In the motion picture industry, a China girl is a type of

test film Test film are rolls or loops or slides of photographic film used for testing the quality of equipment. Equipment to be tested could include: telecine, motion picture film scanner, Movie projectors, Image scanners, film-out gear, Film recorders an ...

, an image of a woman accompanied by color bars that appears for a few frames (typically one to four) in the reel leader. A "China Girl" was used by the lab technician for calibration purposes when processing the film (with the still photography equivalent being a " Shirley Card"). The origin of the term is a matter of some dispute but is usually accepted to be a reference to the models used to create the frames - either they were actually china (

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

) mannequins, or the make-up worn by the live models made them appear to be mannequins. Originally the "China Girl" frames were created in-house by laboratories to varying standards, but in the mid-1970s engineers from the

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

developed the Laboratory Aim Density system as a means of simplifying the production of motion picture prints. Under the LAD system, Kodak created many duplicate negatives of a single China Girl and provided them to laboratories to include in their standard leaders. These LAD frames were exposed to specific guidelines and allowed a laboratory technician to quickly make a subjective evaluation of a print's exposure and colour tone by looking at the China Girl herself. If a more objective evaluation were required, a

densitometer A densitometer is a device that measures the degree of darkness (the optical density) of a photographic or semitransparent material or of a reflecting surface. The densitometer is basically a light source aimed at a photoelectric cell. It determi ...

could be used to compare the density of the colour patches in the LAD frame with Kodak's published guidelines. In keeping with changes to the modern laboratory process, Kodak also provide a "Digital LAD" to be incorporated in the

film-out Film-out is the process in the computer graphics, video production and filmmaking disciplines of transferring images or animation from videotape or digital files to a traditional film print. ''Film-out'' is a broad term that encompasses the conver ...

process to check the accuracy of the film printer and processor. In 2005, "China Girl" images were the subject of an art exhibit by Julie Buck and Karin Segal at the

Harvard Film Archive The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) is a film archive and cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of film, the HFA houses a ...

The "China girl" has occasionally appeared as a visual trope in experimental films over the years. Some experimental films which use "China girls" include '' Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc.'' (1965–66) by Owen Land, ''New Improved Institutional Quality: In the Environment of Liquids and Nasals a Parasitic Vowel Sometimes Develops'' (1976) by Owen Land, ''Girls on Film'' (2005) by Julie Buck and Karin Segal, ''MM'' (1996) by Timoleon Wilkins, ''Standard Gauge'' (1984) by Morgan Fisher, ''To the Happy Few'' by Thomas Draschan and Stella Friedrichs, ''China Girls'' (2006) by Michelle Silva, and ''Releasing Human Energies'' (2012) by Mark Toscano. "China girl" images appear during the closing credits of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensemble ...

's ''

Death Proof ''Death Proof'' is a 2007 American action-thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he purports to be "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, ...

''. The narrator and main character in the 2013 novel ''

The Flamethrowers ''The Flamethrowers'' is a 2013 novel by American author Rachel Kushner. The book was released on April 2, 2013 through Scribner. ''The Flamethrowers'' follows a female artist in the 1970s. While writing the book, Kushner drew on personal exper ...

'' by

Rachel Kushner Rachel Kushner (born 1968) is an American writer, known for her novels ''Telex from Cuba'' (2008), ''The Flamethrowers'' (2013), and ''The Mars Room'' (2018). Early life Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, the daughter of two Communist scientists, ...

shares her experience as a China Girl model for a film lab in New York City.

References

{{reflist

External links

A gallery of china girls
Display technology Audiovisual ephemera

See also

References

External links