What is an optical printer?
Q: What is an optical printer?
A: An optical printer is a device used to copy rolls of movies, made of one or more movie projectors linked to a movie camera.
Q: What is the purpose of an optical printer in filmmaking?
A: An optical printer is used for making special effects for motion pictures or for copying and restoring old movie material.
Q: What are some typical optical effects created using an optical printer?
A: Common optical effects include fade outs and fade ins, dissolves, slow motion, fast motion, and matte work.
Q: Why is it important for optical printer work to be seamless?
A: Ideally, the audience in a theater should not be able to notice any optical printers work, but this is not always the case.
Q: When were the first optical printers constructed?
A: The first, simple optical printers were constructed in the early 1920s.
Q: Who expanded the concept of the optical printer in the 1930s?
A: Linwood G. Dunn expanded the concept of the optical printer in the 1930s.
Q: What technology began to replace optical effects in the late 1980s?
A: Since the late 1980s, digital compositing began to replace optical effects.
