BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The U.S. Postal Service and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today gave a sneak preview of 10 new commemorative stamps honoring the filmmaking industry.

Scheduled to be issued in February 2003, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes stamps salute Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Makeup, Music, Screenwriting, Sound and Special Effects. Producing is represented by a photo in the selvage area of the stamp pane. The issuance of the stamps will be one of many events during the celebration commemorating the Academy's 75th anniversary.

"The American Filmmaking stamps pay tribute to the many talented men and women who work behind the scenes to create the movie magic that has entertained generations of moviegoers worldwide," said David P. Shapiro, district manager of the Long Beach District of the Postal Service, who unveiled the stamps.

"This uniquely collaborative endeavor is reminiscent of the teamwork demonstrated by the 700,000 dedicated employees of the Postal Service who work tirelessly to process and deliver the nation's mail to everyone, everywhere, every day," he said.

Joining Shapiro in the unveiling of the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes stamps were Frank Pierson, president of the Academy; Gena Rowlands, Oscar®-nominated actor and widow of actor/director John Cassavetes, who appears on the Directing stamp; and Sara Karloff, whose father, Boris Karloff, appears as Frankenstein's Monster on the Makeup stamp.

"In 1927 the Academy was created as an organization dedicated to supporting and cultivating the motion picture as an art, a science and an industry," said Pierson. "As the Academy celebrates its 75th year, it's enjoyable to see the Postal Service honoring a nice cross section of the arts and the craft areas that make such indispensable contributions to the movies."

The American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes stamps and the rest of the 2003 U.S. commemorative stamp program - including stamps honoring Thurgood Marshall, Cesar E. Chavez, Audrey Hepburn and the Korean War Veterans Memorial - will be unveiled tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. at the LEGOLAND California Theme Park, One LEGOLAND Drive, Carlsbad, Calif. Several of the stamp designs will be constructed out of LEGO bricks at the ceremony. The public is invited.

The 2003 commemorative stamp designs can be seen starting tomorrow at the Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com. At the home page, select "News and Events" then "Philatelic News" and open the news release announcing the 2003 stamp program.

Current U.S. stamps, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available toll free by calling 1 800 STAMP-24. In addition, a selection of stamps and other philatelic items are available in the Postal Store at www.usps.com.

For more information on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, go to the Academy's Web site at www.oscars.org.

AMERICAN FILMMAKING: BEHIND THE SCENES STAMPS

Stamp
Stamp Design Description

Art Direction
Perry Ferguson completes a sketch of Kane Castle for

"Citizen Kane," a 1940 RKO film.

Cinematography
Shown is Paul Hill, an assistant cameraman for "Nagana," a 1933 film by Universal Studios.

Costume Design
Edith Head (1898?-1981) holds a drawing of a dress designed for actress Janet Leigh to wear to an Academy Awards presentation.

Directing
John Cassavetes (1929-1989) directs "Husbands," a 1970 film starring Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and Cassavetes.

Film Editing
J. Watson Webb cuts film for "The Razor's Edge," a 1946 release by Twentieth Century Fox.

Makeup
Makeup artist Jack Pierce (1889-1968) and an unidentified technician apply makeup to Boris Karloff (1887-1969) for "Frankenstein," a 1931 film by Universal Studios.

Music
Shown is the right hand of Max Steiner (1888-1971), who created scores for such films as "King Kong," "Gone with the Wind" and "A Star Is Born."

Screenwriting
Shown are famous words from the script for "Gone with the Wind," a 1939 MGM/David O. Selznick film.

Sound
Gary Summers, a re-recording mixer for Skywalker Sound, combines sound effects, dialogue and music to create the final mix for a movie.

Special Effects
Mark Siegel, a model maker for Industrial Light & Magic, sculptures a maquette for the 20th-anniversary release of Universal's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial." (A maquette is a small preliminary model.)

Producing is represented by a photo in the selvage of the stamp pane. Producer-director Cecil B. DeMille is shown on the set of "Cleopatra."

What, no stamp for PROJECTION?

Note the 8-perf vertical pulldown on each frame illustration per stamp. Left edges read "Filmmaking Behind the Scenes," but what are those strange markings in the right edges? Not sound tracks...

They are very nicely designed though.

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3% Body Fat. 1% Brain Activity.

The barcode depicted is actually from the Kodak 35mm still films. It is evidently intended to depict EASTMAN KeyKode edgeprint, used on camera negative and duplicate negative films:

EASTMAN KeyKode Numbers: here
here

The EASTMAN KeyKode numbers can be printed along the edge of a print from the negative by the lab using the printer edgelights, usually to aid the film editor/cutter when handling a work print. Kodak does not normally print KeyKode numbers on print film.

Kodak prints manufacturing information along the edge of print film, but not KeyKode. Kodak worked closely with the labs and Sony in developing the magenta-colored edgeprint, which does not interfere with the red LED used to read the cyan dye SDDS tracks.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: here

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