Hello.

I write mysteries and I've got a rather a precise technical question, and plausibility check.

The year is around 1950 +/-3 or so.

The victim has a private theater in his home and a large library of movies. He watches one every afternoon. What I need to have happen is based on the assumption that the movie would be shown using two projectors. Reel 1 on the first and reel 2 on the second. When reel 2 starts, he loads reel 3 onto projector 1, and so on. Is this valid?

Assuming it is, I need to arrange for about 15 to 30 seconds of "dead air" on screen about two minutes into the second reel. My original plan was to cover the print with electrical tape. That didn't go over well. My second thought was to use unexposed film harvested from a 35mm still camera to splice into the print reel. Five rolls would give me 15 seconds of darkness, but I didn't know if the perforations would line up. I know the unexposed stock is the same, but I can't find anything that confirms the print stock and unexposed film is the same.

That led me to think about the leaders. Could I harvest enough leaders from films that would not be showing that day to give the 15 to 30 seconds of black screen? How long is a typical leader, and are they just black?

What I want to happen is this. The Killers alibi rests on knowing the time of death to within a couple of minutes, but the body can't be discovered for at least half an hour. The screen must go dark during a five minute window, when the killer is lurking in the theater. The only person that might see it is the projectionist, so he needs a project. Having the blacked out film running through should be enough of a "huh?" situation to keep his eyes on the projector until the problem fixes itself. He then finishes the movie and finds the body an hour later.

Would any of the things I suggested above allow this to happen?

If not, is there anything that would?

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

The perforations in stiil film would line up.

However, if I was the murderer I would get hold of a magnetic sound roll, the theatre owner probably ha some lying around as he may have run films as "double heads."

Mag roll is nice and dense, and would ensure complete darkness for the dirty deed...

Happy new year.

The killer would have to have the skill to spool the reel on the exact right amount to then splice the new black film into the spool for it to happen on time. Plus the kit and space to do that.

Also the evidence of the black section would be obvious. But maybe that's not an issue.

 

I would just arrange for a carbon-arc failure.

Thanks for the replies.

I've never heard of Mag Roll before, and Google isn't helping.

I don't need the theater to be completely dark, in fact it wouldn't need to be dark at all. What I need is for something the killer can trust will take the projectionists eyes off of the theater for about 15 seconds, but not something that would require him to talk to his boss (the one guy watching.) I figured "dead air" would do it. The audio stops, so does the picture, but the projector is still running and the bulb is still lit. He sees the opaque sections of film as it feeds through and just about the time he's going to stop it to find out what's wrong, the movie takes up again, right where it left off.

He looks out and sees the boss looking up at the screen, and goes on about his business.

Later, when the crime is revealed, the obvious time of death would be during the altered section of film. That would give a timeline accurate to a few minutes either way, which is what the killer wants. His alibi is only good from 3:45 to 3;50, so if the death happened at 3:47, he's got be clear. He needs the rest of that hour to dispose of the thing that gave him the alibi in the first place (a Dictaphone machine taken from the dead guy's office.)

 

As for setting this up, I'm basing the difficulty on splicing video tape, which I did a little in a really unprofessional way (Swiss Army Knife and Scotch tape). Like my killer, I didn't need to worry about anything lining up as far as audio or visuals, I just needed to get it through the machine.

He's got a total of about 30 minutes to pull this off, and only what he's got on him or can scrounge at the time. I figure he'll have a good pocket knife, or can find scissors. The projection room should have (and will, 'cause I control it) the right kind of tape. If they have that, they should have a splicing kit too, right?

He only needs to pull off enough real movie to hide the altered while the projectionist loads it, so I figure about 5 turns of the wheel assuming a 14 inch outer diameter of film, that would be about 18 feet of film, so about a minute after the reel change, which he knows because he saw how long the first reel should run. (Please tell me that's printed somewhere he can see it.) If the first reel runs 19 minutes, he'll come into the room about then, wait for the screen to go black, do the bad thing and leave before the movie comes back on.

 

Where are my factual flaws?

