Ordering Single Roll Optical Dupes
To order a single roll optical dupe first look at the cutting copy and note the edge numbers on the start of the outgoing shot on your dissolve. Always start the duplicate at the beginning of the shot. Dupe the whole shot, not just the part incorporating the dissolve. So, look at the centre of your dissolve and then go back to the start of the outgoing shot. Take the edge number nearest the join and make a note of the number on a pieces of paper. It may be NZ3245974 for example. Now you have pinpointed a number of frames, over which the number spreads. As you must be much more precise, locate one frame by putting a box round the number on which a particular series of figures occur. For example, if you put a box round the figures 74, you immediately designate one particular frame — the frame on which the figures 74 occur. Now you can be even more precise. You can indicate the exact frame at which you want the duplicate to start. When you put a box round the figures 74 you select one specific frame. Now if you look again at the piece of film you will find that on either side of the number you have listed, at one foot intervals, are two other numbers. One is NZ3245973 and the other is NZ3245975. From these numbers you can gauge the direction of the film. Now look at the frame you have specified with a box. Where, in relation to that frame, is that start of the shot? Is it to the right, or to the left? Is it nearer 3245973 or 3245975? Count the number of frames between the frame you have marked with a box and the frame at which the shot starts and write the number down. Now note the direction. Is it nearer the higher number than the one you first noted or nearer the lower one? if it is nearer the higher one put a plus sign next to the number of frames you have just noted. If it is in the opposite direction, mark a minus. You have now pinpointed the exact frame at which the shot starts.
Length of dupes
Now look at the start of the dissolve and repeat the process. Indicate the precise frame at which you want the dissolve to start by using the edge numbers. You can then repeat the process for the incoming shot using an edge number to indicate the point where you want the dissolve to end and another one to indicate the point at which you want the duplicate to end. Always duplicate the whole shot, never just the length of the optical effect. You will then make the laboratory grader’s work much easier and make the whole shot of the same technical quality.
Edge number identification
By putting a box round numbers falling on one frame you can pinpoint a particular frame. If there is no number on the frame you want to pinpoint, identify one frame of the nearest number and count the number of frames between it and the frame you want to pinpoint. If it is nearer the higher number indicate the number of frames separating the two points by using a plus sign—if it is nearer the lower use a minus sign.