Content area
Полный текст
The projection speed of silent film is a relatively new subject of study in Japan. Initially inspired by Kevin Brownlow's work, especially "Silent Films:WhatWas the Right Speed?"i and after having investigated film archives and cinematheques around the world, including the National Film Theater in London, we, at the inauguration of our newly reopened National Film Center (NFC) building in 1995, introduced new projection facilities equipped with variable speed capacity ranging from 15 frames per second (fps) to 25 fps.
Regarding our national cinema, that is Japanese cinema, we do not yet have definite answers to such questions as "At what speed were the motion pictures filmed?" and "At what speed were they shown at the cinemas?" At NFC we make it a rule to have preview screenings in order to ascertain and establish the proper projection speed for each silent film.We have also investigated relevant documents and records regarding the issue, but so far have not yet found a cue sheet, an important piece of information commonly found in both the US and Europe.We have, however, occasionally encountered references to both camera speed and projection speed of the silent era in historical descriptions as well as the records of filmmakers' interviews and talks. We thus started our research on the projection speed of silent film by collecting such references from various documents. Of course, as Brownlow rightly warns, actual filmmakers' testimonies and remarks may be unreliable and therefore not necessarily the most accurate testimony to the standard practices of the time. It is nonetheless true that we have not paid as much attention as we ought to have to the fact that a number of contemporary remarks do refer to a variety of different speeds (we do share in Japan a general tendency to regard the running rate at 16 fps to be the standard projection speed for silent films). Given how little we know about the subject, historical descriptions and filmmakers' remarks are indeed among the most valuable pieces of information available.What follows is a work-inprogress report of our research on the subject.
"Camera Speed in the Silent Film Era"
It is said that the first motion picture camera imported to Japan around 1897 was a product made in England by Baxter and...