Silent Film Era Projection Speeds

Excerpts from Articles and Books Mentioning
Silent Film Era Projection Speeds

How Music is Made to Fit the Films (1918)

When the time of a performance arrives the stage buzzer is signaled for lights out. The orchestra starts. The operator is signaled, the film is projected on the black curtain, the curtain is signaled and withdrawn, and the projection curtain displayed. All these signals are sent from the director's desk.

Here at the Stillman we employ a speedometer for synchronizing. One of these is on my desk; another is attached to the machine in the projection-room, while still another is installed in the manager's office, that he may check the running time if he desires. This machine has a double index-sheet, on which the footage per minute is indicated, and, at the same time, the minutes per thousand feet. Usually we run about 1,000 feet to sixteen minutes. ^[1]

Of course, actual projecting time, may vary a bit, due to one reason or another, and we may find, in the midst of a scene, that it is necessary to change the tempo of the film in order to preserve the musical setting. I signal by the buzzer, and the speed of projection is changed to suit the occasion.

¹ "1,000 feet to sixteen minutes" works out to 62.5 feet per minute, or a projection speed of 16
frames per second.

Excerpt from "How Music is Made to Fit the Films," Literary Digest, January 26, 1918, page 58.

James Wong Howe interview (1958)

"I held the slate on Male and Female [1919]. And when Mr. DeMille rehearsed a scene, I had to crank a little counter...and I would have to grind 16 frames per second. And when he stopped, I would have to give him the footage. He wanted to know how long the scene ran. So besides writing the slate numbers down and keeping a report, I had to turn this crank. That was the beginning of learning how to turn 16 frames."

Excerpt from George C. Pratt, "The Approach to Create: James Wong Howe, Interview by George C. Pratt," from "'Image' on the Art and Evolution of the Film," editor, Marshall Deutelbaum, Dover Publications, Inc. and International Museum of Photography, 1979, page 226.

The Oracle will answer in these columns as many questions of general interest concerning the movies as space will allow.

GUESS.-Oh, I can't. These enigmatic nom de plumes! I suppose you think my poor brain doesn't get enough exercise, but if you could see me trying to puzzle out some of my communications you wouldn't be so heartless as to try to make me guess anything. Your handwriting is familiar, though, and so is the town of Kokomo, Indiana, but that's as far as I can go. There are one thousand feet in a reel of film, and a reel takes about twelve minutes to run. Thus, a five-reel picture requires an hour. Educationals and scenics are generally one reel, and the regulation comedy two reels. There are sixteen exposures to the second- that is, sixteen of the little frames, or pictures, on a strip of film pass through the aperture of the projection machine and are thrown on the screen in the space of one second. It is this speed of projection, of course, that makes a series of what are really still pictures merge and appear to be one smooth and continuous moving picture.

Excerpt from "The Picture Oracle," Picture-Play Magazine, July, 1923, page 112.

Erno Rapee (1925)

Ninety feet per minute is the general speed at which pictures should be run to be acceptable to the eye, which means about eleven minutes to the average reel. Marching scenes will have to be slowed down considerably and some scenes of races will have to be speeded up to be more effective. The use of double exposure, although not new will always prove effective if applied at the proper time. For instance, at the close of your weekly, particularly on Patriotic Holidays, with a scene of marching soldiers on one machine it would do well to shoot a picture of Washington or Lincoln or the Stars and Stripes through the other machine at the same time. Scenic effects like rain, clouds, etc. will be more effective if thrown from the booth as the throw is much longer than from off-stage and so the effect will spread the whole width of the stage.

Excerpt from Erno Rapee, "The Encyclopedia of Music for Pictures," (New York: Belwin, Inc.), 1925.

Balaban & Katz Theatres (1926)

Over-Speeding
Over-speeding projection produces a ridiculous, jumpy rapid and mechanical-like motion of the characters, rather laughable at times. It is extremely annoying to a patron seriously interested in the picture and many titles cannot be read, thereby breaking the continuity of the story. Over-speeding is practiced by many managers and operators when they find they are running "over" on the schedule. Regardless of the reason, the practice is not to be resorted to and should not be tolerated in properly operated theatres.

We have found that no feature picture should be run at "less" than "90" or more than "95." In comics it is at times permissible to run them as fast as "100." Nature scenics may be run as low as "85" without producing detrimental effects. Sub-titles and trailers should be timed that they remain on the screen sufficiently long for a slow observer to read them through one and one-half times.

Excerpt from "The Fundamental Principles of Balaban & Katz Theatre Management," Balaban & Katz, 1926.

A Mid-Year Cinematographic Review (1926)

President of A.S.C. Writes on Important Advances During the Last Twelve Months

The matter of embodying speed into the negative through fast lenses and film has met with steady advancement during the past year. Panchromatic film is more popular ever, and "infra-red" stock, treated by Technicolor, has been used for special purposes. The actual taking speed of motion pictures, however, remains at a basis of sixty feet per minute, as re-affirmed by the American Society of Cinematographers and the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.

Excerpt from Daniel B. Clarke, "A Mid-Year Cinematographic Review," American Cinematographer, June 1926, page 12.

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