Post
by Brianruns10 » Fri Nov 26, 2010 2:57 pm
I do extensive work in historic documentary, and I'm intimately familiar with all the effects this video utilizes....the flickering and unsteady image is easily created by a Nattress film effect filter, or GFilm or Magic Bullet. I've frequently used the effect to convert tape based reenactment footage to appear like Super 8 or 16mm, complete with film grain, lines, hairs and flicker. The apparent motion of the subject can be achieved using still images, with portions cut out in photoshop and then animated in a program like After Effects or Apple Motion. In a new museum film I just completed, I use the same process to animate the famous photo of the Wright Flyer, so it appears to be taking off. The method is quite simple to do with a little practice and a lot of patience.
On top of all this, the creator gives himself away by anachronism. There are several shots that zoom in, even though the time frame in which the footage was taken would predate zooms by quite some time. The speed is wrong as well. It clearly has been "shot" at a constant, governed frame rate, when as we all know, an 1899 film would be hand cranked and less consistent in the FPS. And the film simply feels wrong from a style point of view. Film footage from the 1890s tends to be rather flat and direct in its composition, with few closeups. It was very much still tied to the scientific/sociologic mode of use, being a tool to document an actuality. The way this film is shot and edited is far more modern and complex in the compositions and arrangements of the shots.
It's most assuredly a fake, and not a particularly good one either, IMO. Just angers me the filmmaker has disabled comments on the clip, clearly so no one is able to call shenanigans on the footage.
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