 

 

 

 

 

Tog:

... Assuming it is, I need to arrange for about 15 to 30 seconds of "dead air" on screen about two minutes into the second reel. ...

BTW, by my caluclation, the killer would need up to ten rolls of print film to accomplish what you've described: (30 seconds * 24 frames per second  * 4 perforations per frame) / (36 frames per roll * 8 perforations per frame) = 10 rolls.

Having spent the holiday season watching TV mysteries, your question has captivated me...

30 seconds of 35mm @ 24fps is 45 feet of material, so the killer could smuggle a 400ft can or even better a short end in his coat jacket pocket into the booth. A short end is the unexposed film left over when the camera asst changes rolls - you usually don't let the film run out in the camera. Short ends were always lying about in camera department fridges, with the length and stock written on a bit of gaffer tape. They were used for casting, camera tests and experimental stuff. When they got old they were thrown out. Alternatively if he could get into an editing booth he could access what I think we called "black fill" (Sydney 1970s): black 35mm film used as protection at the head of a reel or as fill in an edit. A 400ft reel was l usually lying about on a shelf.

Every projection booth - even a home one - has a splicer with tape or a splicer with glue to repair broken film and a setup (sorry, forgotten the name) to wind film rolls back to the head, so your killer could quickly wind through the protective black at the head to the start of the film, pause for effect on the opening frame  and count the turns. Each 15 inch reel is about 20 minutes long, 2 minutes is 180 ft. If your killer once worked as an editing asst he'd have a feel for it. He shouldn't forget to put on a pair of white cotton gloves, they're always lying about in editing booths (and are still available - http://www.dickblick.com/products/soft-white-cotton-gloves/), splice in the 45 foot short end, roll back the film and put it in the can.

When the film runs through, the projectionist (if he's experienced) will quickly recognise the brownish unexposed film. Black fill is black and not brownish but is probably also recognisable. He'll see how much is left to run through and could call out to the cinema that that the problem will soon be solved, he'll know he doesn't need to switch on the lights...

Leaving the (bloodied?) gloves in the cinema might be a way of switching suspicion onto the projectionist.

Hope that helps.

BTW a carbon arc failure would also certainly busy the projectionist, but I think he'd need more time to change the bulb than you require and he'd probably fade the lights up in the cinema.

Or it would take 15-30 seconds to strike the arc and re-establish the gap --with dousers closed of course -- no bulb involved.

 

But that's not really what he's looking for.

I love the idea of an arc failure b/c it shows the technology of the era, but how do you time such a failure to the minute?

There is a rich history of experimental filmmakers painting on the film frame itself, stan brakhage and the like

It could fit the profile of an obsessive ( and patient )killer for them to paint out every frame. This way

the projectionist wouldn't see a dark line in the reel as mentioned in previous posts if the kiler painted away from

the perfs.

There's a great mystery story about a murder within the projection booth

here in Bristol in 1946. It's ingenious because it also relies on the length of the

film reel to enable the killer to get away.

 

 

good luck with the mystery and fair dues for doing the research

 

 

Again, thanks for the replies.

The victim had just shown the suspects a short film that made it clear he knew things about them they'd want kept secret, so he must have an editing booth nearby. Would it be logical to have that booth adjacent to the projection booth?

The killer is made aware of the threat at about 2:30 PM and has until 3:30 to come up with a plan and put it in motion. he can only use items from the house or things he'd have normally brought with him. In his case, the only odd items are a notebook and a few pens. Part of the solution is the killer is the only person capable of coming up with something this complex in such a short amount of time.

The film making the blackmail threat is about 15 minutes long, it's the only real copy* and there would be no reason to remove it from the projection booth. I'm not sure they would have even bothered to rewind it.

*I know how print and slide film works, but is movie film the same? My assumption is that movie film is basically slide film. The developing process removes a few emulsion layers and what remains is a positive color "negative." That negative is then cut up and edited, then the entire thing is transferred by witchcraft or other magic to the thing I call a "print reel" which is the movie equivalent of a paper photo.

If my victim shoots this fake movie for the express purpose of showing it to his guests one time, what would be in the projector? Would it have an end like you describe?

