[Frameworks] editing 16mm

[Scott Dorsey]

The normal method of doing this is to A-B roll.  After you edit your workprint,
you conform the negative (or MUCH BETTER have a professional negative matcher)
so that there is a one-frame overlap.  The negative is edited with cement,
unlike the tape you edit the workprint with, so you have to get it right the
first time when you do the conforming.

Send it to the lab marked A-B roll and they will time everything right and 
open and close the printer gate on the right cues so that the cuts open
and close on the correct frames.

There is a good introduction to editing in Roberts and Sharples book
"An Introduction to Filmmaking."

Once again let me HIGHLY recommend you don't touch the camera original
and have someone else do your conforming for you.  You can do your own
if you have to, but it's really not a good plan.

If you're editing the camera original (a la TV News), you can still make up
an A-B rolled pair, it's just a bit more difficult to deal with.

Unless you A-B roll, splices are going to be visible on 16mm no matter what
you do... the frame line is too small to be able to do cement splices that
overlap only on the frame lines like you can do with 35mm.

Bauer once made a butt splicer that cemented film end to end on the frame
line... it was a pain in the neck to use and rather slow, but the TV news
folks liked it.
--scott