LEADERS

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Academy Countdown Leaders

UNIVERSAL LEADER. Film projection leader, designed according to ANSI Document PH22.55 for the projection rate of 24 frames per second or 1.5 feet per second and recommended for use on all release prints. Replaced the Academy leader originally conceived when the motion picture rate was 16 frames per second.

ACADEMY LEADER. Non-projected (but projectable) identification/timing/cuing film leader designed to specifications of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Placed at the head end of a print reel to countdown one foot per second, based on 16 frames per second of silent film production. Replaced by UNIVERSAL LEADER for sound film.

SILENT FILM. Film that has no sound track. Generally implies film photographed to be projected at SILENT SPEED instead of SOUND SPEED. Films from the silent era, before sound was recorded for simultaneous projection with film, a practice which began about 1928. Silent theatrical films ordinarily had live musicians, such as theater organists or pit bands from vaudeville, along with sound effects.

SILENT SPEED. Motion picture projection speed of 18 frames per second.

SIXTEEN 16MM. Film gauge widely used since 1923 by educational, industrial, government, scientific, and amateur filmakers. In addition to this non-theatrical distribution, most television newsfilm and documentary film production uses 16mm, when not using video. This gauge runs 40 frames per foot. It may have single or double perforations, with either negative or positive pitch

SOUND ADVANCE. The interval on motion picture film between a specific frame of picture and the point on the sound track which matches it for synchronization. In 16mm projection prints there are 25 frames between corresponding picture and sound, the sound leading in advance of the picture when projected. This standard difference is required because sound and picture, at any point in time, are reproduced from different points on projectors.

SOUND SPEED. The standard rate of movement, 36 feet per minute for 16mm film, and frame repetition rate, 24 frames per second for motion picture camera, recording, and projection equipment. For 35mm film, rates are 90 feet per minute and 24 frames per second. Sound speed for film, regardless of gauge, is 24 frames per second. Speed at which professionally produced sound movies are generally exposed and projected.

VARIABLE-AREA SOUND TRACK. Photographic sound track made of one or more transparent lines of varying width that run the length of a motion picture film within the sound track area. Most commonly used method for sound tracks.

Academy Leader - This is standard countdown leader, counting down 8 to 3 and then with one frame of 2, at which point there is a single frame beep on the soundtrack. It is used at the beginning of a film for the lab to line up sound (using the beep) and later for the projectionist to know when to turn on the lamp and hopefully not miss the opening of the film. A common mistake is to count the footage from the 2, but actually frame zero is the one right before the first 8, a single frame with the words Picture Start.î Academy Leader is sometimes also known as S.M.P.T.E. leader.

Silent Speed - 18 frames per second. A slightly archaic notion left over from the time when 16mm was used exclusively for home movies. It is not always that easy to find a projector that will project at 18 frames per second and so films shot at silent speed will often be speeded up slightly, whether the filmmaker intended this of not.

LEADER. Any film or strip of material used for threading a motion picture machine. Leader may consist of short lengths of blank film attached to the ends of a print to protect the print from damage during the threading of a projector, or it may be a long length of any kind of film which is used to establish the film path in a processing machine before the use of the machine for processing film.