C. Davis score on Our Hospitality Kino Blu-Ray out of sync

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Wed May 04, 2011 9:05 am

Have you checked sound films on your blu-ray to see if you have a general sync issue? I did, which got worse after a power surge; it wasn't until I got a new receiver entirely, with built-in sync correction, that they went away.

Jimmy Shannon · Post by **Jimmy Shannon** » Wed May 04, 2011 9:11 am

Mike Gebert wrote:Have you checked sound films on your blu-ray to see if you have a general sync issue? I did, which got worse after a power surge; it wasn't until I got a new receiver entirely, with built-in sync correction, that they went away.

Yeah, I watch lots of films on it, silent and sound, with no problem. Watched the image edition of "It" last night. And remember, Our Hospitality IS in sync through much of it, particularly with gun shots and big obvious cues, they just let it drift elsewhere.

Can anybody else watch the BD of the dam scene and see if it matches my description in the initial post? Right away, you should hear the big "explosion" cue that takes place a few seconds before the dam actually explodes if your version is like mine.

bigshot · Post by **bigshot** » Wed May 04, 2011 11:10 pm

I think there's sloppy sync on every release where they reuse a score from a previous transfer. Some scores just have clearer accents so you notice it.

Jimmy Shannon · Post by **Jimmy Shannon** » Wed May 04, 2011 11:26 pm

bigshot wrote:I think there's sloppy sync on every release where they reuse a score from a previous transfer. Some scores just have clearer accents so you notice it.

Well, noticing it is the fault then, isn't it? I just watched The Kid Brother with some friends. The score is taken from another copy, but despite seeing reports here that it is out of sync, or at least different than the original version, I found it spot on throughout. And it is a Carl Davis score as well done in his usual, highly accented style. Same goes for Safety Last and Speedy. There may be some goofs in sync from the original version in the credits, but not in the film proper, because they obviously kept their eye on it and did adjustments to make it match correctly throughout. So it can certainly be done, and that should be the standard. Otherwise there is no point in using the score, if it is not used correctly. They were able to sync up Hospitality just fine in major events like gunshot, which they clearly had to do some work to achieve. They just did not pay enough attention to other, less obvious scenes in the middle of the picture, from the dam scene on, where in some places the music is a full three seconds early. And with a highly accented score, that is a big problem. It is not a matter of comparing to the original... I have never seen the Thames version so am not calling it out of sync because of that. You can just hear all the musical changes and accents in Davis' score and realize they are preceding the actual action. The editor responsible for syncing simply fell down on the job, as he was successful in getting the gunshot and other obvious "crash" cues right, but didn't listen close enough to the rest of the picture.

Richard Warner · Post by **Richard Warner** » Thu May 05, 2011 3:20 pm

I've now watched the new Kino of Our Hospitality all the way through and really enjoyed it. Great print, great score, great extras. The sync issues pointed out by Jimmy were barely apparent to me - all the major "hits" were right on and this will be the version of Our Hospitality I'll watch in future. I'm not indifferent to sync issues - the attempt to match The High Sign to the Jay Ward score on the old Kino issue drives me nuts - all the sound effects are way out. Ditto the attempt to match a different print of The Garage to the old Slapstick Encyclopedia score on the Arte France and Masters of Cinema sets (and presumably the Best Arbuckle-Keaton Image set). I'm not disputing what Jimmy says, but there was nothing to spoil my enjoyment of Our Hospitality. I would respectfully suggest that Jimmy is VERY sensitive to these issues and therefore rightly annoyed, but this shouldn't put most others off a fine issue.
The same applies to speed issues. Again, I'm not oblivious to this - the Chaplin Essanays and some of Slapstick Encyclopedia seem way too slow to me, but I didn't experience this problem with the Chaplin Keystone set. My chief problem with Chaplin at Keystone is the films themselves, but only because I find most pre-1916 comedies unfunny! I had the same problem with the Laughsmith Arbuckle set, which only came to life for me when I got to 1916's He Did and He Didn't. I wouldn't want to be without any of these earlier films and I find them all of great interest - I just wish I had the ability to enjoy them more as COMEDIES. Perhaps they work better on a big screen with an audience!

Jimmy Shannon · Post by **Jimmy Shannon** » Fri May 06, 2011 12:09 am

I just shot a YouTube video of the problem. I'll post it when I get a chance tomorrow.

Richard Warner · Post by **Richard Warner** » Fri May 06, 2011 2:07 am

Jimmy Shannon wrote:I just shot a YouTube video of the problem. I'll post it when I get a chance tomorrow.

Copyright infringement?

WaverBoy · Post by **WaverBoy** » Fri May 06, 2011 2:46 am

Richard Warner wrote:
Jimmy Shannon wrote:I just shot a YouTube video of the problem. I'll post it when I get a chance tomorrow.
Copyright infringement?

I hope you're kidding, fer chrissakes.

Jimmy Shannon · Post by **Jimmy Shannon** » Fri May 06, 2011 3:24 am

Richard Warner wrote:
Jimmy Shannon wrote:I just shot a YouTube video of the problem. I'll post it when I get a chance tomorrow.
Copyright infringement?

Nah. It is only a minute and a half long, and will not be listed in the searchable YouTube database. Only people with the direct link can get to it.

Jimmy Shannon · Post by **Jimmy Shannon** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:54 am

Just wanted to drop a note and say I haven't forgotten about this. I'm just on a very tight deadline and haven't had time to spare to get back to this. I've shot the video, I just need to upload it and post it here. Will hopefully be able to get to it soon.