Film editing table EMS

The film editing table was used in movie studios for the processing of classic film stock. It is equipped with one drive for the film and two drives for a sound recording. The film is lit through with a light bulb and the picture is projected on the screen using a rotating glass prism and a system of mirrors. It is possible to play the sound recorded on the film with optical or magnetic sound track. The speed can be freely adjusted in both directions and the time and number of frames is measured. The movie director or editor used the table. The raw film stock from the camera was developed in the laboratories and then was viewed by the editor and cut using this table. The editor used scissors to cut the good shots out of the raw stock and then glued them together, until the whole movie was assembled.

The sound was usually recorded separately from the film shooting, because the movie camera was very noisy and it was difficult to record the sound simultaneously. The sound was then created using the "looping", during which the silent movie was played in front of the actors, who dubbed themselves, and the dialogues were recorded. Then the music and special sound effects were added. This table could be used for this process thanks to the two separate sound drives. After the movie was finished, the final master was copied and the copies were distributed to cinemas. Traditional film was used by the movie industry up to approx. 2010 when it was superseded by digital recording, but some of the movie creators still prefer the original medium.