The film passes by the lamp at twenty four frames per second.

At that rate the human mind blends

the still frames into fluid motion. A projector with a single bladed shutter block light from the lamp
once every frame. So, half the time, every twenty fourth of a second the screen is dark. This
switching between a bright projected image and darkness is called flicker. If this occurs at about
sixty to seventy times per second the bright flashes fuse together and apper -to the human eye-
continuonsly bright with no periods of darkness, this rate is called the “flicker fusion threshold”
Since twenty-four flickers per second is below the threshold, the flicker is visible.

This flicker is the origin of the term “flick” as slang for movies. But modern film projectors don’t
have this problema. How did they fix it? Originally shutters had a single Blade that covered the
advancement of the film with an open section that showed the picture. Modern shutters have
three Blades

The first Blade covers the film motion, the second two Blades block the light even when the film is
stantionary – they only serve to increase the flicker rate. The three openings allow the image to be
projected half the time. The frame rate stays at 24 frames per second and the flicker rate increases
to 27 flickers per second – above the flicker fusión threshold- so the movie appears to move
smoothly and without distracting flicker

A subtle but important detail of film projectors is the film loop. The loop allows for two kinds of
motion of the film: intermittent and continuous. The key is they happen simultaneosly. The film
must pause in front of the lens to project without blur, but must also move contiuossly for the
proper playback of the sound.

The top sprocket pulls the film from the supply reel continuously, a loops of slack film starts to
form. This slack allows the shuttle to quickly advance to the next frame without tearing the film. A
second loop of slack film at the bottom also forms. The bottom sprocket pulls the film
continuously. This is important because it allows the sound to be read correctly

Sound in movies is recorded optically on the esde of the film. After the film runs past the lam, it
runs across the sound drum, to read this optical soundtrack , light shines through a tuve with a slit,
this concentrates the light on a small section of the film’s soundtrack. A photo sensor on the other
side of the firl measures the amount of light passing through the film at a given time. The photo
sensor converts the amount of light transmitted into current and this current drives the speakers.

A soundtrack that oscillates slowly produces low frequency sounds. If it oscillates more rapidly it
will produce higher frequencies. The volumen is determined but the amplitude or width of the
soundtrack. Louder sections are wide and quieter sections are thinner
Because the image is projected here, and the sound is read down here, the soundtrack is offset 26
frames ahead of the picture in 16mm films. This offset ensures that the picture and sound are
correctly synced.

The mechanisms are driven by a single rotating axle. The axle rotates the shutter and simultaneosly
turns the cam and advances the film. Behind the shuttle is a worm screw that drives two gears that
are coaxial with the top and bottom sprocket

So this means that with every rotation of the axle, the shutter blocks and flashes light three times,
the shuttle pulls down a single frame, and the worm screw rotates the gears and sprocket one-
fourteenth of a revolution. Since there are fourteen teeth on a sprocket, the top sprocket pulls one
frame’s worth of film from the supply reel, and the bottom sprocket pulls one frame through the
projector. This setup keeps all the important mechanism is sync

One thing to keep in mind is that film projectors were designed and built in parallel with film
cameras. In fact, in many respects the technology in both cameras and projectors are nearly
identical