1940 article on a Polaroid fader for 8/16mm movie cameras
Toronto. Professional movies shot on 35mm film or larger used a variety of techniques to switch the film – and audience – from one scene to the next. In one method, the scene ending was slowly faded out while the scene beginning was slowly faded fully open.
A May 1940 filler article in Popular Mechanics announced a Polaroid accessory for any amateur 8/16mm movie lens to create fades. As many people know, placing two Polaroid filters together and rotating one will vary light throughput from zero (dark) to maximum brightness (light). A clever fader design that works for both B&W film and colour film.
My thanks to a good friend and fellow photographic historian, George Dunbar, for sharing this tasty little article with us. I have a number of Polaroid filters to dampen reflections but no dual filter faders.
The title of this post is a popular song title. I chose Mark Knopfler and the Dire Straits rendition of, “Fade to Black” since I like them and have this CD. Even if you don’t especially care for the band, the black and white images and the use of the fade are worth watching!
