"Work on this monopack process for originals has been in progress for several years, and has lately reached a point of decided encouragement for certain purposes. At present the monopack research program includes a number of experiments of semi-commercial character which are promising for photography where camera size, mobility, operating speed, or other special considerations are of extreme importance. The expectation is that it will first be tried in a limited way for the special purposes indicated, to be matched and cut in with the larger part of a picture photographed by the three-strip method. It should be borne in mind that Technicolor three-strip photography is constantly improving in quality so that imbibition prints from monopack have not yet overtaken the present quality of imbibition prints from three-strip."
The expectation outlined in Dr. Kalmus' report has been largely realized, and since that time monopack has been used in several pictures, including Dive Bomber and Captains of the Clouds, where shots from airplane wing-tips and other difficult locations were required; in the industrial field; in military training films; and in special-effects photography where mobility and high speed are important. These uses of monopack are considered as commercial experiments serving the dual purpose of fulfilling a special need of increased flexibility in the field of color photography and of pointing up production requirements which are not easily determined even on the large-scale test basis that characterizes Technicolor's research program.
Technicolor does not consider that the quality of prints from the monopack method of photography has reached the level of quality of prints from its three-strip process. This resides in part not in the absence of progress with monopack research but in the rapid improvement of three-strip Technicolor which, like all phases of Technicolor's process, receives emphasis from its research group.
The present monopack process, in latitude, visibility, and tone rendition is satisfactory, but the picture texture, in grain and uniformity, has not attained the smooth, fine texture of three-strip. The problems involved in correcting these deficiencies are receiving attention and progress is being made.
Technicolor is now and has been for some time definitely on a routine production basis, with almost all the technics used in black-and-white available in color also. The experimental phases have definitely long since left the production field, and have taken their place in the Technicolor research department, which is currently very active and from which the results flow quietly but efficiently to the production field without disturbing changes.
Page 12
End
[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12]
Back to TECHNICOLOR home page.