, alternating on each machine. Of course he has to be something of a sound expert, for the speed of the film and other circumstances have a direct effect on the quality of the sound produced. Thus the film of a violin player when run too slowly would produce first the deeper note of a ’cello and then go flat. If run too fast it w r ould become as squeaky as an unoiled door. DISC PRINCIPLE But the operation of the Vitaphone or disc system is another problem altogether. First let us wander rounS the machine and examine this portion of the equipment. At the rear and near the foot of the heavy steel stand supporting the projector is a large and weighty turntable closely resembling that of a gramophone yet upwards of two feet in diameter. It is driven by a pulley which is attached to the motive unit of the projector itself. Thus the speeds are synchronised. In a handy case are the records for each picture, arranged in order, carefully marked, and ‘'cued” with a little indicator which shows the precise point at -which the needle must be applied. Each of these big records runs for 10 minutes or so and may be used only about 20 times. During the season for one of Auckland’s first talkie dramas, no fewer than four sets of records were used. After its total of runs has become exhausted the record is worn and cannot be used again. That gives some idea of the running expenses associated with a talkie. Above the big turntable is a tone arm like that of a large gramophone, and to it is attached a steel needle somewhat larger than the ordinary gramophone needle. For some reason or other the track on the record runs from the inside to the out, so the needle begins by travelling on the smallest circumference. When projection of a Movietone talkie begins the operator waits for the proper moment and places needle on record. Instantly the show begins, and the sounds from the record synchronise perfectly with the picture on the screen. At the end of ten minutes the record is exhausted and the operator changes over to the other machine, on which a new record has been placed in j readiness. The system as a whole is [ perfectly co-ordinated and one record ; takes up just where the other leaves i off.