NEW COLOURS FOR MOVIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 12 June 1929, Page 7

NEW COLOURS FOR MOVIES

MECHANICAL PROGRESS "TURN ON THE MOONLIGHT" TELEPHONING FROM 'PLANE SAN FRANCISCO, 15th May. A new development in j.ho "talkies," whereby & producer may "turn on tho moonlight" for lovo scenes, or uso all tho tints from blue to red to run tho gamut of emotions, was announced in New York before the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. Tho invention restores the "colours"'which were lost to some motion pictures when tho "sound track" was introduced along the edge of the photographic film. This does not mean pictures in natural colours, but shading the whole scene to any desired tone. It no.t only restores tho colour, but, according to the announcement, goes further by replacing the eight lost tones with sixteen new ones. It is designed to got completely away from tint, neutral grey. The restoration process was announced by Loyd A. Jones, head of the physics department of the Eastman laboratories'. He said the colours would enable projection of scenes, in all-over tints, giving the blue of the sea to views needing it, orange peachblow to love scenes, a cheerful glow for sunlight, emotionally cool green to t*ho forest, repressive dark blue to murky night views, and a pompous royal purple to ceremonial occasions. The reason the "sound track" inhibited use of colours was in thei need of the photo-electric cell for plenty of blue light. Anything interfering with blue distorted sound, and the 1 old colour processes interfered. The new colours are* sunshine, brilliant yellow; candleflame, pastel orangeyellow ; firelight, soft orange-yellow; after-glow, rich orange; peachblow, flesh pink j rose doroe, deep warn pink ; vevdante, pastel green; aquagveen, brilliant blue-green; -turquoise, brilliant, blue; azure, strong sky-blue; nocturne, deep violet blue; purple haze, bluishviolet or lavender; fleur-de-lis, royal purple; amaranth, purple with a red tinge; caprice, cool pink; and inferno, fiery red tinged with magenta. Mr Jones told also of a newly-de-veloped negative, made especially to get rid of sound distortion, such as causes the heroine to talk through her nose. 'PHONE TALKS FROM ALOFT Airmen have been presented with the means of speaking from cloudy peaks with their bosses, their sweethearts, or anyone else of the earthbound millions who have access to a regular telephone instrument. The Western Electric Com : pany demonstrated, in a series of tests for the Press, an invention linking aeroplanes on the wing to the land lines of the commercial telephone system. The first call was put through by an associated Press reporter, who went aloft in the flying telephone booth at 11 a.m. ind stayed up until noon. Wearing a regular telephone headset and speaking mto a microphone held in his hand, he gave the telephone number of the associated Press office in New York to the Bell telephone experimental radio station at Whippany, New Jersey, by wireless telephone. A moment later he heard the Associated Press switchboard operator respond, and was switched to the city desk, which in turn handed the call over to a rewrite man, who took the report of the demonstration from the flying reporter. Though the reportov in .the .aeroplane was sitting''but four feet from the 'oaring engine, from which he was separated only by a thin pane of glass, he could hear the people in the New York office as/ clearly as an ordinary telephone conversation, and his words were plainly audible in New York. The take-off. was made in a driving rain, but the telephone 'plame rode above the storm, and the demonstration was made while 2000 ft. over Plainfield, in New Jersey, and while the aeroplane was making about 100 miles an hour. RADIO TALK FROM TRAINS Remarkable success that' promises to revolutionise travelling on trains is announced by the radio experimental department of the Canadian National Railways, which has succeeded in sending messages from speeding coaches to centres many miles away. Complete telephonic conversation was maintained in one case for two hours. In that time the train from which the experiment was being made had moved more than 70 miles. The test, hailed as one of the most outstanding in radio discovery of late years, was followed by another remarkable demonstration, when a man spoke over the long-distance telephone on. the moving train, his remarks being carried by telephone to C.N.R.T. and broadcast to a radio audience, Tho broadcast was picked up by the radio receiver set on the observation car on the same train from which, he spoke. It was the first time this had been accomplished.