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I have read that when you buy a transfer of an LoC silent film,
they send you an HD or DVD copy at the supposed "standard" silent film speed of 18 frames per second.
The problem with this approach is that I keep reading different stories about particular silent films
being projected at 14, 16, 18 and 19 fps. They can't all be right.......

My question:
If I buy a silent from LoC that set at 18 fps, is it possible to run it through Adobe and
reset the fps speed at one or more settings other than 18 fps until I find an fps rate that eliminates image jerkiness?
Has anyone actually done this with an LoC purchase?

I can access Adobe Premiere and Premiere Elements, which I have noticed have multiple
fps settings, their default setting seems to be "19.97"

See notes in my ENCHANTMENT thread for fps rates in various copying formats from LOC......

I purchased a dvd transfer of a two reel silent comedy from the LOC last year and when I first saw the film, total running time of 18 minutes.When I received the dvd, that same film was transferred to a whopping running time of 25 minutes, which basically sucked the life out of reel 2 that featured a wild thrilling chase sequence.I plan on getting some more transfers in the coming weeks and plan on telling them to run them at the correct projection speed.

Current practice is to transfer everything at 24 fps. That way there is a true frame by frame transfer, and then the end user can adjust however they want. Before, if someone wanted something transferred at an obviously wrong speed (like 18 fps for a late silent) we ended up having a crappy transfer for the archive. Changing the speed post transfer is fairly easy.

This is what I've done with the Musty Suffer shorts, which I got from LoC. I got transfers as Quicktime ProRes HD files, which were 24p video (meaning 1 frame of film for 1 frame of video). I've speed-adjusted them in FCP to 21fps or, in one or two cases 20 fps; frame-blending is turned off. I did the same thing for speeds on "Accidentally Preserved" vol 1 and 2; only difference was that on A.P. the transfers/files were done elsewhere, and from my prints. Transferring at 24fps to 24p video is pretty much how most transfers are being done these days.

Ben

Bor Enots wrote:Current practice is to transfer everything at 24 fps. That way there is a true frame by frame transfer, and then the end user can adjust however they want. Before, if someone wanted something transferred at an obviously wrong speed (like 18 fps for a late silent) we ended up having a crappy transfer for the archive. Changing the speed post transfer is fairly easy.

This is not entirely true. It is common practice to transfer films in Europe at 25 fps, which is also a true frame-by-frame digital standard, and derive other frame rates from the 25 fps transfer.

Derek

Current practice at LC is exactly as I have started.

Bor Enots wrote:Current practice at LC is exactly as I have started.

Sorry, I didn't realize your comment was only specific to the LOC. My comment is correct for worldwide transfer standards.

Derek

For movies on Blu-ray transferred at 24p using duplicated frames there could be a solution. First, you would have to rip the film from the disc. Second, you would use Adobe Premier Pro to detect and remove duplicated frames. You would have to be careful to analyze the intertitles, as it can be much more difficult to find a duplicate frame when there is no text and they have been cleaned up. Third, the musical score is now probably out of sync, so it would need to be retimed or pitch-shifted.