Printing Films Episode 2.08 Monotype: ‘Monophoto’ Filmsetting Machine

Printing Films Episode 2.08 Monotype: ‘Monophoto’ Filmsetting Machine

Episode Premiere

March 29, 2026

Official Site

https://printingfilms.com

Information

Episode Premiere

March 29, 2026

Genre

Period

2026 -

Production Co

Distributor

Official Site

https://printingfilms.com

Synopsis

This film showcases Monotype’s answer to the upcoming phototypesetting revolution. They take great pains to show how little has changed from the old, hot-metal Monotype machines by replacing the hot-metal pot with a light source and the brass matrices with individual, photo negative matrices for exposure on paper or film. This cautious approach was in order to assuage the fears of printers who did not want to change.

Throughout this film, you see what is new (including a session in the red-light darkroom) along with everything that has stayed the same (same keyboard and punched paper tape). Watch a woman “stripping” in new lines of text using techniques that would have seemed futuristic and fanciful in the late 1950s.

Ca. 1958