American Cinematographer - October 1968 - 65

(LEFT) FIGURE 2-The live action scene, as photographed on Fine Grain Negative stock. (CENTER) FIGURE 3-The animation cels are photographed
over a black card on the animation stand. (RIGHT) FIGURE 4-The animation cels are photographed a second time on the animation stand,
using a High Contrast Negative stock, with the light source coming from behind the cels. The processed film shows a clear area of the cartoon
on a black field.

(LEFT) FIGURE 5-A High Contrast Positive printed from the High Contrast Negative. (CENTER) FIGURE 6-Fine Grain Negative of the live action
and High Contrast Positive of the animation printed to form a Master Positive of the live action, with an exposed area where the cartoon is
to appear. (RIGHT) FIGURE 7-The Second Run through the camera (original animation Fine Grain Negative, plus High Contrast Negative) produces
a composite of the live action and the animation.

zero it is totally closed and at 170 it
is in the v/ide open position. As the
shutter is gradually opened, the dou¬
ble-exposed image becomes faintly
visible and is very transparent. The
more the shutter is opened, the brighter
and less transparent does the doubleexposed image become until finally it
is at its brightest and is not at all
transparent.
Superimposure
Another form of "Trick Photogra¬
phy" is the "Superimposition." This is
especially desirable when a TV spon¬
sor of a football game, for instance,
wishes to have the message of his
product flashed on the screen directly
over the regular televised scene. The
message, whether it be a caption or
an animated cartoon, is planned in the
usual way except that only the outline
is drawn in white ink on acetate cels
and photographed on high contrast
film over a black card. When the film
is processed it is immersed in a high
contrast positive bath so that the re¬
sulting product will be a white image
on a solid black field. This piece of
film is loaded into a special device
which will project the cartoon image,
or the message, as the case may be,

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, OCTOBER 1968

directly over the live action photogra¬
phy electronically. In this way, the
sponsor conveys his message unob¬
trusively to the viewer without interrupt¬
ing his enjoyment of watching the
football field and all of the interesting
sidelights that might be taking place
during intermission.
The Optical Printer
Many of the special effects used in
motion pictures today are made pos¬
sible by the Optical Printer. The 35mm
Optical Printer is a machine that em¬
bodies a camera and a projector with
their lenses facing each other. (Fig. 1)
The camera part of the machine is
loaded with unexposed motion picture
film, while the projector portion con¬
tains film that has been exposed and
processed. The films pass before the
respective apertures of each machine
in synchronization with each other. A
ray of light passes through the pro¬
cessed film in the projector and the
image is picked up by the camera and
photographed on the unexposed film.
Thus the camera, instead of photo¬
graphing a live scene, is in effect
photographing (one frame at a time),
a film of a previously photographed
scene. The real function of the Optical

Printer is to make possible the com¬
bining, on one film, all the images on
two or more pieces of film. Thus if it
is desired to combine an animated
cartoon with live actors, the Optical
Printer will do the trick. The technique
involves several steps, as follows:
(1) The scene containing the live
actors is photographed on Fine
Grain Negative stock. (Fig. 2).
(2) The animated cartoon is drawn,
inked and opaqued in the usual
manner. However, it is first
necessary to decide where the
cartoon character is to be posi¬
tioned with relation to the po¬
sition of the live actors. This is
determined by tracing a frame
of the live action photography
enlarged to the field size nor¬
mally used for animation. It is
not advisable to use the original
negative for this purpose as it
is very vulnerable and subject
to scratches. Only a print can
be safely subjected to repeated
handling.
(3) When the animation has been
completed, and the acetate cels
inked and opaqued, the cels
are photographed over a black
Continued on Page 790

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American Cinematographer - October 1968

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