Television series are still filmed

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Alan Browne - 22 Mar 2007 14:50 GMT

While some movies have moved to digital, esp. those laden with special
effects, bread and butter television is still filmed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-03/28544350.jpg

(By the way, the large newspapers like the tribune, LATimes, WashPost,
etc. usually have good photo slide shows with the mundane to the
unusual. Often some show a great eye and technique).

Cheers,
Alan

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Robert - 22 Mar 2007 14:54 GMT

On Mar 22, 1:50 pm, Alan Browne <alan.bro...@Freelunchvideotron.ca>
wrote:

> While some movies have moved to digital, esp. those laden with special
> effects, bread and butter television is still filmed.
>
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-03/28544350.jpg

Are you sure that the film crew are not actors and part of the scene?

Robert

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Alan Browne - 22 Mar 2007 15:11 GMT

> On Mar 22, 1:50 pm, Alan Browne <alan.bro...@Freelunchvideotron.ca>
> wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Are you sure that the film crew are not actors and part of the scene?

Go to the ChicagoTribune, find the photo series and read the caption.

Television series (including most sitcomms) are mostly filmed, not
taped. The reason is simple, right out of the camera you get much
higher than television broadcast quality archive quality material. The
original stock developed into transfer media and properly stored will
last hundreds of years with little care (other than cooling).

Cheers,
Alan

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Nicholas O. Lindan - 22 Mar 2007 16:22 GMT

> While some movies have moved to digital, esp. those laden with special
> effects, bread and butter television is still filmed.

Decidedly.

With DVD's I can reliably tell when they switch between film and
video recording. The best I can say is that when shot with video
the picture looks 'unintegrated': it has a 'soap opera' feel to
it.

To tell for sure put the playback in single frame mode. If shot with film
then every x frames there will be a duplicate frame that is identical
to the one before it, often every 4th frame - sometimes 2 frames will
be smeared together to make up the extra frame. This is done to synch
the film speed to the 60Hz frequency of the TV. The skip ratio can
vary. If it is reliably every 6th frame it is likely due to
converting a foreign (50Hz) show to US 60Hz TV. If film has been
converted first to 50Hz and the tape is then converted to 60Hz the
skipping sequence can be complex.

IMO, if it is a quality series it is shot on film.

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Robert - 22 Mar 2007 16:36 GMT

> > While some movies have moved to digital, esp. those laden with special
> > effects, bread and butter television is still filmed.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> converted first to 50Hz and the tape is then converted to 60Hz the
> skipping sequence can be complex.

When they show 48 frame/sec film on UK 50Hz TV I did not think they
padded any frames at all, but just let it run slightly faster. Maybe
that was long ago. I calculate that the music should rise in pitch by
about 2/3 semitome.

Robert

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Nicholas O. Lindan - 22 Mar 2007 19:03 GMT

> When they show 48 frame/sec film on UK 50Hz TV I did not think they
> padded any frames at all, but just let it run slightly faster.

Makes sense: it would also leave more time for commercials.

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Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson - 22 Mar 2007 16:54 GMT

> To tell for sure put the playback in single frame mode. If shot with film
> then every x frames there will be a duplicate frame that is identical
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> converted first to 50Hz and the tape is then converted to 60Hz the
> skipping sequence can be complex.

Film cameras that run at 30/1001 frames per second (the actual NTSC frame rate)
reliably enough to not need conversion have been available since
the 1980s. They were brought to market due to the large demand
for music videos. Eliminating the 24 to 30 FPS conversion helped
lower the price and production time.

Digital conversion where the frame rate is converted by interpolation
instead of adding or subtracting frames has been around for a long time.
I have a Panasonic VCR, bought in 1992, that did it.

What you may be seeing is the DVD player doing a cheap conversion. DVDs
are recorded in one of four speeds. PAL FILM (24 FPS), PAL TV (25 FPS),
NTSC FILM (24/1001 FPS, about 23.997) and NTSC TV (30/1001 FPS, about
29.997).

My DVD player is connected to a multisystem TV and converts to either
24FPS or 30 FPS depending on the souce material.

Yours probably converts it all to 25 or 30 FPS.

Geoff.

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Alan Browne - 22 Mar 2007 17:00 GMT

>>While some movies have moved to digital, esp. those laden with special
>>effects, bread and butter television is still filmed.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> converted first to 50Hz and the tape is then converted to 60Hz the
> skipping sequence can be complex.

It's not 60Hz actually, but a hair short of 60 Hz.

The skipping/interleaving sequences for film -> 60 Hz; film -> 50 Hz;
and 30 Hz <-> 25 Hz is documented in many places online.

http://www.paradiso-design.net/videostandards_en.html is one detailed
source.

Yes, it is complex.

Cheers,
Alan

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