The person running the projector isn't so much a real projectionist, as the servant of the house least likely to fall asleep and bungle the job. That is, he knows how to work the machines and fix simple problems, but if anything serious happened, they'd need to call in someone with some real training.

 

Tog:

The victim had just shown the suspects a short film that made it clear he knew things about them they'd want kept secret, so he must have an editing booth nearby. Would it be logical to have that booth adjacent to the projection booth?

Definitely. If the victim (aka blackmailer) shot it himself, he might have shot it on 16mm reversal (which is the same as slide film so there's only the original) using one of the really cool cameras at http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/equipment.php?TypeID=5 or if he's very well off he could have a 35mm setup, using a 35mm Bell & Howell camera http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/img/equipment/159b.JPG

The smaller 16mm handcameras used 100ft reels, that works out to under 3 minutes @ 24fps. 400ft reels allow more time (see http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/flash/en/motion/filmCalculator.swf) If the blackmail film is 15 minutes long, the blackmailer would have had to change reels during the "act" or "acts" he was filming. The reversal film shot in the camera would be developed (probably by Kodak, btw it would have had a very low ASA, the "act" can't have taken place in the dark) and cut together using splicing tape or glue and shown on a projector or on a viewer. No real magic to it, except the Kodak bit.

A 16mm viewer would have been lying about in a non-commercial 16mm editing booth, see http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/equipment.php?TypeID=42 I assume there were 35mm viewers but I've never seen any. The killer (aka the blackmail victim) could use a 35mm viewer to prepare the film shown later with 2 minutes of black (found lying about in the editing booth). Most viewers have a timer that measures the exact amount of film that's passed through. He could also use the manual method I outlined yesterday.

Tog:

The person running the projector isn't so much a real projectionist, as the servant of the house least likely to fall asleep and bungle the job. That is, he knows how to work the machines and fix simple problems, but if anything serious happened, they'd need to call in someone with some real training.

Would the servant even bother staying in the projection room? After starting the second reel he could head into the garden for a smoke. But since it is the 50s he no doubt smokes in the projection booth, so he does need to have his attention diverted.

But on the other hand, taking reel 1 off projector 1, taking it to the back of the booth, winding it back (just like when you had to rewind rented VHS cassettes...), putting it in its can (gotta check it's the right one), taking out reel 3, threading it through projector 1 and rolling forward to the start of the countdown would divert anyone'a attention for several minutes. Select a darkish movie and your blackmail victim doesn't need to get access to an editing booth. And the murder victim won't be alarmed by the sudden darkness. Just a thought 

Good luck.

Just a couple of points if you want to avoid anachronisms. Fullcoat mag stock didn't exist in the time you specify, it was still rare mag striped on a clear acetate base of either 35mm or sometimes 17.5mm, becoming more common in the late fifties. It would be extremely rare too for even the wealthiest of home cinemas to have two projectors but I suppose some Hollywoods big shots did. The mechanism for 2 projectors was a changeover, facilitated by two dots appearing usually in the top right hand corner of the end of the outgoing reel, timed to aid seemless synced change-over. But these kind of projectors with arc lighting would be too hot and bright for even the largest home. They needed plumbed in ducting to extract the heat and they would have needed constant attention.

There was no white leader either, it was normally academy countdown leader. There was very few if any tape splicers either, it was all cement and tape splices would not have withstood the older maltese cross or newer claw intermittent transports current then. White leader would not be opaque also. Your unexposed still film idea would be opaque and the sprocket dimensions are the same, since still 35mm film began life with Leica as a sort of 'light meter' come tester of movie film stocks.

Projectionists eyeballed the footage on a bench with rewinds only and cement spliced it if it broke, since the only editing machines for 35mm were Moviolas, big violent clattering claw driven machines that ran the film and seperate optical or striped mag sound vertically and would not have been seen outside of a studio environment.

I'm a bit lost on your plot but it sounds very interesting. Best of luck.

Tog:

How long is a typical leader, and are they just black?

Rolls of black leader were in common use in film editing.  You just cut off as much as you needed and sliced it in.   No need to use unexposed rolls of film.   Hope this helps.