ALL SCI-FI

Steve Joyce · Solar Explorer Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 57

Any All Sci-fi-ers live in the U.K.?

If so, I'm envious because you get to see what they only touch on here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30411297
and I don't!

You see, BFI Player is the only facility to watch the movie online but they block access in the United States:
http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-a-message-from-mars-1913/

You'll find a couple of seconds of footage here and there on the internet but that's it. The only thing that I can add to that (fwiw) is this l'il slide show that I pieced together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvTRxO1dxSM

Steve
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"There is a planet in the Solar System where the people are so stupid they didn't catch on for a million years that there was another half to their planet." - Kilgore Trout.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 12:46 pm Post subject:

What an amazing bit of news (and a great post to deliver it).

How in the world did BFI adjust the speed of the old silent movie so the characters don't zip around like the Keystone Kops? I've always hated that about silent movies, but there are fans of silent films that insist it's supposed to be that way!

Weird.

Anyway, a stellar post, Steven! Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

scotpens · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:14 pm Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:22 pm Post subject:

scotpens · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:02 am Post subject:

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1876

I've never had that good a result with the magic wand tool, even on color photos. I'd sure like to know what settings they use.
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WayneO
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Maurice · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:47 pm Post subject:

Generally, when you go from a lower frame rate to a higher one you duplicate every nth frame. So, if you had a film at 16 fps (frames per second) and wanted it at 24, the largest common number each is divisible by is 8, as in 8x2=16 and 8x3=24. So, for every 2 frames of the original you need 3 frames for the conversion, so you duplicate every 2nd frame like this

1
2
2 <—dupe
3
4
4 <—dupe
5
6
6 <—dupe
7
8
8 <—dupe
9
10
10 <—dupe
11
12
12 <—dupe
13
14
14 <—dupe
15
16
16 <—dupe

Sometimes this is hidden by blending the dupe frame with the next frame, so instead of 1 2 2 3 4 4 you get

1
2
2+3
3
4
4+5
5
6
6+7
7
8
8+9
9
10
10+11
11
12
12+13
13
14
14+15
15
16
16+17
etc.

You can see this when 24fps media (movies) were transferred to NTSC video at ~30fps (interlaced): every 4th frame gets duplicated to keep everything at the right speed.

On video it gets weird, especially with PAL in Europe, at 25fps where NTSC video converted to that format often runs a bit fast and everyone sounds a little higher pitched.
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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

Steve Joyce · Solar Explorer Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 57

Thanks for that explanation, Maurice.

Meanwhile, the whole film has popped up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N3B8zWcFNU

I won't say its the best example of silent s.f (far from it, imho) but it is historical as the 1st British S.F. Feature.
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"There is a planet in the Solar System where the people are so stupid they didn't catch on for a million years that there was another half to their planet." - Kilgore Trout.

Maurice · Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:28 am Post subject:

Speaking of frame rates, here's a Filmmaker IQ segment on the history of them and how frame rates are converted for video.
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* * *
"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles