LIBRARY & ARCHIVES CANADA: THE MAN BEHIND How a Motion Picture is Projected: A Paramount Pictograph circa 1920.
This film was part of a cache of 28mm prints found in the attic of the Moravian Church in Happy Valley, Newfoundland in 1977. The films were believed to have been shipped during the 1920’s to the Moravian Mission in Labrador from the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau, which may have been the largest educational film distributor in the world at that time. The quality of the 28mm conversion ranked among the best at the time. Although the film is incomplete, the demonstration of nitrate film projection on a hand-cranked Cole Picture Machine will be of interest to all moving image historians.
*The passcode to view the film is the year this film was discovered…
For a great account of the discovery of the films, I recommend reading, Adventures of a Paper Sleuth, by Hugh P. MacMillan.
In April 1989, 12 years after this film was acquired (April 4th, 1977), I would hand inspect this film, a part of the Moravian Church Collection. Distributed by the Province of Ontario Pictures, the film displays a projectionist, placing a 35mm roll of film through a hand-cranked projector.
The projector is identified as a, Cameron Motion Picture Projector, manufactured by the Coles Picture Machine Corp. of New York, USA. This equipment dates back to the early sound-film era, likely between the 1910’s and 1930’s.
I was not able to gather very much information on the Coles Motion Picture Projector, nor any related details on, Coles Picture Machine Corp. of New York, (which I was lucky to make out in the film). However it did connect me to learn more about one of the film industry’s technical experts at the time, James R. Cameron.
NOTE: It is important to note that this James R. Cameron is a different person from the famous modern filmmaker James Cameron (director of Titanic and Avatar).
Using AI search, I was able to learn that James R. Cameron was a highly influential instructor and author who wrote comprehensive technical manuals for motion picture projectionists in the early-to-mid 20th century. He was the Instructor of Projection, at the Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men in New York around 1918. His work there involved training disabled soldiers returning from the First World War for new vocations, with motion picture projection being a suitable trade for men with intact hands. He was a practical expert, and his manuals reflected the real-world needs of the industry.
At that time of the films discovery, 28mm was a non-theatrical safety-stock, that unlike the nitrate-based films used in schools and theatres at the time, the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau used this safety film format to distribute titles from their library. Eventually, it would be supplanted by the more versatile, 16mm format.
Early innovators, Library & Archives was extremely progressive, and experienced in copying various film formats over the years. One valued innovator was Klaus Linnenbruegger, a tool and dye maker by trade, Klaus designed and created, “a wide selection of precision film equipment specially modified and created for the motion picture Archival community.”
Klaus would work alongside some of the great names in the Archival motion picture film industry; George Bova, Jack Melnick (both former Fox employees), William O’Farell (William ‘Bill’ O’Farrell, managing the Film Section at the time, would aid in compiling the list of titles from the discovery), Dennis Waugh (formerly of Film House, and Crawleys), Richard Tremblay, and Scott Low, all experts in their field.
Embracing the digital age, LAC would move away from copying old motion picture films to polyester-based film (an upgrade from the previous standard, safety-based films), and move into the digital realm in March, 2014, when LAC would install a new, Scanity Digital Film Scanner from, Digital Film Technology (DFT).
"Simon Carter, Director at dft comments, “dft is delighted that LAC has chosen Scanity for its film archive. Scanity has been specifically designed to handle large volume archive library ingest and together with its dedicated Infra-Red scanning capability it facilitates a rapid and effective transfer for dust and scratch management, delivering the best possible results for 2K or 4K data files.”
Embracing the digital age, LAC now scans archival motion picture film to various digital formats;
“For primary preservation, LAC utilizes DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) as the preferred format for uncompressed 10-bit image frames, typically captured at 4K for 35mm film and 2K for smaller gauges. Associated audio is typically stored in a BWAV (Broadcast Wave) wrapper using uncompressed PCM. For digital cinema and high-quality transfers, LAC accepts DCP (Digital Cinema Package) and MXF (Material Exchange Format) with lossless JPEG 2000 compression, as well as QuickTime (MOV) or AVI containers with uncompressed 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. Access copies for general viewing are commonly provided in more portable formats like MP4.” ✨
In 1989, the conversion of the 28mm print, The Man Behind was recognized for its exceptional quality, ranking amongst the best results yet attained in the Conservation lab. In the same way the projectionist was vital to the film’s original debut, the dedicated staff at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) serve as the people behind the films made available online today.
Special thanks to, AUDIOVISUAL SECTION, DIGITAL PRESERVATION AND MIGRATION, Library & Archives Canada.
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© Dale Gervais – Canadianfilm.ca – 2026
