Flatbed editor

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A flatbed editor is a type of machine used for the editing of a motion picture film. The two most common brands, Steenbeck and K.-E.-M. (Keller-Elektro-Mechanik), were invented in Germany in the 1930´s. There are also the Italian Prévost, the Dutch Oude Delft or Oldelft, and the French Atlas as well as Moritone flatbeds. To round it off, the U K has LEM, and America its Moviola flatbed issue.

All these machines have a rotating prism rather than the “Maltese Cross” or geneva drive intermittent mechanism used by the American Moviola editing machine. The rotating prism allows to move the film smoothly and continuously, reducing mechanical noise and damage to the film. It also makes high-speed operation feasible, and some machines can move the film at up to ten times standard speed. The trade-off for these advantages is a slight smearing of the image compared to the American Moviola.

The use of multiple sound tracks, up to three separate tracks, and multiple picture heads, up to three, is also a feature of the “table”, which has a modular construction.

Flatbeds also made it easy to view ten or even twenty minutes of film at a time. With the “armed” Moviola one could manage a thousand-foot eleven-minute reel, but with difficulty because it did not have high-speed operation.

European flatbeds came into more common use in the United States during the 1970´s, although never completely replacing the Moviola.

By the mid-1990´s, flatbeds were in turn becoming replaced by electronic non-linear systems such as Avid and Lightworks.

As of 2007, flatbed editors are still used in many film schools for their educational value. Feature films in the United States use electronic non-linear systems almost exclusively.